Topics

16

Feedback and Suggestions / Calais Light Air defense weapon. An actual Flak.

« on: November 08, 2016, 05:09:04 pm »

Calais Light Air Defense (Light)

(All data subject to change)

Direct Damage: 10 Shatter
Burst damage: 15 Piercing (Per sub munition) (possibly higher, see description)
Burst radius: 50 meters.
Arming range: 600 meters (Reversed Arming)
Rate of Fire: 1.40
Reload time: 4.75 seconds.
Magazine size: 4
Projectile speed: 300 m/s
Range: 600 meters.
Shell drop: 10 m/s^2
Jitter: (Unsure of at the moment)
Arcs: TBD
**Important**
Projectiles per Cast: 14

General idea of this weapon is to become, well, an actual anti-air and area denial weapon.
The staple of an air-defense weapon is to have a shell that detonates at a certain distance in order to defend against incoming aircraft. The detonation of these shells are supposed to send shrapnel in all directions, potentially killing the pilot, disabling the aircraft, or else destroying the aircraft by hitting critical parts, such as the fuel lines, wings, or munitions storage.
The idea for this air defense weapon is along the same lines, with a new way for the burst damage to be distributed; Ray-casting in an orb when the main shell bursts. Each of these rays applies the burst damage, rather than the Orb-cast that the usual weapons have.
The wider burst radius allows for extremely easy hits, but this is balanced by the way the damage is dealt. The rays are cast in all directions from the Burst point, meaning that the relatively weak rays make fewer impacts on the target, lowering the overall amount of damage that each shot will be able to do. On grouped enemies, such as in Alliance, this is extremely useful, but should this be considered for Skirmish, it would be very, very difficult to ensure an armor break on a target.
The primary function of these weapons is to discourage an enemy from getting close, punishing captains and crews who do not actively keep up their defense. Should the enemy stay in the arming distance, and the burst distance, the steady fire of the Calais offers a great amount of damage for very little skill. However, should an enemy get inside of the arming distance of the Calais, it is punished somewhat heavily, taking away the greatest source of damage for the weapon for a rather weak amount of shatter, offering very little threat to an enemy.

17

The Pit / They said it couldn't be done...

« on: November 05, 2016, 01:25:37 pm »

They said it was impossible.

They said I was mad.

They said it was suicidal.

But no more...

No longer...

For on this most holy of days, in the most glorious Dev App...

In a blaze of flaming glory..

A Titan did fall before a Crusader's Ram!!!

18

Feedback and Suggestions / Proximity Rounds: Ammo type idea.

« on: October 08, 2016, 01:11:25 pm »

Proximity rounds

-25% damage
+30% AoE
+15% projectile size (Increases the hitbox of the projectile by 15%)
Removes Direct damage

An idea I’ve been working on for a little while, but wasn’t sure how to make it work. The overall idea of Proximity rounds is to ensure hits where they otherwise would miss, making the more risky of shots much more likely to connect, as well as damaging more parts of the ship in a single shot. The reason for the removal of direct damage is due to the fact that the rounds would not be “connecting” per se. The rounds will be air-bursting near the target rather than directly impacting the target. This also explains the lower damage, due to the detonation being further away from the target and having less of an effect.

Most likely uses are, of course, any form of disabler and the Lumberjack. The rounds being easier to land on the target makes using the more difficult of weapons much easier, and thus more dangerous to the enemy. The greatly reduced damage, however, will mean that more shots would be required to actually destroy a component.

19

Feedback and Suggestions / Atropos Thermobaric Rocket Artillery

« on: October 07, 2016, 01:12:27 pm »

TL;DR: An air torpedo. Long range, high damage area denial weapon with a very slow projectile speed but minimal vertical drift. Visible arming time and the slow speed, as well as the spread of the rockets make them very easy to dodge, but they do force a meneuver on enemies due to the very high damage when armed.

