Player Features and Ideas Discussion

So I was thinking. According to the thread about the new armor tanking changes, there will still be a disparity between shield tanking and armor tanking, and a big part of that disparity is what can be done with low slots versus what can be done with medium slots as far as improving gank ability.

One change which is rumored to be in the pipeline is a change to Tracking Enhancers. This is a good thing (especially for curbing the Minmatar problem) but I'm wondering whether something else could be done.

What I'm proposing is scripted damage mods for weapons. Instead of the current system where you get both damage and rate of fire, you would have to choose between each. This would force you to specialize between high alpha setups and high damage setups. There would obviously be tradeoffs for each (ammo consumption, cap consumption, etc.)

I would suggest something like these stats for the new scripts.

Magnetic field Stabilizer/Heat Sink/Gyrostabilizer Tech II
Damage Modifier: 1.05x
Rate of fire bonus: 7.5%

Rate of fire script
Modification of damage modifier -100% (Resulting in 1.00x damage modifier)
Modification of rate of fire bonus +100% (resulting in 15% rate of fire bonus)

Damage script
Modification of damage modifier +100% (Resulting in 1.1x damage modifier)
Modification of rate of fire bonus -100% (resulting in 0% rate of fire bonus)

To compare, currently a tech II damage mod increases DPS by 22.8%. Given these changes, an unscripted damage mod would offer a 13.5% DPS increase, a damage script would offer 10% DPS increase, and a ROF script would offer a 17.5% increase. All of these numbers could be modified to ensure balance, but the general idea is to slightly reduce effectiveness of damage mods while giving people a choice of what kind of damage they want to be putting out.

I realize anything that takes away damage will probably be frowned upon by the general public, but by doing this you would increase the effectiveness of active tanking as a whole (by reducing incoming damage), and increase the viability of armor tanking (by reducing the effectiveness of damage mods).

Also, a similar tact could be taken for tracking enhancers, by scripting them as well and following the pattern that was established when other modules (like sensor boosters, and tracking computers) were given scripts.

Scripting for ROF or damage would work, as for cap use... it could be like a DC... minimal cap use.

I wouldn't change their current power

Take a T2 damage mod:
Weapon damage = 1.1x
Weapon cycle time = 0.895x
Weapon DPS = 1.1/0.895 = 1.229x

If you script to double the damage mod and lose the rof mod, then you actually lose DPS, while gaining Alpha.

Its an interesting concept, but doubling ROF bonus would give a greater DPS boost.

1/0.79= 1.266 - so more cap/ammo use, more DPS than as of now... seems fine... until you look at stacking bonuses

Whereas now you'd have 2 damage mods, the 2nd getting a stacking penalt, you simply script them, and they don't stack, while providing even greater bonuses.
1.2/0.79 = 1.52 - a whopping >50% DPS increase, whereas now you get 1.1*1.087/ 0.895/ 0.9086 = 1.47
- already noticible, and stacking penalties are pretty small with only 2 mods

but those fitting 4 damage mods would then have a huge DPS increase by splitting the scripts 2/2

If you make the base values weaker, you are then nerfing many fits...

Its a cool idea, but I think it would make a balancing mess (not that it couldn't be balanced, just that it would affect many areas of balance, and would be complex to balance)

The only problem with a medium slot capacitor powered module is traditionally those modules are more powerful than their low slot counterparts.

Unless the low slot damage mods are then nerfed to compensate, you would increase average DPS, and thereby make active tanking an even worse option. If, however the medium slot mods become as powerful as the low slot ones are currently, and the low slot ones were nerfed in comparison, then you might decrease average DPS (spare medium slots are a lot harder to come by, whether shield *or* armor tanking).