Ship Design Concept: The Carrier

[Captain Phil]

The Carrier
In the game Guns of Icarus there were small aircraft to go along with the airship to give you a bad day; currently the developers are working on introducing biplanes into Guns of Icarus Online. We all know that biplanes will be in adventure mode, but how can they be integrated into skirmish mode without breaking current game play? The answer is a small compact carrier around the size of the galleon. The stats I have envision for the carrier is that it will have the armor and health close to around what the galleon has, and the airship’s forward speed will be slower than the galleon’s; however, the carrier will have a much higher turn speed to allow it to position its docking bays toward incoming planes allowing for quicker and safer landing. As for gun placements, a small gun on the port and starboard should be enough for a carrier.

Role of the Carrier
The carrier will fit in the current fleet as a support ship having ability to send up to two small aircraft to assist ally ships. Of course, depending on the load out of the small aircraft and the carrier itself will determine how the captain and crew will engage in battles. Two small aircraft that could be used by the carrier is the biplane, of course, and a helicopter.

The plane
The plane will have high speed and mobility that will allow it to dart around ships making them hard targets to hit. The plane will be fast allowing it will be able to get across the map quickly to assist an ally ship and back before it runs out of fuel were the helicopter would not be able to cover the distance in the timeframe needed. Yes, fuel system, will get to that later. Though the plane is fast, it does not have much health, so gunners will have to fly smart or be shot down quickly.

The helicopter
The helicopter will be a small aircraft that has better defensive stats then the small plane in exchange for mobility. The helicopter will be able to stick in an airship’s blind spot and dish out some decent damage. However, if caught out of positions, the helicopter will have a hard time escaping with its low mobility. The helicopter will be able to shine in defending the carrier from attacks, or charging into a battle with their carrier.
Combat system for small craft
   
Selection of Aircraft
Within the hold of the ship there will be two docking stations. In ship customization the captain will be able to change out which type of small aircraft will be in which section of the hold, and what weapon will be mounted on the craft. It will be important for your gunners to know what they will be using, so they can change their tactics and equipment accordingly.
   
Health, fuel, and permanent buffs for small craft
Like the guns on the airships, the small aircraft will have health points, and when the health points are depleted the craft will be destroyed. The small aircraft will have relatively low hp; about 125-150 for plane and 150-200 for helicopter: However, unlike the regular guns on the ship, the small aircraft will have a fuel bar within the craft’s display along with a compass pointing to your home carrier, and an altimeter. The fuel system will force the small craft to either kamikaze (not a good idea which will be explained in a bit) or return to the carrier to refuel and repair. The reason for a fuel system is to keep the planes balanced. If a plane had the ability to constantly harass an enemy ship, or fly all the way across the map so the carrier can hide in a cloud, it would be unfair for other airships. Introducing the fuel system will force the carrier to be close to its planes for faster refueling.

If a small craft is destroyed then it will have to be rebuilt within the ship’s hold like you would rebuild a gun. The catch is that rebuilding a small aircraft takes a long time (by long time I mean around a minute of hitting the rebuild station with two spanners), and thus is more time conservative to return to the carrier for repairs instead of crashing into an enemy ship.
Another idea to discourage crashing the planes is a permanent buff system. As stated before, I am trying to make it worth the time to return to the carrier when you are low on fuel or health. Even with the long rebuild, two or three spanners will still rebuild the plane fast enough to make it more time consuming if you took your time to fly back depending on how far the plane is out. So, to make it so that gunners will want to fly back to the carrier I came up with the idea of permanent buffs. Each time you return for repairs, the added metal to the plane’s battle scars will increase its durability. The gunner also gets the feel of the plane down; thus allowing him to fly the plane more efficiently and save fuel.
In other words…
The more hp you repair on return, the higher the hp of the plane will be for the next time the plane leaves. For example: you dock your small plane with 50 /150 hp remaining, after repairs the plane will now have 175/175 hp. staking up to an ‘X’ amount.
For fuel you will have an added duration of how long you can stay out. For example: you return with 25% fuel left. Now next flight out you will be able to stay out for an additional 15 seconds. These are just random numbers I am throwing out, but the idea is there
Damage reduction system for small crafts

The main issue with the small craft is that any heavy gun, and even some of the small guns would just one shot them, making the carrier just about useless. The easiest way that I could think of to prevent this is to add a damage reduction system to the small aircraft. If a single shot will do more than 50% of the aircraft’s current health, then it will only do 50% of the aircraft’s current health. If the small aircraft has less than 25% of its maximum health then the shot will do full damage and destroy the craft. This system will prevent the small craft from being instantly taken down just as they leave the carrier’s hanger by snipers. Another concept to add is making the small craft invulnerable when docked. Since the objective of the small aircraft is to be useful and not a hindrance to the operations of the ship.
   
