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The end of free Torpedos

atticus74atticus74 Member Posts: 19 Arc User
What does it cost you to fire a torpedo? NOTHING!
I know this is not going to be popular, but I want to suggest a way that the game can mature in a way that at least elite players csn handle. It's time captains started counting their torpedoes. Min/Maxers have taught us that torpedo boats have respectable dps and good kill ratios. But this relies on an infinite number of torpedoes so I would like to see a finite number of torpedoes in the ships magazine. At a minimum it could restock automatically in sector space. Though spending EC to replenish torpedo stock would not be out of line. At last it would cost something to fire a torpedo.
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  • stoutesstoutes Member Posts: 4,219 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    Many other threads like this have started and ended the same way.

    Anyone who min/maxes has enough EC to not be bothered with this, you only hit the common/casual player.
    maxvitor wrote: »
    Nerf is OP, plz nerf
    That's quite the paradox, how could you nerf nerf when the nerf is nerfed. But how would the nerf be nerfed when the nerf is nerfed? This allows the nerf not to be nerfed since the nerf is nerfed? But if the nerf isn't nerfed, it could still nerf nerfs. But as soon as the nerf is nerfed, the nerf power is lost. So paradoxally it the nerf nerf lost its nerf, while it's still nerfed, which cannot be because the nerf was unable to nerf.

    I call it, the Stoutes paradox.
  • jeffel82jeffel82 Member Posts: 2,075 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    I recently read this article, and found it to be fascinating. Some highlights:
    Star Trek II is the first time we ever see a photon torpedo as an actual physical object, when we see them being loaded aboard the Enterprise. They are a rounded oblong shape, approximately 2 metres long somewhat under a metre across, and about half a metre tall...This is our first indication that there must be limits on how many of these things a ship can carry because of the physical volume limitations. And indeed, the fact that the torpedo is lowered into the bay from above means that the Enterprise?s ammunition storage must be in the connecting neck between the saucer and engineering hull, which means it must be relatively small.
    According to the TNG Technical Manual, the casing measures 2.1 x 0.76 x 0.45 metres. Whilst the manual is not canonical these figures do match up to what is seen on screen...the Tech Manual also gives a figure of 275 as being the number "normally stored aboard the ship"...we do get a canonical number for the photon torpedo loadout of the ship. It comes in the season five episode "Conundrum". The crew have lost their memories and are trying to work out what kind of ship they are aboard. Worf access the computer and says :


    Work : "I have completed a survey of our tactical systems. We are equipped with ten phaser banks, two hundred and fifty photon torpedoes, and a high capacity shield grid."
    ...the Intrepid class carries a small number of photons. We are told the following in "The Cloud" :


    Chakotay : "We have a complement of thirty eight photon torpedoes at our disposal, Captain."
    Janeway : "And no way to replace them after they're gone."

    Thirty eight photons would be roughly in line with a ship that is about eight times smaller than a Galaxy class. Amusingly, over the course of the series the ship would go on to fire something like 120 torpedoes from their irreplaceable stock of 38. One can only imagine that they worked out a way to replace them after all.

    The following bit assumes you could store photon torpedoes in a rack of 10 (two columns of 5 torpedoes each) comfortably in a 3.5 metre tall deck.
    Now how many of these racks could you fit on, oh, let's say a basketball court? Let's leave lots of space to get in and out, broad passageways that you can easily pull a torpedo out into so you can work on it if needed. There really seems little point in doing that, because with Trek Tech you could just beam any given torpedo casing out of the magazine to fiddle with it or load it or whatever. But let's leave nice wide access spaces anyway, just to be really conservative. Even then, you can still easily fit 64 racks onto a basketball court...that's 640 photon torpedo casings in that one room.
    Well, here's how many basketball courts you could fit on one single deck of a Galaxy class Starship...two hundred and fifty six of them, on that one deck of the saucer...so that's five decks, with 1,160 basketball-sized rooms in them
    But let's be ultra conservative. Let's assume that each deck loses a third of its torpedo magazines to space for the impulse engines, and a few cargo bays, and things like that. Let's say that the total is actually a mere 600 basketball court sized rooms given over to torpedo stowage.