Atropos Thermobaric Rocket Artillery

Design would be similar to the Katyusha rocket system of WWII, with a much, much smaller available magazine: https://defencyclopedia.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/katyushas.png

Heavy weapon
75 Fire Direct
150 Impact AoE (Must be armed)
Burst Radius: 80 Meters
Arming Range: 500 Meters
Effective Vs: Balloon, Hull
Reload time 12 seconds
Magazine size: 3 (All rockets are launched when fired, meaning 3 projectiles per shot)
Projectile speed: 130 M/s
Projectile spread speed: 10 M/s
Shell drop: 0 M/s
Jitter: 0 deg
Spread at max range: 150 meters
30% chance for 10 Fire stack on hit.

Horizontal Arc: 20 degree Left, 20 degree Right
Vertical Arc: 5 degree Up, 5 degree Down
Horizontal turn: 15 deg/s
Vertical turn: 15 deg/s


In a majority of games, torpedoes are designed to be a long range, highly damaging weapon that travels slowly and is easily avoided, so the inspiration for the Atropos was rather simple. Basing it off of that principle, the Atropos is built for long range area denial and high-risk/high-reward gameplay, similar to a long range mine launcher.

The extremely flat trajectory makes any kind of change in the weapon’s elevation vary the shot in an extreme manner. This can make it very difficult to properly get the rockets on target, but it will also offer a kind of soft-force to their maneuvers. Evading the rockets is extremely easy due to their slow speed and completely flat trajectory, but it would force enemies into maneuvers they may not have wanted to take, or else into maneuvers that would leave them vulnerable to your allies.

Apart from the slow movement of the rockets as a balancing measure, the rockets from the Atropos have another, more important balancing measure: Visible arming time. Once the rockets are fired, their trail will be a simple, plain white, as with all projectiles. But, once the projectiles are armed, that trail changes to a thick, black trail, as though the rocket were spewing a non-damaging, thin Tar, as well as having a rocket emission much brighter than the Hwatcha rockets.  This makes the projectiles extremely easy to see and avoid as they move in.

Another part of the balance to the rockets is, obviously, their spread. At long to extreme range, the Atropos rockets will begin to spread apart, making it difficult to land all three rockets on the same target. Thin profile ships such as the Squid, Goldfish, and Spire have an advantage against a ship equipped with the Atropos, as their profile makes it extremely easy to slip in between the rockets, which, while being a risky maneuver, would offer a tad more control over maneuvers than being forced into a vertical dodge.

I did entertain the idea for friendly damage with the Atropos, but I’m not sure whether or not it would needlessly increase the skill ceiling, as well as encourage trolling too much. Not sure whether or not it’s a good idea, so if you would, feedback on it is rather necessary.

And so there you go, my thoughts on a torpedo system for Guns. Long range area denial with a good risk/reward possibility, encouraging higher level play in attempting to land all three rockets on a single target, while giving lower level players a very easy to aim, highly damaging weapon. More so, it’s designed to just give some more variety to the medium weapons and offer the torpedo that people have been begging for. Let me know what you think!

20

Feedback and Suggestions / Alliance mode idea: Siege

« on: September 29, 2016, 10:12:58 am »

Easily comparable to assault, but with a bit of a twist on the mode. Several wings of the destructable walls guarding a primary objective. These walls are extremely well defended; mine launchers, artillery pieces large and small, the works. Those weapons platforms are your primary enemy, and the overarching objective is to penetrate the enemy's defenses to assault their "Fortress".

The catch to this is that it's on a time limit. If you don't manage to reach the fortress in 5 minutes, enemy reinforcements arrive, including the all loved (desperately hated) Titan vessel. These vessels would have to follow the path you took through the walls, but they would be dangerous if you've been lagging behind.

Limited lives, of course, and with multiple approach options to get to the heavily guarded fortress. A little difficult to simply speed run it, but it's certainly encouraged to try and beat the timer.

21

General Discussion / Alliance medium weapons?

« on: September 28, 2016, 03:45:31 pm »

We have the light weapons for each of the factions, but it's kind of strange to try and follow the same route with heavy weapons for the factions. We know the Baronies love their rocketry, the Chaladonians stick to gas, while both the Angleans and the Guild enjoy energy weapons.

We already have one faction heavy weapon, the Minotaur, which is lore-wise Arashi, but what do you think could be a heavy for the different factions? The Chaladonians I'm having a hard time thinking of any heavy weapon. The Charybdis is practically perfect for them already.

