Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Blockade Runners

I feel these ships already have a well-defined niche, as indicated by their name. They should be (relatively) fast, maneuverable, and have special abilities "which make them ideal for zipping through dangerous territories with valuable cargo." Repair bonuses seem somewhat out-of-place here since the ship will usually be cloaked (and can't repair) or is trying to avoid a gate camp to cloak/warp out (in which case the rep bonus isn't going to help against concentrated firepower). I'd like to see the rep bonus dropped in favor of a +5% agility bonus per level. Along those same lines, a "blockade runner" seems like it should be able to avoid most gate camps, i.e. bubble immunity. Now couple this with bringing each ship's high slots up to two (as per their T1 cousins) and the possibilities become interesting. So now the hull bonuses are:

Racial Industrial Skill Bonus:
+5% cargo capacity per level
+5% velocity per level

Transport Ships Skill Bonus:
+5% bonus to agility
-20% reduced CPU need for Cloaking Device per level

Note: Can fit Covert Ops Cloaks and Covert Cynosural Fields. Cloak reactivation delay reduced to 5 seconds; immune to cargo scanning and non-targeted interdiction.

As a side note, lore-wise the Prowler seems like it should be a Thukker ship.



Deep Space Transports

This one is a bit harder. Their EHP should be modeled along the lines of a Skiff (since they fulfill a similar role, only hauling instead of mining). But even then a single frigate can lock one down - how are these ships "designed with the depths of lawless space in mind"? Give them some teeth to fight back effectively, at least against frigates. Around 5-6 small turrets with tracking/optimal bonuses could make these ships much more difficult targets for solo hunters. Get a couple of these ships together and you have a transport convoy that could fight off small gangs (think WWII bomber formations). The difficulty here comes from having enough power grid to fit shield extenders/armor plating yet keeping the size of the fitted guns down to a reasonable level. Perhaps dropping the power grid some, but having reduced power grid requirements for the aforementioned extenders/plates? I'm still trying to work that one out - suggestions are welcome. The hull bonuses are now:

Racial Industrial Skill Bonus:
+5% cargo capacity per level
+5% velocity per level

Transport Ships Skill Bonus:
+5% bonus to shield/armor hit points
+4% bonus to all shield/armor resistances

Role Bonus: +2 warp strength; +50% bonus to optimal/falloff and tracking for small energy/hybrid/projectile turrets.

Another side note, the Mastodon would now seem more appropriate as a Boundless Creation ship. I'm note sure how one of "the slowest ships to be found floating through space" was designed by a company known for "building the fastest vessels to ply the space lanes".



Let me know what you think, and I'm looking forward to hearing your own ideas.

We seriously need something with cargo size between industrial and freighter, not orca that's mining command ship