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Whither shuttles, or wither shuttles?
rinkster
Member Posts: 3,549 Arc User
I rather like the shuttlecraft and small ships in game.
It's a source of sadness to me that there aren't more opportunities to play with them.
Recently, a shuttle PvP map was introduced, which disappeared faster than a ragequit thread when BG is in a bad mood.
The reason, imo, for this sad state of affairs, is that shuttle ship PvP is inadvertantly blatantly p2w.
Because there are few console slots on these ships, they can be disproportionally powerful.
And access to the best consoles is far more an I-win button in small craft PvP than regular PvP.
Thus, I'd like to propose that small craft get a little attention.
Specifically, that more gear gets designated as small craft only.......and most starship gear be designated starship only.
We already have the beginning of this demarcation ingame, with the small ship only 360 beam arrays, and some gear from lobi or cstore shuttles.
What this would mean for players.........
Well, you'd be leaving your valdore console where it is, as well as your point defence console.
There'd be no need to balance the relative power of such consoles between small craft and big craft, because its only going on starships.
You'd have far more reason to look at cstore and lobi shuttle purchases, if not for the ships, but for the gear.
You'd also want to run those shuttle missions a bit more often, to get the better gear. Because that rep kcb cant fit on your delta flyer.
The only things I'd see allowable on both shuttles and starships, would be non-universal consoles.
Your RCS, your neutronium, your specific energy type weapon booster......they could all be fitted, and I'd allow fleet consoles as well.
And, most importantly, we'd have a version of PvP that is far closer to being balanced.
What's in it for cryptic?
Well, they'd probably want to open access to some more shuttle gear. Perhaps putting shuttle versions of space sets in reputation tracks. Maybe adding in some more options for reward on shuttle missions (both of them, plus atmospheric assault).
Players might actually buy more of the cstore and lobi shuttles.
And, they'd finally get the use out of that PVP shuttle map they made a while back.
tl;dr shuttle ships need to not be able to use the vast majority of starship gear, in order to balance shuttle PVP and give us a reason to jump in our small ships more.
It's a source of sadness to me that there aren't more opportunities to play with them.
Recently, a shuttle PvP map was introduced, which disappeared faster than a ragequit thread when BG is in a bad mood.
The reason, imo, for this sad state of affairs, is that shuttle ship PvP is inadvertantly blatantly p2w.
Because there are few console slots on these ships, they can be disproportionally powerful.
And access to the best consoles is far more an I-win button in small craft PvP than regular PvP.
Thus, I'd like to propose that small craft get a little attention.
Specifically, that more gear gets designated as small craft only.......and most starship gear be designated starship only.
We already have the beginning of this demarcation ingame, with the small ship only 360 beam arrays, and some gear from lobi or cstore shuttles.
What this would mean for players.........
Well, you'd be leaving your valdore console where it is, as well as your point defence console.
There'd be no need to balance the relative power of such consoles between small craft and big craft, because its only going on starships.
You'd have far more reason to look at cstore and lobi shuttle purchases, if not for the ships, but for the gear.
You'd also want to run those shuttle missions a bit more often, to get the better gear. Because that rep kcb cant fit on your delta flyer.
The only things I'd see allowable on both shuttles and starships, would be non-universal consoles.
Your RCS, your neutronium, your specific energy type weapon booster......they could all be fitted, and I'd allow fleet consoles as well.
And, most importantly, we'd have a version of PvP that is far closer to being balanced.
What's in it for cryptic?
Well, they'd probably want to open access to some more shuttle gear. Perhaps putting shuttle versions of space sets in reputation tracks. Maybe adding in some more options for reward on shuttle missions (both of them, plus atmospheric assault).
Players might actually buy more of the cstore and lobi shuttles.
And, they'd finally get the use out of that PVP shuttle map they made a while back.
tl;dr shuttle ships need to not be able to use the vast majority of starship gear, in order to balance shuttle PVP and give us a reason to jump in our small ships more.
Post edited by rinkster on
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Comments
Mine Trap Supporter
I think that is the current case.....which means that restricting the use of starship gear on shuttles shouldn't bother the vast majority of people.
However, I suspect that it would slowly re-energise shuttle PvP......which, in turn, I believe would be healthy for the game long term.
The biggest problem, is the lack of support for shuttles.
I mean there is almost no gear directed towards them exclusively, and the normal shuttle is at a big disadvantage compared against the fighters, C-store and lockbox variety.
If they eliminated ALL universal console usage on shuttles/fighters, and kept it to normal ones, and those specifically designed for shuttles this would go a long ways into balancing them.
Than if they offered a wider weapon selection for the 360 BA's, as to allow for some competition against the fighters being able to equip starship cannons would help also.
Some unique gear sets would be grand as well.
Praetor of the -RTS- Romulan Tal Shiar fleet!
Yup, all of that sounds grand.
And the thing about cstore and lobi shuttles are...not to put to fine a point upon it....cheap.
500 zen gets you any cstore shuttle. Grindable in a week or so, easily.
300 lobi gets you a shuttle. While harder to get, this is not a huge amount.
You can get some better 360 beam arays from running the story episodes.
However, the only shuttle specific space set gear are from the aforementioned shuttles.
I'd like to see a ring fence put around shuttle gear, and the selection expanded.
Perhaps some gear could be craftable, at least mark XI greens.
Perhaps shuttle versions of space sets, appropriately balanced for shuttles, could be put in the reputation tracks.
And the thing about most of this, is that it doesn't require a huge amount of new assets.
Space sets can go on shuttles now, a shuttle specific version just needs some database changes, not new art assets.
My shuttle love aside, it strikes me that this is the way to go with PvP as well.
Because, it's going to be a lot easier to balance shuttle PvP than starship PvP.
True, but these don't close the gap difference between a fighter nailing you with mk xii VR DHC's.
Praetor of the -RTS- Romulan Tal Shiar fleet!
Thing is, under my proposal, you can't fit that VR mk XII on a shuttle because it's a starship weapon.
That would pretty much be a knock-out criteria for me.
Currently I just drag gear from one of my ships onto my shuttlecraft, whenever I want to queue atmosphere assault for example. It's fast and easy.
If your changes happened, I'd have to start grinding for shuttle-specific gear, which wouldn't be worth it for me and I'd just delete the shuttlecraft and not queue at all.
I guess some would feel as you for sure.
The line is what feels worth it to a given player.
Personally speaking, if I knew that the end result was a balanced PvP that actually worked, I'd grind happily away for the good shuttle stuff.
Because, a balanced PvP is as rare as hens teeth here.
And please dont take this the wrong way, but if losing a few shuttle pilots such as yourself was the price to pay for a properly balanced PvP experience in STO, I'm afraid I'd pay that gladly.
Mine Trap Supporter
Agreed.
Either half price base cost, or a heavy discount if you already own the starship version.
I think though, this is an occasion where the KISS principle applies.
Complexity creates loopholes.
I think we are better off with a scorched earth policy here.
I agree. I just use whatever spares my ship isn't using. I don't want to have to grind for Shuttle-Specific gear either.
Personally I think that shuttles should have more bridge officer powers. That would make them much more interesting rather than waiting for a single power to recharge every 30 seconds.