As it is, speed only benefits escorts because they are the only ship types that can fly at very high speeds. Slower vessels like carriers,science ships and end game cruisers suffer significantly from the fact that most of the times they have to slow down to be able to use their weapons and abilities.
The thing is: turn rate. If you fly at max speed you will either overshoot or fly out of range... the non-escorts do not have the turn rate to stay fast and within the required flight envelope.
How about devs if you instead changed the defense modifier to be based a ship's battle profile and BOFF modifiers?
Battle profile is simple: Is the ship showing its front/rear (narrowest area) to target when it gets shot or is it showing its broadside?
Boff modifiers would be +def maneuvers and +def stats that would be added to SENSORS?
This way a ship's sensor strength becomes the 'speed' modifier we have now. Ship with high sensor strength firing on a ship with lower sensor strength gets the same bonus that firing on a slow moving ship does now .
Likewise, a ship with high sensor strength being fired upon by a lower sensor strength ship gets a defense bonus... his ship's sensors are able to glitch the other ship's targetting sensors.
and with that in place.. devs can finally remove the ridiculous speeds all ships get in this game past cmdr rank... thus making hte game VISUALLY enjoyable since you get to SEE people maneuvering and firing rather than a blur of a ship followed by explosions.
I do believe that what you are stating about speed in the game is accurate. That is the intention of speed, how much it actually benefits escorts or any other ship is open to debate. Or measurement. We can all read the tool tip at different throttle settings but how does that actually translate into our ships being missed by enemy fire. Its logical to assume that the developers reasoned that in combat the ships they designed to be the most nimble and speedy would get the most benefit from this. You can infer from this that battle profile is already abstracted into the speed mechanic far seamlessly than actually trying to make a target size calculation. Keep in mind that the broadside of a Defiant is significantly smaller than the beam of a Galaxy. Therefore the mechanic is already doing what you wish it to do. I don't know exactly why you say you feel forced to stop or slow down considerably to use weapons (key word is forced) but that is for a separate discussion.
Everything you posted after battle profiles is already in the game under different names. Fire on my mark, sensor scan, attack patterns beta and delta are all some form of this. The captains skills for accuracy and defense and to an extent threat are further abstractions of this.
Only rarely in PvP are things going so fast that it's almost hard to see. Like when I'm flying my BoP up some fleet escort's tailpipe (things got to have a tailpipe) things can get bouncy. Normally its very nice visuals.
Cruisers can carry massive all around firepower with overlapping firing arcs, as well as a whole slew of resistance and healing powers that an escort could only dream of.
Escorts however are blessed with heavy firepower, but increadibly weak hulls and shields, they are glass cannons and can only equip Lt rank engineers.
To make up for this weakness they are given the greater defense bonus, so that larger ships will be much more likely to "miss" them.
But once they slow down or come to a dead stop for any reason, then they are in BIG trouble, unlike cruisers that can still throw out a lot of resistance and heals.
I am tending to disagree as this is an absolutism.....
My cruiser is equipped with aux to dampeners and evasive and alpha and i can turn on a dime (as much as a cruiser can) Yes I suffer from drifting but my fire arcs are so substantial that a little stray wont hurt at all.....coupled with tractor beams and repulsors any craft will be in my optimal firesights most everytime.
hgher sensor strength lower sensor strength...higher profile ..lower profile.......I think cryptic will stay away from this entirely......same reason they allow unlimted strength in crews and ammo.......do you wanna be bogged down with details....they compromised with battle damage....which i think is a damn joke......should of left it out completely or went fully with it....
Speed as a defensive factor and that only escorts can benefit from it is soo untrue as well...
I use emergency to engines3 battery , deutronium( i think thats the one) and evasive in conjunction all the times. Sometimes It is too powerful but a quick full reverse slows you down right fast and i have mastered that maneuver.
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I do believe that what you are stating about speed in the game is accurate. That is the intention of speed, how much it actually benefits escorts or any other ship is open to debate. Or measurement. We can all read the tool tip at different throttle settings but how does that actually translate into our ships being missed by enemy fire. Its logical to assume that the developers reasoned that in combat the ships they designed to be the most nimble and speedy would get the most benefit from this. You can infer from this that battle profile is already abstracted into the speed mechanic far seamlessly than actually trying to make a target size calculation. Keep in mind that the broadside of a Defiant is significantly smaller than the beam of a Galaxy. Therefore the mechanic is already doing what you wish it to do. I don't know exactly why you say you feel forced to stop or slow down considerably to use weapons (key word is forced) but that is for a separate discussion.
Everything you posted after battle profiles is already in the game under different names. Fire on my mark, sensor scan, attack patterns beta and delta are all some form of this. The captains skills for accuracy and defense and to an extent threat are further abstractions of this.
Only rarely in PvP are things going so fast that it's almost hard to see. Like when I'm flying my BoP up some fleet escort's tailpipe (things got to have a tailpipe) things can get bouncy. Normally its very nice visuals.
Cruisers can carry massive all around firepower with overlapping firing arcs, as well as a whole slew of resistance and healing powers that an escort could only dream of.
Escorts however are blessed with heavy firepower, but increadibly weak hulls and shields, they are glass cannons and can only equip Lt rank engineers.
To make up for this weakness they are given the greater defense bonus, so that larger ships will be much more likely to "miss" them.
But once they slow down or come to a dead stop for any reason, then they are in BIG trouble, unlike cruisers that can still throw out a lot of resistance and heals.
My cruiser is equipped with aux to dampeners and evasive and alpha and i can turn on a dime (as much as a cruiser can) Yes I suffer from drifting but my fire arcs are so substantial that a little stray wont hurt at all.....coupled with tractor beams and repulsors any craft will be in my optimal firesights most everytime.
hgher sensor strength lower sensor strength...higher profile ..lower profile.......I think cryptic will stay away from this entirely......same reason they allow unlimted strength in crews and ammo.......do you wanna be bogged down with details....they compromised with battle damage....which i think is a damn joke......should of left it out completely or went fully with it....
Speed as a defensive factor and that only escorts can benefit from it is soo untrue as well...
I use emergency to engines3 battery , deutronium( i think thats the one) and evasive in conjunction all the times. Sometimes It is too powerful but a quick full reverse slows you down right fast and i have mastered that maneuver.