Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Hello,

Even though Black ops battleships are an asset for ambush tactics, participation in the combat or activities that follow is not common. Because of this I would like to propose some changes to what these ships are and how they function.

Before I go any further we must first dissect some of the current capabilities and the roles that covert ships have. Below is a list of the minimum expected uses for any covert ship.

1. Espionage: The ability to warp cloaked makes these ships excellent scouts. Even ships that are not specifically designed for scouting like blockade runners make excellent scouts although they are not combat oriented.
*scout meaning gatherer of information and not necessarily the act of jumping through gate before the fleet to see what on the other side or staying behind to see who's behind. What some refer to +1, -1.


2. Ambush: The ability to be in a system Undetected (More or less; there is always local), suddenly appear, attack and the fade away.


3. Stealth: Being able to be right next to the enemy and not be detected. The ability to warp cloaked leaves minimum information as to where you might be next.


4. Combat: Ships like the stealth bomber, force recon and strategic cruisers are all capable of participating in combat after arriving on the battlefield unnoticed. This is the epitome of covert operations and is the basis for enemy defeat. Hiding your fleet composition as much as possible can make the difference between victory or defeat.

*Now that we have a baseline of what covert or stealthy ships should be capable of doing, we must continue on to what the the current capabilities of the Black ops are. Below is a list of their abilities:

1. Stealth & Espionage: More of a facilitator, black ops ships put assets on the field that can put in the work. Their roles in this aspect are limited to being on the battlefield grid prior to engagement and hope no one knows or waiting for a warp in. Reconnaissance with this ship is an impossibility because of the inability to use covert ops cloaks.


2. Ambush: facilitates the relocation of PVP assets ( Players ) Via covert jump portal generation. Limited ambush capabilities if cloaked prior to engagement on the battlefield grid.


3. Combat: With overall lower EHP and a significantly higher price point, Black ops battleships seem more like a liability on the Battlefield than a force multiplier or Damage dealer. With their inability to use covert ops cloak these Ships are not even able to warp in unnoticed as last moment support much less warp away to an undisclosed location without giving away their general direction.

Participation Value: Moderately low

Summary: Lower EHP, Higher price point and inability to use covert ops cloaking devices have reduced overall participation of these potentially useful ships to covert jumps alone.

PROPOSAL:

By being somewhere in between combat and strategic but not good at any specific one, these ships could do with balancing to tip them in the right direction. [

1. Role bonuses: Every ship that has ties to covert operations has a role bonus. These Give the ships specific static attributes to help it along it's job regardless of pilot skill. Making role bonuses the number one priority for balancing Black ops ships will ensure the ship is on par with the rest.

I propose the following: Just one

A) This will increase survivability of the ship against large fleets

100% bonus to effectiveness of target spectrum Breaker
-100% scan resolution of target spectrum Breaker

B) Combat oriented: Reduce the amount of turret or missile hard points to 3. Total effective damage of 6 weapons instead of five(will help diminish PWGRD and CPU load so they are able to fit more tank). Because of their inability to warp cloaked and the obvious downsides to being a battleship this will help hit at range and augment their survivability.

100% bonus to turret or missile damage
50% bonus to turret optimal/falloff or missile velocity


2. BS skill Bonus changes: RoF/damage and Range on all races


3. Black ops: 25% bonus to scan resolution per level and augment cloaked velocity from125% to 200% (Since they cannot warp mobility inside the battlefield should be a must to get to their strategic position in a somewhat quicker time will raise cloaked velocity to 400 or 600m/s depending on the ship and fits)

The next four Post Slot will be saved for ship specific ideas, One for each race. Please comment and give ideas of re-balancing. The post will change to reflect the ideas of you guys so they are easily visible to newer readers. If you disagree with an idea, give it some thought and help us balance these ships. This post will never be complete and i hope to keep it up to date with your ideas and ship specific balancing

Widow

Panther