    So. 600 courts x 64 racks per court x 10 torpedo casings per rack... and that means that a Galaxy class could hold 384,400 photon torpedoes.

    I'll stop there, but I highly recommend the entire article.

    I think the upshot is that we probably shouldn't worry too much about how many torpedoes are in our ships, because (assuming Starfleet has converted a lot of the modular space on its ships in this time of war) they could carry a lot.
    You're right. The work here is very important.
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  • greendragon527greendragon527 Member Posts: 386 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    atticus74 wrote: »
    But this relies on an infinite number of torpedoes so I would like to see a finite number of torpedoes in the ships magazine.

    So you want to kill the mechanic these builds rely on? Granted it'd make more sense to have torpedoes work that way, but we'd kill build diversity too. You have an idea to mitigate that?
  • mightyleptonmightylepton Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    atticus74 wrote: »
    What does it cost you to fire a torpedo? NOTHING!
    I know this is not going to be popular, but I want to suggest a way that the game can mature in a way that at least elite players csn handle. It's time captains started counting their torpedoes. Min/Maxers have taught us that torpedo boats have respectable dps and good kill ratios. But this relies on an infinite number of torpedoes so I would like to see a finite number of torpedoes in the ships magazine. At a minimum it could restock atomatically in sector space. Though spending EC to replenish torpedo stock would not be out of line. At last it would cost something to fire a torpedo.

    Its wrong to nerf Torps even further, in PvE they are only so much worth it, in PvP they are barely worth it for the mainstream played. Furthermore, the investment cost of running torps next to energy weapons is already huge, you need another ability extra (HYT/Spread) and you need 6/6 or 9/9 in Projectile Dmg and Specialization next to it.



    Stoutes has a good point too, why bother. That will increase the already epicly huge gap between wealthy and poor players even more. Can you at least think before posting some rediculous suggestion?

    Seriously go suggest something to make torps really viable again, such as removing their shared 1 second cooldown etc.


    Rather suggest FaW being nerfed to smithereens when the next iteration goes live. Nobody wants an unskilled spacebar smash ability that outdps'es cannons, scatter, etc. (Well ok a few players that love stomping senseless NPC's in STF's and jerk on the fact that they can put out 30/50k dps, no im not jealous, my personal record is 43K ;)
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  • variant37variant37 Member Posts: 867 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    The only thing a change like this would accomplish would be to get everyone to dump torps from all of their builds.

    Besides, infinite torpedoes is a canon concept. Haven't you ever watched Voyager? :P
  • dirlettiadirlettia Member Posts: 1,632 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    If you wish to pay for Ammo and then by progression ship repairs, please feel free to play Battlestar Galactica Online and see what you would end up with. It is not a good system and totally prevents anybody from being able to progress anything without a real money significant financial outlay.

    Still waiting to be able to use forum titles
  • northstardc4mnorthstardc4m Member Posts: 26 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    Ok so here's another point:

    We know photon torpedoes are physical objects that are carried... the same holds about Quantum and Chroniton, we see both in series/movies...

    But what about plasma torps? Is there a physical plasma torpedo? Or is it something generated in the launcher? It being PLASMA I would guess the latter but... I know they talk about 7000 in a DS9 episode but are those objects, power packs to generate them...?

    And then we get into the less cannonically explained kinetic weapons... who knows about those?

    So i would say this is a non-starter from that point of view?
  • redsnake721redsnake721 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    Its wrong to nerf Torps even further, in PvE they are only so much worth it, in PvP they are barely worth it for the mainstream played. Furthermore, the investment cost of running torps next to energy weapons is already huge, you need another ability extra (HYT/Spread) and you need 6/6 or 9/9 in Projectile Dmg and Specialization next to it.



    Stoutes has a good point too, why bother. That will increase the already epicly huge gap between wealthy and poor players even more. Can you at least think before posting some rediculous suggestion?

    Seriously go suggest something to make torps really viable again, such as removing their shared 1 second cooldown etc.