22

The Cantina / Air Shanty Attempt #2, the Widow's Song

« on: September 27, 2016, 02:32:00 pm »

Had another one. Hopefully it's catchy enough.


They came to me just yesterday
“Would you be the missus, pray?”
They told me like they tell them all;
He listened to the Wind’s soft Call

I met my Mother just last week
She asked me, “Girl why won’t you weep?”
I told her like I tell them all;
He listened to the Wind’s soft Call

I met the broker just last month
He told me “Lass, she isn’t much.”
I told him like I tell them all;
They’ll listen to the Wind’s soft Call

In Dragontown only last year
They asked me, “Where’s your Husband dear?”
I told them like I tell them all;
He listened to the Wind’s soft Call

For five years now, on the roam
I know I’ll never make it home.
They tell them like they tell them all;
She listened to the Wind’s soft Call

I went back ten years ago
She asked me, “Where’d my mother go?”
I told her like I tell them all;
She listened to the Wind’s soft Call

23

The Cantina / Air shanty attempt

« on: September 25, 2016, 07:36:41 pm »

An attempt at an air shanty. I heard a few of the one's that were made for Muse, and I had the thought for this one over a meal. Kind of just got bored and decided to work on it. Let me know what you think!




The Captain cries ‘fore the battle’s won
We’ll have a good drink when this one’s done!
His final thoughts to his wife and son
We’ll walk the clouds and kiss the sun!

Another tally on his gun
We’ll have a good drink when this one’s done!
He spits in the eye of that raider scum
We’ll walk the clouds and kiss the sun!

Our engie's smile on their run
We’ll have a good drink when this one’s done!
And now their work is all undone
We’ll walk the clouds and kiss the sun!

We took to the skies thinking it such fun
We’ll have a good drink when this one’s done!
We’ve had ourselves quite the run
We’ve walked the clouds and kissed the sun!

24

General Discussion / Rangefinder made into... an actual rangefinder?

« on: September 22, 2016, 07:29:04 pm »

So, talking very lightly about the Rangefinder and the mostly unexplained and distracting way that it attempts to ‘assist targeting’. The glowing, tightening, target obscuring dots that only succeeds in confusing most and annoying the rest.  This isn’t a discussion of how to fix the Rangefinder, but an alternative to the targeting reticule, shown here.

 http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/fm/23-34/fig6-8.gif

Instead of the tightening reticle that goes inside the reticule, the above axes (Ak-seas, plural of axis, to avoid any axe jokes) would sit outside the targeting reticule and would be a soft white, similar to the color of the reticule itself. On both of these Axes would be the arc in 10 degree intervals, so as to assist in teaching weapon arcs and elevations, and would have an indicator on both, showing where along the arc the weapon is currently at. The actual telling of range would be relocated to the top left rather than the top right, avoiding clutter along the right.

While moving the weapon while another player is using this Rangefinder, the indicators on both the X and Y axes will move in accordance with the turning speed and available arc of the weapon. When in the ideal firing position, the indicators will change to a soft golden color, making it a little more obvious as to when the arc is correct without being overly obnoxious. Only the indicator that is in a proper firing arc will flash, so that finding the X or Y axis would be somewhat independent.

Say, for example, you are manning a Lumberjack, and someone with this modified rangefinder would acquire a ship in the distance. The Lumber’s gunner would slowly increase elevation, watching the Y axis guide on the right to see how elevated his weapon is. When he sees the flash, he would switch to moving along the X axis guide on the bottom to see if he is appropriately aimed. Quickly glancing at the range in order to determine if they are within or outside of arming time, the gunner could fire with relative certainty that the round would hit the target.

Just a thought on a possible fix on how obnoxious the regular rangefinder tends to be. Instead of obscuring the target by closing in and going inside the aiming reticule, the aim assist stays outside and could possibly assist in teaching the arcs of whatever weapon a gunner, or engineer, is using. Any suggestion on it? It’s better than what we’ve got right now, and seems almost a little more period correct or immersive.

