Bring #BalanceToTheForce
Put Atruejedi in Charge of Game Balance for One Week
I'm resurrecting this thread to keep my divinely inspired ideas all in one place.
As usual, months and months after I've proposed rational, healthy changes to Skirmish, Muse seems to finally be (ready to start) acting (way too late)... Swiss-army knife Mobula should return shortly and the cries to #BuffSpire have also seemed to summon changes for that vertical coffin. I have no dog in the Squid tweaks fight because I flying and flying on Squids, but I would like Squids to be (even more) lethal and fragile and extreme and impressive in the right hands. Definitely not at the top of my change list, though.
While I still want the changes to ship roles I proposed in the original post, I think other modifications to the game are necessary to fix overall balance and offer more strategic choice and depth. Most of these changes would literally take minutes to make because they're just number alterations and I'm praying Muse gives them a chance for an entire week as an "open beta" to revitalize Skirmish. Namely:
Easy Changes:
#NerfGreased - Decrease Greased ammo range from 80% of Normal ammo's reach to 70%. "Set it and forget it" Greased ammo is extremely common in this game. Many players shove it in all guns and never bother swapping ammunition types for the rest of the game. This is boring and thoughtless. Players should be punished for not switching to Normal ammunition to gain that extra 30% in range. Greased should only be used when players know they're in range for it... they should have to consciously switch from Normal to Greased once they're confident they're in range. This adds depth and rewards thinking players.
#NerfBurst - Burst ammo already provides a large bonus to the "splash" of weapons with Area of Effect damage; the increased clip size makes this ammo a "why use anything else?" choice in weapons like the Hwacha and Artemis. Like Greased, this "set it and forget it" mentality is boring, thoughtless, and lacks tactical depth and choice. With a nerf to Burst, Greased ammunition would be more common in the Artemis at close range and Heavy Clip would be more attractive as an initial-engagement Hwacha ammo choice. Let's reward smart players.
#RestoreLoch - Restore Lochnager ammo to its former niche glory. One of the greatest feelings in the game was (was :-[ ) waiting for the enemy's armor to drop and nuking an enemy with a shot from the (old) Heavy Flak. While changes to the Heavy Flak were wise to make it more accessible and newb-friendly, this feeling of absolute power and awe is gone and that is truly a shame. While I'll address the Old and New Heavy Flak in a moment, think of Loch as that special, skillful ammo for heavy guns or weapons with smaller clips.
#ChangeCharged - What's the point of this ammo? Some people occasionally use it in the Heavy Flak, Lumberjack, Mine Launcher, and Heavy Carronade... and that's still not exactly common. The only "yes, use Charged!" gun in the game is the Mercury, and even the Mercury has viable alternatives with Lesmok and Heatsink. Charged needs a complete overhaul. Muse should have left Loch alone and should instead #ChangeCharged ammo to perform and act somewhat like Lochnager currently does. Think of Charged as the Loch for lighter weapons or those with larger clips. Less special, less skillful, but still fun and unique.
#HowAboutAHowitzer - I mentioned I miss the old Heavy Flak, especially when coupled with the old Lochnager ammo. So let's recreate that fabled weapon and call it something new. I've proposed this to Muse many times and they've admitted it would be easy, yet they won't do it because of vanity. I've asked them to add a "new" gun to the game: the old Heavy Flak. Give it the same exact stats of as the Old Heavy Flak, but, to save artistic resources, simply retexture it with modified textures that are tinted an obviously different color from the "real" Heavy Flak. I'm partial to gold or copper or a nice Statue of Liberty green myself. 8) Call it a Howitzer or something and be done with it. Variety is the spice of life, and this would be so easy to implement.
#AdaptTheMaps - This movement has made great strides, securing us 4 vs. 4 Paritan Rumble DM (even with its thoughtless spawn locations) and the upcoming Firnfeld KOTH 3 vs. 3 and 4 vs. 4 (and hopefully 4 vs. 4 Firnfeld DM as well!), but we need more. Some are no brainers, some are battles with the developers. Either way, I've outlined it all eloquently here, so please check out this thread and consider sending them an email yourself: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/goichaos/discussions (http://steamcommunity.com/groups/goichaos/discussions)
There are other changes I'd like that are somewhat more intensive, however. Like these...
