Balloons with Health

[Puppy Fur]

I feel carronades are pretty dang powerful and balloons are pretty dang weak. I'm more interested in the balloon side of things though so here it goes.

Currently, balloons all have the same health. Doesn't matter what size or ship, it's the same number of hit points. This seems like it creates balance issues. It feels as if the meta currently is, choose a pyramidion or face balloon lock. Lumberjacks and Carronades have always been extremely effective against balloons and balloons have in turn been extremely slow to repair. I feel they should be scaled differently for each ship.

Galleons are built to be tough but their balloon health says otherwise. Mobulas balloons are also an issue. Two shots and you drop like a rock. Spire as well. These ships are seen less and less from what I can tell and I feel a buff to their balloon health would help this pain.

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Well there is my opinion on balloons. More health for the ships that need it. If anyone has specific numbers they might think would work please post them. I'm no pro balance guy.

[DJ Logicalia]

Especially if the gunner stamina system is going to be implemented in the game the same way it is in the Dev App. Balloons are going to need, like, 3x their current health just to stand up to Blenderfishes

[Kamoba]

You forgot Junkers, they too are just big targets for blenders and LJs.
Although I like the balance of all balloons having the same health I feel it should be looked at a little bit more.

[Caprontos]

Do you raise rebuild time for balloons with more health so once broken you pay for it longer?

[Dementio]

Does changing balloon health matter? I expect to see Balloon destruction in a maximum of 3 shots, if the first 2 are not enough...

[Puppy Fur]

Does changing balloon health matter? I expect to see Balloon destruction in a maximum of 3 shots, if the first 2 are not enough...

3 shots would mean a reload instead of no reload for the heavy carronade which I think would have an impact.

[Dementio]

Yeah, it would be slower to destroy balloon, which I think is one of the few reasons why Blenderfish is so much more popular compared to other balloon popping builds.
I mean, you can say that slower balloon destruction "balances" it out, but at the same time, pretty much every other gun has the potential to one clip anything (gat one clipping armor) so the Carronade would actually be rather weak when having to reload before destroying the thing it was supposed to be able to destroy.

Maybe different balloon healths do make it better, but I actually can't see how it can be done with the heavy carronade without making it just too weak against certain ships whereas it stays as good or too good against the rest of them.

[Crafeksterty]

Keeping same baloon health through all ships is more balance friendly than changint them based on ships.

Perhaps making all damage versus baloon 50% worse, decrease baloon health by 50%, decrease rebuild by 25%.

That way you have an easier baloon to repair and rebuild while all damage is still the same, its just alot more rewarding to rebuild and repair the baloon.

[Hilary Briss]

Balloons so fast to destroy so long to rebuild.

The Stamina race begins after the first shot.

[Zirilfer]

I've thought about this a fair bit, and I personally think the balloon damage and health are in a very good spot. What I would like to see is a buff to drogue chute. As it stands drogue chute only lasts 2s after deactivation/leaving helm, and the resistance it provides against falling could be a bit better. Because the balloon is near the pilot on the most poppable ships (Junker and Galleon), something like say 6s after deactivation and 30%ish more vertical drag than it already provides could be enough for superior firepower to gain an advantage against blenders, without simply making blenders completely worthless.

There is also some utility for goldfish, spire and mobula. Goldfish has somewhat accessible hull and balloon, Spire has accessible hull and guns, and mobula falling slower would always help.

TL;DR: Buff drogue chute so captains can use their repair power while also having the benefits of drogue chute.

[Inkjet]

As the balloon rebuild time does increase with health, the only way I could see it working would be to do something like splitting the Galleon's balloon into two, with a separate repair point (maybe back upstairs in the hard to reach location ). With two points, one can be rebuilt just as quickly (or faster if the health of each is less than the current total of one) to arrest descent, but full vertical mobility wouldn't be regained until both balloons were repaired. A side affect of this might be that both Galleon balloons could be buffed, which might also prevent it from being a viable option.

[GeoRmr]

*sigh* I'll say it again loah.

Reduce the damage modifier for balloons, reduce balloon health to scale. (yes this also scales with the helm tools which deal flechette damage)
Balloons break in the same number of shots but can be rebuilt and repaired to full health/functionality faster.

I heard you think that carronades are weak and need a buff, lets add stamina so they can now shoot down!

[michael.hauda]

*sigh* I'll say it again loah.

Reduce the damage modifier for balloons, reduce balloon health to scale. (yes this also scales with the helm tools which deal flechette damage)
Balloons break in the same number of shots but can be rebuilt and repaired to full health/functionality faster.

I heard you think that carronades are weak and need a buff, lets add stamina so they can now shoot down!

Everything Geo said

[Puppy Fur]

Well, I see we are all in agreement. lol

Maybe the rebuild time could be helped instead? I feel the current balance is wrong no matter which way it's looked at though.

[Richard LeMoon]

Lower damage multiplier, lower health for same balloon break ratio, faster rebuild based on health, and perhaps faster falling might be an interesting combination.