I’ve included some gripes from the previous update because I feel they fit into my arguments about turning every role into every other role. Everything I’ve commented on has a -5 to +5 subjective rating, -5 being bad enough to make me want to quit the game, 0 being indifferent/balanced opinion, and +5 being so good I would tell my family to reinstall the game and play it with me again. Sorry for the strange formatting, I copy pasted this from a word document rather than posting in screenshots of it so that it could be edited and quoted.
1. Game modes:
1.1. Sector Conquest:
1.1.1.Points: It seems to me (might not be true, I’ve only gotten back to the game a few days ago after being without wifi for days) that players can’t score as many “conquest” points for doing the same amount of work anymore, say for example if two players faced each other and one disconnected, then the other completely drained all their points and still had 2000 left, the winning player would used to get 600+ points, now it seems far less. If this is the case, please revert this. (-1)
1.1.2.Taxes: Not much point to capturing any sectors now. The FDEF corporation used to hold 6-9 sectors per day for taxes, allowing all of our members to reap from the benefits even if they weren’t able to make it to the battle, but now taxes don’t exist, instead you simply earn rewards by battling in the sector you want, meaning a corporation can now only go after one sector if they actually want any rewards from it. Add sector taxes back, there is no longer any reason to hold a sector other than not even x2 rewards on victory after holding it for days. Also it would really help if a proper explanation on the new sector conquest was given. (-3)
1.1.3.Rewards: We can now earn rewards even if we don’t win in battles, however, we can only be rewarded for doing battles over specific sectors. This idea was suggested before, and I’m glad to see it finally here (so we don’t have to spend 3 hours in pvp just trying to get x1 win to claim taxes on sectors), though I’m very disappointed that it is part of a system in which we have to fight over the sector we want rewards from and not just any pvp mode. (+1)
1.1.4.Rewards part 2: Rewards are too low for the current new system, they were ok earlier because a corporation could hold many sectors at once and claim the rewards from a multitude of locations, however, now that we can only claim x3 rewards per time zone total, these numbers are too low. (-1)
1.1.4.1. Credit sectors: Increase credit sector rewards by +150%. You get more credits from the battle than you do the reward.
1.1.4.2. Neodium sectors: Increase neodium sector rewards by +50%. At the current rate, from sector Transport Hub (as example) you can only get 1 Neodium plate per day if you win all 3 battles, meaning it would take you over a month to get a rank 8 destroyer if you started from scratch.
1.1.4.3. Beryllium sectors: Increase beryllium sector rewards by 75%. Same reason as Neodium sectors.
1.1.4.4. Iridium sectors: For the sectors giving 12, increase to 20. No point in going after a 12 iridium sector when others offer more.
1.1.4.5. Xenocrystal sectors: Increase Xenocrystal sector rewards by 100%. x9 Xenocrystals for three wins is a waste of time, you can get more than three times that by doing a single mission from ‘Ellydium Theta’
1.1.5.¼ rewards on loss: This is good, had it been a system in which you would earn rewards from win or loss in any pvp mode, this would be horrible because you would have 24 hours to claim your rewards and could get a few wins in that time, giving you the full reward, but had it been ¼ if you lost that would be very bad and a waste of everyone’s time. It works for the new system in which you only have 45 minutes to claim rewards. (+3)
1.2. Open Space:
1.2.1.Sectors:
1.2.1.1. Leviathan:
1.2.1.1.1. Background:
1.2.1.1.1.1. Imperial fleet all fire in not-quite unison. It looks off, not quite right. An organized fleet would (in theory) be more likely to fire all in unison, but that still wouldn’t look quite right for the atmosphere of chaos given off by the rest of the sector. (-1)
1.2.1.1.1.1.1. Change their fire rates to all be different so it looks more chaotic, but not random, it would look much better.
1.2.1.1.1.2. Light source for the sector is STILL on the opposite side of the map from the star. (-1)
1.2.1.1.1.2.1. Move light source to the star texture.
1.2.1.1.1.3. The swirling star particles(?) in the background STILL aren’t matched with where the star is in the background (the swirling area is to the left of it on the default X plane). (-1)
1.2.1.1.1.3.1. Move the swirling part of the star to be centered with the background’s texture of where the star should be.