Fixing up your plane on the go
Unfortunately there is only so much you can do from your craft’s cockpit. However if you happen to have a wrench or other repair tool you can give your plane 10% temporary hp. This dose count as maximum health, so if your plane is at 20% health and you do a makeshift repair to up its health to 30% the next howitzer shot you take will bring your craft down to 15% instead of 0% health. This temporary health will also assist in keeping your plane in good shape in sandstorms. If you fear fire more than gunfire then you can bring a fire extinguisher in case you come across any flamethrowers in flight. When your small aircraft is on fire it will do less damage, respond slower, and take damage; but you can still fly around and the fire will go out relatively fast so one burst of flame will not completely disable you until you return, but the plane will take damage from the fire, so getting the fire out faster is a good idea. (fun concept- kamikaze-ing with flaming ship sets airships on fire?)

Gunner tools
The gunner will also be able to use his or her different ammunition types except the lochanagar shot since it would destroy the plane. This will give the gunner the ability to make his attacks more effective against an enemy airship or small aircraft. Also they can use the heat sink coil to protect their craft from fire, and allowing them to bring a wrench with no risk.

Flying and Docking.
Starting out the small craft will spawn upon a rotatable platform. Once the craft takes off, it will have about 90 seconds to 120 seconds of fuel before the craft crashes and dies (would need actual game play to balance decent times out). Fuel can be conserved by using techniques such as gliding with the plane and keeping the engine for the helicopter on minimal thrust when hovering in a spot; though the helicopter will slowly descend with minimal output. Physics will also be incorporated within the plane; pointing your plane up will slow you down, and doing nose dives will speed you up. All of this is common physics and mechanics so I will not dive into it much.
When your plane or helicopter is low on fuel or has taken one too many hits then you will have to head back to the carrier for maintenance. If your carrier is taken out in battle, your plane will still be able to fly around. If you manage to though, you can return to the carrier since the carrier will not spawn another plane if that plane happens to be out. Also on the bright side, if your plane is destroyed after the carrier, then the replacement plane will automatically spawn, no rebuilds required. So yes, you can kamikaze your plane after your carrier falls with no penalty, but only then!
The crashing systems for the two small craft will work differently. The small plane will be destroyed instantly if it collides with anything, even your home carrier, so practice landing. Clipping your wing on something will also damage your plane significantly but not destroy it unless it is already at low health. For the helicopter, when you crash into things you will just bounce off. This will do a bit of damage to both the helicopter and the enemy ship. Note, you can also crash into an enemy or ally airplane or helicopter which would effectively destroy both crafts, so watch where you fly.
Another small idea to assist the carrier’s pilot to position the carrier correctly for an incoming plane is to have two lights by the wheel. If a plane is docked the light will show green, and if a plane is out the light will show red. This will allow the pilot make sure the incoming plane does not end up crashing because the docking bay she or he is trying to land in already has something in it.
Last bit for this section is just how the whole landing system will work in my mind, since this system will allow for a compact carrier. In the landing bay there will be two nets within the hanger bay on each side. The pilot will have to line up the plane and make sure both wings hit the nets. The nets will sling back slowing the plane down. Then the plane will drop on to a rotating platform where it will be turned around for departure after repairs. The helicopter will be able to fly in and drop onto the platform without having to worry about the nets. This is just my idea on how a landing system will work for the two craft; maybe someone else will have a better idea.

Game-play Theory and Balance of the carrier
As said before, the carrier will be able to excel at being able to support its ally ships with its small aircraft. I can view the carrier being able to push itself into the middle of the fray taking hits for squishier ships. The carrier can also stay in the back, hiding behind a galleon even, and sending out its aircraft for long range support. On Control point maps the carrier will have the ability to stay on a point and send out airplanes to assist ally ships in the capturing of other points. However, this can be dangerous since the carrier will be helpless if it is caught without its small aircraft to cover it. Also the carrier is even larger than the galleon, so managing to ram an enemy ship would be worthwhile. It may be annoying pealing all the squids off though if you manage to ram them. That would have to be the worst squid captain ever to get hit by something moving as fast as a kite.

