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It's time for a dedicated hangar pet class of consoles.
wraithcall
Member Posts: 8 Arc User
Re-introducing the carrier playstyle has been a particular focus of Cryptic's marketing strategy. With the new ships being carriers that offer duplicate abilities of existing ships (something the community reminded you before launch), and the Mudd's Carried Away Bundles costing hundreds of dollars it's time to talk about the elephant in the room.
For as long as there have been carriers there have been people asking for a pet boosting class of consoles--a base console that does for pets what, say, prefire chambers do for cannons. And, for as long as there have been people asking for that, Cryptic has reiterated over and over that it's too hard to code these consoles. Then, years ago, they released the Swarmer Matrix invalidating this excuse and we still don't have this class of consoles. There are ways to add to add new consoles filling a similar role without invalidating the uniqueness of this console, but this console should not be the only one in existence that does what carriers need consoles to do.
Carriers desperately need something that makes the choice to be a carrier pilot matter. Right now there are so few valid options for carrier builds that each thing we have is mandatory for the playstyle, and even after getting all of those mandatory things--after throwing away all that money on the playstyle--the options still come up short and we're forced to hybridize.
Meaning the choice of actual carrier is irrelevant since an overwhelming majority of what we're doing with it comes down to what the ship would be without hanger bays. To this point, almost every carrier ship is the absolute worst ship in the game--yes even the brand new ones are dead on arrival.
This is also compounded by the fact that there is no entry level carrier, or carrier equipment to allow new payers players to dip their toes into the playstyle. If you missed the vorgon carrier event, you have to go all in on a full suite of purchases. Unlike DEW, Projectile, or Science builds, a single ship is absolutely meaningless to the carrier experience.
So, its time to take a good hard look at what you're asking us to buy. Then give us a reason to actually buy it, instead of complaining that we don't want it, because we do want it but you're going out of your way to give us reasons not to buy it. Without a general class of pet consoles making the onboarding process possible Cryptic will continue to see this class of ship be a development sinkhole because the commitment required to buy in as a player is all or nothing.
For as long as there have been carriers there have been people asking for a pet boosting class of consoles--a base console that does for pets what, say, prefire chambers do for cannons. And, for as long as there have been people asking for that, Cryptic has reiterated over and over that it's too hard to code these consoles. Then, years ago, they released the Swarmer Matrix invalidating this excuse and we still don't have this class of consoles. There are ways to add to add new consoles filling a similar role without invalidating the uniqueness of this console, but this console should not be the only one in existence that does what carriers need consoles to do.
Carriers desperately need something that makes the choice to be a carrier pilot matter. Right now there are so few valid options for carrier builds that each thing we have is mandatory for the playstyle, and even after getting all of those mandatory things--after throwing away all that money on the playstyle--the options still come up short and we're forced to hybridize.
Meaning the choice of actual carrier is irrelevant since an overwhelming majority of what we're doing with it comes down to what the ship would be without hanger bays. To this point, almost every carrier ship is the absolute worst ship in the game--yes even the brand new ones are dead on arrival.
This is also compounded by the fact that there is no entry level carrier, or carrier equipment to allow new payers players to dip their toes into the playstyle. If you missed the vorgon carrier event, you have to go all in on a full suite of purchases. Unlike DEW, Projectile, or Science builds, a single ship is absolutely meaningless to the carrier experience.
So, its time to take a good hard look at what you're asking us to buy. Then give us a reason to actually buy it, instead of complaining that we don't want it, because we do want it but you're going out of your way to give us reasons not to buy it. Without a general class of pet consoles making the onboarding process possible Cryptic will continue to see this class of ship be a development sinkhole because the commitment required to buy in as a player is all or nothing.
Post edited by baddmoonrizin on
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Comments
Come on Cryptic - you can do it, you have done it, just do it more please. Give us traits and consoles for carriers.
I have some things which I purchased or had already which make my carriers very effective. To the point whenever I use my Norway class, I spend more time managing my abilities which enhance my pets than I do managing my ship. When the Carrier Bundle came out, I was looking for a new playstyle and thought, "Why not?". After nearly 11 years here, I wanted something other than Cruiser Pew-Pew, Escort Dogfighter, or Space Magiks Wizard Ship.