Not-as-Easy Changes:
#SkyballOverhaul - I've already bitched about Skyball countless times and essentially been ignored. This game mode, which is completely superfluous, shouldn't have been added into the game and really shouldn't have been added into the game in its broken, tedious state. In a dev app testing session with Eric/Awkm last week, he finally admitted that "maybe its the [defensive] spawns"... you don't say!? Many in the community have been saying that since the mode was in testing before public release... and have been ignored. Unfortunately, that's typical behavior from the devs at this point... #SkirmishSuffers while Muse cries #AllianceOrBust. And I realize acting like I'm always right is a dick move, but, hey... I generally am. Many pieces of feedback can be found in this thread: How to Fix Skyball (https://gunsoficarus.com/community/forum/index.php/topic,7958.0.html)
#AuditTheSpawns - Paritan 4 vs. 4 DM spawns are a mess, I can confirm. Water Hazard 3 vs. 3 DM and 4 vs. 4 VIP spawns are so fucking close to the enemy that it's a game of who can rotate into arc and fire Mercs and Lumbers faster? This needs addressed, but it goes further than these maps. Even Dunes 2 vs. 2 has the same problem. And don't get me started on Crazy King... well, if you insist!
#LuckOfTheSpawn - Crazy King can be fun, but it really depends on which ship spawns where and what spawn is initially active. On King of the Flayed Hills, I've seen Blue team spawn surrounding D at the beginning of the match, capture it, and move to west to E. Well, good game. Red never stood a chance. The same can happen in the north. If A is the initial spawn and Red spawns around it, it's an insta-cap and a short sail to B. Sorry, Blue. Muse needs to rethink how this gamemode treats spawns and deaths. They've admitted they've never bothered putting any thought into tweaking it, so let's make that our job. Right now it's actually pretty interesting to shoot to disable or kill your opponent, but that choice could be even weightier if you didn't know where the bad dudes would spawn next... hm. I'm definitely interested in hearing suggestions on how to tweak Crazy King.
#BalloonLivesMatter - This is an old idea of mine, but I think it's worth considering. It stemmed from the increased gravity strength in a beta patch a long time ago. I'm all about increased gravity if sitting on the ground doesn't damage you after the initial impact. I think this would be much more dynamic. "Yeah, you sank him, but can you kill him?" Considering all that, consider the following: to quote myself, as I am wont to do...
But the increased force was much too severe, as the community pointed out. I just got done with VIP in the dev app, where gravity is still a bit strong, but I'm glad it's stronger than it is in normal Skirmish mode. I don't know what the sweet spot should be, but gravity should indeed be a threat to a ship. As it is right now, it's typically only a nuisance which puts guns out of position for a while but doesn't guarantee death. And maybe it shouldn't guarantee destruction, but it should definitely threaten destruction. To balance that, however, perhaps the efficiency of carronades needs to be lowered. Carronades, heavy or light, typical pop a balloon in a single clip or, at most, two. That's too fast with the increased force. So...
I envision the dynamic like this: popping an enemy's balloon should take more time so the crew of the targeted ship has time to react and repair it, but once it DOES go down, it's a serious problem for the pilot and the ship. Make it so the targeted ship KNOWS the enemy is targeting the balloon and make those gunners WORK a bit to pop it. Make taking a balloon-popping ship a strategic choice: "My goal is to pop enemy balloons to help my team, not to simply grind an enemy into the ground with my own ship and hump them to death," which is currently how it works... Make popping the balloon a power maneuver to control the battle's positioning and sequence instead of just letting Carrofish rack up hump-kills.
TLDR;
1. Make gravity stronger (but not too strong...)
2a. Make balloons stronger and carronades stronger OR
2b. Make balloons weaker and carronades weaker.
3. Allow balloons more time to be repaired.
4. Letting the balloon die likely makes you die.
5. Profit.
I should point out I consider this the last step in my proposed changes. I'd definitely want to get overall balance worked out first, then give tweaking gravity and balloons a whirl.
What are your thoughts, Master Jedi?
As usually, I love a good argument. I love hearing thoughts in support of and against my ideas. I love discussion. I love passion. I love activity. I love this game. So say something.
Please. ;D
Bring #BalanceToTheForce
Put Atruejedi in Charge of Game Balance for One Week
Dear god no. As one of the "vets" who's most likely to lose against a novice while having a vet crew. I...no... just no...