Djole88 wrote:QUOTE (Djole88 @ Jan 12 2015, 04:55 AM) Part of the allegiance being awesome is that there are more things at stake than just tech balance. You have to give a fair chance to ships that are less advanced AND make stuff fun to fly. You can't judge what is a good ship if you can't fly it properly (see giga lxy ints) therefore your alteration to the ship specs is likely to cause them to behave... unexpectedly.
Ok first of all, I'm a fine pilot.
Second of all, why would you assume I'd make changes to the core based on my experiences
flying a ship? What I can or cannot do with a ship is about as useless to core balance as what P32 or Drizzo can or cannot do with a ship. Brood can probably take on half of allegiance at once with a rix hvy, should I nerf rix? (answer: possibly, but probably not.) What matters in game design and balance is the overarching effects of the ships. If Giga Lxy Ints are worth $500 then you'll see giga with absurd kill numbers as
overall the team will be outperforming other ints. It has nothing to do with whether or not you beat Babelfish in a particular 1 on 1.
Finally,
Malicious Wraith wrote:QUOTE (Malicious Wraith @ Jan 12 2015, 06:00 AM) Asymmetric warfare has always been the best formula for fun and interesting strategy games ...
Absolutely. Why does everyone have the impression I'm going to Adeptify or Spunkify the core? That's the
opposite of my goals. I figured that you guys, seeing me talk about Phoenix the faction, would have figured out that I'm firmly opposed to vanilla factions. That's the whole reason I advocate reverting the drac hull nerf and instead nerfing their damage! Low damage, insane durability is an interesting gameplay twist. The idea that you simply can't solo their miners is an interesting gameplay twist. If it ends up pushing drac over the top, there are other things we can do.
For example: the biggest concern you can have with drac and my proposed changes are P32's concerns. I respect his opinion. If it turns out that my changes make drac overpowered, I'll tone down their econ. If it turns out they make drac even more unplayable, I'll admit I was wrong, revert, and try something else. But one thing's for sure, I'm not looking to take away the things that make each faction unique, nor am I interested in removing factions. Each faction is, in my eyes, at a certain level of maturity and could use a little more flexing to get there. Obviously some factions will always be more powerful than other factions but that's the nature of balance.
But I would like the game's newer factions, Phoenix, Drac, and OH to be fleshed out a little more and given some more of their own flavor. I'd also like the gulf between the top factions (Rix, Giga, and Belts) and the bottom factions (Phoenix, Drac, and Dreg) to be reduced significantly. I'd also prefer to lessen this gulf by buffing the bottom than nerfing the top.
To give you guys a better idea of how I'd be handling this core, here is a general overall idea of my vision for Allegiance balance:
1- Each faction should have its own unique feel both for the commanders and the pilots.
2- Each faction should have specific reasons to go specific techpaths. A faction should never be in the position where it always must go one particular techpath.
3- Each faction should have specific good and bad matchups. Factions should be counterable by altering playstyle and through command decisions.
4- Attackers should have an inherent advantage over defenders. Turtling isn't fun for anyone.
5- Superior econ should lead to wins.
6- Each combat ship should have a path to victory against each other combat ship. If there isn't a way for figs to beat ints (even if ints have the advantage), one team just ends up getting whored on.
Please note that I'm not saying that these visions aren't currently realized in one way or another (currently, for example, #6 is very generally already done), just that these are the "guiding principles" that I will have when leading the core.
Accomplishing balance will be a large mix of commanding and listening to input from pilots whose opinions I respect. I'm not going to dictatorially change this game. Hell last night I was talking to Drizzo about the relative faction balance and what he and I thought about each of the factions in terms of which are the most powerful. We were in general agreement.