Possible issues with the carrier
The balance of a game is always at stake when something new is added. Hopefully I gave enough ideas so if this ship and the small aircraft are added; the balance of the game would not be disrupted. The thing I am trying for is to have it so any ship can beat any ship in a one on one battle, and skill would be the determining factor. While the pesky helicopters will be getting in annoying places, the ship will still be able to maneuver fast enough to get the helicopter in firing range and deal with the threat quickly. And even if the carrier is as tough as the galleon and has more mobility with its guns (since its guns are moving around all the time) the carrier itself would be slow and can be chased down by carrondes easy.
Unfortunately I am not a professional designer of any sorts, but maybe Muse can use a few concepts and bring the idea of a carrier to life in this game. I am getting tired of hearing people crying over not being able to leave the airship (boarding), and while this is not anywhere near boarding, it will allow players to get off the airship once and a while for some epic dog fights, brining a new flavored to the battle field. You can check out the drawn designs on my deviant art, but I am sure Muse needs no help in creating a neat looking ship. And even if the ship may be broken in skirmish mode, keep in mind that it could work out in adventure mode.


Miscellaneous tidbits that I may have missed or cannot really fit in easily
-   You cannot cap points with the small craft; the carrier itself has to be on the point.
-   You cannot use captain tools (spyglass is an exception) when manning the small craft.
-   Captains can see the location of their planes on the map “m”

Please leave comments, try to bring up problems that may occur with this ship and/or anything within the mechanics I may have missed or misunderstood.
Thank you for reading this through. Credit for art designs goes to both me and my good friend Aaron. (The airship would like a galleon and a junker smashed together and the helicopter just would be a disaster without him.)

All the pictures - http://pwhampton.deviantart.com/

-Captain Phil

[Nadrynne]

I like the idea of a carrier and I think it would be really fun to fly one of the little planes too. I think the fuel duration is far too short and I'm not sure if it is required at all (the plane is essentially light gun - probably worse, and will have terrible HP which you can't repair except back at the carrier - and perhaps you need a special plane repair toolkit to do so. Plus while a plane is out it is one less person on board the carrier anyway).

I think the carrier should have a lower flight deck which is essentially a bit tube. It shoots the planes out the front on one of those... catapult things? And to land you have to fly in through the rear to be caught in a net.

I am very against the fuel thing (I think it would just be very annoying to play), but how about an ammunition limit instead? So you have to fly back to reload? That way you don't have to worry about falling out the sky after 90 seconds, but you wouldn't be able to just stay out and constantly harass a ship.

[-Muse- Cullen]

As fun as flying in a plane would be, it would definitely change the style of gameplay for those on the Carrier; while all other ships simply change the ship's loadout and deal damage based on their accuracy and distance, this new ship would rely entirely on two free-floating light guns to do damage while the mothership flees from dying.

If I interpret your drawings correctly from your deviant art, the carrier's only defense is its two side-mounted light guns, which would probably not be used very much, because of the following two reasons: the pilot needs to keep turning the ship due to its small gun arcs, and with only two people on the ship, and one being the pilot, the remaining one would have to keep up the damage, or try to out-repair an assailant. This is effectively the same as trying to crew for a Galleon, minus its heavy weapons, with only two people.

The planes, though, could definitely keep up the damage with strafing runs and dodging maneuvers. However, if the planes tried to dock, the enemy ship could simply camp in front of the net and deny entrance. If the planes had ammo or fuel, that would imply that they would have to dock often, so the only effective way to avoid this shut-out is to deploy the planes at a long range. If the planes are fuel-reliant, this would pull the planes' effectiveness in to medium range, and that could easily turn into a problem for the carrier. Because the planes only have one gun, they could easily be ignored by themselves through out-repairing. Crippling the carrier would be too easy if only one person decided to deploy a helicopter or plane. If the planes were coordinated enough to do some serious damage, the enemy ship could simply focus on taking out one plane, and then relax at the easy kill as the other 'fly' buzzes around fruitlessly.

Planes might realize that they are useless without the second ship accompanying them, so they might both switch to carronades. This would become the new meta- dogfighting with carronades- where the winning ships then prey on the loser's mothership and ride it into the ground. This problem's only cure is to hope that your own dogfighters are better, or hopefully get a lucky shot or two on it before your balloon gets destroyed. While the latter problem seems fair, most would opt for the former, which would then make most matches require a Carrier for its balloon-popping effectiveness. The last thing that a new ship should do is become a required, or most effective, counter for itself.

