Edit: Woah, did i really type “overpowered” in the title? Sorry, brainfart, meant underpowered. I feel really stupid now. Probably focused too much on the writing.
After playing this for a week, it occured to me that Jericho lack in places, and they almost seem like they’re the third child, not getting as much love as its other siblings.
The skills seem half assed; and VERY weak compared to other equalivements.
The “resistance points” thing seems kinda confusing, it doesn’t tell you anything, you don’t have any refference point. How do i know how much of a effect 30 points have on my defence?
T1.1 skill
Empire: Hull str. increased by 25%
Federation: Hull critical and explosion damage taken reduced by 40%
Jericho: additional 30 point hull resistance to everything
I don’t know, since i don’t have a ref point to the res. point thing, so i’ll skip. However i do hope these points scale because otherwise… meh.
T1.2
E: Locking on target shorter by 75%, 10% more crit chance
F:Sensor range +75%, 20% more weapon range
J: Control debuffs last 25% shorter, 20% less weapon spread
In my opinion this is balanced. It’s not like i know everything about the game just barely reaching T3, but basing on my experince these three skills should be about of the same usefulness.
T1.3
E:Shield regen speed +25%
F:Shield strenght +20%
J:Shield resistance to everything +20pts
Again, no idea.
T2.1
E:+10% missile damage
F:+40% missile velocity and maneuverability
J:+75% more missile range
This one is kinda meh.
Maximum range on missiles is only really useful for frigates (which were nerfed in last patch, as opposing to the snipers) because using normal missiles from that range will make it easier to evade, both homing and dumbfire, giving more time to use flares, or hide. I’m also pretty sure its almost impossible to hit dumbfire from that distance while the target is moving at all, with realistic variety.
Meanwhile faster velocity and turnspeed will allways be useful; i can’t think of anytime the bonus would be mitigated by anything, really. Same for damage.
T2.2
E:Rotation speed in all axi +30%
F:Pitch maneuvering +75%
J:+5% maximum speed
This made me laugh, then become sad.
Really? 5% top speed? Thats like 10mph on the FASTEST SHIP. Even with afterburners it wouldn’t be that much of a difference. Meanwhile i keep getting outmaneuvered (i mainly play interceptor) by other factions, which kinda frustrates me as i chose ceptor for being agile, and i can’t even outmaneuver now, because the other choices you have are 30% overall rotation speed increase, or a whooping 75% pitch speed increase, which is HUGE in dogfights imo, where you just circle eachother. I can’t even reach the other guy with my cursor while he just dances around me, shooting me in my slow… rear.
T2.3
E:Weapon damage +7%
F:+50% more crit chance
J:+30% projectile velocity(kinetic/EM)/+10% laser temp
This one i think is fine (?)
T3.1
E:+30% energy capacity
F:-20% AB energy consumption
J: 15% of damage taken restored as energy
Assuming we’re talking about percentages, this is kinda xxxx. You get a overall bonus of 15% more capacity, that you only fully benefit from when you are almost dead.
If not, i do not know what the capacity units are on energy bar, so i can’t comment. But depending on that this might be balanced, trash, or overpowered.
T3.2
E:-25%restoration and survival module cooldown
F:20sec engine debuff immunity after using a res/survival module
J:20sec energy siphon immunity after using a res/survival module
IMO being able to dodge and move > having no energy; i haven’t had really many situations where i lacked energy for something; i just stopped afterburinig for literally a second or two to let my energy regen like 50% and then used the module. Even then it’s not like you use modules very often; more like once or twice a minute (or even a life sometimes) and afterburners while very useful for getting away can sometimes be a annoyance in dogfighting, while MOVING at all is something you, well, should do allways. Not sure how to compare the restoration cooldown thing as while the bonus itself seems pretty huge, some of my ship loadouts don’t even have restoration modules at all.
T3.3
E:+10 resistance pts per every player locked onto you
F:+20% AB speed
J: +7 resistance pts, takes shield dmg when crashing
Again, i have no refference, but a 7 point full time bonus is realistically inferior to a 10 point target-bonus. The bonus will only be useful while you fight; which is while you’re locked on, so you have a almost guaranteed 10 points in combat there, and possibly more, which seems really useful. So does the additional 20% afterburner speed, which seems to be a very big bonus. Especially compared to previously mentioned measly 5% speed increase.
