Garrett Blacknova
Codex Troopers
3994
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Posted - 2013.09.13 23:29:00 -
[4] - Quote
Standard Blaster: Multi-purpose weapon. Competent against vehicles, but out-DPSed by dedicated AV weaponry, and hard to hit small targets with.
Scattered Blaster: Anti-infantry model. Reduced damage and accuracy, increased ROF and splash radius. Easier to catch infantry with the (still small) splash, and the high ROF makes missing less punishing.
Compressed Blaster: Anti-armour model. Increased damage, lower ROF. Hits hard, but not precisely enough to be a reliable anti-infantry weapon.
Stabilised Blaster: Long-range model - decent against all targets, increased range and accuracy, medium ROF and damage. Much like standard blasters, but more expensive in terms of both ISK and PG/CPU.
Standard Missile: Multi-purpose model. Decent direct damage hits vehicles hard, and the moderate splash radius and damage are enough to hurt infantry with a near miss.
Fragmented Missile: Anti-infantry model. Significantly lower direct damage, slightly increased splash damage and blast radius. This won't hurt enemy tanks badly, but it hits HARD against any nearby infantry.
Cycled Missile: Anti-vehicle model. Rapid/burst fire means increased DPS, with slightly more emphasis on the high direct damage value.
Accelerated Missile: Long range model. The missiles travel for the same amount of time before detonating, but travel faster, allowing for longer distance attacks than standard missiles allow.
Railguns basically only do the long-distance option, with Regulated turrets being harder to fit, but more effective in mid-range encounters because of the tracking speed advantage. They should still be too slow for close quarters, though. Choosing between Compressed and Standard is just a burst vs. sustained damage question, with Compressed being accordingly better against vehicles and the Standard model being slightly more forgiving against infantry.
As other turrets show up, we'll get more niche roles and a greater variety of armour-centric and shield-centric weapons to play with.
As for hulls... Basic HAV hulls should be relatively balanced in all aspects - HP, slot layout, speed/acceleration/turning. No fitting bonuses means they can be fitted for any role, but never fill it quite as well as a specialist HAV model can.
Enforcer: This is meant to be a "glass cannon" type of tank. These HAVs have a fitting bonus when equipping damage mods, and also get either a range increase or a slight speed buff, depending on the model, each with its own disadvantage. Either way, HP is slightly reduced from standard, with comparatively more HP lost by those with a speed bonus, while the range bonus also penalises the HAV's speed and acceleration slightly.
Marauder: These should be a "frontline" option. They have a bonus when fitting shield and/or armour modules, and improved turn speed and acceleration, but at the cost of a reduced maximum movement speed and slightly weaker slot layout than standard.
Black Ops: Comparable acceleration to a Marauder, but with increased top speed instead of turning, and a bonus to fitting specialist electronics, including EWAR modules (cloaking) and CRUs. Has the smallest slot layout per tier of all HAV models, but makes up for it with the specialised equipment it can fit as a result. Weakest in a stright fight, but least likely to fight fair.
Obviously, this also ties into the various racial benefits, with each race having their own preference for how to fight.
Caldari: Shield tanked. Better for long range. Their Enforcer takes the enhancement to range/zoom, and their Marauder has a fitting bonus for all Shield-related modules. Larger High Slot count than Low, and medium speed.
Gallente: Good speed and short-range weapons. They get a faster-moving, but more fragile, Enforcer model, and their Marauder benefits from fitting bonuses to all Armour modules. Medium-fast base speed, with emphasis on Low Slots.
Amarr: Dual tanked (I know, not in EVE, but it seems that way in DUST so far, may as well play it up). Their Enforcer has range/zoom enhancement, and their Marauder gets bonuses to HP and resistance modules for both Armour and Shields, but not for recovery modules. This means Armour Plates, Shield Extenders and Hardeners for both are cheaper, but Armour Repairers and Shield Boosters have their normal PG/CPU cost. Lower speed, but higher (and balanced) base HP.
Minmatar: Speed tanks. Enforcer gets a speed buff, while Marauder gets a bonus to regeneration modules on both tanking options, with no benefit when fitting HP or resistance mods. Basically the reverse of the Amarr bonus. The fastest vehicles in the game before mods, but also the lowest base HP.
How's that for role division and balancing? Instead of giving hulls a bonus, give them a penalty, but have fitting bonuses allowing them to BECOME better with enhanced modules the other variants can't fit without major compromise. And instead of each turret type being good for only a single role, you get varied models in each class with a bias towards different priorities. And every race has their own set of basic stats to work with.
Unlike the current state, however, PG and CPU for all races need to be balanced so that any HAV can use any weapons and still have a competent fitting available to them. Right now, Missiles are basically required on at least 2/3 slots on a Caldari HAV in order for it to support any Advanced modules, even without upgrading the turrets above Standard. Kind of sad when the Railgun is meant to be one of their racial turrets.
I think I wall-of-text-ed a bit there. Sorry. |