I’d give up the controllability if the torps could be FaF AI-guided missiles like doomsdays or cruise missiles. I rarely use them for anything aside from self-destructing the CovOps that popped out from nowhere and knifed me, and chasing down weak ships that try to escape me. Other than that, I use my mauler like a CovOps almost. I cloak while at max speed (making sure deceleration is VERY slow) and sneak behind enemy lines to own them. And capping beacons is a breeze with Cloak+RT. I was stuck to a beacon for its entire duration just owning everything that came close. They didn’t even know I was there because I tele’d in behind them.
I believe that JLRF DO NOT need a buff, what it needs is to have a different description in the game. Currently both Long Range Frigates are under the same description which when read, makes them sound like snipers with low health. This sniper gameplay is acceptable for the Empire Variant, whereby one frigate can easily cover the entire map with simply the disintegrator. The JLRF on the other hand, cannot have this gameplay style. Using it this way, will easily make you the most useless player on your team. I believe that the only way the JLRF can be played EFFECTIVELY is as a mid-range gunship whereby it utilises everything on its ship to deal damage. This means 90% of the time, you should be firing your primary weapons, under stealth and being a generally irritant to the enemy only using the Guided Torpedo to supplement your main weapon damage. ( IE: When your weapons overheat.) Sadly, this style of effective gameplay is RARELY seen. (Most i see do not play them effectively, but there are really some who do well in these awesome ships) Even at tier 4 which i have just entered. You see JLRF, equiped with all 4 of their active modules as Long Range modules. All they do the entire match is lob torpedos everywhere, half the time missing. What hey should be doing is using their main weapons to rape the enemy. An effective JLRF, will cause the enemy to look for it.
If there is one thing that can be done to the Long Range Frigates in the game, it is to seperate them out according to faction and have different names and descriptions. They could still have a common name such as maybe “Damage Frigate” but it should branch out into 2 complete descriptions for the ship class.
The general meaning that must be brought across, is the ELRF, excels at long range sniping. (Long Range Operations?)
While the JLRF excels at being a mid-range gunship. (Destroyer?)
NOTE: I understand that ELRF can be used as mid-range gunships. The objective is to make players understand that the JLRF and ELRF have drastically different playstyles. The question of how to do this, is up to the developers, but i find it is really needed so we see more JLRF pilots showing up.
The reason i came up with this is because i realised that if one were to use their ELRF as a mid-range gunship without heavy reliance on the EM Scattering Field, you will always end up with a damaged hull and the Repair kit, has a long cooldown. This means more time is spent flying around with a damaged hull, which means your primary tank IE: Your hull, can never function at its full capacity. The JLRF on the other hand, relies on shield tanking. When damaged, one will use the Shield booster to recharge it. The difference is that the Shield Booster has a much shorter cooldown. (MK4 with some implant that reduces multipurpose cooldown brings it to recharge of 26.4 seconds) This means every 26.4 seconds, you can use it. Which in turn, allows you to have a “hit and take cover kind of playstyle”. Attack when shields are full, retreat when damaged to half and regenerate it with the booster. In the end you can spend a lot more time dealing damage as when you are attacked, your primary tank IE: Shields, are 90% of the time full. Additionally, the JLRF has an advanatge that the ELRF doesn’t. Its Special module, Guided Torpedo, is capable of being used upon activation. The Disintegrator requires 3 seconds to prep. This advantage of instantaneous activation, enhances the JLRF, role as a mid-range gunship. The best example to describe this is when your main weapons have overheated, you are out of missiles and the enemy is still firing at you with about 1/4 of his hull left. You realize that your shields are rapidly running out. With the only option left, you fire a Tachyoon charged Guided Torpedo at the enemy 3000m away. The Torpedo hits, the target explodes and you survive with 1/10 of your shield left. You then take cover and recharge your shields ready for the next encounter. If one were to attempt this with the Disintegrator, they may explode and die when the charging circle is about 3/4 full. This is why the JLRF has a much better role as a mid-range gunship. I hope that any players who read this will stop sitting at the back of the map lobbing torpedos everywhere. Get into the thick of the battlefield, and makes friends with the EM Scattering Field and Shield Booster. In higher tiers, these are your main source of survival. I believe that all JLRF, should have at least these 2 modules above equiped under active modules to fufil their role as a mid-range gunship.
If newer players still dont know when to use the Guided Torpedo, the general rule i follow, is this:
" The Guided Torpedo, is a smart missile. When you use varies missiles, (Standard,small,cruise,whatever) you use them to either, damage or finish off a target. The Torpedo should be used like this, except you control it and a human is smart, therefore the Torpedo become smart. From here, it is up to the player to find out how to use the Torpedo. Believe me, use your creativity to find out the effective and sometimes hilarious ways this module can be used to both have fun and be effective.
TIP: Never intend to, or guide a torpedo further than 5000m without Tachyoon Charge. You are wasting precious seconds which your ship can deal damage with its main weapons.
My in-game name is PAINISPOWER, and if you see me in my Ira Deus, you better run.