1.2.1.1.1.4. The giant floating Major Caliber reference images were removed, so that’s good. (+1)
1.2.1.1.2. Defiler:
1.2.1.1.2.1. The defiler doesn’t drop any loot-able objects, many people are rather disappointed to go to all that work just to kill it, and it doesn’t give them any sort of rewards. (-1)
1.2.1.1.2.1.1. Add small (very small) iridium rewards, high credits rewards, or component rewards.
1.2.1.1.2.2. The defiler despawns but leaves the emitters in place to continue shooting at players and ships. The defiler still makes its entrance sound to players undocking or entering the sector through other means, but remains despawned. (-2)
1.2.1.1.2.2.1. Add a designated despawn point that completely despawns both the defiler and its emitters, which would then allow it to respawn a minute or two
1.1.1.1.1.1.1. later.
1.1.1.1.2. Spawn points are pretty vague now, aliens just sort of flood the sector from out of nowhere, and the portals leading to Leviathan from Research Center and Captured Dreadnought have no designated locations. This change seems lazy, as if spawn and patrol points were just pasted around without giving them proper interactions with the rest of the world. We need portals telling us exactly where aliens spawn from, and portals that players can use as pin points when jumping from Research Center and Captured Dreadnought into the Leviathan sector rather than just being thrown in the sector in some random spot. (-3)
1.1.1.1.2.1. Defiler needs a rift too rather than just materializing out of thin space and simply going invisible and despawning while the whole world is witnessing it. (-2)
2. Equipment:
2.1. Global fleet revamp:
2.1.1.I feel like this was an idea on how to combat all the alien ships flying around rather than just making them level with the rest of the field. It seems like a good idea, but all the new equipment seems kind of uncreative. At least we’re getting the equipment for free, too bad it isn’t balanced. I’m undecided on if we should continue using the Public Test server (seems pretty inconsistent even when we do use it), because last time the server was used, we got alien ships, but without the test server, all this new OP equipment is being dumped straight into the real game. However, this means there will be more arguments made to fix things than on the test server. (+0)
2.2. Ships:
2.2.1.Empire:
2.2.1.1. Gargoyle:
2.2.1.1.1. This ship isn’t included in the Unique ships faction for some reason, and yet Spiral and Endeavour both are. (-1)
2.2.1.1.2. Acquisition is pretty quick and easy now, essentially anyone can get it without having to shell out over $100 USD to other players. (+4)
2.2.1.2. Granite:
2.2.1.2.1. This ship hasn’t been released to non-press accounts yet, nothing can be concluded other than it hardly has any hull tank, and a very small capacitor. (+0)
2.2.1.2.2. Acquisition of the blueprints is quick and painless, however, the grind to build the parts (because there is currently no mission for it) takes months just to get the 240 Electrium (averaging 1 unit per six battles). It would be fantastic if a mission was added. Also the ship has now been removed from the tree for some reason. (-1)
2.2.2.Federation:
2.2.2.1. Wolf:
2.2.2.1.1. This ship performs more similarly to other ships in its lineup now that it has extra damage, the reduced afterburner energy draw was nice while it lasted, it let the ship go a little faster without sacrificing space for energy regen, but now that it has more space, the energy draw bonus isn’t as helpful as it was in the past. (+1)
2.2.2.2. Wolfhound:
2.2.2.2.1. This ship hasn’t been released to non-press accounts yet, nothing can be concluded other than that it will perform similarly to the Piranha-B2 (not very well in the current META, I can only see this being used as a glass cannon). Active module is very confusing in its stats, it has multiple volley stats, not sure what they mean. (+0)
2.2.2.2.2. Acquisition of the blueprints is quick and painless, however, the grind to build the parts (because there is currently no mission for it) takes months just to get the 240 Electrium (averaging 1 unit per six battles). It would be fantastic if a mission was added. Also the ship has now been removed from the tree for some reason. (-1)
2.2.3.Jericho:
2.2.3.1. Dart:
2.2.3.1.1. isn’t included in the Unique ships faction for some reason, and yet Spiral and Endeavour both are.
