Author Topic: Emergency/Distress Balloons- Pilot tool  (Read 14231 times)

Offline Richard LeMoon

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Emergency/Distress Balloons- Pilot tool
« on: February 01, 2015, 04:23:45 pm »
Balloons go down really fast to a lot of things, and they rebuild very slowly, only to break again due to low health. The only way to combat this is the chute, or impact bumpers once you hit the ground. My thought is to add a new pilot tool that would give you extra time actually floating without your main balloon. Introducing the Distress Balloons.



Clever pilots removed the instant deploy balloon mechanism from mines to keep their own ships from crashing to the ground. They also added beacons to help friendly ships locate them. Each balloon has its own health, and has to be shot down individually before the ship will fall. The pilot has no control over these balloons, so can not rise or fall until their main balloon is repaired. The balloons last for (estimation) 60 seconds, and can not be redeployed until after that time. Push button like tar to prevent accidental deployment. Beacons light up for 10 seconds. Clicking again after deployment reactivates the beacons for another 10 seconds, which will show your ship through clouds. The beacons are too dim to highlight any other ships. Ship movement is severely reduced in all ways except up, which is increased.

An interesting possibility would be to give ships a different number of balloons based on main balloon size. A squid could have two, while a Galleon or Spire could have four. This would give balloon-weak (big target) ships a better counter to balloon poppers.

Offline DJ Logicalia

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Re: Emergency/Distress Balloons- Pilot tool
« Reply #1 on: February 01, 2015, 04:57:54 pm »
This is super cool

+1

Offline Zirilfer

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Re: Emergency/Distress Balloons- Pilot tool
« Reply #2 on: February 02, 2015, 12:27:03 am »
This is kinda neat, the Moonshine to Drogue Chutes Kerosene perhaps.

Offline Kamoba

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Re: Emergency/Distress Balloons- Pilot tool
« Reply #3 on: February 02, 2015, 03:50:54 am »
I like this idea a lot, and the huge "IM IN DANGER HELP ME!!!!" Look of the balloon balances itself as it shows the pilot has lost horizontal controls and leaves the ship very vulnerable, but stops rapid drops being so common. :)

Offline GeoRmr

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Re: Emergency/Distress Balloons- Pilot tool
« Reply #4 on: February 02, 2015, 06:57:46 am »
Wouldn't this just make drogue chute irrelevant?

+10 for visible balloon effect (would they have health and be popable?)

Parachute effect for drogue chute pls?

Offline ShadedExalt

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Re: Emergency/Distress Balloons- Pilot tool
« Reply #5 on: February 02, 2015, 08:29:19 am »
Wouldn't this just make drogue chute irrelevant?

+10 for visible balloon effect (would they have health and be popable?)

Parachute effect for drogue chute pls?

Yes they would, reread it.

By the way, +9001!

Offline Kamoba

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Re: Emergency/Distress Balloons- Pilot tool
« Reply #6 on: February 02, 2015, 09:20:52 am »
Actually I don't think it would render Drogue Chutes pointless...

The fact you'd loose your up and down movements is in my opinions a huge draw back, yet Chutes allow you to keep a bit more control, if you know you're going to be up high a lot, a drogue chute would the be better choice than the "COME SHOOT ME I CANT VENT CHUTE DODGE YOU!" :)


Offline Indreams

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Re: Emergency/Distress Balloons- Pilot tool
« Reply #7 on: February 02, 2015, 12:12:59 pm »
An alternative drogue chute is how I see it. I like it.

Offline Crafeksterty

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Re: Emergency/Distress Balloons- Pilot tool
« Reply #8 on: February 02, 2015, 12:29:01 pm »
I like it, but also hate how impactfull it is.

Can the ship still turn and move around?
How much health does those baloons have?
Would combining chute + this perhaps be overpowering versus carros? (Drogue Chuting before the baloon brakes gives a better effect)
If lets say the ship uses this, wouldnt it just be better to keep firing at the main baloon? Because once it goes up, those distress baloons are gone.
How about a 30 second length where if you activate this you must have it for 30 seconds and you cannot get rid of them yourself. So you cannot go up or down for the duration even after your baloon got repaired.

Offline Richard LeMoon

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Re: Emergency/Distress Balloons- Pilot tool
« Reply #9 on: February 02, 2015, 12:43:44 pm »
The purpose is somewhat different than drogue shoot. Drogue shoot is for controlled falls, with reduced movement, but does nothing to prevent your eventual death. It is an instant tool that does not effect you for too long. Distress balloons temporarily negate falling at the expense of more movement, allowing you to keep gun arcs and rebuild your main balloon past one hit before it goes down again. Once activated, you have to deal with the effects for much longer, so much more strategy comes into play.

Like Zirilfer said, this is the Moonshine to Drogue Chute's Kerosene. Better benefits in certain circumstances, but more care needed when using.

