Messages

16

Gameplay / Re: Heavy piercing weapon

« on: May 24, 2013, 09:17:59 pm »

Rope less would definitely work better in the case I was making.
What if it hit with the mass and inertia of a ship ram?

This would actually be pretty interesting.  Not that it'd deal impact damage directly, but it would push the ship so it would deal to itself a decent amount.  The amount it'd be pushed would diminish depending on range, yet it'd have a good range, 1000m or so.  So you have a choice of how you want to make use of it.  At range, dual Flak + Field Gun is still a better choice for a Galleon.

It'd be a positioning based weapon.  Goldfishes would use ramming combined with a point blank shot to peel their armor and send them hurtling towards a cliff face.  Spires could use it defensively as a knockback against charging ships, as well as a complement to explosive light weapons like a Flak and a Mortar.

I think it's a good idea.

17

Gameplay / Re: MAPS Balance Questions and Concerns v1.2

« on: May 23, 2013, 04:04:43 am »

Agreed.  Map rotation needs to come back in some form.

As another issue, I believe Anglean Raiders needs to be looked at.  In its current state, optimal play involves playing Squids and avoiding combat entirely.  While this can be fun in itself, it only is for the Pilot and not the crew.  I love objective oriented gameplay, but at the end of the day objectives only exist to facilitate combat in an interesting and strategic manner.

The solution to its unpopularity seems simple to me: remove the center point, C, and adjust the 4 outer points more towards the center of the map, or however it works.  As it stands, you can easily just decapture points while opponents are busy elsewhere, constantly outrunning them unless they're in Squids as well.

And while this is theoretically balanced for two competent teams, it's just not fun for public games, where I feel it could be without sacrificing and strategic depth.  Making only 4 capture points would mean you have to go to the enemy and deploy your forces intelligently to get an advantage.  Maneuvering would still exist, especially through the center portion.

18

Gameplay / Re: pyramidions, pyramidions everywhere

« on: May 21, 2013, 05:41:29 pm »

Goldfish is ridiculously good against the Pyramidion, especially a close-range Goldfish that makes a habit of constantly getting on its blind spots with superior maneuverability, then exploiting its also superior firepower.  As long as the Pyramidion can't make use of ramming and exploit the Goldfish's inferior survivability, the Goldfish will make mincemeat out of the midion's balloon.

19

Gameplay / Re: Heavy piercing weapon

« on: May 21, 2013, 05:39:24 pm »

Or at about a cannon?... Now wait and listen just a huge cannon ball but it has spikes... Hence piercing damage!!!!

Technically you could have it do explosive/piercing with a reversed arming timer to simulate velocity falloff while in the air. So after say 0.8s airtime the piercing falls off the weapon, making it devastating close up and ineffective against armor further away. Hell you could even use the projectile physics on a cannon, add mass and make a weapon that deals impact damage based on collision velocity.

Something I'd like to mention. Given the devastating damage current heavy weapons do, I think it would be very difficult to balance a raycast, rapid fire piercing weapon to fit on a galleon without making it completely ruin anything that doesn't sneak up on its blindsides. A new Howitzer, Rocket, or Cannon-like weapon is probably the way to go here. I understand that the Spire and Goldfish only have 1 heavy slot, but let's be honest here; the ship that will benefit the most from this change is going to be the Galleon, who can now balance their weaker starboard side with easy to use piercing capability making the light gun on port moreso a luxury than anything else.

Honestly, this is why I suggested a weapon that deals Piercing and Explosive damage.  Because naturally, its damage (and possibly range) would be sub-optimal compared to other options, but it'd be an all-in-one weapon.  It could have an arming time, making it a long range weapon, or it could be a close range weapon.

I've always wanted to see a cannon-like weapon; this is an opportunity for that.  Though I must admit, seeing a Light version would be nice, too.

The thing about a Piercing/Explosive weapon is that unlike the current combos you have, you'll be dealing no Shatter damage.  The Gatling and Merc don't really sacrifice much armor peeling power for their disabling potency, so they'll still be very useful.  But these weapons would be purely for killing.