    Rather suggest FaW being nerfed to smithereens when the next iteration goes live. Nobody wants an unskilled spacebar smash ability that outdps'es cannons, scatter, etc. (Well ok a few players that love stomping senseless NPC's in STF's and jerk on the fact that they can put out 30/50k dps, no im not jealous, my personal record is 43K ;)


    I just gotta love how the above poster has cried about FAW in 4 different unrelated threads and started his own Nerf thread about it also. We get it... your an Escort cannon pilot and you dont like anything that does better than your 4DHC/3 Turret build. As the game continues to change your going to have to learn to adapt. Sorry. But spamming every thread you can find on the forums will not change anything. But your tears are kind of amusing.
  • virusdancervirusdancer Member Posts: 18,687 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    atticus74 wrote: »
    It's time captains started counting their torpedoes.

    So count them.

    When you reach a number you feel is how many you could have fired...

    ...don't fire any more of them.

    Tada!
  • donrahdonrah Member Posts: 348
    edited January 2014
    Don't make people pay for torpedoes, just have them rearm at a friendly starbase or put them on a timer (15 minutes to rearm to 100%); make both an option. Let's say you have X number of slots for torpedo ammo and each slot is allowed a certain quantity of each type (e.g. photons would be 250, tricobalt would be 10, transphasic would be 50, etc.) and change the damage respective to their magazine size. For instance, tricobalt should have a much higher damage than others, which is the reason that you can carry so few. Photon should be least potent since they are more common older technology, which means they can be fired in large salvos often (they should probably ignore some kinetic resistance on the shields too, photons are an energy based payload). Quantum would probably be in the middle, while chroniton and transphasic would lean more towards the stronger end.

    There should also be a cap on how many you can fire at once. Take the Omega torp for example. It can only fire 5 before it has to reload. This should be the norm for torpedoes. It takes time for the magazine to load those torpedoes onto the launcher. Also, grant the hull a 75% natural resistance to energy weapons so that energy isn't dominant over kinetic. Limit certain launcher types to certain ships. It wouldn't make sense for a little class 8 shuttle to carry tricobalt launchers nor would it make sense that any ship could fire any torpedo type. Like the Defiant, for instance. That would carry photons and quatums most likely. A larger vessel (like long range explorers and battle cruisers) would be able to install tricobalt launchers or other heavy launchers.
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  • meimeitoomeimeitoo Member Posts: 12,594 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    With the upcoming mission CD 'reset' token, PWE already found a new way to make us *pay* to grind (as opposed to just having to grind).

    The day PWE makes us pay for ammo too, is when I load the very game itself into a torpedo tube, and launch it out into space!

    Tl;dr: NO!
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  • hanoverhanover Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    I like the idea of consumable torpedoes (and mines) that must be resupplied at a base, but you'd have to change/buff them considerably or all this would accomplish is people dropping them in favor of all energy weapons. Except for plasma torps, of course. No reason those should be limited in ammunition.
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  • mb52mb52 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    While, I disagree with the concept completely, I'm compelled to point out to those who claim that plasma torps would of course have infinite ammo... that the plasma itself has to come from somewhere. (storage tanks?) So, they'd have to be nerfed also with this system.
  • hanoverhanover Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    mb52 wrote: »
    While, I disagree with the concept completely, I'm compelled to point out to those who claim that plasma torps would of course have infinite ammo... that the plasma itself has to come from somewhere. (storage tanks?) So, they'd have to be nerfed also with this system.

    I always assumed it was siphoned off of propulsion/power generation units. So, "limited" in the same way warp/impulse power is limited, and that "fuel" is obtainable everywhere.
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  • mb52mb52 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    Well, suppose we can always add a "loss of power" to your ship if you fire too many plasma torps at the enemy in a short period and burn all your fuel xD
  • momawmomaw Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    Some time back, I speculated that one way we could make the strengths of cruisers more apparent was by increasing their strategic endurance; torpedoes in general would be made much more powerful, but ships would have a limited supply of them based on the vessel's size and type. So those big lumbering whales would have something the little nimble gun boats did not. But I never figured you would have to actually BUY ammunition. It would either be refilled at the start of each mission, or on a timed thing where you get a free reload every (frex) 4 hours from a starbase or shipyard.

