"Paid" ship revamp idea; the third ships!

Suggestions Balance
#1

Wondering what I’m on about? Let me explain! :smiley:

 

We all know that each faction is missing three ship types:

 

Empire don’t use Covert Ops Interceptors, Tackler Fighters or Guard Frigates.

Federation doesn’t use ECM Interceptors, Command Fighters or Long Range Frigates.

Jericho doesn’t use Recon Interceptors, Gunship Fighters or Engineering Frigates.

 

So, here’s an idea; what if the Paid For ships fill these roles?

 

To borrow the Empire, because they’re my favourite faction, the “Paid for” Interceptors would all become Covert Ops, the Fighters would become Tacklers, and the Frigates would be Guard Frigates.

 

This would not include the Steam exclusive ships - they are stand alone craft.

 

An alternative variation on this idea, in case people really do like how their current paid for ships handle, is to add a new set of paid for vessels to the ship tree that fill these roles.

 

Now some preemptive FAQ…

 

1. This is not Pay to Win!

Or at least it shouldn’t be. There are issues with the Tech Tree already that I hope will be addressed, but the intention is that the paid for ships are never the best example of any given class.

 

Example: Jericho favour Guard Frigates, so in theory the best Guard Frigates in each tier should belong to Jericho. This ideally means a Rank 3, 6, 9 and 12 Guard Frigate in their ship tree.

 

The Empire, who are receiving the paid for Guard Frigates, should therefore never have a Rank 6 Guard Frigate. Ideally, their Guard Frigates would be at Rank 1, 4, 7 and 10. This applies across all factions and all ship types.

 

2. Paid for ships are a new “Faction”.

I’ve mentioned in other threads I would like to see factions matter again, with there not only being a clear distinction between factions in a race (ie: Legion Fighters should all be Gunships; Warden Fighters all Command) but more faction-themed contracts or wargear to make picking a Faction matter.

 

If this happened, the “Paid” ship tree would be a third Faction. This means that if you had a Contract that said “win a battle using only Tech ships”, you couldn’t use the paid Jericho tech tree to complete it.

 

3. Err… why not just play another faction if you want their ships so bad?

Because Free to Play games have to make money somehow. This option gives players a choice; you can grind multiple factions to get access to every ship type, or you can pick one faction and spend some real world money to access the restricted ship classes more quickly and more easily.

 

Again, these ships are not Pay to Win. They are not meant to dominate the battlefield and render all other ships of their class obsolete. They should be competitive, certainly, but not so much so that they are the ideal choice in any given situation.

#2

No. This is exactly pay to win. My suggestion is to allow to select the premium ship role - one of two, used by race.

#3

No. This is exactly pay to win. My suggestion is to allow to select the premium ship role - one of two, used by race.

You don’t know the definition of pay to win…

 

I’m going to assume you never bothered to read my post, so I’ll repeat the key points: these ships are not the best in their class. Empire Guard Frigates aren’t better than Jericho Guard Frigates; Federation LR Frigates are weaker than Empire LR Frigates, and so on.

 

It allows you to access these classes faster because you don’t have to grind two factions, but if you don’t grind said factions you will likely lose to those who did.

 

For the record “Pay to Win” means that people who spend money have a sizeable advantage over those who don’t. I haven’t spent a single penny on this game and I have every faction at Rank 6 or higher, mostly blue tech and I can annihilate any paid for ship that strays into my gunsights; Star Conflict is anything but Pay to Win.

#4

Races are different for some reason. Devs are trying to balance this. Premium ships are always maxed rank and synergy at their tech level. Let’s wait until they finish balancing. Balancing is neverending process, you know ;).

 

It is true that Star Conflict isn’t p2w :slight_smile: And so be it forever I hope…

#5

Not a bad idea. The game is pay-to-not-grind, this would be an extension of that by allowing players to get ships of the roles their empire misses without grinding another empire. A major stumbling block I see is that if you change their premium ships their owners have fits, so it would pretty much have to be done by adding a new line. There’s also the minor issue of what ability the Federation premium LRF would get.

#6

Closest I can think of something like this in game already would be the Neuron, it’s a command ship with no command benefits, set up like a tackler, with the improved speed, and two basic mid missile slots. I’ve since stopped using my Neuron and went back to the Machete S, the mine field, a single one, is better than 3 mid missiles.

#7

Add a forth “race” of independent that only have premium ships, but got access to all classes. Just make sure a new player cant buy a T4 ship.