20

Gameplay / Re: Lumberjack / Typhoon Arming Distances

« on: May 21, 2013, 05:34:49 pm »

I don't think the Typhon needs much.  It's incredibly powerful even inside its minimum range, at least on a Galleon or Spire.  It's pretty much useless on a Goldfish, simply because they nerfed Explosive (.3 from .5) so it can't deal with Armor very well.

Something we could do is increase the minimum range to 350m or so, and then make the arming time a linear dropoff in damage; its hard minimum range is 150m where it deals half its damage.  Then, the closer you get to 350m the more AoE damage it does, until it deals full damage at 350m.  This would make it less of a binary thing, as much as it wouldn't make realism sense at all.

We could also shift damage from its AoE to its Direct damage.

21

Gameplay / Re: GUNS Balance Questions and Concerns v1.2

« on: May 21, 2013, 05:28:10 pm »

Lumberjack OPness

Okay, so some people think the LJ is OP.  Some even said that it takes very few hits to destroy the hull with damage overflow.  I just did isolated tests.  Number of hits required to destroy any ship with or without balloon is in accordance with my calculations.  Although Flechette against Hull is 20% effective... an LJ shot against Hull is a total of 65 dmg (50 Shatter * 0.1 + 300 Flechette * 0.2 = 65). 

Players who have claimed that it takes less hits must be attacking a damaged ship... or there is a more serious bug at play but it doesn't seem to be the case.

http://gunsoficarus.com/gameplay/weapons/

This claims the Flechette modifier against Hull is .3.

Do you now see why you need to offer your community numbers?  Do you, awkm!?     We can't have accurate discussion about weapons without numbers, man!  The system just breaks down, man!  We need information, man!

22

Gameplay / Re: The Manta Ray

« on: May 21, 2013, 02:46:02 am »

-Low mass
-High armor
-Low hull
-Moderate speed
-Slow turn speed
-High vertical speed

Names: Locus, Flap Jack

Two heavy guns in the lower ports and three light guns on the top would be very cool.

Sounds like a reverse junker, in a way.  I'm fine with this.  I just hope the ship after this one is another speedster ala the Squid.

Perhaps a small ship with two small, long balloons on either side, maybe with wings to make it akin to a heavy fighter ship.  Not sure what gun setup it'd have, though.

23

Gameplay / Re: SHIPS Balance Questions and Concerns v1.2

« on: May 21, 2013, 02:42:34 am »

I still find the lack of an effective close range all around weapon or disabling weapon the biggest issue. Flames used to serve that role quite well till they stopped being able to disable guns at all.

Combined with the fact a Flamer was made unreliable for setting things on fire, the Flamethrower was made entirely useless.  A Gatling or even a Carronade is just better in every way at this point.

The Squid's speed is good, but it's not good enough to make it a good ship.  I don't think the problem would be solved by simply giving it more speed, though, especially with how ridiculously good the ship is at Resource Race.

It needs more armor, first of all.  It currently has 225 armor and 850 hull, or so.  Give it 450 armor and 450 hull, instead, so it's better at hit and run.

Something needs to be done about its firepower, as well.  I feel the nerf to Explosive damage was the biggest hit to its kill power (while the nerf to fire was an equally huge hit to its disabling power).  There would need to be a weapon that deals both piercing and explosive damage, perhaps at a prohibitively close range.  That, or it needs two front guns, or two side guns, or a gun on the forward-right (ala the Spire).

Giving it an extra weapon platform on the aforementioned position, instead of moving it, would actually do quite a lot for giving the ship utility and power.  Alternatively, it could be given a heavy weapon on the side or rear, but I don't quite like that option as much.

24

Gameplay / Re: GUNS Balance Questions and Concerns v1.2

« on: May 20, 2013, 05:05:56 pm »

@ Nikolai you're dead wrong about it ONLY being useful against balloons. The Lumber still does ~115 damage to hull armor for every hit goes through a dead balloon, and ~95 to permahull. Not to mention its aoe can hurt guns pretty well if the gunner misses a tad low of the balloon.

Now unless the newest numbers posted are completely wrong I think that math is spot on.

Yeah, it does an okay amount of damage to armor and hull.  However, Flechette (which LJ deals on AoE) deals literally zero damage to guns and engines.  You'd need to hit them with the shatter damage, directly, which is only a piddly 50 shatter damage.