    Of course nowadays cruisers don't really need the help, they're in a good place as it is.
  • newromulan1newromulan1 Member Posts: 2,229
    edited January 2014
    Torps need a huge buff - resists both passive through the rep system and through fleet gear have rendered torps almost useless.

    In addition there are some major flaws with the games.mechanics vs canon. In canon if the shield got.weak enough torp would.push right through to the hull - best battle screen for this is the last one in undiscovered country. In Sto shield give the same resist at 1% that they do at 100%, it's totally stupid. Also if you are fast enough you can outrun torps in this game. Also stupid. As a torp boat captain I see it all the time and.it's not just outrunning the animation.
  • saxfiresaxfire Member Posts: 558 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    In the newest romulan episodes the hirogen has storage full of reprogrammed torps, in tiny tiny tiny space, that only shows how many you can have in your ship, a shipload of torpedoes. This thread is useless.
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  • arcjetarcjet Member Posts: 161 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    Pay for torpedoes? Nope, doesn't make sense at all for the current game design.

    Limit torpedo ammo? Maybe.
    But then torps would have to be boosted, or rather energy weapons slightly nerfed. Like reduced energy weapon damage on hull, similar to reduced torp damage to shields.

    Rework torpedo spread to not launch a ridiculous number of torpedoes? Yes please.
  • atticus74atticus74 Member Posts: 19 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    Like I Said Not Popular.
    That no way diminishes the argument that it makes no sense for a ship to have endless torpedoes. Even if you wanted to argue that the ship replicates a working torpedo on an as needed basis, this is fiction, the replicators consume energy and this consumption is not reflected. There is an opportunity to increase the challenge level here and I think Elite players are up for it.
  • dova25dova25 Member Posts: 475
    edited January 2014
    atticus74 wrote: »
    Like I Said Not Popular.
    That no way diminishes the argument that it makes no sense for a ship to have endless torpedoes. Even if you wanted to argue that the ship replicates a working torpedo on an as needed basis, this is fiction, the replicators consume energy and this consumption is not reflected. There is an opportunity to increase the challenge level here and I think Elite players are up for it.

    There are a lot of things in sto that are far law's of physics that are more important in my opinion that making PVP harder to regular players.
    ( ex: danube shuttle using tractor beam and stopping a vo'quv ???? )

    Best thing ,in my opinion, it would be to make a poll among PVP players and (in)validate your proposal
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  • virusdancervirusdancer Member Posts: 18,687 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    Oh noes...we can't have an endless supply of torpedoes!

    But it's okay to have an endless supply of respawns?

    It's a game. :cool:
  • hereticknight085hereticknight085 Member Posts: 3,783 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    Yeeeah... no.

    Giving an ammo count to torpedoes will basically eliminate them from most builds. They are already rare enough as is, but if you want them gone completely, please, continue along this line of thought.
    It is said the best weapon is one that is never fired. I disagree. The best weapon is one you only have to fire... once. B)
  • donrahdonrah Member Posts: 348
    edited January 2014
    Oh noes...we can't have an endless supply of torpedoes!

    But it's okay to have an endless supply of respawns?

    It's a game. :cool:

    It is a game, but it is a game based on an existing work. It is a trivial thing to implement in the game. And what mechanic would you replace the infinite respawns with if they were considered objectionable?
    Yeeeah... no.

    Giving an ammo count to torpedoes will basically eliminate them from most builds. They are already rare enough as is, but if you want them gone completely, please, continue along this line of thought.

    You make it sound like there's no way to implement it when it's quite plain that other changes, regardless of an ammo limit, need to be made. I submit the following as potential practical changes:

    1. Grant the hull a natural 75% resistance against energy. This would eliminate the energy weapon as the universal damage dealer.

    2. Add dedicated torpedo slots to represent the launchers that are integrated into every ship. These slots would be where the torpedo ammo is placed, much like a device.

    3. Increase the potency of torpedoes. A torpedo to bare hull should be devastating. The reasoning should be that they ought to be limited because they're so powerful.

    4. Make torpedoes easy to replenish. Make them replenish when at any faction star base in system space instance automatically.
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  • virusdancervirusdancer Member Posts: 18,687 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    donrah wrote: »
    It is a game, but it is a game based on an existing work.

