Player Features and Ideas Discussion

This is less of a real gameplay need and more of a random idea, but one that I think could prove interesting.

I would like to propose adding miissiles that, instead of doing damage, drain a certain amount of power from the target's capacitor. They would retain the same basic missile damage mechanics (explosion radius, explosion velocity, etc.) so that range and application bonuses would still apply, but type-specific damage bonuses would not. This would, for example, make them useless for a torp Raven to use against a fast frigate, etc.

There is a certain amount of precedent here with the Void bomb, which is just an AoE cap missile.

The important piece would be the amount of cap drained. The average amount drained per launcher would have to be considerably less than a class-similar energy neutralizer, with long-range missiles (Lights, Heavies, Cruises) draining less than short-range missiles (Rockets, HAMs, Torps). Otherwise, NOS/neuts, and ships with bonuses to them, would be rendered obsolete. As a ballpark figure (totally open to critique/input), a Cruise Raven firing nothing but anti-cap cruise missiles would drain as much cap over time as a single heavy neut, while a Torp Raven firing nothing but anti-cap torpedoes would drain as much cap over time as two heavy neuts.

Finally, taking this idea to it's logical conclusion, I would propose that we extend this change to capital missiles. The Phoenix has long been undervalued due to the state of capital missiles, and remains so even after the recent changes to the hull and capital missiles. Having capital-class anti-cap missiles would give it a unique, if nontraditional, role amongst the dreadnaughts.



I'm sure this idea is full of holes. Feel free to tear it apart and point them out to me. I'm just curious to hear what you folks think about it.

I am all for adding more variety to existing systems. Would these missiles do the same a damage as there counter parts or would they do less to balance the cap destabilization.

I assumed they did no Damage, just nuet.



Also pretty sure thats what the PO wants but less the damage part. That would allow a Ship with standard misses to say fit Nuet Missiles at he start od a fight , drain enemy cap and then switch to Damage missiles or something like that.

Maybe nuet missiles to escape point ect.

I hadn't even thought of that. Khanid boats would be perfect for these, both from a lore standpoint and from a functionality standpoint.


That's another interesting idea. I wouldn't muck around with launcher mechanics, but if you make each cap drain missile large enough in volume that you can only load one at a time in a "regular" launcher, that would be interesting. (Rapid launchers are another issue completely.) Not sure if I'd do this or not, but it's definitely worth looking into.

My idea was to have these missiles do zero damage and only drain cap. I think mixing damage and cap drain in the same system is okay, so long as you have to swap ammo, but not the same missile. This would be consistent with neutralizing drones and Void bombs; you can do one or the other, but not both at the same time.

Making them T2 missiles was an interesting idea mentioned above and I'd totally support that; they are, after all, somewhat specialized, and this would limit their use to only dedicated missile pilots.

A bomber wing with Void bombs should be able to relatively effectively cap out a compact BS fleet. They could use anti-cap torps to cap out stragglers, or keep their regular torps to, you know, just blow them up.