The idea is fun, but it would definitely remove the pilot-gunner-engineer relationship aboard a ship, because people would fly off and do their own thing- the carrier would just become a flying gas station for ineffective, close-range, timer-driven guns. I think that if the idea was polished a little more, it could have a better chance at coming to light in the game. I apologize for my Negative-Nancy post, but this is how I feel about it.

[Connor Mc.]

I have a fear if this were to be a ship, everybody would use it, would the carrier have to be all Pilots? considering you have to be a pilot to fly a plane?

[Captain Phil]

If I interpret your drawings correctly from your deviant art, the carrier's only defense is its two side-mounted light guns, which would probably not be used very much, because of the following two reasons: the pilot needs to keep turning the ship due to its small gun arcs, and with only two people on the ship, and one being the pilot, the remaining one would have to keep up the damage, or try to out-repair an assailant. This is effectively the same as trying to crew for a Galleon, minus its heavy weapons, with only two people.

The carrier does not always have to send both planes out, but can use a flak on the side and have the one small plane use a chain gun to break armor. As for other ships blocking the carrier's docking bay, there are two docking bays, and the carrier could quickly hydrogen or chute down to get an opening for a plane. For the carronades, you have the same problem with a carronade squid, or hellhound fish where they have the ability to get in your blind spot and sink you, but unlike the planes they do not have to turn around or go refuel. I would rather have two carronade planes on me then a carronade airship in my opinion. The main idea for planes is to have them assist an ally ship, where you could have a plane with an artimis pegging at an enemy attacking an ally, and you have your own carrier and second plane keeping the other enemy busy. With a high turning speed and weapons close to the hull, one engineer should be able to keep the ship up long enough for an ally to come and assist after their fight.

[Captain Phil]

I like the idea of a carrier and I think it would be really fun to fly one of the little planes too. I think the fuel duration is far too short and I'm not sure if it is required at all (the plane is essentially light gun - probably worse, and will have terrible HP which you can't repair except back at the carrier - and perhaps you need a special plane repair toolkit to do so. Plus while a plane is out it is one less person on board the carrier anyway).

The times I put out is just an estimate, a fuel system like that would actually have to be put into play to balance it out..

[Helmic]

That, sir, is a fucking wall of text.  I skimmed it and I like the concept, to the point where I'm afraid it's going to be so much fun that no one will want to fly a regular ship.  I'll give it a proper reading this evening.

[Sgt. Spoon]

After all the long discussions we've had about this subject, I'm still a pro-carrier guy, but it would probably be funnier to implement as some kind of medium weapon.
I find the fuel/munitions system a good idea, limiting the planes movement somewhat. This way, the planes wouldn't be able to fly around everywhere with the carriers constantly at the edge of the screen.

Stuff I'm not so sure about:
I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm not so sure if helicopters is a good idea. It feels like they'll be able to stay in blind spots to often.
The permanent buff system seems a bit unessesary, and frankly I think that it would lead to people flying in and out of their carrier quickly at the start, to maximise their plane directly.
Lastly, it might be better not to be able to repair your plane on the go at all.

Just some general feedback

[Captain Phil]

After all the long discussions we've had about this subject, I'm still a pro-carrier guy, but it would probably be funnier to implement as some kind of medium weapon.
I find the fuel/munitions system a good idea, limiting the planes movement somewhat. This way, the planes wouldn't be able to fly around everywhere with the carriers constantly at the edge of the screen.

Stuff I'm not so sure about:
I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm not so sure if helicopters is a good idea. It feels like they'll be able to stay in blind spots to often.
The permanent buff system seems a bit unessesary, and frankly I think that it would lead to people flying in and out of their carrier quickly at the start, to maximise their plane directly.
Lastly, it might be better not to be able to repair your plane on the go at all.

Just some general feedback

I also saw the problem of crews just taking off to try to maximize their plane before engaging in combat. However, it takes a while of being out there flying to receive even a little of that permanent buff, so gunners would just end up taking the time out to do useful things such as scouting and spotting enemy ships before they engage in combat.

As for repairing in flight, it is just a small amount of temporary hp to protect your plane from about 1-2 chain gun shots, but mainly to help reduce damage taken from sandstorms if you get caught in one.

And I am also skeptic on the helicopters, but the idea is there, thank for the  feedback.

[Captain Phil]

That, sir, is a fucking wall of text.  I skimmed it and I like the concept, to the point where I'm afraid it's going to be so much fun that no one will want to fly a regular ship.  I'll give it a proper reading this evening.

Spent four months thinking this idea over, and while flying planes would be fun, sitting in a junker on a gatling gun shooting down all the planes would also be fun as hell.

