Consider Buffing Barked Order

[drspendlove]

Commander Rank: 5 Barked Order 12 Initiative

In crew combat, intimidating command causes -25% All Accuracy, -25% All Damage for 3 Turns, knocks target back 1 slot

Compare to:
Bounty Hunter Rank: 5 Unfaltering Ire 10 Initiative

In crew combat, intimidating command hits 2 targets, removes all Buffs and causes -25% All Accuracy, -25% All Damage for 3 Turns


The advantages to the BH talent are that it costs 2 less initiative, strips buffs (!!), impacts two targets, can be used from the 4th position. 

The advantages to the Commander talent are that it can be used from position 1 (but that's risky for someone putting 5+ ranks into a job that gets neither blades, nor stealth, nor evasion), It knocks back a target, and can hit position 3.

I think the price of investing in commander to get crew combat talents is already very high. This talent has a lot of potential but really isn't enough to make them attractive as a pick on harder difficulties. I propose lowering the initiative cost to 8. This would make it a lower cost option for pushing back melee attackers or getting snubbers out of your face. At 12 initiative it simply doesn't hold up.

[fallen]

drspendlove thanks for the feedback! The ability to knock back rank 3 from anywhere as far back as rank 3 is pretty valuable. At 8 Initiative you can knock back 3 times compared to 2 today, pushing their second rank to the 4th slot.

We'll take another look.

[drspendlove]

Moving it to 10 init would be helpful. I don't think it would be enough to make it generally competitive, but it wouldn't be an awkwardly expensive choice, IMO

[ExoHound]

A lot of the commander debuffs hit stats that aren't that great. They also don't clear buffs. Compared to BH where -25% Acc and Damage is just amazing for 10, it would be cool if commanders had some more shout style effects or just didnt have them at all where they are now.

Just going over Commander, the Morale heal is probably the only real good combat ability they have.

[resistor]

Oct 26, 2020 9:14:28 GMT -5 ExoHound said:

A lot of the commander debuffs hit stats that aren't that great. They also don't clear buffs. Compared to BH where -25% Acc and Damage is just amazing for 10, it would be cool if commanders had some more shout style effects or just didnt have them at all where they are now.

Just going over Commander, the Morale heal is probably the only real good combat ability they have.

Scorn is good too, but you have to get all the way to rank 11 to take it, which probably isn't worth it for a combat officer.

[Gaidren]

Barked Order is situationally *amazing*. Yes, on the surface a single target debuff for 12 init that doesn't even clear buffs sounds weak. However, it's one of very, VERY few ways to force the enemy's slot 4 into slot 3. The most common crew combat death I encounter, at least on Impossible, is a jacked up buffed slot 4 enemy (especially xenos) getting lucky. Barked Order gives you a way to deal with this. Bark them into slot 3, swordsman juggles slot 2 and 3 (so the previous slot 4 enemy is now in slot 2) and now you can debuff him. This. Is. HUGE.

The "best" slot 3 type character you can arguably make if you want to limit "unlucky" crew combat deaths is a pure debuffer/self healer/self buffer. Commander/Bounty Hunter and either Xeno Hunter (for the sexy init talent vs. xeno and a second stacking self heal/buff) or Zealot (Unstoppable Force and Rough Interrogation). You will rarely if ever attack anything, but you are great at keeping your team safe. I learned this the hard way on Impossible. I paid for this knowledge with the blood of many crew members during the xeno war.