This guy must have spent hours typing this…
And I’ll run alright. I’ll run at you at 700m/s then face-melt you to nothing. XD
Unless you have an RT, JLRF’s are also slow af. This doesn’t help the added fact that they are made of paper mâché and use fridge-magnets as shields. And last time my mains overheated was literally never ago. I don’t let them overheat because overheating adds 2 seconds to total cooldown.
The point is to find a way to make players stop thinking JLRF are snipers. That is what i belive is needed so that tiers 2 and 3 will be filled with more competent and effective JLRF players.
In higher tiers, the amount of damage ships can do is greatly increased and at that point i believe tanking is not an option unless you are a guard. At that point you have to make use of stealth to be effective. Combining several weapons wuth stealth make the JLRF a literally “surprise” ship.
Comparing the ELRF and JLRF, i believe that hull tanking on ELRF is superior for a reason and that is to play to the Empire’s combat style in the story of brute force. I believe that IRL, the Empire would utilise the sheer brute force of their attack to defeat the enemy, problably leaving with damaged hulls in the process. The thing is after that attack, their hulls would be damaged and a hull is much harder to repair compared to a shield. The JLRF, on the otherhand, has to utilise the power of its shield to out-tank the enemy. Unlike a hull, a shield regenerates and the shield booster has a much shorter colldown compared to a repair kit. Attack when the shield is full and take cover when it drops to half. Once shields are recharged, rinse and repeat. Each time you are wearing down the enemy Empire ship until it gets destroyed. If you really want a buff, it should be to all Jericho ships have a 200% increase in shield regenration or something like that. This makes regeneration builds much more capable and in my opinion plays to the combat style of jericho. If the empire wants to attack, they better do so and with overwhelmin force. If the Jericho want to be successful in the defence, they need to outlast their enemy with their constantly regenrating shields.
I honestly agree with u on the slow part. Realiatically the Jericho hull has no armour and is designed only to hold the ship components. It should be much lighter compared to Empire ones therefore faster? Despite this i don’t think it would be implemented because Stealth frigates floating around at 300m/s with close-range heavy blaster builds would be op.
JLRF does not need an un-nerf, as it is still useful as the role it is. Being able to one-shot opponents with a JLRF torp was really OP, as it is extremely easy to hit people with them. If you struggle to get kills in a JLRF you probably have horrible timing with your torps. Use the torps at appropriate times (to finish someone off). Constantly bombarding enemies with torps is poor practice and won’t get you many kills. Use your 6 main weapons to deal high damage to enemy ships, and finish off the ships you or your team has severely damaged.
ELRFs need an un-nerf, however. Their sniper is now basically useless. One-shotting an inty was fine with an ELRF because it took skill to actually hit an inty (that is moving around a lot). JLRF torps require very little skill to use, the skill is in the timing. The only use I see out of ELRFs now is a heavy gunship (rapid fire coils FTW). The nerf to ELRFs damage combined with the fire-rate increase was still about a 15% damage reduction overall, which is 15% too much reduction.
Ummm unless you have bad lag.
Implement A1MA as an aimbot for LRFs!
TheClone (dirk) is all like, where is that dislike button?
The lag part is something I encounter quite often… That combined with the fact that my keyboard hates me, kinda sucks.
JLRF does not need an un-nerf, as it is still useful as the role it is. Being able to one-shot opponents with a JLRF torp was really OP, as it is extremely easy to hit people with them. If you struggle to get kills in a JLRF you probably have horrible timing with your torps. Use the torps at appropriate times (to finish someone off). Constantly bombarding enemies with torps is poor practice and won’t get you many kills. Use your 6 main weapons to deal high damage to enemy ships, and finish off the ships you or your team has severely damaged.
ELRFs need an un-nerf, however. Their sniper is now basically useless. One-shotting an inty was fine with an ELRF because it took skill to actually hit an inty (that is moving around a lot). JLRF torps require very little skill to use, the skill is in the timing. The only use I see out of ELRFs now is a heavy gunship (rapid fire coils FTW). The nerf to ELRFs damage combined with the fire-rate increase was still about a 15% damage reduction overall, which is 15% too much reduction.
The sad part is no matter how hard we try to explain these ships are NOT useless, the beginners in tier 1 and 2 never get the message, especially those that intend to continue in the game. The developers need to do something about the description first so more players understand the role of Long Range. JLRF and ELRF are balanced in my opinion. Its just that players read the description and think they are snipers. FACT: They CAN be snipers, but they aren’t designed to do that constantly.
TBH… I think the Long Range class is named wrongly. They should have a special name which the JLRF and ELRF can go under. Something like Heavyweapons or Destroyer. After that when you click on this “new name which i hope will replace Long Range” They split into a Jericho and Empire variant. To me the ELRF is a suicide frigate/long range gunship, while the JLRF is a Mid-Range Heavyweapons platform. I just hope this simple change of description can be considered so that we see more people playing the “insert new name here” class properly, and be helpful to their team