    But it is still a game - where countless things have to be ignored because it is a game. It's not a simulation based on a particular series...it is a game.
    donrah wrote: »
    It is a trivial thing to implement in the game.

    There are all sorts of trivial stupid things they could implement...doesn't mean they should.
    donrah wrote: »
    And what mechanic would you replace the infinite respawns with if they were considered objectionable?

    I wouldn't replace the infinite respawns...because it is a game.
  • doffingcomradedoffingcomrade Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    If I fire 1 torpedo every 6 seconds, nonstop, to deplete a load of 250 torpedoes would take me nearly half an hour. I don't think this is going to be a serious concern in a game without a strategic layer where you can run out of torpedoes in.
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  • royalsovereignroyalsovereign Member Posts: 1,344 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    If ships replicate parts, why should torpedoes not be replicatable? Not sure why some get this bee in their collective bonnets.

    Torps are already just about worthless. Why destroy their usefulness?
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  • donrahdonrah Member Posts: 348
    edited January 2014
    If I fire 1 torpedo every 6 seconds, nonstop, to deplete a load of 250 torpedoes would take me nearly half an hour. I don't think this is going to be a serious concern in a game without a strategic layer where you can run out of torpedoes in.

    You're trying way too hard to find an excuse to dismiss it. 250 was just an example. You also don't need to have so few that you require a rearm after every mission. You could take an extended tour and run several missions between resupply trips. Don't be so rigid. These are ideas, not a design document submission.
    If ships replicate parts, why should torpedoes not be replicatable? Not sure why some get this bee in their collective bonnets.

    Torps are already just about worthless. Why destroy their usefulness?

    Torpedoes use a matter/antimatter warhead and other materials that can't be replicated. Some materials are just simply too volatile to replicate because they would have a reaction while being replicated and you blow up your armory. According to Star Trek canon, torpedoes can't be replicated. Certain parts have to be made from raw materials that either are found or created by means other than replication.

    Making torpedoes ammo-limited isn't going to make them worthless, that has already happened and I've already made suggestions as to how to make them worth having while carrying a limited compliment of them. Nobody is suggesting, certainly not me, that ammo limits is the only change made. It's obvious that they need to be made more useful, but while we're at it, let's add some immersion and challenge to them.
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  • donrahdonrah Member Posts: 348
    edited January 2014
    But it is still a game - where countless things have to be ignored because it is a game. It's not a simulation based on a particular series...it is a game.



    There are all sorts of trivial stupid things they could implement...doesn't mean they should.



    I wouldn't replace the infinite respawns...because it is a game.

    Who said anything about a simulation? I didn't ask for newtonian physics. Putting an ammo limit doesn't make a simulation. Halo uses ammo limits, would you call it a simulation?

    You don't like the idea of ammo limits, I get it. That doesn't make them stupid. Just because torpedoes suck as they are, doesn't mean that ammo limits are not a good mechanic. On its own, it makes sense for immersion and challenge. Ammo limits can make the player evaluate how they use their limited supply. Currently, there's little risk in setting torps to auto because they never deplete. Boost damage and making energy less effective against hull would give them much higher utility. The main problem is that energy weapons are effective against both hull and shields, while torps are only effective against hull. This makes torps automatically inferior because energy doesn't have a reciprocal weakness to compensate. It's simple, really, energy weapons need to be nerfed to balance against torpedoes. Or I guess you could say that hull needs to be buffed vs. energy to compensate for the shield's resistance to kinetic.
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  • cerealplayercerealplayer Member Posts: 214 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    atticus74 wrote: »
    What does it cost you to fire a torpedo? NOTHING!
    I know this is not going to be popular, but I want to suggest a way that the game can mature in a way that at least elite players csn handle. It's time captains started counting their torpedoes. Min/Maxers have taught us that torpedo boats have respectable dps and good kill ratios. But this relies on an infinite number of torpedoes so I would like to see a finite number of torpedoes in the ships magazine. At a minimum it could restock automatically in sector space. Though spending EC to replenish torpedo stock would not be out of line. At last it would cost something to fire a torpedo.

    This is a bad idea; strike that, terrible one. Please, no one ever hire this person as a game designer.
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