Make advanced capital ships more powerful

[starfixer]

Currently, the battlecruiser and heavy carrier aren't really that much more powerful than their less advanced counterparts - the standard cruiser and carrier. The cruiser has the same reactors and weapontry with different (but not better) armory, while the carrier has different (but not better) armor and weapontry. One can actually argue that the carrier is better than the heavy carrier because it has one short range and one long range weapon, while the heavy carrier has two short range weapons. I have some suggestions to make these ships better.

1. Better reactors. Particularly for the battlecruiser which has the exact same weapontry and available operations as the cruiser, getting "heavy reactors" which can handle 5000 or even 6000 mass can allow for a combination of better guns, torpedoes, armory, level etc.

2. For the heavy carrier, make the plasma cannion more powerful. Currently, the most powerful plasma cannion has the same attack power as the lance. Make a plasma cannion with more damage than any lance available or give the plasma cannion special powers, such as expanding range to 2 (this would require a new operation as well) making it the first mid-range weapon in the game, and you have a better weapon (like how the railgun is better than the light gun). The same applies for boarding shuttles.

3. Bigger hull bonus for durability. Currently the battlecruiser and heavy carrier only give 2 more hull per durtbility than standard cruisers and carriers, and 1 more hull than the transport. Making them bigger, particularly the battelcruiser, and as a result giving them more hull points durability would make them harder to destroy, giving them an advantage defenseively.

4. Exclusive operations. Taking heavy carriers as an example. you can make a "Repair fighter II" exclusively for heavy carriers which requires more fuel but repairs fighters more/reapairs more fighters per turn or a "boarding action II" which does EVA for more than one turn or gives more damage and attack, or a "plasma cannion" operation exclusive to plasma cannions and attacks upto 2 range (see #2). This combined with a bigger maximum water-fuel would give them greater potential.

[starfixer]

Some more things I noticed.

1. Heavy Carrier weapons take up two slots. So while almost any other ship can have two weapons simultaneously, the heavy carrier can only have one. This makes it even more important that the plasma cannon and/or boarding shuttles become more powerful.

2. Many new railguns and torpedoes are too massive to fit on any ship, even with maximum reactors and no other weapons, armor, auxiliary etc. This makes it even more important for battlecruisers to have reactors that can take more mass.

3. Heavy Carrier gives less hull points per durability than its standard carrier counterpart. This makes no sense as heavy carriers are bigger than carriers.

Note to Cory Trese: Even though I feel some things can be improved, the fact that st4x is one is the best mobile games remains unchanged.

[hlo]

Doubtful it will happen. All those so call Dreadnought, Battleships, etc. in ST RPG are essentially JUNK compare to even the Omega Cruiser and other nasty mess we players have created using the custom ship designer.

[starfixer]

Jun 26, 2014 13:28:24 GMT -5 hlo said:

Doubtful it will happen. All those so call Dreadnought, Battleships, etc. in ST RPG are essentially JUNK compare to even the Omega Cruiser and other nasty mess we players have created using the custom ship designer.

I fail to see how that has to do with my suggestions. Are you saying that my suggestions don't go far enough?

[Officer Genious]

Jun 26, 2014 13:28:24 GMT -5 hlo said:

Doubtful it will happen. All those so call Dreadnought, Battleships, etc. in ST RPG are essentially JUNK compare to even the Omega Cruiser and other nasty mess we players have created using the custom ship designer.

Well, I think of those ships as old ships that were most like our battleships and dreadnoughts before new designs came out.

[hlo]

Jun 26, 2014 13:31:15 GMT -5 starfixer said:

Jun 26, 2014 13:28:24 GMT -5 hlo said:

Doubtful it will happen. All those so call Dreadnought, Battleships, etc. in ST RPG are essentially JUNK compare to even the Omega Cruiser and other nasty mess we players have created using the custom ship designer.

I fail to see how that has to do with my suggestions. Are you saying that my suggestions don't go far enough?

I have a feeling Cory will not allow us to create any extreme designs. Extreme players' designs will lead to balancing issues where Cory's beloved Aliens ships will be destroyed too easily.

I myself wants to create multiple functionality ships like a Heavily Armed Assault Transport that can fight its way through the gauntlet of Alien ships without dragging all these escorts with it. Currently certain ships have only 1 slot so its either gun or torpedoes but not both. Ships that can do 2 attacks per turn. Ships with very large fuel tanks to serve as remote fuelling stations. Instead of full blown Colony Ships, how about some ship type that allows us to create Forward Operating Base in a unoccupied system? My list maybe worse than yours.

[Deleted]

Its true, they both said that the really BIG ships were basiclly annihilated during the guild wars.

[Brutus Aurelius]

That's no asteroid, it's a Guild ship!

[Cory Trese]

The two slot weapons like Plasma Cannons and Boarding Shuttles are already much better than the one slot ones...

I'm working on the mass and reactor stuff, just takes a crazy amount of time and testing

[starfixer]

Jun 26, 2014 13:54:33 GMT -5 hlo said:

Jun 26, 2014 13:31:15 GMT -5 starfixer said:

I fail to see how that has to do with my suggestions. Are you saying that my suggestions don't go far enough?

I have a feeling Cory will not allow ulf wants to create multiple functionality ships like a Heavily Armed Assault Transport that can fight its way through the gauntlet of Alien ships without dragging all these escorts with it. Currently certain ships have only 1 slot so its either gun or torpedoes but not both. Ships that can do 2 attacks per turn. Ships with very large fuel tanks to serve as remote fuelling stations. Instead of full blown Colony Ships, how about some ship type that allows us to create Forward Operating Base in a unoccupied system? My list maybe worse than yours.

Well I don't think I'm asking for any extreme designs, just that the heavy carrier and battlecruiser be more powerful to outclass the carrier and cruiser, just like from a combat perspective carriers and cruisers are better than fighters with a higher initial and maint cost to make up for it.

What you're asking for is entirely new ships that would make the game less challenging. First, most ships can already have two weapons simultaneously. Also, one good thing about the heavy carrier is that it has more fuel than the carrier to the point where, at a high level and with the right structures, it can be used as a refueling station. A transport with intense combat capabilities and invasion abilities may be too overbalanced, but weak 1 slot drop pods allowing for guns could work. Personally though I'd prefer transports that specialize all in invasion with fighters to protect it, but maybe that's just me

[starfixer]

Jun 26, 2014 19:43:06 GMT -5 Cory Trese said:

The two slot weapons like Plasma Cannons and Boarding Shuttles are already much better than the one slot ones...

I'm working on the mass and reactor stuff, just takes a crazy amount of time and testing

Well the boarding shuttles are certainly better than the pods, but how is the plasma cannon better than the lance? It deals the same damage with the same attack and defense bonuses. Does it have some special ability not found in other guns?