[-Muse- Cullen]

The carrier does not always have to send both planes out, but can use a flak on the side and have the one small plane use a chain gun to break armor.

-Because the planes only have one gun, they could easily be ignored by themselves through out-repairing. Crippling the carrier would be too easy if only one person decided to deploy a helicopter or plane. If the planes were coordinated enough to do some serious damage, the enemy ship could simply focus on taking out one plane, and then relax at the easy kill ...- Because it would take so long to build a new plane, its always an extremely risky maneuver to send a plane out to take on a ship that isn't distracted. The carrier wouldn't have enough firepower to distract an enemy, because it only has one gun. By taking out the plane, or that one gun on the Carrier, the damage to the hull becomes negligible and out-repairable. The Carrier would need more options than simply -send out a plane and keep on shooting-. If it had the chance to keep the ship in the hangar and shoot directly from there(and act as a normal gun that repairs at normal speed), that would be leagues better, because it would have the same gun layout as the Junker.

For the carronades, you have the same problem with a carronade squid, or hellhound fish where they have the ability to get in your blind spot and sink you, but unlike the planes they do not have to turn around or go refuel. I would rather have two carronade planes on me then a carronade airship in my opinion.

While this is true, I must still say that it becomes too easy for a ship to hybridize by using a balloon popper plane in conjunction with long range cover. Poppers on their own are a problem, and giving a ship the ability to make expendable poppers would be extremely attractive- the risk(virtually 0)-reward(crippling the ship and getting a kill) for this would be too amazing to do anything but. The reason that those two ships are so dangerous is because they can get into that blind spot due to their mobility. The planes will be the epitome of maneuverability, and will be able to get to those blind spots much easier than those two. In fact, flying head on with the plane would be suicide, so a carronade might be the only 'good' option in order to maximize the effectiveness due to small windows of attack during the strafing run. One light gun is not enough to do damage to a ship- that is why the majority, if not all, ships in this game have at least one medium gun, or at least two light guns that can bifecta for damage. Killing one gun would render the other completely useless. While killing the plane would take him out of the match for some time, the slow-moving Carrier would be a much easier target- especially since that is the only thing that matters in actually scoring a point. The gunner wouldn't be able to do anything, while the engineer(s) on the Carrier would probably abandon the gun for the hull.

The main idea for planes is to have them assist an ally ship, where you could have a plane with an artimis pegging at an enemy attacking an ally, and you have your own carrier and second plane keeping the other enemy busy. With a high turning speed and weapons close to the hull, one engineer should be able to keep the ship up long enough for an ally to come and assist after their fight.

Sending off a plane to help an ally is a good strategy, but the Carrier is so defenseless without that extra plane that it would be like pulling a goalie and letting him leave the rink on a team of three while playing against against a team of four. Having the trifecta of damage would make this ship amazing, otherwise, it is a waste to have a plane leave the ship's target during a direct assault.

[Connor Mc.]

Helicopters would be really weird, there were experimental helicopter designs in the 20s, WW1 ended in 1918ish or something like that, if this is a world where WW1 never ended, it's likely they used really crappy helicopters, but that's what they would be, really crappy

[Sgt. Spoon]

I also saw the problem of crews just taking off to try to maximize their plane before engaging in combat. However, it takes a while of being out there flying to receive even a little of that permanent buff, so gunners would just end up taking the time out to do useful things such as scouting and spotting enemy ships before they engage in combat.

As for repairing in flight, it is just a small amount of temporary hp to protect your plane from about 1-2 chain gun shots, but mainly to help reduce damage taken from sandstorms if you get caught in one.

I guess it's all due to good balancing i.e. it'll be Eric's problem :P
---
Also, when we discussed planes on the old forums a big concern was that they might get to powerful. Now there's a lot of concerns about it being to weak. It's good to see that the discussion isn't too static.

[Helmic]

The issues are similar to boarding, it's completely new gameplay that has to be precisely balanced.  Planes are gonna happen and it's going to suck if they're only ever AI-controlled, but it'd take a lot of effort to make planes fun to both fly and shoot down while still keeping that airship-to-airship focus of combat.

[HarveyFiveTwoNine]

Forgive me if it has been mentioned already, but what about this being a game type: Capture the Carrier? Say each team has one massive carrier (armed with AA guns), but the players can only fly the planes it launches. The idea would be to try and fend off the enemy team's fighters from trying to destroy the AA guns on your carrier before landing on it to capture it and win the round and visa versa.