This may very well turn into a W.O.T. Please understand, I'm not talking down to anyone who reads this, I'm just presenting both the thoughts and the gear I use. Most of the information here was first looked up in STOWiki and then extensively tested ingame as many times as I could stand to do so. Running Ninth Rule 45 times in a row to check what moving one Ability two slots to the left will do can wear a fella down a bit. But in the end it was worth it.
First, the mindset. Unless you go 'All' In on carriers, your hangar pets are never going to be anything other than annoyances. What this means is your hangar pets are your primary means of attack. So there is no reason to have any gear on your ship, or Traits, which do not support/improve your hangar pets. Those Fleet Tactical Consoles which everyone is so very fond of? Scrap them. You need the slots for Consoles which support/improve your hangar pets. Your carrier ship should not engage the enemy directly. Except to finish off the cripples. As to enemy ships attacking your ship, this is what the Guard and Intercept commands for pets are used for. If you put a Tactical Console on your ship, "just in case", you might as well take all the hangars off. She's either a ship of the line or a floating airport. You cannot compromise or you've succeeded in failing as a carrier skipper. Over the years, STO ships have gone from being general all rounders to specialized vehicles which perform one or two functions well and everything else substandardly. And yes, I really do think this way.
Next, onto Traits. Both Space Traits and Starship Mastery Traits. Nothing I'm using is exclusive or unavailable. Unless it comes from an Event Ship. In which case, it may not be available to you. Happily, the things I do use do not depend upon, "The One Ring to Rule Them All" theory. Some things can be found on the Exchange, although they will be expensive in terms of EC. Nothing I'm going to list is found in Mudd's Market.
Before I continue, a brief word about the Trait known as Scramble Fighters. More expensive than some ships on the Exchange and not useful at all. In effect It auto manages my pets so I don't have to. It does not do anything which I cannot do manually. Remember what I said about pets being your primary combat power. Bought Scramble Fighters off the Exchange at 500 million EC for one of my chars and installed it. Felt foolish for wasting the EC when I realized I was already doing manually what Scramble Fighters does automatically.
Here is a list of the Traits I use on USS O'Bannon, NCC-450-A. She's named after the US Navy's most decorated WWII destroyer.
Space Traits
- Wing Commander
- Independent Wing mate
Starship Traits
- Coordinated Assault
- Relaunch and Repair
Lastly, Consoles
Of the three, I recommend getting Swarmer Matrix first. Makes your pets move a lot faster. The other two are nice to have but they have a middlin' cool down. Which means they may not always be available.
Consoles
- Swarmer Matrix
- Sensor Suspension Burst
- High Energy Communications Network
I hope this helps. There are other people who play this game who may disagree with my choices. This is because they are part of the group of people who are a lot smarter than I am about this game. This statement is sincere, not snarky. If they post here, they are trying to help, same as I am. Please use their advice.
However, with what was pointed out above, if equipment like this was added as more of a standard thing than just a rare-item thing, it'd need balance work so using it in combination with the above kinds of things doesn't turn a carrier LUDICROUSLY OP, but also still allows people without the stuff (the best traits are very rare or extremely expensive) to benefit and improve their builds.
Not sure what you mean by manually doing what Scramble Fighters does. The reason we use Scramble Fighters is for the up to 125% damage boost. That’s why its so expensive as its one of the top 3 ways to boost pet damage while also keeping pets alive. Out of everything you listed on your carrier Scramble Fighters should be the single largest damage boost you have. Unless you are using Frigates with Wingmate in which case Scramble Fighters falls into 2nd place with Wingmate as no1.
I see this a lot and like to counter it with. Independent Wingmate + a good Frigate. This means pets are more then just an annoyance and you are do not need to go all in on carrier.
Fully agree that Carriers need something more though I don’t agree Carriers are dead on arrival.
If I'm flying a two hangar ship, I want as many pet-enhancing Traits and Consoles as possible. Anything which does not enhance pets doesn't get used. Just like when I'm "All In" with an AP Beam Boat. In which case I want as many AP-enhancing Traits and Consoles as possible.
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