T4.1
-25% cooldown on modules (expect res and survival)
-35% less module consumption (-\-)
+25% stats to active modules (-\-)
This one i think is balanced in a way; the 25% increase can be very devastating in certain skills, and while energy consumption doesn’t seem as a big deal, it seems it’s compensated by a bigger percentage factor. The 25% cooldown increase also seems very utile, especially for long wait time skills.
T4.2
E:-15 resistance pts on your target
F:+9% ROF
J: +20% missile ROF
Kinda weird here. The increased reload time is pretty situational; there aren’t gonna be many situations where you empty your rockets reserve in one go on something, and even then 20% off 3 or so seconds is still… 2.4. .6 seconds isn’t exacly giant, and when you deplete your rockets you pretty much lose your bonus entirely, while a rate of fire increase and a debuff are gonna allways be beneficial to you.
T4.3
E:If below 50% shields, 10% more dmg
F:If below 50% shields, 50% faster energy regen
J:If below 50% shields, 25% faster shield regen
Here, i’m not exacly sure how to compare them but they “sound” alright to me in theory. I should also point out that the bonus Jericho are getting below 50% is avilable as one of the first T1 skills to the Empire, which also works regardless of health…
I realise you can choose different contracts, but that does not change the fact in my opinion the Jericho line of skills is weaker compared to the other two. Why should i be punished for staying loyal, or choosing a different playstyle?
Now, let’s move to railguns. Have you seen anyone use railguns? I rarely do. I do not know about T4, but rarely anyone uses them below that, expect maybe newbies in T1, still learning the metagame.
Rapid fire railguns are pretty much garbage compared to the plasma counterpart. Burst fire isn’t exacly a good idea in this game, as prediction is required and faster ships can be impossible to hit simply due to high bursts of damage; one move from the target and you miss your whole buckshot, ripping away a huge chunk of your DPS. That is, when you wait out your shots. Otherwise they’re kinda meh, i guess, but still fire slower having the same problem, and (i think) have a bigger spread.
Not only that, but the firing modes accesible are thermal and kinetic, compared to plasma’s EM and kinetic. This makes plasma capable of dealing maximum damage against both shields and armor, unlike railguns, which do not do nearly as much damage to shields.
Maybe in theory rapid-fire railguns have more damage, but in practice plasma is way easier to deal damage, i have found (it also sounds and looks cooler, as a bonus :P) due to before mentioned thing where you aren’t as punished for missing as with burst fire weapons. Plasma also has a better effective range.
I literally haven’t seen anyone use assault kinetic full time yet, neither at all the long range version. I don’t even have any idea how that one looks or works, that’s how rare it is.
As for ship abilities, i guess the skills are very good, but i don’t get why the cocoon was placed on the interceptor. I can see it being applicable in defense, but that isn’t exacly the role of a interceptor, is it?
Running away with it? Well, you let your enemies catch up to you during the 6 seconds, and only have 2 to run away so i don’t think so.
Intercepting? Good luck still having anyone within the range after those 6 seconds.
Support? As in, flying into a clusterfaq of enemies and using the ability, well i don’t really understand why they used this on an interceptor. I was hoping more of picking off lone frigates or ambushing ships, or sabotaging and doing a quick runaway or something. So yes, while the ability itself has huge potential, i don’t get why the interceptor wields it.
The fighter shield? Very nice ability, but i don’t play fighters much so i can’t comment on the balance.
The guided torpedo? It’s kinda infamous, isn’t it? I like to sometimes play frigates, and this is a good ability, bit too good, so i am all for appropriate balancing patches but i don’t get why the disintegrator wasn’t nerfed too, it’s almost instant, has way more DPS, and still has a huge range. I literally got two-shot as a ceptor with it just few hours ago, and i was so suprised i made sure to check the assist percentages, and it was 100% that guy. It was on the beggining of the round. Also buff drones.\
So yes, thats all i have to whine about for now. I love the faction artstyle and agenda; i played toss in sc and vanu in ps, i allways choose the sci-fi faction and am sad to find out stuff like this.
