Assembly Hall

First let me start off with giving appreciation to you for taking the time to read my thoughts on the matter of super cap balancing.
I have been playing close attention to discussions on this subject and as one who was overwhelmed on several occasions by supers I have made a study of capabilities uses and tactics ect. While I have not been in the game as long as some I do have a great understanding of game mechanics.
These are proposed changes I believe would help the balance without specific “Nerfs” to existing craft as they are fine as is in stand alone or small fleets as intended. I believe what I have laid out is a balanced approach that does not put an all or nothing fix out there. As they are based on mechanics already used in game it should not be all that difficult or time consuming (man-hour wise) to make the changes.

First Carriers, add race specific bonus to standard carrier drones of 5% to damage and 5% speed. I believe this will also balance out the carriers themselves and you will see more diversity. This is based on the race specific bonuses applied to stealth bombers.

Second Cynos, give them the same mechanics as wormholes, Grid specific that one’s a artificial wormhole is generated to a specific grid location in a system after a certain amount of mass passes through it closes and another cyno although lit cannot be connected too for a specific amount of time. The amount of mass can be directly related to the cyno skill of the cyno pilot or and the skill of the pilot creating the jump bridge. This is based on Worm hole mechanics.

Third Dreadnoughts’, as the name implies these behemoths should be able to withstand massive punishment. Increase the both the hit points by 15% per level and the resistances across the board by 15%. This along with a race specific drone bonus to damage and warp speed. This will also increase the usefulness of dreads and justify the cost of such. This is a bigger change and likely a little more complex to complete. It is based on both stealth bomber race specifics, and ship balancing.

Thanks again for taking the time to listen to my thoughts. I would appreciate any feedback as to the viability of the options I have given.

So let me get this straight... your solution to supercaps being OP is to buff cap ships.

Yeah, that makes sense.

The issue is not supercap vs capital ships. Its supercap ships vs. EVERYTHING else.

Buffing cap ships just makes SC *and* capital ships OP.

Think of it this way:
Item A has 8 items in it
Item B has 8 items in it.
Item C has several hundred items in it.

Item A is vastly more powerful proportionally than B and C. A is on a more grand scale than B, which is more grand than C. A is a more advanced version of B, which is more advanced than C.

Therefore, A is OP.

Since A is OP, your choice is to buff B and C to match in terms of scale, or to nerf A. As C is vastly more complex to adjust (as C has many parts which have to be balanced against each other), it is not realistically feasible to buff it across the board.

If you only buff B... you end up with A and B being OP in relation to C.

A = Supercaps
B = Capital ships
C = Subcaps.

Putting a mass limit on Cyno is good in theory, but hard to execute, since it is player-spawned.

Secondly, hotdropping people at optimal is a bit crazy, since the cyno alt has to park itself on the grid. (that said, I know it happens)

And finally, I'm not familiar enough with the intricacies of flying supercaps to provide a potential solution. I mean, I could toss one out there, but it would likely be so full of holes its not even funny.

The problem with this idea is that it isn't feasible. Supercarriers can launch [with max skills] between 20 to 25 drones/fighters/fighter bombers (10 to 15 for regular carriers)... if facing a small group of 5 supercarriers that's about 100 to 125 drones/fighters/fighter bombers (50 to 75 for regular carriers).
To be able to kill each drone/fighter/fighter bomber you have to target each one separately and kill it. There is simply no way to kill them all before you are dead.



Buffing dreds makes them OP against subcapitals and carriers. Also... Dreds are not known of using drones (exception: the Moros).
As far as your HP and resistances idea... I too would like to fly a ship with a 2 million+ EHP buffer that can also tank a buttload of DPS and dish damage at the same time.




As someone said above... your idea of mass limited is easily bypassed. Instead of relying on one or two guys (see: alts) to pop a single cyno you'll have multiple guys moving around and popping them. Benefits the "big guys" who can afford all the extra guys/alts and less so for the "smaller entities."

another point about the cyno change you propose...

One of the big differences between a WH and the cyno is that the WH is between two points only.

A cyno can have several origins, and only one destination.

Those are good points and have been suggested by a few. the other side of the argument is that most who have do not want a nerf. so this discussion is about how to balance without nerfing super caps. this also does not address the problem of Titan blobs. Good discussion so far. keep it coming

So No one can come up with better suggestions on how to balance supers without Nerfing them?