25

Feedback and Suggestions / Hydra Phosphorus Mortar (Disregard past ravings)

« on: September 21, 2016, 03:38:52 pm »

Hydra Phosphorus Mortar

Heavy Class
Direct damage (Shell):  35 Fire
Burst Damage (Shell): 15 Fire
Direct Damage (Sub Munition): 25 Fire, stackable
Burst Radius: 10 Meters
Arming time: 2.33 seconds
Arming range: 350 meters
Reload Time: 18 seconds
Projectile speed: 150 m/s
Projectile drop (Shell): 8 m/s^2
Projectile drop (Sub Munition): 4 m/s^2
Projectile spread (Shell): 5 meters.
Projectile spread (Sub Munition): 25 meters
Sub munitions per Shell: 5
Sub munition spread speed: 3 m/s

Arcs

Horizontal: 25 deg Left; 25 deg Right
Vertical: 30 deg  up; 8 dge Down
Horizontal speed: 20 Deg/s
Verticle Speed: 15 deg/s

Fire chance

Shell: 25% chance for 10 stacks
Sub Munition: 100% chance for 7 stacks, stackable for each sub munition.

The idea behind the Hydra is for a GOIO equivalent of this:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/55/Ex-USS_Alabama_%28BB-8%29_-_NH_57483.jpg/800px-Ex-USS_Alabama_%28BB-8%29_-_NH_57483.jpg

Which is the U.S.S. Alabama being hit with Airburst white phosphorus. It’s primary purpose is to address both the wish for a heavy Flamer and a heavy Phobos in one weapon. It’s supposed to offer the chaos that the flamer can create along with the area-denial and heavier damage that the mine launcher provides.

The general gameplay is supposed to work like this: The singular shell goes up until it reaches its arming distance, and then will burst into multiple, slow moving sub munitions. These munitions will act in the same regard as Mines do, hitting all targets regardless of their team affiliation. The slow speed of the munitions would make it very difficult to fly through an area they are falling in, but the wider spread could offer some smaller ships a chance to maneuver through the veil of fire that they would create.

These munitions would be very obvious to view, especially on dark or dreary maps. Extremely bright, brighter than the rockets of the Hwatcha in flight, in fact, and streaming thick, white smoke, telegraphing their descent, speed, number, and spread. This increases the skill ceiling by a small degree, as the regularly difficult to spot mines would have their strength in the fact that they are much more difficult to spot when compared to the munitions of the Hydra. This is part of their balancing, so as to make them more obvious than the mines, and therefore somewhat less dangerous.

The automatic deployment of the munitions is a part of the balancing for the weapon, rather than giving the player control over when the munitions deploy. This is in the same vein as the mine launcher, attempting to deploy the mines directly on top of the target or at a perfect point where the enemy is likely to fly into it. Attempting to cluster all of the munitions onto one target or onto one specific part of the target would be very similar in nature, rewarding higher level play. Lower level play, of course, would be to deploy the munitions into an area that the enemy would likely be or will likely be going to, in order to close that avenue of travel.

Hopefully I’ve done my math correctly on it, though I doubt it. This is a continuation of a past post I made, so disregard the other and utilize this one, if you would!

26

Feedback and Suggestions / Theoretical tool: Welding Torch and repair over time.

« on: September 19, 2016, 08:16:27 pm »

An idea that I've had kicking around for a long while, but didn't know if it would completely mess up standing strategies, but it could be useful and just a bit of variety to the game. The primary idea behind this is to try and slow the bleed on incoming damage without causing too harsh a penalty.

Welding Torch: Low repair/rebuild over time, incurs no cooldown penalty.

30 repair per second.
3 rebuild per second.
Cooldown N/A

The idea behind the Welding Torch is fairly simple, being able to camp a single component for some time, in the event that few other components are being damaged aside from one. This would give a slow, nonspecialized repair/rebuild over time, and allow for synergy between engineers, where one would be able to camp hull or balloon against incoming damage before the other engineer can come by with a mallet, making a delicate dance both between incoming damage and between both engineers. The general idea for it is so that an engineer wouldn’t have to deal with the cooldown, but would be rebuilding and repairing very slowly, making it somewhat inefficient to repair on its own, but with proper synergy between the engineers, they could potentially try to out-repair incoming damage.

27

Feedback and Suggestions / Scipio Ballistae, just a weapon mechanic idea.