2.2.3.1.2. Acquisition is pretty quick and easy now, essentially anyone can get it without having to shell out over $100 USD to other players. (+4)
2.2.4.Ellydium:
2.2.4.1. Respawn times on destroyers were increased to add a compensation, but yet destroyers are awful at doing pretty much anything now after their nerfs. Alien ships are still without such compensations and are still able to be killed in sector conquest (after a significantly longer time than standard ships) then pop up a few seconds later as if they hadn’t died at all. (-2)
2.2.5.Unique ships:
2.2.5.1. Object NY18:
2.2.5.1.1. It controls very strangely; the rotation is very hard to get used to, and it doesn’t tend to want to follow the mouse. It has high base resistances, but I think everyone can agree on this, its pretty meh, it’s a thing that exists, but other ships can be used more effectively in pretty much any scenario. Great addition to the game though. (+2)
2.2.5.1.2. Acquisition of the ship is completely free and doesn’t take 30 days with no leeway. (+5)
2.2.5.1.3. Leveling up the ship is simple and self-explanatory, its also not hard to obtain the resources, and veteran players finally have something new to use resources they’ve been stockpiling on. (+5)
2.2.5.2. Spiral:
2.2.5.2.1. Acquisition is pretty quick and easy now, essentially anyone can get it without having to shell out over $100 USD to other players. (+4)
2.2.5.3. Endeavour:
2.2.5.3.1. Acquisition is pretty quick and easy now, essentially anyone can get it without having to shell out over $100 USD to other players. (+4)
2.2.6.Equipment:
2.2.6.1. Increasing active and passive modules on lower rank ships allows ships such as rank 6 to more easily combat a ship of rank 11 in battle. Though a rank 6, in an older more realistic version of the game, would never have to face a rank 11, this is a step in the direction of fixing what has gone wrong. (+5)
2.2.6.2. ECM:
2.2.6.2.1. System Hack’s range could be increased by 50%, and should destroy drones on engineering frigates when ECMs get reworked. Nothing is wrong with it, but at the same time, nothing is great with it, it’s inconsistent on what drones it can hack and what it can’t. (+0)
2.2.6.3. Recon:
2.2.6.3.1. Crystal destabilization still has too short of a cooldown and still doesn’t affect the user at all. It shouldn’t even exist, it’s a Guard module, but on the fastest ship in the game. It needs a longer cooldown, longer time between actions, and friendly/self-effects, as well as consuming energy per second while active. (Guard module in disguise) (-2)
2.2.6.3.2. Crystal Infiltrator has too high of additional damage, the point of the module should either be extra damage (which would then make it a tackler module), or to act as a spy drone, which has a side effect of slowing regeneration speeds (but that isn’t the main reason to use one). Additional damage should be reduced by 50-75%. If there is no way to remove the effect by taking collision damage, then cooldown should be increased and active time reduced. (-2)
2.2.6.3.3. Harvest crystal has the same issue as Crystal Infiltrator where the side effect becomes the main purpose of using the module. The module should have about 65% less detection range if it is also going to act as an engineering station. With that, the module should have a lower charge rate (by about 50%) to keep it from being more powerful than an engineer’s mass shield booster. To keep it from being pointless, charging should stack with every enemy detected. (-2)
2.2.6.3.4. Inhibitor Crystal acts as a tackler module, which should not be a thing in existence on the fastest ships in existence. Host should receive more damage for using it, damage dealt to enemies should be decreased (16000 damage is enough to 1-hit most ships (with or without shields up depending on the size of ship) except destroyers). Slowing effect shouldn’t be removed entirely, otherwise the module wouldn’t have much of a point, but it should be reduced from 75% to about 20% and cooldown increased. We don’t need every role in the game to be better at tackling than a tackler. (Tackler module in disguise) (-4)
2.2.6.3.5. Microlocator’s sensor range should be increased by about 35% to add a reason to use it over the Harvest crystal, because currently, if you have access to a Harvest crystal, there is no reason what so ever to use a microlocator when the harvest crystal heals you. (-1)
