|
|
| Author |
Thread Statistics | Show CCP posts - 4 post(s) |
manboar thunder fist
Dead Man's Game
RUST415
406
   |
Posted - 2015.03.14 16:11:00 -
[1] - Quote
The recent changes to AV, tanks and how the game performs in a fight have all drastically affected the usage and effectiveness of dropships in combat. This thread has been created to help CCP understand the current situation and facilitate them in making the right decisions in dropship changes for the future.
A brief overview: With tanks becoming a lot stronger recently it is currently difficult to combat a tank using a dropship, add to this the prolific increase in av usage to deal with tank spam this leaves dropships in a vulnerable position. The major problem I foresee is an increase in av effectiveness or changes to vehicle balance that affect the dropship without being intended.
For example, since madrugar are once again the tank of choice the effectiveness of anti armour av or armour modules will have to be adjusted to create balance. However, no changes were made to the incubus (no slots, ehp etc) to put it on par as a competitor in the vehicle field. This means that if people can take out highly ranked madrugars, they will have no problem taking out incubi. The shield tanks were also recently nerfed, this included an increase to shield hardener fitting cost. This has impacted the Python and has made Python fits weaker as no fitting increase was given to the Python.
Right now dropships are being largely ignored, and having spoken to many ads pilots there is a widespread consensus that since dropship pilots are a minority in the game their views are being ignored. This is also perhaps because Judge Rhadamanthus has brought little change to the effectiveness of dropships, despite being a perfectly vocal advocate for the dropship community.
I have considered many options and really, it comes down to two.
1. Dropship tiers
Just as the hav has tiering, the dropship should be given basic, advanced and proto variants.
The Python should have a 4/2 like the gunnlogi and the incubus a 3/4 like the madrugar.
This would add a lot more variety to dropship fitting styles and especially allow the usage of subsystem modules such as scanners, heat sinks and dispersion reduction modules without the need to create a fit that has no survivability, or indeed, viability.
2. Skill increase
In order to compensate for the jump in HAV effectiveness I propose the dropships be given increased bonuses.
In my opinion the Python should have an overall 30% fire rate increase skill, doubling the effectiveness of the current skill and allowing it to be worth investing in.
The incubus cannot be given a fire rate bonus due to the rapid fire nature of railguns, therefore I propose the creation of two separate incubus skills: one with 50% dispersion reduction and another with 30% heat reduction.
these bonuses would definitely bring the small blaster and rails back into the field without definitively making them overpowered.
On the note of turret balance:
From numerous attempts I have gathered experience which points to three conclusions:
1. Armour tanks cannot be destroyed by pythons as they can outrep and out harden them indefinitely.
2. Shield tanks cannot be destroyed by incubi because they have enough hardening and shield hp to combat.
3. Small blaster turrets are completely useless.
Solutions:
1. We really need the anti HAV missile which should have little splash damage but greatly increased direct damage.
This will create balance as tank users won't be invincible to dropships as they currently are.
2. The damage of small rails vs HAVs specifically needs to be tweaked, this could be done through the heat reduction skill
3. Small blasters require greater bullet magnetism and much reduced dispersion, any sort of dispersion change needs to be carefully considered. The recent inverse dispersion change is not effective as the gunner/pilot constantly needs to burst fire to adjust for target position, I propose the opposite, the blaster becomes like a mini gun, almost like the assault HMG but with greater effectiveness towards infantry. The assault hmg was really what a mini blaster turret should be like. I therefore propose the assault HMGs firing style with a 150 m range, significantly reduced dispersion and the current fire rate.
All these ideas are obviously debatable but I would remind you to keep the discussion civil and topic focused.
Regards.
"If there is a strafe nerf in this game, remove hit detection"- manboar 2014
|
manboar thunder fist
Dead Man's Game
RUST415
408
|
Posted - 2015.03.14 19:15:00 -
[2] - Quote
Rakr'Dashia Rah wrote:A Python camped our spawn last night, 4 people pulled out swarms. A few Plasma Cannons, not to mention a missle turret and blaster. We all lit the thing up, it turned flew around a building and popped back out, full shields and armor and continued to destroy us. I think the guy went 20 odd/ and 4.
Im not saying dropships are in a good place or they shouldnt be looked at, but give it some time.
The way I see it any buff for assault dropships would make them op to infantry, technically you're not supposed to be able to kill a proto tank with an ASSAULT(lightwieght low health/ hit and run tactic) dropship. If a tank killer is what you want, wait for CCP to release heavy dropships.
That's not a viable option since assault dropships are the dropships that can kill, the others are transport dropships.
I'm not saying we need ads to be a hard counter to tanks, I'm just saying that it shouldn't be impossible to kill them.
"If there is a strafe nerf in this game, remove hit detection"- manboar 2014
|
manboar thunder fist
Dead Man's Game
RUST415
411
|
Posted - 2015.03.14 23:47:00 -
[3] - Quote
Francois Sanchez wrote:Dropships need more CPU/PG for sure. You can't even use the new shield regulator on a python without messing up the entire fit.
I love the spread reduction skill, I actually proposed it months ago but it got completely ignored. The feeling you have when firing the small blaster from a droship is awesome, but then you see that the guy who was in the center of your reticle didn't take any damage...
And of course if we do that for the small blaster the heat reduction for the rail turret seems logical, even if I don't mind the fire rate bonus actually.
However I'm against doubling the fire rate bonus of the python. I do understand something needs to be done to use missiles against tanks, but that extra fire rate would make destroying infantry way too easy.
I realised how powerful ADS were becoming once you have gunners with you, especially to hunt vehicles, but sadly the CPU/PG cost to make that properly. Maybe a change similar to what they did for HAVs (increasing the CPU and PG but making the turrets mandatory) would be the solution to bring back ADS at a competitive level.
The reason I would propose a direct rof buff is because the current 15% skill does nothing for missiles, a fraction of a second faster
"If there is a strafe nerf in this game, remove hit detection"- manboar 2014
|
manboar thunder fist
Dead Man's Game
RUST415
416
|
Posted - 2015.03.15 22:41:00 -
[4] - Quote
The problem, pokey, is that CCP is buffing and nerfing av and tanks left right and centre to achieve balance but no consideration for dropships is being put in. This leads to more bad than good since av will always increase and tanks get better, and as tanks get better nerfs will come to modules. This all affects the dropships so why aren't they being considered? Are we just a side effect?
"If there is a strafe nerf in this game, remove hit detection"- manboar 2014
|
|
|
| |
|