Otherwise, Lumberjack seems fine to me.  Not overpowered, not really underpowered.

25

Gameplay / Re: GUNS Balance Questions and Concerns v1.2

« on: May 20, 2013, 05:04:40 am »

I am well aware of power creep, but if we just have nerfs without other adjustments we are going to end up with a very narrow allotment of weapons which are viable (one might say we do already). Balance is understandably hard of cause.

Well, then it's just a matter of nerfing the weapons that are too powerful.  It can be easier to just buff what few weapons are too weak, but it highly depends.  A lot of weapons can be overpowered because of a mechanic they have in common.

A big thing to consider is how long we want the average time-to-kill to be.  Also relevant is how much skill investment should be needed to achieve that average time, as well as the general threshold for failure.

So we can't just nerf everything over and over, that'll result in the opposite of power creep (which is not named, because it almost Never Happens).  A balance must be found.  Hence, balance. 

26

Gameplay / Re: SHIPS Balance Questions and Concerns v1.2

« on: May 20, 2013, 04:40:25 am »

The Spire may possibly deserve some more turn rate and acceleration.  It should be the best in both of those categories, and it should be the best by a decent margin.

sorry but that destinction should ALWAYS bellong to the squid, for without it, it is absolutely NOTHING.

Oh, yeah, my bad.  This is definitely true, to the point where I sort of assume it to be true.  Aside from the Squid, the Spire should have the best turn rate.  :p

27

Gameplay / Re: Drogue Chute

« on: May 19, 2013, 04:46:28 pm »

I would far rather just make use of Impact Bumpers.  They offer me much more utility, in that I can save myself from crashes, protect against enemy rams, do ramming myself, and I can counter carronades by using it when being grounded.  It's also nice as a brake tool.

Drogue chute?  Meh.  Never used it.

28

Gameplay / Re: SHIPS Balance Questions and Concerns v1.2

« on: May 19, 2013, 04:33:34 pm »

I'm not out to rebuild the Junker. I like the ship and her design, strengths, and weaknesses. She's in a solid state overall, I agree. My only disagreement is with how unparalleled her ability to keep target is as a ship capable of wide converging arcs, it's a tough ship to get an approach angle on. On the other hand, a ship posing a fairly consistent threat forces pilots to adapt or conform, and those loving the other ships will assuredly bring new ideas into the game to counter them.

This, combined with its good armor are pretty much its only strengths.  Remember how underpowered the Junker was before it was made extremely agile and tanky.  That's its niche, now.

I think there are a few weapons with arcs wider than they strictly should be (artemis) but other than that, I don't perceive the Junker as overpowered.  Remember the inherent tradeoff you get for having three crew on weapons.

The Spire may possibly deserve some more turn rate and acceleration.  It should be the best in both of those categories, and it should be the best by a decent margin.

29

Gameplay / Re: GUNS Balance Questions and Concerns v1.2

« on: May 19, 2013, 04:23:31 pm »

Before we get anymore heavy nerf's (carronades anyone?) I would like to see some of the underused guns adjusted to make them a bit more viable. (new art, carousel, etc)

Please be conscious of power creep.  This is something a lot of people don't realize the importance of, but it's very, very important.

It's far better to preserve the average level of power than to just "buff old things."  Because that's exactly what power creep is; the general power level creeps upwards and upwards and the game changes radically as a result, generally for the worse.

Also, I'm really baffled at how much people are panning the new Artemis.  It's still great, its DPS hasn't dropped significantly and it now takes skill to use.  It's not bad in any way, it's just harder to use.  It's perfectly fine as a counter to the Lumberjack, and so is Mercury.

That's something else I'm confused about.  The Lumberjack is really good at popping balloons at range, and... nothing else.  Sure, your balloon is being popped, and you're taking flechette and shatter damage to your armor.  That's pretty pitiful.  It does need to be combined with other weapons to be useful, which means it's never going to be useful on a Goldfish.

30

Gameplay / Re: pyramidions, pyramidions everywhere

« on: May 19, 2013, 12:19:57 am »

You two are just adorable.