2.2.6.3.6. Satellite Crystal has slowing abilities, the speed boost to the user is fine (it could be reduced a bit), but slowing enemies on a “recon” (gunship in disguise) by such a significant amount shouldn’t be an element of the game. Slowing missiles are fine, they can be dodged, have limited uses, and don’t slow by very much, however, this drone cannot be dodged, it travels faster than most ships can turn in order to shoot them down, on top of the slowing effects. Slowing effects from this should be removed entirely, and cooldown should be increased significantly. (Tackler module in disguise) (-4)
2.2.6.3.7. Spy Drones Container also doesn’t have much use now that Crystal Infiltrator is a thing that exists. Perhaps adding an affect that also highlights all enemy ships (not including invisible ships) that are within 700m of the targeted ship. (-1)
2.2.6.4. Covert Ops:
2.2.6.4.1. Reactor Overload still has no real use after the self-destruct feature was removed. Only reason to use it is some extra dps if you’re going to die anyway, it deals so little damage while active that nobody is going t o use it in combat. Damage on explosion should be increased significantly when Covert Ops get reworked. (-1)
2.2.6.5. Tackler:
2.2.6.5.1. Sentry Drones can be stuck inside a small hole and not be visible to the enemy but can still affect their movements. They should only be able to affect a ship if they hit it. (-1)
2.2.6.5.2. Heavy Guard Drones are the same as Sentry Drones, they should only be able to block extra fast movements from ships it hits. The debuff should only be applied for a few seconds if the drone shoots the ship. (-1)
2.2.6.5.3. The ‘Dawn’ locator is essentially just a microlocator. It shouldn’t exist for a tackler class fighter. I feel as though this module should simply be removed from the game entirely, but seeing as nothing is ever removed, it could instead be repurposed as the Self Destruct module (now Reactor Overload) was. It should act as a stealth field generator that hides allied ships from radar. (Recon module in disguise) (-5)
2.2.6.5.4. Inhibitor drones are the same deal as the others, should only slow enemy ships that are hit (max 1 ship). With that and only 550 meters effect range, nobody would get close to the drone, and it would become pointless. Effect range should be increased to 1000 m. that way the drone can still shoot at people, but will only debuff them if they get hit while flying within 1000 m of it. Currently not much of an issue because they’re so short range in their debuff, but x3 drones with x2 combat drones for missiles in t5 is excessive. (+0)
2.2.6.5.5. Beam disintegrator deals way too much damage to be even close to reasonable in a PvP scenario. It doesn’t matter that tacklers are supposed to hunt interceptors, they shouldn’t be able to kill them in 1 tick by hit-scan. Gauss Cannons are fine, sure, they can 1-hit some interceptors, but they have travel time and take some skill to use, with this module, even just flicking the line over an interceptor instantly applies 10000 damage. Damage should be reduced, and additional damage to interceptors should be removed. (Gunship module in disguise) (-5)
2.2.6.5.6. Realignment lasts too long, it should last 4 seconds at most (enough to regenerate about 2k hull and travel about 3km). Being able to regen almost 9000 hull while stealth is unreasonable. (-3)
2.2.6.5.7. Mine network looks good in theory, but the slowing effect should only last 1 second, also Ha 12 sec. should be fixed. (+1)
2.2.6.5.8. Slowing projector should only stop an enemy ship for a maximum of 0.5 seconds, its pretty unrealistic though, having something that can halt a ship moving 50km/s in an instant though, but ok, whatever. (+0)
2.2.6.5.9. ‘Hunter’ tactical system shouldn’t last quite so long with that short of a cool down, while also giving resistances. Reduce active time by maybe 66% and resistance buff by 25%. (+1)
2.2.6.5.10. ‘Stretto’ gun system is an odd module, not sure what to make of it, other than its ridiculous in combat. -50% to projectile speed buff (make it a bonus effect and not the main effect), and reduce resistance debuff by about 10 points lasting 8 seconds. (-1)
2.2.6.6. Command:
2.2.6.6.1. ‘Prometheus’ defence is pretty inconsistent, sometimes it targets random allied ships, sometimes it doesn’t work at all. Also it completely stops all movements when you use it so you have to reset your input keys, not too fond of it acting as an engineering sort of module with the extra shields function, but its on a command so it’s acceptable, otherwise it’s a good idea, just needs some work to function properly. (Engineering module in disguise) (-1)
