Corwards submission - Balancing discussion and ideas of how to make it more useful

from Sins Forums

Generaly I am quite happy with Corwards submission. It a nice and faction theme fitting technology.

 

There are however a few issues: 

 

  • Right now the ships are converted after they have left phase space. With the result that they usually die within seconds.

  • while still punishing your enemy... it also gives him some XP.

  • due to the way the game engine does work, the converted ships loose all upgrades and abilities they have had. Unless they are Advent too und you have resarched them. That does usully decrease the value of the stolen ship.

  • Then there is the general issue of stolen ships using up your fleet supply. Free ships are awesome.... until you need that fleet supply yourself.

 

 

Possible changes that could be implemented:

 

  • In the best possible solution, the ships would power of their jump drives - be converted - and then abort the jump sequence. This may be difficult to implement/not possible with the engine and so we might have to think about other ways:

  • So what about giving the converted ships a short invulnerability after the jump? That way you could save them and deny your enemy any XP, too.

    - Lore explanation is easy: Nobody does know immediatly, that the crew has been converted. And why would anyone fire on their "own" ships?

  • On another, more sneaky idea: Dont convert the ships immediatly. Convert them with some delay. And while they are still under the control of your enemy.... let them give you vision.... like a remote sensor.

 

 

Your thoughts?

7,654 views 5 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

In the best possible solution, the ships would power of their jump drives - be converted - and then abort the jump sequence. This may be difficult to implement/not possible with the engine and so we might have to think about other ways:

They should just change this. That is all.

Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

Even if they can't convert pre jump, couldn't they just have the converted ship teleport to your capital(or if possible the planet it fled) after it finishes it's jump?

 

Doesn't make a ton of thematic sense, but accomplishes pretty much the same thing as having it converted pre-jump.

 

 

Also, when you're at max fleet supply it should at least destroy fleeing enemy frigates even if it can't convert them.

 

 

 

 

 

Personally though, my preference would be to just buff the numbers rather then doing anything to protect the ships- sure you're unlikely to actually keep the ships unless you give chase with your fleet(don't give them time to kill the converts before the pursueing fleet jumps in)- but we need to ask ourselves- what Is the role of this tech strategically.

The role first and foremost is that the ability makes it so if the enemy tries to bypass frontline planets or is forced to retreat from attacks too often, they grow weaker relative to their opponent as each jump converts a portion of their fleet.  Honestly I feel 5% is just too  low- it takes too many jumps for the enemy to lose a noticable portion of their fleet to make a consistent difference.  Honestly I'd rather just see the convert chance bumped up to 7.5-8%- whether you keep convetered ships or not, removing 7.5-8% of the frigates in the enemy fleet makes a fairly noticable difference even if the enemy only needs to pull back from an attack only once.

Curtains - Customize Windows with additional styles
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top

One of the techs causes destroyed ships to reappear at your capital now and then, can't remember for which faction, but perhaps the original ship could be destroyed, and a clone could be created at your capital?

Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting bilun, reply 2
Honestly I'd rather just see the convert chance bumped up to 7.5-8%- whether you keep convetered ships or not, removing 7.5-8% of the frigates in the enemy fleet makes a fairly noticable difference even if the enemy only needs to pull back from an attack only once.

Just bein' picky, but you're talking about two different kinds of 7-8%s there. 7-8% chance to convert is totally different to stealing 7-8% of his fleet. Guessing you meant the first one only. And I agree, due to limitations to how it currently works and how tricky a fix might be, I'd be happy to just see a slight increase in % chance to convert as a good compromise.

Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Ekko_Tek, reply 5

Quoting bilun, reply 2Honestly I'd rather just see the convert chance bumped up to 7.5-8%- whether you keep convetered ships or not, removing 7.5-8% of the frigates in the enemy fleet makes a fairly noticable difference even if the enemy only needs to pull back from an attack only once.

Just bein' picky, but you're talking about two different kinds of 7-8%s there. 7-8% chance to convert is totally different to stealing 7-8% of his fleet. Guessing you meant the first one only. And I agree, due to limitations to how it currently works and how tricky a fix might be, I'd be happy to just see a slight increase in % chance to convert as a good compromise.

 

You are correct That I mean 7.5-8% convert chance- I'm a firm believer in the power of statistics and will often talk in terms of expected yield rather then the specific mechanics- as I assume most people here already know them.

 

It's just more practical in my opinion for discussing long term effects of this sort of tech to discuss the average effect on the enemy fleet over time rather then the per-ship proc chance.  That said I see how my phrasing may cause confusion.