« on: September 15, 2016, 12:34:49 pm »

I was having a discussion with another player (I hate my memory for names), and he floated up the idea for a timed detonation weapon, something you could "cook" and attempt to air-burst on a ship. We discussed it for a while without any conclusiveness, but it got me thinking, so here goes.

Scipio Ballistae, a light weapon.

Basic appearance would be quite similar to the following: http://www.quirao.com/qimage/p/moy300/p29/maquette-canon-kit-mantua-arbalette-068810.jpg , except, of course, much more diesel-punkish and with a few sticks of dynamite quite literally tied to the tip. Yes, it’s supposed to be Arashi, why do you ask?

TL;DR: medium range weapon that has a detonation timer, dealing explosive damage either by air burst for a much higher damage, or else “sticking” to the enemy ship and dealing much less damage
Direct damage: ~30-35 piercing
Burst damage: (Stuck) ~40-45 (Air-burst) ~80
Fire chance: (Stuck) ~10-15 (Air burst) 30
Reload: 10s
Range: ~800-700 meters
Projectile speed: 150 meters p/s
Projectile drop: ~8-10 meters p/s
Detonation distance: 5.3 meters p/s
Arcs and turning speed: Too be determined.
All of the above is not only subject to change, but extremely likely to.


Timing the detonation is akin to simply lighting the fuse, which the arming timers on the side will start flashing faster and faster the closer the time to detonation. Firing the bolt regularly will automatically ignite the explosives, meaning that manual ignition would be the higher skill-based play.

The reward for the air-burst is primarily AoE, where the burst damage is simply explosive with a relatively high fire chance. Managing to land the AoE would have a powerful effect on the enemy ship, dealing ~80 explosive with a 30% chance to leave 10 stacks of fire in 45 meter AoE, basing the damage and range on the AoE off of the mines, but weaker. The higher fire chance gives it a tad more power for the use of disable, and to make it a little bit stronger in the fire regard.

Another part of the weapon that is crucial to its usage is the ability to “stick” an enemy ship. Unlike most of the other weapons, the Scipio would give the option for a guaranteed explosion, for reduced damage of around ~45-~50. The fire chance would also be greatly reduced to roughly 15% for 3 stacks. The reward for the air burst is much greater, but much trickier, and therefore rewards both high and low level play. Direct, of course, would be a very weak piercing of ~30-35, so as to discourage its use in armor penetration.

An important factor in the “sticking” mechanic is that it is highly audible aboard the ship that has been stuck, meaning that a skilled engineering crew would be able to tell that the detonation is coming, and would prioritize the hull in order to keep as much damage off of perma as possible. This is a slight balancing point to the weapon, as it would discourage sticking the enemy and reward air-burst more strongly. However, the hiss could also be used deceptively, as it would be the same sound for the entire duration. Say you managed to cook the detonation by a second or two, and then stuck the enemy. They may assume that you simply launched, and would not prioritize the armor when it is lower, allowing the detonation to go off before the focus is on the hull. It could, potentially, be used as a distraction, forcing the engineers to focus on their armor while an allied ship, or your own, closes in to hit a different component.

Max distance for a weapon like this would be roughly 800-700 meters, traveling 150 meters per second, leaving a base timer for detonation of around 5.3 seconds, basing it lightly on the range of the harpoon. However, the projectile drop will be more severe, due to the added weight of explosives, being ~8-10 m/s^2.  This would give it a respectable range while still having a somewhat difficult arc, requiring time to learn the drop of the bolt as it travels. Knowing the timing of the explosives does require an even higher level of skill, so as to reward higher level players at longer range.

Turning speed and arcs I have yet to determine, but I am of the opinion for a decent arc at slow speed, as the majority of the ballistae would be of heavier metal and would have a decent weight to it.

Now, the obvious question about this is what happens if you ignite the bolt on the weapon, and do not fire it. I’ve played around with the idea of self-damaging, but I believe that it would inspire too much trolling in players, and, as such, came to the conclusion that an automatic reload without a detonation would be the more appropriate choice. Perhaps with an increased reload timer to punish not firing the bolt after arming it.

