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Post by xdesperado on Feb 18, 2013 15:15:54 GMT -5
Okay I understand there are game balance issues but is there any possibility that either the Assault Shuttle upgrade and Escape Shuttle upgrade could be combined or a new Multipurpose Shuttle upgrade be added? The Escape Shuttle is clearly an armed craft so should be useful in combat for helping to deliver boarders and it seems a bit odd that in a hull breach emergency the Captain and Officers wouldn't be able to dive into an Assault Shuttle and make an escape. Of course if the Assault Shuttles are supposed to represent very small (1-2 man) craft with extremely limited range and not fully capable military shuttles with full range, then the current distinction makes a bit more sense. Currently the Escape Shuttle is nearly a must have upgrade as it offers a chance to avoid death in certain limited situations. That being said captains can spend their entire careers never utilizing it and possibly losing more than a few encounters because of not having a little more offensive punch. As I said in the beginning I understand there may be game balance issues, but as other upgrades have recently seen improvements and with more upgrade options being promised for the near future thought a review of the shuttles might be possible.
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Post by starfixer on Feb 18, 2013 16:16:50 GMT -5
The escape shuttle definetly should not be made better. It already provides guarenteed escape from hull breach death and exeucton death, escaping in a ship that's both fast and quick. If aything, the other comat upgrades should be made better to compete with the escape shuttle upgrade!
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Post by xdesperado on Feb 18, 2013 16:38:35 GMT -5
starfixer sorry to disagree but the Escape Shuttle is not a guarantee of survival as the characters health and other factors can still result in death. It gives you a very good chance of surviving what would otherwise be certain death situations but is definitely not 100%
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Post by starfixer on Feb 18, 2013 17:33:12 GMT -5
starfixer sorry to disagree but the Escape Shuttle is not a guarantee of survival as the characters health and other factors can still result in death. It gives you a very good chance of surviving what would otherwise be certain death situations but is definitely not 100% I stated it guarenteed escape from hull breach and execution, not guarenteed escape from death 100%.
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Post by Cory Trese on Feb 18, 2013 22:01:49 GMT -5
It would be a pretty huge upgrade for Attach Shuttles to count as a really poor Escape Shuttle.
I can see the argument for (it is a shuttle) and the argument against (it doesn't have sails or a reactor core.)
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Post by xdesperado on Feb 18, 2013 23:05:51 GMT -5
It would be a pretty huge upgrade for Attach Shuttles to count as a really poor Escape Shuttle. I can see the argument for (it is a shuttle) and the argument against (it doesn't have sails or a reactor core.) Like I said in my initial post, just a possibility to consider. Not sure if the games engine could support it but if it can perhaps give a percentage chance to Assault Shuttles being successful in an escape attempt instead of the more or less guaranteed success of the escape shuttle. Then assign it very poor stats...like being slow instead of fast like a regular shuttle is. While it would beat being dead it definitely wouldn't be a ship you'd want to be stuck with any longer than absolutely necessary, while the Escape Shuttle can actually be upgraded to a fairly decent little ship and made servicible for some shorter term work.
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Post by starfixer on Feb 19, 2013 10:46:34 GMT -5
If the assault shuttles only provided a chance, and not guarenteed, it would be more balanced. Though it would roably hav to be farther down the list (more expensive). Besides, I don't know if the assault shuttles are made for dangerous deep-space travel, and just for short-term combat. It may not have the capacity to act as a full-functioning space ship. In addition, escape shuttles may have some special ability to snatch the captain and the escape the moment there's a hull breach.
It's an interesting idea though. Prehaps another escape shuttle upgrade (super assault shuttle, assault shuttle 2000, advanced purpose attack shuttles, etc) that provides boarding bonus and limited escape capabilites (eg the escape would only be a chance not guarenteed, escape wouldn't cover execution and hull breach but rather one or the other, escape shuttle would only last x turns in deep-space, significantly increased chance of accidents, escape shuttle would be weaker etc)
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BlastGT1
Templar
[ Heroes of Steel Supporter ]
Turning ships into shards with Alchemy
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Post by BlastGT1 on Feb 19, 2013 13:04:40 GMT -5
I would bet assault shuttles have room for crew and weapons only, and are made specifically for ship to ship boarding combat only, thus completely unusable for real travel. I doubt Capt Kirk and company would have gotten far in their shuttle.
