Pokey Dravon
OSG Planetary Operations
Covert Intervention
998
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Posted - 2013.11.20 04:50:00 -
[1] - Quote
You have to think of it as an investment however. The Vehicle itself is actually not THAT bad of an SP sink, its the defensive skills. However, since those defensive skills will be applied to all vehicle releases in the future, most of the SP cost is upfront. While this is painful at first, it actually makes things much better in long run.
ADS Reports - Defining Racial Themes
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Pokey Dravon
OSG Planetary Operations
Covert Intervention
999
|
Posted - 2013.11.20 05:25:00 -
[2] - Quote
Texs Red wrote:Pokey Dravon wrote:You have to think of it as an investment however. The Vehicle itself is actually not THAT bad of an SP sink, its the defensive skills. However, since those defensive skills will be applied to all vehicle releases in the future, most of the SP cost is upfront. While this is painful at first, it actually makes things much better in long run. Vehicle core skills are 1.5M SP more than infantry, weapons 2.5M, and specific roles almost 3M. That means it takes me darn near 4 months more to max something out compared to infantry. Then it takes *one* guy with a forge gun on line harvest to render me completely useless and unable to compete. Vehicles need to be either a low investment niche weapon or a high investment play style that offers several ways to enjoy the game. Right now it's a high investment niche weapon. It's like putting 26M SP into laser rifles then getting stuck on the research lab map fighting underground, you are a determent to the team that is worse than useless.
Well I fully agree that the difference in investment between AV and vehicles is problematic, but I also feel that vehicles should be as intensive as a role as the benefit provides. We need more benefit which is why the vehicle issue needs to be better balanced, but I still feel the SP sink is appropriate.
On top of that much of the defenses available for 1.7 vehicles offer the same benefit at level 3 as they do 5, but with more downtime. For example Enhanced Armor Hardeners require level 3 and 2 of them can be cycled for about 90% uptime, where the much more SP expensive level 5 skill gives 100% uptime. Both hardeners reduce the same amount of damage though, so while its not completely optimized, 90% uptime is very viable for much less of an investment. That being said you can still put together a respectable defense for less SP.
As in EVE, level 5 is often left untrained initially unless it offers an immediate unlock because the SP cost doubles when training from 1-5 instead of 1-4. Level 5 is generally saved for optimization. So while level 5 does unlock new modules, you can get nearly the same benefit with only level 3 or 4. This effectively cuts the SP cost in half without cutting the benefit in half.
ADS Reports - Defining Racial Themes
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