Using abilities increases enemy targets defense

dragonsbite

So i always wondered why i was missing Dreadnoughts and any other size ship while doing Fleet Defense. I incorrectly thought this might be a fire at will issue. However autofiring missed these ships as well. Recently i tried Tractor beam Repulsers with the pull doff. Sure enough i was missing ships that were stationary and at -15 defense. My accuracy was over 35. Clearly this indicates that when the ships are being pulled that their speed is no longer at zero or -15def and is instead at max speed or 65 defense or whatever.

So this means that any ability that pushes or pulls or basically any ability which changes the targets speed will increase it's def and therefore your hit chance will decrease as a result. Now i can understand that we need the acc-def to determine hit. It all makes sense to me. However using a tractor beam repulser with a pull doff looks like we've locked onto the target and that it's now in our grip, so to speak. If anything acc would be increased and not decreased as we have this lock on with the target in question.

I just find this behavior to be very odd. Obviously this effects other abilities as well. Perhaps it would be fair to include a plus accuracy modifier when using tractor beam repulsers with the pull doff. Or perhaps not give the additional def from speed via using tractor beam repulsers. Not sure what the best approach would be.

Not that this is game breaking in any way, shape or form. It's just an odd mechanic which causes your damage from your weapons to be a lot less when using an ability that should instead increase your damage. Not only do you miss more but acc overflow is completely removed as a result of using the ability. Well not exactly true as the range is decreased. So overall damage is actually increased. But i think you understand what i mean.

Should this mechanic be changed in some way or just left alone?

doffingcomrade

Any form of motion, for any reason, counts as motion for purposes of defense. This means shoving an opponent with TBR, or swirling him about in the purple terlet bowl, all count as "motion" for purposes of defense. Similarly, non-motion, regardless of engine setting, does not count for defense. So if you faceplant into a gateway, your defense tanks anyway even though you are at full thrust.

This isn't new, it has always been that way since antiquity, if not the beginning of time itself.

dragonsbite

doffingcomrade wrote: »

Any form of motion, for any reason, counts as motion for purposes of defense. This means shoving an opponent with TBR, or swirling him about in the purple terlet bowl, all count as "motion" for purposes of defense. Similarly, non-motion, regardless of engine setting, does not count for defense. So if you faceplant into a gateway, your defense tanks anyway even though you are at full thrust.

This isn't new, it has always been that way since antiquity, if not the beginning of time itself.

Yes i well understand how it works. I just find it odd that when you lock onto a target your miss chance increases and your acc overflow is now moot. I just think there should be a mechanic in place to where the target does not gain a def bonus from an ability that you use against them. It seems a bit counterproductive the way it currently works. Again this isn't a game breaker. It's just seems very odd. Especially when it's counterproductive. Why use an offensive ability that gives the target a bonus?

dsaris

IMO your weapons shouldn't be able to miss the bigger ships anyways. It's HUGE and at distances inside 10k it's RIGHT THERE. If the weapons can't hit something the size of a city block we need to have a serious discussion about targeting sensors.