The EXP problem

[Gothmog]

I really like several of the ideas here. Again, I am strongly against nerfing ints' already pathetic scan range, as well as making them light hull. I did like the idea of lowering their fuel a bit, as that wouldn't make quite a humongous impact on them (they could still boost over a sector or two and defend but it would be a nice change nonetheless). Personally I think the main problem with ints is the following...

1. They chew up other ships too fast. This is NOT to say they shouldn't dominate in a dogfight vs any type of scout/fig/sf, but I feel they are TOO powerful as opposed to MORE powerful. Given that their main objective is to INTERCEPT other ships (be those bombers, TTs, cap ships, small ships, miners, whatever) I feel their role is fulfilled adequetly albeit too well.

2. They can GTFO, and GTFO, and GTFO. So many times it is worthless to dogfight ints as many are smart enough to just boost away. And if they have a 5 second head start on you, you'll never catch them. Rarely, a sf may get lucky with a retreating int and a hunter or a clever proxer may put some instadeath on his retreating aleph, but for the most part ints can outrun anything you throw at them short of a gangbang via turrets or LRMs. (Fresh abstract idea - some sort of hunter-tracking int-damaging LRM for figs?)

Perhaps we should rebalance the entire damage system sometime in the future to better encompass the balance that is the end objective. As a first step I urge you to consider changing bomber and int hull to different things. Not necessarily making ints light hull or anything so drastic, but I am completely in favor of lowering their survivability a little bit. As many have pointed out in various ways, it's silly that a SOLO int can take down a miner through a 2 or sometimes 3+ man defense and still (usually) preserve their KB.

I am just sick and tired of not being able to kill a 40 kb int. I realize that some people are exceptionally good whores and can get a 40 kb equally well with any type of ship, but the domination of the interceptor is too much. I believe that a fighter should die to an int unless utilizing all of its weaponry effectively (i.e. minepack, missiles, guns, possibly even ripping to a teleport in same sector and continuing the fight). I don't want figs or SF to MATCH ints in a fight, I just want ints to die more often, and make the game more team-based; as opposed to most ints NEVER dying in a furball or being able to whore 12 adv figs in 4 hvy ints with comparable skill levels.

The way I see it, they go too fast for too long, do too much damage, and have too many effective HP. Lowering any combination of these by any amount is a good step in my book. Adding effective weaponry to COUNTER these problems may be an effective step as well, but as McW has been trying to point out, making the game too complicated and getting away from the real fun of it (strategy, teamwork) is just a flop in the long run.

[takingarms1]

QUOTE (Gothmog @ May 20 2008, 12:27 AM) I am just sick and tired of not being able to kill a 40 kb int.

It's much harder to kill a 40kb fig or SF if they're flown by a competent pilot.

Perhaps the real issue is that you think KB IS CHEATING FACE THE FACTS!!!


Also I highly doubt 4 hvy ints are going to take out 12 adv figs, even if there is a pretty big skill discrepancy.


But substantively speaking, I agree with a lot of people above who say that the real issue is that ints have far too much range - they can boost too many sectors away. Fuel nerf is good because it makes ints have to stay closer to bases without having them lose any of what makes them so fun to fly.

However I still think that EXP has a significant economy advantage over the other factions. It's simply cheaper for them to get hvy ints and mini3 than it is for any other faction to get adv ships with adv tech. The fuel nerf doesn't address that problem.

[Adept]

There is no reason for an interceptor to be stealthy. An inserceptor is a full on headbanger ship.

Maybe it's really meant to be the tiger in our woods. "Stealthy? An orange and black tiger in a green jungle! Hah!" *insert sound of great white hunter getting eaten by unseen tiger*

(With apologies to Terry Pratchett)

[WhiskeyGhost]

QUOTE (takingarms1 @ May 20 2008, 09:20 AM) It's much harder to kill a 40kb fig or SF if they're flown by a competent pilot.

Perhaps the real issue is that you think KB IS CHEATING FACE THE FACTS!!!
Also I highly doubt 4 hvy ints are going to take out 12 adv figs, even if there is a pretty big skill discrepancy.
But substantively speaking, I agree with a lot of people above who say that the real issue is that ints have far too much range - they can boost too many sectors away. Fuel nerf is good because it makes ints have to stay closer to bases without having them lose any of what makes them so fun to fly.

However I still think that EXP has a significant economy advantage over the other factions. It's simply cheaper for them to get hvy ints and mini3 than it is for any other faction to get adv ships with adv tech. The fuel nerf doesn't address that problem.

I concur about the cheap costs of Expansion (heck, you can even pick up mini2 and emp cannon 1, the former being the ONLY gun ints needs. SF's still need cloaks researched even if you picked up tech, and fighters can't find things like small shield 2 or minepacks).

A competent pilot of course is always hard to kill, but a Hvy int pilot has the added survivability of quickly running away if a situation starts turning sour. Figs (exception TF) have to spend a good 5-6 seconds to rip out, and SF's have to rely upon getting unspotted (which is somewhat harder against ints with them having pulse probes and a fast speed).