Alright then! Time to express my opinions and immediately get shot down by another player :013j:
Destroyers
Let me get straight to the point, Destroyers are fun to use. The challenge they offer via having to coordinate so many different aspects of the ship whilst keeping an eye out for others trying to take down your modules is rewarding, even when everything goes wrong I just sit there and think about what to try next.
Now that’s out of the way, it’s time to go over details.
Resource Requirements:
Destroyers themselves are not cheap and in some aspects can burn out players faster than grinding for a secret project ship simply due to the rarity of neodium. After attempting to grind up some spare neodium earlier today I managed to find 2 impure neodium ore within 2 hours which is simply stupid. The fact that a Rank 8 destroyer takes 64 Impure neodium to make is fair, but the rarity of neodium itself extends the task to the point where you may as well give up. Apart from the rarity crisis neodium is having there is also the problem of monocrystals which right now (without a license) you can only obtain 6 monocrystals a day, but given that you need 220 of them to make the " Invincible" it may take you over a month of solid grinding to just obtain the monocrystals.
On the bright side however, the crafting requirements don’t increase depending on what slots you assign unlike SP ships - so 3 hull slots and 3 shield are possible (although not recommended) as well as being able to “_refit” _the ship for 3 million credits which is a reasonable amount for what it is.
Concerns - Crafting
The presence of pre-built neodium plates in mysterious containers have once again risen the P2W argument over destroyers since if you do pvp sector runs you can easily pick up 4-5 in one session (depending on how long you go for). Although there is still enough loot in the mysterious containers loot pool to lower the chances of a component it is still much faster than playing along with RNG and trying to find the impure neodium on its own.
Equipment and Maintenance costs
When you make a brand new destroyer you’ll find that it comes with no modules or modifiers, which after paying 3 million to make may be a bit hard on the progressing player but the cost of the more commonly used modules is relatively low (total module fitting costs around 1.2 million, no modifiers). Through the progression of slowly levelling up a destroyer it is also easy to see just how important keeping modules alive is since your modules are what defines the power of your destroyer. Luckily however upgrading modules does not cost as too much (~650k for offensive) and loyalty vouchers can be gained through general combat inside of pvp and pve, allowing for mostly smooth progression regarding upgrading. Although the destruction of a destroyer is costly compared to other ships (30k for one death, stacks up to 100k total) the amount that can be earned through a victory will usually outweigh the amount lost to destruction.
Equipment Annoyances
Some modules can’t hit (or directly aim at) objects like turrets, the cruiser or objectives.
Ship Tree visual overhaul
Since I’ve been playing for quite some time the new ship tree is taking some time to get used to since the vertical scroll. Visually however, the tree is now rather impressive and now makes the synergy levels of ships more obvious via the bar next to their icon. Of course with the new ship tree however came more teasers… this time of Rank 11 and 14 destroyers since they have their outlines visible with each of them being clearly unique.
Open Space changes
Alongside the addition of the new (but still rather rare) neodium, OS has seen some love this update with the Ydra system being added to the map allowing players to explore the (rather limited) terrain of the “Naberia-392 Complex” and the Northstar crash site. Although the maps add things not seen in older maps like the robots walking/dancing/teleporting around the surface of the map it still holds the reins on exploration with invisible walls halting your want to explore further ( I wanted to go through that tunnel :fed003: ).
Links in chat
FINALLY!
Overall
Although the presence of Destroyers may slightly alter the meta (Star Conflict: the Coil strikes back), the amount of time (or money) you need to invest into making a _ RANK 8 SHIP _ is simply too much since destroyers are a new ship class and most certainly not endgame content.
Also, strategies in dreadnaught battles will obviously be forced to change with the implementation of destroyers, since the firepower they wield is more than capable of scaring off larger ships.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have lasers to fire.
But I wouldn’t complain with vouchers reward, or maybe even random crafting parts?! As long as it’s not restricted to t2, and t5 finally gets some love