_______________________________
"Issue the standard Cadar greeting, Ensign." "But sir, that's one of our allies!" "I know that, Ensign. We're confirming that the treaty is still in effect!"
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martyparty
Exemplar
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Posts: 326
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Post by martyparty on Feb 19, 2013 16:05:55 GMT -5
I'm always offended when a pirate in an escape shuttle blasts holes in my starting ship. I'm like "You can't do that! That's just an escape shuttle!"
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Post by Cory Trese on Feb 19, 2013 22:43:33 GMT -5
I'm always offended when a pirate in an escape shuttle blasts holes in my starting ship. I'm like "You can't do that! That's just an escape shuttle!" You mean a 'Pirate Shuttle' ? Pirates don't have Escape Shuttle ships.
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Post by contributor on Feb 19, 2013 22:51:46 GMT -5
Currently the Escape Shuttle is nearly a must have upgrade as it offers a chance to avoid death in certain limited situations. That being said captains can spend their entire careers never utilizing it and possibly losing more than a few encounters because of not having a little more offensive punch. I've noticed this same specific issue, especially in terms of boarding upgrades. It seems like if we chose the shuttle we don't have much choice for great boarding upgrades. Though the idea of win your boarding or die is sort of cool too. Would making good boarding upgrades in a different category than the escape shuttle solve some of the issues discussed?
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Post by starfixer on Feb 19, 2013 23:05:05 GMT -5
Currently the Escape Shuttle is nearly a must have upgrade as it offers a chance to avoid death in certain limited situations. That being said captains can spend their entire careers never utilizing it and possibly losing more than a few encounters because of not having a little more offensive punch. I've noticed this same specific issue, especially in terms of boarding upgrades. It seems like if we chose the shuttle we don't have much choice for great boarding upgrades. Though the idea of win your boarding or die is sort of cool too. Would making good boarding upgrades in a different category than the escape shuttle solve some of the issues discussed? Its called "mercanaries". Its a Type III boarding upgrade that provides a greater boarding advantage than leviathan system.
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martyparty
Exemplar
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Posts: 326
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Post by martyparty on Feb 19, 2013 23:36:00 GMT -5
I'm always offended when a pirate in an escape shuttle blasts holes in my starting ship. I'm like "You can't do that! That's just an escape shuttle!" You mean a 'Pirate Shuttle' ? Pirates don't have Escape Shuttle ships. I'm pretty sure they're Escape Shuttle's. My main point is that to me it makes more sense if certain kinds of ships were unarmed - escape shuttles and fat merchants especially.
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Post by Cory Trese on Feb 20, 2013 0:03:12 GMT -5
I've noticed this same specific issue, especially in terms of boarding upgrades. It seems like if we chose the shuttle we don't have much choice for great boarding upgrades. Though the idea of win your boarding or die is sort of cool too. Would making good boarding upgrades in a different category than the escape shuttle solve some of the issues discussed? Its called "mercanaries". Its a Type III boarding upgrade that provides a greater boarding advantage than leviathan system. Depends on the Crew size for that one I think, and the Warrior skill.
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Post by Cory Trese on Feb 20, 2013 0:05:09 GMT -5
You mean a 'Pirate Shuttle' ? Pirates don't have Escape Shuttle ships. I'm pretty sure they're Escape Shuttle's. My main point is that to me it makes more sense if certain kinds of ships were unarmed - escape shuttles and fat merchants especially. Pirates can't be in Escape Shuttles. Just double and triple checked that. Pirate Shuttles are quiet different than Escape Shuttles -- they're balanced to be considerably weaker. On average the Merchant ships (and Smugglers, to a lesser degree) are balanced as non-combat ships with higher Cargo to Hull ratio and lower aggressive build scores. There is a class of Merchant Ships (Liners) that are specifically constructed to contain lots of excess (non-assigned) Crew. Assumed to be passengers.
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