The Black Jackal
The Southern Legion
The Umbra Combine
878
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Posted - 2013.10.05 04:16:00 -
[1] - Quote
Everyone has likely played Rock, Scissors, Paper at some point in their lives. The rule set is simplistic, Rock beats Scissors, Scissors beat Paper, and Paper beats Rock. And it's a 'balance' system often used in computer games, though often in a more complex form.
With DUST 514, there seems to be a RSP basis for many decisions, but with multiple influencing factors due to the ability to customise you stuff to a great degree. And this leads to a biased RSP mentality that favours 'Rock' over Scissors and Paper, coz Paper only has a 50% chance to beat Rock.
We'll take one of the triads that people talk about in DUST 514 and pull it apart. This one is Anti-Materials (Anti-Vehicle) Infantry, Vs Armor Tanks, Vs. Shield Tanks.
Note: This may not represent the 'true' intentions of the RSP basis, but it is one that people do talk about a lot.
Armor Tanks (Fitted with their 'optimised' weapon of Blaster) Are Designed to be effective 'Stand-and'Deliver' Style HAVs. Heavy buffer, slower speed, and high damage output. Blasters (being Thermal Based) are more effective against Shields than Armor.
Shield Tanks are faster (a little), more maneouvreable (a little) and designed around Hit-and-Fade Basis. Their 'optimised' weapon of Missiles is supposed to be more effective Vs. Armor, and less Vs. Shields.
AV Infantry (or Anti-Material) are more maneouvreable, capable of getting into smaller spaces, and striking from covered nooks and crannies. They have a variety of weapons. The Forge Gun (effective equally against Armor and SHield), the Swarm Launcher, AV Grenades, Proximity Mines (effective more against Armor than Shield)
So taking the base hulls and weapons into play, the Tanks should be roughly equal (Weapon Vs. Hull in Theory) with Anti-Vehicle Infantry having more options to deal with Armor HAVs comparative to Shield HAVs.
I'm sure many of you see where this is going already. The RSP mentality has already broken down due to the fact that refitting weapons, or such can drastically change the RSP cycle. And this is actually a good thing, but the meat of the matter lies mostly in the 'value' of each stance.
Imagine a Game of Rock, Scissors, Paper where once you have made your move, you also flip a coin. You chose rock, and your opponent chooses Scissors. In a normal game, this would be where it ends... and you would have won. But you also flip a coin. Heads, you gain 100% strength, Tails, your opponent gains 100% strength. It comes up Tails, and your Opponent's choice gains 100% strength, equalling your Rock, and it's a draw. The coin represents another variable that can affect the outcome.
At current, the Weapon groups in DUST are much like a coin toss, or dice throw.
Large Blaster = 120% Effective against Shield, 90% Effective against Armor, Short Range, High DPS, Fast tracking.
Large Railgun = 100% Effective Vs. Shield and Armor, Long Range, Moderate Alpha, Slow Tracking.
Large Missile Turret = 55% Effective Vs. Shields, 130% Effective Vs. Armor, Moderate Range, High Alpha, Moderate Tracking.
I'm sure each of you sees the discrepancy here. The Blaster is More Effective against one type, but loses only a portion of it's damage Against it's Off-Type. While the Missiles lose half against their 'off-type' to gain 30% against their 'favoured' type. A trade off compounded further by the fact that with a slower rate of fire, the Missiles will always impact Shields first when they fire, losing a portion of their Alpha to the regenerated shield. Not to mention that the armor tank's shields are nearly doubled in HP comparative due to the lack of Missile Vs. Shield Power.
Swarm Users, AV Nades, and Proximity Mines also fails against shielded targets for 'effective' damage.
Let's buffer the situation and push Large Missiles to 90% against Shield, and 120% against Armor, mirroring the effectiveness of the Blaster, with the damage type being inflicted. Now, penetrating the shields is harder, but not as ineffective as before. Yet the Blaster still has an advantage as they don't have to penetrate the 'secondary' Tank first.
Thus Amor - Blaster Combination > Shield - Missile Combination (Rock Vs. Scissors)
Now With this semi-balanced approach to Tanks now out there, what have we effected on the side of Infantry. We've increased the damage Swarms, AV Nades, and Proximity Mines can do Vs. Shield Tanks, but find them still 'more' effective Vs. Armor. So in essence:
Shield Tanks > Anti-Vehicle Infantry (Scissors Vs. Paper)
and:
Anti-Vehicle Infantry > Armor Tanks (Paper Vs. Rock)
Yet with such a narrow margin that tactics, skills, and support WILL make a difference.
There are a lot more RSP analogies that can be made in the DUST 514 game, and I encourage people to come over and discuss them here, with possible solutions on how to resolve them. |