2.2.6.6.2. Penetrating beam is sorta 1-hit territory, not a good direction. This kind of equipment, both a combination of direct hull damage, and 1-hit damage numbers is just in general not a good idea to add. Range could be reduced and it should have some sort of charge up time like the tackler’s 1-hit beam. Perhaps if its main purpose wasn’t to 1-hit interceptors and fighters, but to buff allies, maybe hitting allies would give a temporary hull resistance buff. (Gunship module in disguise) (-4)
2.2.6.6.3. Mass charge accelerator seems like a good idea, it would take place of a Valkyrie system on your typical average un-specialized command build, range is good, times are good, energy consumption looks high, but for this fantastic of a module and on a properly built command it shouldn’t matter. Projectile speed buff could be reduced a little, perhaps instead of +50% it was just +35% or something, but in turn energy consumption would have to be reduced. Great idea though, adds something we haven’t seen before without breaking things. (+2)
2.2.6.6.4. Energy cube seems pretty good as a concept if it were an ECM module but not a command. This “general purpose ships” direction the game is headed in looks bleak. A long time ago, any ship could fit any module, weapon, and missile. Things were very unbalanced, and unpredictable, tactics weren’t very tactful, seeing as any ship could be anything in disguise. Then came an update that made everything work in roles, roles were already present, but the only reason to have X role module on X role ship was the ship got a buff to it. Now modules are limited to roles so a recon ship can’t take tackler modules and be more than unbalanced. The direction this is going right now is the opposite of improvement. We don’t need every role in the game acting as any role they want (Ex: Recon, LRF, Guard, Gunship, and Tackler all have tackler functions). Energy drain seems a touch high though, that’s essentially an average interceptor’s entire energy regeneration speed. Reduce energy drain, nice side effect though and good ranges for something this powerful. (ECM module in disguise) (-4)
2.2.6.6.5. ‘Kappa’ EM beam is, well, in short, dumb. In the role description of a command, it literally states that “their active modules work at improving the efficiency of their allies.” This is just a gunship module in disguise. Damage could be reduced, by a f*** ton, 14k damage from something that isn’t even classified as a weapon seems pretty over the top, resistances last too long and are too high, and range is pretty crazy, that’s farther than a lot of primary weapons will reach. It should buff the team in some way if its going to be slotted on a command ship, perhaps if it gave resistances to any allies it hits. (Gunship module in disguise) (-5)
2.2.6.6.6. Mobile pulsar is the same as the ‘Kappa’ EM beam, a dumb idea for a command. No team player is going to use this, even though it deals a significant amount of damage and can be used for beacon denial (a guard module in disguise), it adds no benefit to the team. Range is good for its purpose, times and energy are good, but this shouldn’t exist. (Guard module in disguise) (-2)
2.2.6.6.7. Repelling shield is the same deal, just a guard+engi module in disguise, values are good, but it shouldn’t exist. (Guard module in disguise) (Engineering module in disguise) (-2)
2.2.6.7. Gunship:
2.2.6.7.1. Reflected rage should still have a range on its damage (4km or something max) because it goes through shields. (-1)
2.2.6.8. Engineering:
2.2.6.9. Guard:
2.2.6.9.1. ‘Dome’ MDS is great, it works similarly to a missile shield, but only for yourself, seems a lot more useful when flying alone. However, it doesn’t interact with the projectiles fired by predators the way missile shield and flares will, it could see some improvement in that regard. (+1)
2.2.6.9.2. Energy systems destabilizer seems pretty nuts, but the 4000 – 1000 m. range means, so I can’t accurately judge this module. From what I can understand, its pretty powerful, but nothing you can’t get around by simply not afterburning. Could be more than problematic for command pilots though. Good counter. (+1)
2.2.6.9.3. Relocation mechanism doesn’t work when station protection is active in open space, and I haven’t tested to see if it swaps locations even if the enemy drops off the radar after activation. It seems pretty meh due to the lack of uses it has, but stats look good. (+1)