In response to Crafeksterty:

The ship can still move, just more reduced than Drogue Chute.

About the same as a mine balloon. One heavy carro shot would take one out, I think.

It would help against them quite a bit, but if you take both you are leaving yourself open to a lot of other guns.

If you want to go for hull break, you keep firing at the main. The balloons 'pop' and can be redeployed every 60 seconds or so. This is ample time to carro any distress balloons and take out the main again. But while doing that, your foe will not go down. Concentrated carro fire will still take a ship running distress balloons down eventually, it would just take longer.

The time is guestimated at 60 seconds. Once you click to activate, you are stuck with the extra balloons for the next 60 seconds, whether you want them anymore or not. That is one of the drawbacks. Having these activated pretty much prevents you from going down at any effective speed. They would give you more lift, though. Combining them with hydro would make your ship rocket up... but then you are sorta stuck in place at the top of the map for the next 60 seconds due to added horizontal drag and inability to go down.

Offline David Dire

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Re: Emergency/Distress Balloons- Pilot tool
« Reply #10 on: February 02, 2015, 12:53:46 pm »

-snip-


This is such a good idea, It's not an upgraded Drogue shoot, as you literally get stuck with this emergency balloon for 60 seconds, Squids, Goldfish's (Goldfishi?) and maybe other Pyramidions could easily abuse this to get behind you, or even run away and leave you stranded from your team for a good minute. Also, the fact the balloons can easily be popped, unlike Drogue shoot, which is invisible, can make your Emergency Balloons even more balanced, as it gives them some pretty fair downsides in comparison to the fact you stop falling with no balloon for a minute.

Offline Kestril

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Re: Emergency/Distress Balloons- Pilot tool
« Reply #11 on: February 02, 2015, 01:04:43 pm »
I really would like this tool as an option in-game.

It adds another level of play--and an alternative to the drogue cute.

Offline Gambrill

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Re: Emergency/Distress Balloons- Pilot tool
« Reply #12 on: February 10, 2015, 03:30:39 am »
The cool down of 1 min is nice too and being restricted in all movement except vertically up is nice too. gives you a chance to gain some distance from the ground before they pop them or you rebuild your main baloon. If they rebuild the baloon before you lose all of your emergencies does it take some of the cooldown away as you have managed to protect some of your baloons? or a straight up cooldown no changes? :)

Offline Squidslinger Gilder

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Re: Emergency/Distress Balloons- Pilot tool
« Reply #13 on: February 11, 2015, 07:15:05 am »
Neat idea and all but to play the villain here...

You know this would turn the ship into a floating BBQ. Foes just flying around, spraying flame thrower with nothing to stop them. Maniacal laugh ensues. And with it just sitting there, all the parts would be 20 stacks so when the balloons wear off you have no ship to fly anymore. Just a hunk of metal falling to the ground.

That or makes it the perfect stationary target for a gat/mort to come by.

There is a major reason I rarely if ever use Drogue Chute. It is because of both of those reasons. Sure it buys time but under heavy bombardment you just make yourself a target and end up dying before you ever hit the ground. It also prevents the pilot from helping with rebuilds. Sometimes you want balloons to blow so you can use the downward movement to dodge fire. I often times use Chute or Hydro to intentionally blow a balloon as a tactical move to not only rebuild a weak balloon but to take advantage of the free fall to set up a better position and evade heavy fire.

In my experience Drogue bites me in the butt more often than not. This I'd never touch ever for the same reason. Its a gimmick that would only work in favorable conditions.

Offline Gambrill

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Re: Emergency/Distress Balloons- Pilot tool
« Reply #14 on: February 11, 2015, 10:11:55 am »
Neat idea and all but to play the villain here...

You know this would turn the ship into a floating BBQ. Foes just flying around, spraying flame thrower with nothing to stop them. Maniacal laugh ensues. And with it just sitting there, all the parts would be 20 stacks so when the balloons wear off you have no ship to fly anymore. Just a hunk of metal falling to the ground.

That or makes it the perfect stationary target for a gat/mort to come by.

There is a major reason I rarely if ever use Drogue Chute. It is because of both of those reasons. Sure it buys time but under heavy bombardment you just make yourself a target and end up dying before you ever hit the ground. It also prevents the pilot from helping with rebuilds. Sometimes you want balloons to blow so you can use the downward movement to dodge fire. I often times use Chute or Hydro to intentionally blow a balloon as a tactical move to not only rebuild a weak balloon but to take advantage of the free fall to set up a better position and evade heavy fire.

In my experience Drogue bites me in the butt more often than not. This I'd never touch ever for the same reason. Its a gimmick that would only work in favorable conditions.


thing is you aaren't stationary. All directions are reduced but not rooted. And you can increase your height more than normal reading what he's put ^^