So it's pretty clear already that we have a wide variety of ideas for the new carrier. I thought it might be good to have a separate thread for posting suggested concepts, and discussing them. I'll start with this:
Athena class BattlecarrierConcept - Named after the Greek goddess of Wisdom and Battle, the Athena class is the Federation's answer to the Klingon Karfi battlecarrier. Focusing on engines a bit more than it's KDF counterpart, while still emphasizing firepower greater than the current Caitian model, the Athena wins by maneuvering it's compliment into just the right position.
Weapons: 4 foreward / 3 rear
Turn rate: 10 (with fewer hitpoints if a small ship, or 9 with more hitpoints if a larger one)
Hangar bays: 2
Consoles: 3 eng / 3 sci / 4 tac : fleet version = +1 tac
Bridge Officers: Cmdr. science/pilot, Lt. Cmdr. tactical/pilot, Lt. Cmdr. engineer, Lt. universal, Ensign universal
The Feds have been missing a battlecarrier for a very long time, and we finally have a chance to correct that oversight! Piloting stations would make the most sense... because you know, pilots... and the Pilot powers even include their own pets, so this fits way more than command or intelligence. It's not a pilot ship, so no flipping to get immunity, but some sort of focus fire power like on the Hestia would work. Better would be some form of expanded carrier comands.
Comments or Ideas?
- How's the turn rate... higher/lower?
- In the other thread there was mention of a third bay as a possibility. Would loss of a science console be enough to counterbalance the gain?
Comments
Was just reading said article. Lol. Did surprise me the were gonna add a fed specific carrier..
Nerfing is Fraud...
Currently that is true of course, and I'm not suggesting the ship not be balanced. I figured it would pay for the extra turn with some hitpoints, especially if one of the more compact designs like Alpha is the final winner. If we get a big ship then the turn could come down to 9 and have the hitpoints.
Nerfing is Fraud...
A Ferasan carrier would be fun. Just out of curiosity, assuming it had the same layout as the Athena I've done above and came as part of a three race carrier deal, What would you see as the Ferasan "special power" or ship trait that sets the Ferasans apart?
Nerfing is Fraud...
We have no size reference for the ship concepts, they may all be huge, and I doubt the appearance of the ship chosen will end up determining it's turn rate. Just expect to need 5 epic RCS consoles so you're either prepared for that reality or pleasantly surprised when it isn't that bad.
I highly doubt it will get a commander hybrid seat as that has been the realm of the special "pilot/command/intel" specific ships, and it certainly won't get two hybrid slots, perhaps a single lt.com or a lt. hybrid, and probably a hybrid of which ever station it really has to sacrifice to use it, like it only has a single lt. eng and that's the hybrid so you're super punished in engineering if you use the hybrid specialty. It would be lovely if they stuck it on a seat that's a potential over abundance like on the lt.com eng of the galaxy, but that hasn't been the norm.
It's also highly possible the carrier won't have any of the current specialties as the time frame in which they expect the ship to launch will probably put it inside the new season where there will doubtless be another specialty out that it could have a hybrid seat for.
We've had the command cruisers, the pilot escorts, next up is likely some sort of specialty to do with a science ship three pack, whatever that specialty is could easily be tacked onto this carrier, especially if it's science primary.
I've been rather enjoying polishing my intrepid recently, the new things devs have put in the game for science have really helped to alleviate the potential "damn it, this carrier is all science." I just hope it's reasonably balanced, at least three tactical boff powers at least three engineer powers, the rest being in science I can deal with, but it would be nice to potentially have some universal in there.
For example, if the ship was like lt.com tac, lt.com eng, lt.com universal, com science. that would be like... freaking epicly versatile. And really they could totally do that for a t6 voquv and this federation carrier launching opposite it since that's basically the voquv's boff layout just with the lt. sci upgraded to lt.com universal. It could be used eng heavy, tac heavy, or sci heavy depending on what you want/career. I really hope they go with something like that.
If not, I'd be good with the voquv's usual build just slap on a universal ensign to give it the requisite 13 for t6 and give it at least a smidge of wiggle room in the boff department. But... even if they just upgraded the lt. sci to lt.com sci it'd still be pretty decent with all the improvements to science.
Although you do bring up a good point that the atrox is quite sci heavy and seems more in line with the voquv's science focus, so the fed ship may be more paired to the karfi even if it launches opposite an updated voquv. (I am really hoping it launches with a klingon carrier in tow, devs could slap the same trait on both and throw the klingons a bone)
Though it does seem strange to be introducing a carrier AFTER the war, one would think that a carrier is a more battle focused ship and should have been deployed during war and not in this next season that's supposedly all about getting back to our exploring roots or whatever... though I suppose they could say that carriers were deployed to shore up our defenses as quickly as possible after the fleet was devastated and to free up other vessels to return to exploration... or something.