2.2.6.10. Long Range:
2.2.6.10.1. Radioactive cloud is pretty nice, energy consumption looks a little excessive, but nothing bad, damage looks good, interesting concept, would replace a weapon overcharge or tachyon charge on most builds, not much else to say. The cloud should take 1 second to deal damage though, instead of dealing the damage directly after the hit, it should act like hit-scan beam weapons that only deal damage as they’re held on the target. (+2)
2.2.6.10.2. ‘Sinobi’ jump looks ok, except that its cooldown is the same as a Reverse Thruster and its resistance debuff is 50% more. The ‘Sinobi’ jump only travels 70% the distance of the reverse thruster, but has the same cooldown, and even more resistance debuff (perhaps because it takes 75% of the charge time). It should start with 70% of the resistance debuff, then add 25% of that due to the 25% reduction in charge time: 44 pts. However, this would just result in everyone only using this over Reverse Thruster, so make the resistances -60pts or something and reduce cooldown by about 25% to match with the reduced jump range. (+2)
2.2.6.10.3. Sniper drone ‘Partner’ is… unnecessary. Snipers don’t need drones, they’re supposed to be vulnerable while sniping, the team is supposed to back them up, not drones. Damage is high for 180 rpm, projectile speed is un-dodge-able, other stats look fine. (-2)
2.2.6.10.4. Energy sharing is ridiculous, a sniper can use this to out-run an interceptor with unmodified speed. Ridiculous. The side effect of -70% fire rate really doesn’t cut it, what LRF is going to be using this thing to rush at the enemy guns blazing? Its likely going to be used while running away. Logically, something like this would put a lot of unexpected stress on the ship, perhaps reduced resistance while flying at over 50% speed while it is active, or the ship takes damage, possibly even the ship leaves a trail of thermal AOE everywhere it goes while its active. Also it should have the burning engines effect that critical hits with thermal weapons used to give (now caused by Destabilizing Field). (-2)
2.2.6.10.5. Target highlight mode looks ok, but the range needs to seriously be reduced, and it should consume energy per second rather than capacitor per use. (+0)
2.2.6.10.6. ‘Surkov’ ballistic processor looks ok, not much to say about it other than it exists and that you can get your projectiles to travel from one edge of my city to the other in one second. (+1)
2.2.6.10.7. ‘Hindenburg’ supercharger exists entirely for the sole purpose of killing destroyers and nothing else. Destroyers are already pretty much useless, 2018 will be the third year of nerfs, they’re three times larger than a frigate and should be able to take at least 20% more damage (realistically speaking, a destroyer isn’t going to be able to tank being cut in half any better than a frigate, but it’ll take longer to cut in half due to its size) and yet they go down about 600% faster. (-3)
2.2.6.11. Multipurpose:
2.2.6.12. Ship modifiers:
2.2.6.12.1. Hull:
2.2.6.12.2. Shield:
2.2.6.12.2.1. MGS-Box camo is a great addition, other than that it appears the effect is instantly applied when stationary. Considering that it is a passive module, there should be a 5 second delay after the ship stops before it activates, or something to that effect. (+2)
2.2.6.12.2.2. Integrated thermoshield looks ok, other than it has no limit to allies within range, and can potentially (in a wing of 12) get 218 resistance points without sharing any for the team. Passive or not, its hard to be a command module without giving any help to the team. Perhaps a reduction of other resistances is also called for here. (+0)
2.2.6.12.2.3. Maneuver blocker has too high of a maneuverability reduction for being a passive module, it should only reach a maximum of around -15% for something that can be done AFK. (-1)
2.2.6.12.3. Engine:
2.2.6.12.3.1. Dynamic superchargers is good, but not so good it breaks things, and can’t be used effectively in all that many scenarios. Not much to say about it, nice side effect. (+2)
2.2.6.12.3.2. Adaptive maneuver booster seems sort of excessive, 750m range is enough to cover a beacon, and it only takes 6 targets to reach almost 175% maneuverability speed, it should have some sort of negative side effect, such as it increases energy drain for afterburners by 5% per enemy in range but no more than 30%.
