Guard Frigate (and Minefield) tweaks

A collection of thoughts as to what might help rebalance the game and deal with the issue of the Frigate Ball. The intent is not to render the Guard “useless”, but ensure that a ball of Guards and Engineers cannot be so powerful that no ship can hope to break them.

 

Anti-Missile Shield:

Jericho Torpedoes struck by this module will temporarily lose all navigation - they will fly straight forward for 2-3 seconds. The missile can still be detonated at will. After 2-3 seconds, control is restored.

 

Anti-Missile Shield will target Jericho Guided Torpedoes over other ordnance as a priority.

 

Anti-Missile Shield will also fire upon Attack Drones, Mines and Minefields that enter range of the Anti-Missile Shield as though they were Missiles.

 

Mass Propulsion Inhibitor:

This module is now only active for a set period of time after activation. Duration and cooldown based on Mk of the module.

 

Pulsar:

This module must now be targeted, and will only hit the target the Guard has locked onto. It cannot be activated until a target has entered range, but once active it will continue to attack the target even if the Guard selects a new target.

 

Pulsars will not hit an enemy that is outside of range or line of sight, but will continue to attempt to fire upon them until it runs out.

 

Ships cannot be hit by multiple Pulsars at once - if a ship is being hit with a Pulsar, no other Guard Frigates can fire their Pulsar at the ship until the previous Pulsar has worn out.

 

Mines and Minefields:

These weapon types now take 3 seconds to arm after deploying. Once deployed they will detonate on any ship that enters their radius - friend or foe! However, the mines will only damage enemies, or the player that deployed them. They will not damage allied ships; the mines will simply waste a charge and explode harmlessly.

 

The lack of friendly fire, but the presence of self-fire, is there to punish careless or reckless mine placement, but prevent griefing (ie: dropping mines on your own captain). Because mines will be wasted if allies fly through them, spamming beacons with them is no-longer a valid option; your allies will waste your mines long before the enemy enter range.

What about frigates dropping a minefield in self defense?  It’s different than a frigate dropping a minefield as proactive defense.  My thoughts when dieing that way “one minefield down, one to go.”

I fully disagree with your mine proposals.

proximity mines right now are a great help to fight frigates, and after your proposed changes, hitting frigates with them will be virtually impossible unless you drop them on a beacon.

Not to mention they already damage yourself if you are inside the minefield when an enemy passes through it.

 

Proximity mines aren’t broken, minefields are.

 

Your pulsar idea…I’m not sure if I like it…It reduces it’s OPness for sure, but also makes it half useless since 2 inty’s could effectivly kill a guard then, 1 to distract his pulsar, and the other goes in for an easy kill…

 

The missile shield(LRF part) idea is good but it shouldn’t prioritize them. if anything they should be quite low on the priority list since they can’t destroy them.

Minefields and mines countering would only make it easier for the guard blob to destroy any counters to them(no matter how small)

 

 

I fully agree that minefields need a nerf in some way to make it harder for them to make it impossible to take a beacon(When you see 5 minefields on 1 beacon, you know you will never get it in beacon hunt)

I also think the pulsar isn’t very OP in is current state, it becomes OP when 3 guards start cycling them.(Though they could use a slight nerf in damage)

Your pulsar idea…I’m not sure if I like it…It reduces it’s OPness for sure, but also makes it half useless since 2 inty’s could effectivly kill a guard then, 1 to distract his pulsar, and the other goes in for an easy kill…

 

As an inty, I run!  That pulsar could kill me long before I can take out his shields.

 

I fully agree that minefields need a nerf in some way to make it harder for them to make it impossible to take a beacon(When you see 5 minefields on 1 beacon, you know you will never get it in beacon hunt)

 

Minefields only need a minefield destroyer.  Give it to any inty possible, anyone piloting an interceptor would put in in their set of active modules.  Recon, ECM, CovOps, we want it!  I hate trying to get close to a “clear” beacon while avoiding mines.  It’s an empty beacon!!!

There are 3 minefield destroyers i am aware of: guards with thermal phase, ECM dropping in and after the first explosion they toggle some self-heal mod immediately followed by meta field and properly fitted command fighters using diffusion shield after the first explosion. However they all need a well thought backup plan before doing this. I easily clear mines that way, they don’t concern me anymore when flying either of these ships.

astraal unless there are 5 minefields, meaning your inty will be down in 0.2 seconds…your command might survive the first wave…2nd its down

Most of these suggestions are more a stealth-buff to interceptors as well as a nerf to guards.

 

I like the suggestion for Jericho Torps - as currently it’s too easy to render them useless. I’m not keen on the pulsar change though - it nerfs it too hard.

 

Perhaps rather than a pulsar, a guard needs a ‘point defense turret’ (think goalkeeper/phalanx style turret for those familair with naval technology)  - works exactly the same except that activating it allows it to shoot for a specific duration after which it overheats (cooldown). It locks on automatically to the closest enemy ship and fires at it until it is destroyed or the duration of the turret activation runs out. If the target dies, it automatically switches to the next ship. It should target ships in priority order, starting with interceptors, then fighters, then frigates.

 

This is basically exactly like a pulsar, but single target. Slightly higher damage to compensate, and line of sight should be required to hit. It would be awesome if this module was visible on the frigate and ‘tracked’ the target like a proper turret as well. (Very Fast tracking/rotation speed)

 

This would mean the guard still has effective defense against single interceptors - but teamwork (swarming) it can overwhelm its defenses.