The Nebula-configured Odyssey needs to be a thing.
It seems unlikely to me that the devs would introduce a new feresian carrier before even updating the two carriers the klingons already have. I'm betting an updated voquv or karfi will debut along side this fed carrier so they can slap the same trait on both ships.
The Nebula-configured Odyssey needs to be a thing.
Maybe go a mass cloak that affects you an your hanger pets, but then gives you an your pets a buff to both damage output bonus an a damage recieved reduction for a short time after exiting stealth/cloaking, on a mid-range cd for the mass cloak yet your own cloak if usable is unaffected yet only cloaks yourself.
The Nebula-configured Odyssey needs to be a thing.
Yeah true, but i would much rather see a humanoid insectoid race added to the romulan faction (think maybe something like the thri'kin race from Dark sun setting of D&D).
Well, we do have a size reference in that the carrier concepts have all been presented in profile with each other. So when I refer to the alpha as small it is true in relation to the other options. You're right of course, in that it could still be much bigger than a defiant or the like.
However the ship I'm proposing isn't "the norm", in that it is to be a Fed.T6 battlecarrier. This is meant to be flown as a pilot specific ship. Science isn't the only focus on a battle carrier, with more power usually in weapons than on a regular carrier and more weapons to use. Using the pilot ships as a base then Athena class loses the special immunity and a whole lot of maneuver in exchange for the hangars while retaining the pilot power flexibility. However the balance of the powers remains the same. Your suggestion of 3 Lt. cmdr., while it would be fun, also hasn't been the norm and is actually more unbalancing in my opinion.
The intelligence ships were the specialty associated with science. That's why it's been so disappointing that command was mostly just cruisers and piloting ships have so far just been the initial release. If we get another specialty (not that I really want one) then I would expect commando to grow 15 space powers and be paired with a release of raiders. I expect that one when the T6 BoPs are finally ready.
... And the T6 raiders of course should have 12 universal stations with a full selection of specialty power seats.
Nerfing is Fraud...
After thinking about it though a Pilot-carrier might be intereting most of all, if they made a small frigate class varient of the pilot vessals to be a frigate pet on the new carrier, and had it that you could not use the pilot manuvers on your carrier but instead activate them on your frigate pets to help them survive better. THe other possibilty could be using the Miranda line as Frigate pets, issue is still that i am not sure how well that would go. Would prefer to see something more like a bomber or heavy fighter done yet we do need a fed frigate pet choice.
They haven't put anything Pilot on any ship so large...and Carriers are large...5 tac consoles on a carrier....a sci carrier...also isn't going to happen...a sci is gonna get 5 sci consoles.
Nebula definitely needs it's own work-up, but I suspect that it will role out not as "a carrier" but as a stand alone that has carrier capacity. Even if it gets two hangars, the ship is popular and they will want to milk it for all it's worth.
As for the pilot frigates.... that's a GREAT idea.
Nerfing is Fraud...
Well, as I pointed out in a different thread, twelve shuttles and support crew don't take much room so it doesn't have to be large. Even if it is large, that doesn't mean a good pilot on the bridge won't help. The flipping pilot immunity is for pilot ships (and maybe shuttles as mentioned above), but the pilot bridge officer powers are about strategic maneuvering and any ship should be able to do that. Let's face it... a pilot captain can make an Atrox barrel roll in this game.
As for the Tac consoles thing, I believe you are incorrect. Take a look at the T5U fleet Karfi. My proposal is for a T6 Fed. Battlecarrier.
Nerfing is Fraud...
Ramming speed 3 made them interesting Kamikaze's. Doing a T6 Karfi would be a good time to upgrade these since the ramming speed AI got nerfed. S'kul fighters went from "flying bombs" to "under-armed junk waiting to die" when the AI was changed to accommodate the Jem Hadar pets. Making them wait until they have a certain amount of damage before they will start a Kamikaze run just doesn't work for something as fragile as a fighter. They either circle aimlessly with their one cannon or get hit and disappear.
... T6 S'kul fighters should have piloting immunity as well, and that would just make them kamikaze even less.
Nerfing is Fraud...
- 3 Fore Weapons, 3 Aft Weapons.
- 2 Hangar Bays
- 4 Device Slots
- Bridge Officer Slots: Based on the Tier 5 Vo'Quv, I basically changed the Lt.Science to a Lt.Universal and added an Ensign Science.I originally only wanted to add an Ensign Universal, but that didn't seem to do justice to the unusual layout the original Vo'Quv had.