2.2.6.12.4. Capacitor:
2.2.6.12.4.1. ‘Master Sinobi’ auto-jump needs a charge up timer after the shields are lost (anything over 0.5 would be too much). Other than that, great addition for Jericho ships, not as much use on an empire ship. Unfortunate that only premium Jericho ships will get access to this module. (+2)
2.2.6.12.4.2. Particle flow disruptor has no description on how much damage is reduced, thus the module’s expected/simulated effectiveness in combat cannot be accurately judged. (+0).
2.2.6.12.4.3. Progressive energy flow would be great in concept, except that it can’t even block damage worth 1 enemy, good thing that’s the side effect. Good idea, but I can’t see it being used by anyone who knows how to build a command for combat. (+1)
2.2.6.12.4.4. Volumetric energy absorber seems too efficient, it can drain almost enough eps to stop an interceptor’s regen entirely (will likely drain out any interceptor if it is afterburning), good for beacon denial work, and a nice bonus to have in combat. It belongs on an ECM though, just two enemies in range and this system will be supplying enough regen to withstand over 1k dps. (ECM module in disguise) (-4)
2.2.6.12.4.5. Emergency regeneration looks ridiculous, regenerating the ship’s entire hull and about 40% shields, but over 25 seconds it means its only repairing/recharging around 300 points per second. A little high, but most ships dishing out enough damage to get the user to that point can dis out enough to still get through it. (+0)
2.2.6.12.4.6. Capacitor overload is literally just a miniature Energy Absorber except it works passively. This should not exist. (ECM module in disguise) (-4)
2.2.6.12.4.7. Emergency shield recharger is essentially the same story as Emergency regeneration, sort of high numbers, but nothing too crazy. At least this one only regenerates shields. (+1)
2.2.6.12.5. Computer:
2.2.6.12.5.1. Reloading calibration looks like something a lot of people might use in PvE on rank ranges that don’t have access to cooldown implants. Shield volume reduction seems a touch high. (+2)
2.2.6.12.5.2. Blood harvest is a very nice bonus to have in battle. 10% and 12% are good numbers, times are good too. I could see this being a problem on Gargoyle, luckily that doesn’t count as a premium ship. (+2)
2.2.6.12.5.3. Combat accelerator is a nice touch, acts similarly to some of the other command modules, and numbers are low, which is great for a passive module. (+2)
2.2.6.12.5.4. Improved charge algorithms look useful, but the implants are far more efficient seeing as they don’t actually take any slots. When fully upgraded, it becomes stronger though. Not much to say about it, it does its job without trying to do other people’s jobs at the same time, unlike some of the other new additions. (+2)
2.2.6.12.5.5. Procedure booster numbers are too high. As a passive, it needs to be a bonus, not an entire 5th active module. Shield recharge is just shy of a real Shield Booster, but the only cooldown is the special module, and it cools down other modules. This system needs to have cooldown timer, lower stats (shields by about 75% and module recharge by 50%).
