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1.3.3 ENGINEER AND REPAIR TOOL BALANCE

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dragonmere:
The main problem I have with the chem spray is the fact that it gets 0 cooldown if the part is fully repaired and not on fire, but the full cooldown if the part has even slight damage but still isn't on fire yet. Same with the extinguisher, but it's not supposed to be used BEFORE getting set on fire, so it's not a big deal.

You can't be coming close to an enemy ship that has a flamethrower, and suddenly decide you're gonna spray the entire ship real quick. If there's any sort of damage on and being done to the hull, that cooldown can be deadly. Same if the captain is using an engine damaging tool to get close to the flame ship. Spraying the engines means you've got that cooldown before they can get repaired again, and with moonshine on, thats a big deal.

Is it at all possible to make chem spray only initiate a cooldown if it's actively putting out fire? That would simplify the use of the tool down from "Pre-spray a part if you think you're going to be engaging an enemy that has fire weapons within the next 20 seconds and the part in question is  not going to be taking damage over the next 6 seconds or is currently entirely repaired" to "pre-spray a part if you think it's gonna get set on fire soon". I might like it then.

The Djinn:

--- Quote from: awkm on October 29, 2013, 12:18:09 pm ---Any game mechanic change isn't going to happen any time soon.  Suggesting a new mechanic is fine but let's not dwell on the assumption that its going to go in next patch.
--- End quote ---

Of course. I think we're all aware (at least I hope we're all aware) that changing mechanics requires a much longer period of discussion, implementation, and testing before you really even decide if it's a good course to push to live or not. I know I'm just throwing some ideas out there that I think make the Chem Spray a proactive fire-protection method that requires a little maintenance (removing stacks before they build up to far and strip your protection) to avoid it being fire-and-forget.


--- Quote ---Things I can change: cooldown, extinguish power (charge removal), fire resistance %, fire resistance time.  Those can go in during hot fix.

Extinguisher is reactive.  Chemical spray is proactive.  Those are the two design constraints and intentions between the two.

--- End quote ---

Alright. This suggests that our Extinguish power should remain relatively unchanged, as upping that makes it more reactive. I believe we currently have 100% fire resistance, which worries me, because it completely negates fire damage if we up the duration to high, but makes an Engineer run around Chem-Spraying constantly if we don't have the duration up.

What if we lowered the cooldown to 2-3 seconds (as it should be something you can do to protect something before repairing it), extended the protection to, say, a full minute, but reduced the protection to, say, a 60% fire resistance chance, as I suggested above? It's no longer blanket immunity, and it will eventually crumble before an extended Flamethrower assault, for example, but it's significantly more proactive because it lasts a rather long time, makes it harder to gain fire stacks in the first place, and allows the Engineer to quickly throw a patch on something with fire stacks (although he only removes a handful of those stacks). It fits the idea of being non-Reactive: your reactions are still there and still important, but they're relatively small, and more of a delaying tactic until you actually have time to fully extinguish things. Your main strength comes from being harder to burn down in the first place.

In summary:

Chem Spray
3-second cooldown -- can gain Fire stacks during cooldown
Extinguish Power: 3
Grants 60% fire resistance for 60-90 seconds.

Thoughts?

Edit: If Fire Resistance reduced damage instead of actually reducing the number of stacks applied, this number might need to be tweaked. The goal I'm aiming for is that Chem Spray basically buys you the time to win the fight or run through it's protection (although you may still have to deal with lingering fires later), while the Extinguisher removes the threat of the fire completely.

Sammy B. T.:

--- Quote from: awkm on October 29, 2013, 11:14:40 am ---I am here and watching.

--- End quote ---

Santa?


Anyway, if Chem Spray becomes a passive resistance then it is beyond useless. Its not like small fires aren't problematic in of them self. You want to make the Chem fun? 5 second cooldown, 1 extinguisher power, 30 second immunity, and the cool down goes on even if the gun is at full health.

Queso:
I think extending the length of time the protection is applied could definitely be tweaked and extended. Keeping so few components safe from a single damage type is never going to be that great an option. The problem there is that you make it too good, and you effectively remove fire builds from the game. It's intensely specialized nature makes it a pain to balance. It's like trying to balance rock paper scissors without having scissors. Make chem too good, no fire. Make chem not good enough, nobody takes it. Is there any sort of third element we could tie to the balance?

awkm:
Fire initial DPS, additional charge DPS, chance of fire on guns (rather not touch).

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