- Commander Science
- Lt. Cmdr Tactical | Command
- Lt. Cmdr Engineering
- Lt. Universal
- Ensign Science
- 3 Tactical Consoles
- 3 Engineering Consoles
- 4 Science Consoles (5 for the Fleet version)
- Impulse Modifier: 0.15
- Inertia Rating: 20
- Turn Rate: 5
- Shield Modifier: 1.1
- Bonus Power: +5 Weapon Power; +10 Auxiliary Power
- Innate Specials: Subsystem Targeting, Sensor Analysis, Carrier Command
- Starship Mastery Trait - Advanced Tractor Beam Arrays: When you activate a tractor beam ability, you reduce your hangar and separation pet cooldowns by 10 %: In addition, any target you hit with a tractor beam ability suffers a penalty to energy damage resistance.
- Universal Console - Long Range Shield Emitter: Your ship is equipped with a long range shield emitter. When you activate this ability, all allied hangar bay and separation pets within 10 km gain a minor shield heal over time, 10 % shield hardness and become immune to warp core breaches for 15 seconds. Passively, this console boosts all shield heals you grant to allies.
- New Hangar Pet - Sensor Drone: (more drone ideas)
- Drones Launched: 3 (6 maintainable per hangar bay)
- Weapons: 1 Omnidirectional Phaser Beam Array; Advanced and Elite: +1 additional Phaser Turret
- Abilities: Energy Field Analysis - An enemy targeted by this ability takes additional damage from energy attacks and grants torpedo attacks against the target a small amount of shield penetration. If used on an ally, shield heals provide additional healing against the target and cause a small amount of bonus to shield hardness.
- Advanced: Energy Field Analysis, Limited Sensor Scan I (like Science Captain Sensor Scan, but 5 km radius)
- Elite: Energy Field Analysis, Limited Sensor Scan I (like Science Captain Sensor Scan, but 5 km radius), Viral Matrix I
The sensor drone is actually designed to be both useful in military engagements as well as in exploration. It comes with advanced sensor systems similar to the best standard probes, but is also armed and shielded.
Because people will launch frigates and then hide in pvp or because of the damage boost from decloaking?
I don't believe the damage boost effects pets. As for the launch and hide tactic, scimitars already carry borg drones. I don't think losing weapons to get another bay is a balance issue. Cloaked ships are so easy to find and counter anyways.
This is a good design if they don't do the battle-carrier. Or if they plan to do both, since I'd open my wallet for an Alpha carrier and Gamma battle-carrier. The long range shield emitter works for the federation but IMO would be a hindrance for KDF using S'kuls (yes I use them... just because they are fun).
I'm curious about the Advanced Tractor Beam arrays ship trait. I don't see this as much of a selling point unless you also want them to effect tractor beam repulsors with some sort of hull penetration. Then people might want the trait for their science builds. A Ship trait that doesn't cross builds won't have much selling power.
UMMM... 12 pets with sensor scan I ??? You really don't like cloaked ships in PVP, do you? Other than that issue I like the drones.
Nerfing is Fraud...
I know the console is, most likely, set in stone by now, but for future, how about a console that enhances hangar capability above the normal for a short period of time, much like OSS for power lvls or boff skills for weapon slots: a console that "spawns" more pets, like sacrificing the fighters, in the fed case but not the pilots, who could just teleport and an autopilot combat program to take over, and those fighters couldnt be control by the carrier any longer (and no longer gain ranks and benefit from player's traits like scamble fighters or wing commander) and act as friendly NPCs for 20-30 secs, but the ship to be able to launch new ones. The animation for this would be allready done, since the teleport one is present upon rescuing ppl from escape pods or other ships... Given the 2 mins CD, the average dps increase would be around maybe 700-1000 dps, not much but not less either and certainly less then a embasy console. And it would encourage more carrier game play, like ambush/high yield kinda tactics, to recall the pets inside, move elsewhere, then order them to attack thus undock at a new location, click the console, then launch again more to storm the battlefield with a swarm of fighters for a bit. Or if the pets are yellowstones, use the console to leave them there to CC and hold the enemy so the carrier can run away.
And you could swing this if you change the technobable. Lets say if the Mirror Temporal Dread from the new terran space queue, if is decided to be a dread carrier in a future, the mainheim device mechanism could be applied to the hangar pets... If they will be aeon shuttles, those also have the animation done too, since the player version can use both temporal consoles.
Also about pets, I know most ppl want immunity against warp core breaches, but what about a passive skill that adds a bit more power to fighters like wingman from pilot spec tree. I mean it even makes sense. Every pilot from Top Gun to Battlestar Galactica had at least a wingman... And it would improve the fighters, since IIRC, in general, curent meta is that frigates outclass fighters. So fighters will gain more wingman stacks out of it, thus getting closer to the frigates.
The Typhon is not canon, and was used in another game by another developer. Cryptic cannot use original designs used in other games for legal reasons. So no Typhon, no Incursion, no Achilles...
Helpful Tools: Dictionary.com - Logical fallacies - Random generator - Word generator - Color tool - Extra Credits - List of common English language errors - New T6 Big booty tutorial
OK here ya go, the best idea for a KDF Ferasan Carrier.
We come in peace, SHOOT TO KILL!