2.2.6.12.6. Weapons:
2.2.6.12.6.1. Thermal:
2.2.6.12.6.1.1. Thermal energy burner is a stupid gun that can go to hell. Range is way too far for what it does, it can drain an entire capacitor (depending on the ship size) in 1 hit, even if only one of the projectiles lands. This is absurd. Range needs to be reduced by far, fire rate could see some decreasing, as well as projectile speed. Damage is also a bit high seeing as its something nobody can dodge. (ECM weapon in disguise) (-4)
2.2.6.12.6.1.2. Homing laser is essentially an improved Thi’Lith Beam. Nothing new, same weapon essentially, just faster RPM and it takes EPS to fire instead of cap per shot (same thing in action). Some more variety I suppose. (+2)
2.2.6.12.6.1.3. Guided thermosphere is a tough case. This weapon can fire projectiles traveling 15km. It takes a while for the projectile to get there, and a long range frigate is supposed to be long range anyway, so it may as well fire far. I’m personally glad to see an extra super far range weapon, only thing is, its almost impossible to miss with. Damage should be reduced the further the projectile travels. (+2)
2.2.6.12.6.1.4. Branching laser doesn’t seem like anyone would use in PvP. Great weapon of choice for PvE though, since most maps have large crowds of enemies huddled together at one point or another. Stats look good except the overheating time is rather small, and you can only have so many shared coolers. (+2)
2.2.6.12.6.2. Kinetic:
2.2.6.12.6.2.1. Liquidator-X is basically a faster version of the Quantum Railgun, except that it has a tackler-ish effect. I was able to get this weapon up to 34% critical hit chance with two modifiers, that’s a little over 1 in every 3 hits that’s lowering your target’s resistances. Resistance reduction is ok where it is, but it doesn’t have to last 10 seconds. 3 seconds would suffice, that’s long enough to sustain the debuff with continued shooting. (Tackler weapon in disguise) (-2)
2.2.6.12.6.2.2. Light coil mortar has an appropriately low base critical hit chance given that it can almost fully recover most near-death interceptor’s hulls, however, the buff belongs to engineering frigates. The weapon clearly belongs on a command, but not the effects. (Engineering weapon in disguise) (-2)
2.2.6.12.6.2.3. Gordon’s missile launcher is a fantastic weapon, great concept, only thing is, the missiles aren’t guided by a beam as the description reads, they’re dumbfire until your cross hairs pass over an enemy ship. That’s pretty misleading. Its relatively easy to dodge on an interceptor but not much else, good thing it has an appropriately low base fire rate. (+2)
2.2.6.12.6.2.4. Recoil-compensated cannon defies its own name. Compensated would imply that the design sacrifices something to remove recoil from the weapon, however, this is the only weapon available that has any recoil. Only reason this weapon works at all is because its firing range is so far, getting pushed backwards at 500m/s is debatable as a faster method of travel than main engines (depending on the ship’s forward speed and weapon’s fire rate), you would quickly exit the firing range of most conventional weapons at that speed. Stats look pretty good, other than that it slows the target by 75%. Would you look at that, another ship acting like a tackler. Might as well just scrap the whole damn Tackler role now, seeing as everyone and their grandmother’s LRF can do it instead. Following suit with the other new weapons that have unique actions when critical hits are achieved, the slowing effect should only be applied if a critical hit is scored, and it should be drastically reduced (maybe reduced from 75% to 20%). Also, with projectiles traveling so fast, sometimes its very hard to locate where the firing is coming from, and it just looks like your shields are exploding. Very confusing, adds another layer to combat. (Tackler weapon in disguise) (-2)
2.2.6.12.6.3. EM:
2.2.6.12.6.3.1. Plasma minigun is a pretty fun weapon to play around with (subjectively), stats are overall good, and its nice to have another plasma weapon for fighters, though it would be more interesting if this weapon followed the lead of most of the other new weapons and its -20% maneuverability penalty was a critical hit based effect. (+2)
I’m dissapointed that there is still no open space update, perhaps that will come in the second half of January, but over all, I would say on a scale of 1-10 (1 being updates 1.3 through 1.4c and 10 being litterally anything else even finding a dead body in your house) I would say 1.5 is a subjectively solid 8/10. Out of the changes specifically in 1.5, a solid -3 on my opinionated scale was achieved, for adding so many new elements to the game, I’d say a -8 starting with 0 is really good for this game looking at its past few versions.
IGN: PapyMcBites
I doubt anyone will read it but consider taking a look at some of the suggested balancing changes (1.4 through 1.11) at the following link, I know a significant amount of the proposed ideas aren’t up to date with the new additions to the game, but I still see many of them as issues:
