Sun Mar 09, 2003 10:52 pm
New ship model and thinking of mod
I started to make up a spread sheet where I wrote down what was wrong with the current balance and tried to fix it on paper, as well as make MP a bit more fun at everything below level 10. Just writing down here I wrote on my sheet:
To modify:
# House/Military Ships are twice as expensive.
# House/Military Ships are the only ones capable of mounting class 10 shields/weapons (bounty hunters and corsairs up to class 9)
# House/Military Ships are designed to fight/patrol/defend NOT run cargo, therefore their cargo capacity has been greatly reduced. Light Fighters can hold 3-5, Heavy Fighters can hold 5-9, Very Heavy Fighters can hold 9-15
# Maximum Speed is altered: Light fighters' range is 85 to 100, Heavy Fighters' range is 75 to 90, Very Heavy Fighters' range is 65 to 80 and Freighters are 55 to 70.
# Make ship weights more in line with the size and cargo capacity of the ship, so a large heavy ship will be less agile and prone to power sliding
# Nanobots/Shield Batteries greatly reduced and do not insta-heal: it takes 4 seconds for batteries to charge up a shield, it takes 8 seconds for a nanobot to repair a hull. Making it a little less arcade-like and more tactical
# The power of guns is reduced: instead of a class 10 weapon being 10x more powerful then a class 1, I am trimming it down to only about 6x more powerful. It's effect on shields will remain the same though. (Why? Because it gives a large group of low level attackers a better chance of killing a single high level attacker)...also, missiles won't be altered, so we should see more missile usage since they will seem more powerful.
#Make collision damage do twice as much damage as it currently does.
# Adding Very Heavy Fighters into the House/Military Arsenal. (Hagetaka for Kusari almost done)
# Make faction penalties stiffer (twice as much), improvements slower (0.75x) to reduce faction hopping and people from sitting on the fence and preventing people from being unattackable by every faction.
# Make House ships more balanced against one another.
# Make it so the progression is civilian ship --> borderworld or pirate --> bounty hunter/corsair --> military
# Give ships characteristics akin to historical styles (maybe) but keeping them balanced: Rheinland has the heaviest armor and fast, but their heaviness makes them slightly less maneuverable; Kusari ships have lightest armor/least cargo space of the houses but are fast and maneuverable; Bretonian Ships have slightly better cargo capacity and power systems, but are average on armor speed and maneuverability; Liberty ships are the mass-producers (cheapest), but they have no particular strength or weakness to make the pilot alter his/her style. Pirates tend to have speed and cargo capacity; Bounty Hunters have power systems and weapons; Corsairs are set up similar to similar to Bounty Hunters; Borderworlds have cargo capacity and maneuverabilty; The Order has a well rounded ship, but virtually no cargo capacity; Civilians have well rounded ships, but they can't mount the high end weapons and shields.
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Now I just have to wait until all the numbers are figured out so I can implement these changes.
Here is the model I am working on for the J18P-20H "Hagetaka" Kusari Very Heavy Fighter:
http://home.attbi.com/~c_dinardo/hagetaka.jpg
To modify:
# House/Military Ships are twice as expensive.
# House/Military Ships are the only ones capable of mounting class 10 shields/weapons (bounty hunters and corsairs up to class 9)
# House/Military Ships are designed to fight/patrol/defend NOT run cargo, therefore their cargo capacity has been greatly reduced. Light Fighters can hold 3-5, Heavy Fighters can hold 5-9, Very Heavy Fighters can hold 9-15
# Maximum Speed is altered: Light fighters' range is 85 to 100, Heavy Fighters' range is 75 to 90, Very Heavy Fighters' range is 65 to 80 and Freighters are 55 to 70.
# Make ship weights more in line with the size and cargo capacity of the ship, so a large heavy ship will be less agile and prone to power sliding
# Nanobots/Shield Batteries greatly reduced and do not insta-heal: it takes 4 seconds for batteries to charge up a shield, it takes 8 seconds for a nanobot to repair a hull. Making it a little less arcade-like and more tactical
# The power of guns is reduced: instead of a class 10 weapon being 10x more powerful then a class 1, I am trimming it down to only about 6x more powerful. It's effect on shields will remain the same though. (Why? Because it gives a large group of low level attackers a better chance of killing a single high level attacker)...also, missiles won't be altered, so we should see more missile usage since they will seem more powerful.
#Make collision damage do twice as much damage as it currently does.
# Adding Very Heavy Fighters into the House/Military Arsenal. (Hagetaka for Kusari almost done)
# Make faction penalties stiffer (twice as much), improvements slower (0.75x) to reduce faction hopping and people from sitting on the fence and preventing people from being unattackable by every faction.
# Make House ships more balanced against one another.
# Make it so the progression is civilian ship --> borderworld or pirate --> bounty hunter/corsair --> military
# Give ships characteristics akin to historical styles (maybe) but keeping them balanced: Rheinland has the heaviest armor and fast, but their heaviness makes them slightly less maneuverable; Kusari ships have lightest armor/least cargo space of the houses but are fast and maneuverable; Bretonian Ships have slightly better cargo capacity and power systems, but are average on armor speed and maneuverability; Liberty ships are the mass-producers (cheapest), but they have no particular strength or weakness to make the pilot alter his/her style. Pirates tend to have speed and cargo capacity; Bounty Hunters have power systems and weapons; Corsairs are set up similar to similar to Bounty Hunters; Borderworlds have cargo capacity and maneuverabilty; The Order has a well rounded ship, but virtually no cargo capacity; Civilians have well rounded ships, but they can't mount the high end weapons and shields.
---------
Now I just have to wait until all the numbers are figured out so I can implement these changes.
Here is the model I am working on for the J18P-20H "Hagetaka" Kusari Very Heavy Fighter:
http://home.attbi.com/~c_dinardo/hagetaka.jpg