Happy to hear any thoughts and criticisms of the Scipio. It’s just a theorized weapon, and I’m certain that it’ll go nowhere, but give me your thoughts, if you will.

28

Feedback and Suggestions / A rather large and well armed idea for Alliance: Dreadnoughts

« on: September 06, 2016, 01:43:56 pm »

An idea I've floated to a few players in the lobbies, and now that I figured out how to access the bleeding Forum I can actually leave it here where it can be critiqued to pieces.

The Dreadnought. Massive, 8 man crewed ships with power and strength to give the enemy an existential crisis, and let the players truly go toe to toe with bosses as they come.

These would be very heavy ships, slow and extremely well armed, but still difficult and requiring skill both by the captain and by the crew to man them. These Dreadnoughts would take up the space of two ships, gaining both of their crew while occupying both slots. In combat, it would be heavy and slow, but different dreadnoughts would have the chance to attack in a varying number of ways. They would be command ships, raid leaders, and act as a kind of defensive platform, guarding the smaller ships from either Titans or from waves on waves of enemies, acting primarily as the flagship for the team.

Now, the balancing of this ship is... a little odd. It's so heavily armed and armored that just making it slow is not nearly enough to make it balanced, especially while it's moored in the middle of a swarm of bot-boats and putting out enough fire to level a small city, so the general slow-speed-high-armor balancing wouldn't apply. So I devised a way to make them still fun and intensive to crew: Multiple hull and balloon repair points. This sounds counter intuitive at first, but hear me out.

The idea for the armor would be that the armor is now counted in a limited way as a component. Say you are on a Dreadnought that has two armor points, one on the port and one on the starboard. If you begin taking damage on the starboard side, the armor point on the starboard side will take damage, leaving the port side armor point unharmed. "But wouldn't that mean you just have to have one armor point active to keep your ship from taking perma damage?", no, no it wouldn't because of the second part of the "armor component" theory; should the Starboard armor fall, you will still take perma damage from the Starboard side, but it will be reduced. So, saying that you have a ship that has two armor points, if one point goes down, then half of the incoming damage would go to the hull, and the other half would go to the still active armor point. In the event of three armor points, then the damage would be spread across the hull and the two remaining armor points, 1/3rd to hull and 1/3rd to each of the armor points still active. This is supposed to somewhat simulate the weak points that can be found on Boss ships, and to keep it fun *Coughstressfulcoughcough* for the engineers. It also encourages the captain to try and switch the side that the ship is taking the majority of its damage, attempting to twist hard to put the still armored side to the source of incoming fire in order to minimize the damage taken to perma hull.

A similar strategy would be applied to the balloon repair ponts, where multiple balloon repair points would be required to keep the ship afloat. If one goes down, then the ship will become less responsive to elevation commands, and on heavier ships will slowly begin to descend, the rate of descent and the responsiveness both increasing/decreasing as more balloon points fail. Damage on balloon points, however, would be spread equally across all points instead of being on the component system. If you take, say, 50 damage to the balloon on a ship with two balloon points, then both of the balloon points would take 25 damage. This means that, for full effectiveness, both points would be required to be repaired, but that they would not fail as quickly, since the damage is spread out.

On a ship like this, firepower goes without saying. Bristling with weapons like an angry procupine of war, the Dreadnought would be a floating existential crisis. I don't think I even need to go on in this regard. It's a Dreadnought. Enough said.

I can also see another game mode that could be developed out of crewing aboard a Dreadnought class ship, a kind of survival mode, or else a Capital Clash, where Dreadnoughts face off against Boss ships and their escorts in a wave-based mode, or else the mode that Luharis mentioned, where you have to hold out for a certain amount of time for reinforcements against a heavy enemy presence. Putting these ships in either Assault or Defence would make them extremely powerful, so I would say they would be limited to either Hard or Hell modes in order to maintain balance and to make the experience more enjoyable.

Any and all criticism is happily accepted, and I hope it is at the very least entertained as a thought. I would just relegate this type of ship to Alliance mode, as in Skirmish... well, I'd rather not go up against that. It might be fun as a kind of tactical fight, but Skirmish is delicate enough as it is. It'd be easier to keep this to Alliance mode in order to have the massive armada fights we all hope for and love.