Destroyer ship roles idea (Admins please delete Dreadnoughts mistaken one)

[31305746]

Hi devs and readers,

 

I came here to share how I imagine the roles for the destroyers, for you to get some inspiration about this ships future, and even consider on using the idea itself.

 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a hater or a crybaby like many out there who’ll yell at you just because you changed the game just a little or you didn’t do exactly what they wanted. It’s just a constructive idea for you to consider and discuss here.

When I was waiting for the new classes, I was thinking you’ld bring new ships with new functions to bring some innovation to the battlefield, and new team strategies would be possible. But when they arrived, they were nice but I felt kinda disappointed about the monolitic Suppressor class. It doesn’t bring anything new to the game, it’s just more shield, hull and firepower. There’s no particular tactic you can develop with them, for they all do exactly the same thing with the same weapons and the same modules. You won’t meet many pilots with more than one destroyer, not because their manufacture process is slow, but because they feel no excitement on getting the other two because they’ll get another identical ship. And you can’t regen hull, so guess which one is the best.

 

That’s why I suggest you consider on splitting the suppressor class into three unique roles. Here’s my idea:

 

EMPIRE

 

Obliterator Class

    Function: Fleet tactical support. They’ve got an improved weapon system that makes their bullets bounce when hitting targets and objects, forcing enemies to abandon their hiding spots and breaking their numbers easily, making them excellent mates against large, heavy groups camping, so your mates get a clear sight of their damaged ships. However, they have a great speed and module cooldown penalty.
    Modules:
        MC Pulsar: Destroy all meteors and/or asteroids in a high radius.
        Phantom Projector: Creates an spectrum projector light that makes unmaterial any obstacle on its sight. Thought you can’t see the ships visually, it spots on the sensor the enemies so you can shoot them unless they use sensor jammers.
        Current dread’s missiles
        Current dread’s laser
    Special Ability: Warhammer; a laser that can go throught objects and kills any target which gets shot at. It has a great range, but it has the greatest reload time of the three.

FEDERATION

 

Reconstructor Class

    Function: Fleet integrity support. They are equipped with an special emmitter that reduces their respawn time in half, making them avaible faster than any other ship, so they can give support almost always. Their special modules allow the team to regroup easily and save them even from certain death, so its a unique companion on situations where your mate’s mistakes leave the rest of the group with no chance. Their unmistakable usefulness is crippled with armor and damage penalty, with only two cannons.
    Modules:
        Current dread’s jump
        Mass jump propulsor: You point a laser on the right direction you want. You and all ally ships in radius warp on that direction until you stop.
        Matter attractor: Teleports the mate you select on the pantheon selector to your position, be it alive or the scrap you want to reconstruct.
        Scavenger: Reconstructs all enemy and ally’s stationary objects like drones or mines under your control.
    Special Ability: Pantheon; a module who allows you to bring back quickly the dead companion you selected. Reconstruction time depends on the ship’s size. You can’t revive an ally out of the module’s range or behind and obstacle.

JERICHO

 

Avenger Class

    Function: Fleet protection support. They are equipped with a long-ranged, strange pulsar that activates when receiving damage, so all enemies in range receive half the incoming damage. That protects the group from inties swinging around and putting things as nukes, and their impressive hull and shield makes them almost impossible to kill. The special module, as well as the active, are meant to avoid ally ships to get special attention from the enemy concentrated fire, which results often in your mate’s deaths. In spite of the enormus armor and abilty ranges, this ship has no main weapon and no missiles.
    Modules:
        Ship encapulator: Shoots a ray to the targeted ally ship, covering it in a spherical shield. This ship can’t shoot or activate modules in that state, and vinculates the ship to the avenger. When ship gets shot, the avenger will receive the damage instead, activating its pulsar.
        Missile backbone: Returns the guided missiles, and alters the unguided course backwards. The returned missiles will continue till their maximum range.
        Ship control: Takes over an enemy ship, controlling its movement. You can’t shoot or activate modules while controlling it.
        Engine inverter: Inverts the enemy ship’s movement, active modules and weapons keys.
    Special Ability: Vendetta, an enormus shield with a proyector which you launch. You choose when the proyector will stop in order to determine the shield’s size. The shield will stop bullets and turn them back. The faster the proyectile, the worse. The shield will keep active unless energy expires or the proyector is destroyed.

[31305746]

Another thing I’ld say is that you should be able to lock their modules individually. In destroyer’s current state, modules are completely hidden and unless you know them well enought you won’t kill them. I also think that this three main module’s mechanism should be clearly visible on it. In empire you’ll see an enormous death star like anthenna on top, in fed you’ll see a metal pod attached to one side and in jericho you’ll see a harpoon down. This way is open to fighter and inti tacticism, where you can shut down they special modules before they can activate them.

 

Another thing is that their modules do not repair themselves once broken.

[4444640]

These are interesting suggestions, for sure, and thank you for all of the detail.

 

However, personally, I wouldn’t want these to be as destroyers with the way destroyers are already common-place. Plus, the functions you describe seem bigger than a destroyer to me - more like a cruiser / carrack kind of thing. If it were up to me, I would hold this for a cruiser addition some time from now if such a thing ever happens.

 

As destroyers, If these are commonplace, and with as much team support as you are recommending, I think PVP battle will quickly become very campy with groups surrounding each of these destroyers firing at groups surrounding opposing destroyers. And with too many of these on the battlefield, it would seriously change the game for smaller craft. Not saying a change is necessarily a bad thing, but it will be a drastic change.

 

For me, I think a limiting factor would be best if something like this is implemented. Either, make something like this for destroyers and only allow one per side in the battle (one of the special types, not one of each) - or, make these for a future cruiser addition where one pilot could essentially act as the team’s mothership (again, only choosing one of the types to support the team) and leave destroyers with (IMO) a more reasonable amount of supporting effect.

 

That’s my two-cents, for what it’s worth.

 

-LIB

[31305746]

As I told some people before you that used that same argumentation, the only one you’ld call good for camping is the Avenger class, for its function is to protect mates from enemy focus. The Obliterator class is precisely designed AGAINST camping, its main job is to draw enemies out of their covers so the battle becomes more direct. And the Reconstructor class is the exact opposite of that; the main thing they do is move. Their main purpose is regrouping with the most reckless companions and save them from certain doom. They have damage and armor penalty so they are a poor choice for camping, they die too easily. Since its job is to keep mates from harm, they must stay alive at all costs.

 

And about the smaller craft, that’s the most interesting part, since inties and fighters will have tactics to shot destroyer’s modules down before they can activate them. That’s why I support the fact of focusing the modules separatedly and the non-regenerative modules. You’ll have to defend your destroyers from quick attackers and join to exciting battles against the clock, where you will have to disable obliterator’s laser before it reduces your squad to rubble, recontructor’s pod before he revives the captain or the badass pilot of his squad, or the avenger’s shield launcher before he turns back the torpedoes your squad shot at them.