Temporal Bridge Officers

pwlaughingtrendy

In the ongoing battle to safeguard the sanctity of the timelines, talented officers from all different disciplines are undergoing specialized training to understand and manipulate the flow of time itself!

Upon the release of Agents of Yesterday, existing Bridge Officers will now have the ability to train in this new Specialization through the use of Specialization Qualifications.

~Morrigan "LaughingTrendy"

zedbrightlander1

Wow. How could my Star Trek sense be so wrong?

tessaravejgan

Paradox Bomb seems interesting.

iconians

Heisenberg Amplifier
The targeted foe, and all of their allies within 5km, are instantly teleported in a random direction, facing a random direction, and are Confused for several seconds
The teleport will not function on very large or stationary foes, but the Confuse will
Builder: All effected foes receive +1 Entropy

​​

davefenestrator

Have you also considered adding some boffs to the Temportal Pack like in the Delta Pack? Some for each faction would be appreciated. And some level-up TOS phaser pistols and rifles while I'm being greedy

borticuscryptic

davefenestrator wrote: »

Have you also considered adding some boffs to the Temportal Pack like in the Delta Pack? Some for each faction would be appreciated. And some level-up TOS phaser pistols and rifles while I'm being greedy

The pack will include Specialization Qualifications - items which allow you to add the Temporal Operative specialization to any existing Bridge Officer.

We chose to go this route, rather than clog up the already-rather-full Bridge Crew Rosters of existing players.

orondis

There is currently a hard cap on the amount of damage that can be stored

Which, while entirely sensible from a balance perspective, it makes it virtually as useless as the Intel boff power Kinetic Magnet. Especially if it ends up being beaten by DEM3.

daveyny

Heh...

"...Because that wouldn't be very fun..."

Who's definition of "FUN" are You using?

mustrumridcully0

I wonder how many stacks one really can realistically get, considering the short life expectancy of NPCs. Might be more interesting at higher difficulty levels than at lower ones.

orondis wrote: »

There is currently a hard cap on the amount of damage that can be stored

Which, while entirely sensible from a balance perspective, it makes it virtually as useless as the Intel boff power Kinetic Magnet. Especially if it ends up being beaten by DEM3.

Depends on the damage cap it has, doesn't it? Cryptic might just need to raise these caps a bit for such powers when it's too low.

borticuscryptic

orondis wrote: »

There is currently a hard cap on the amount of damage that can be stored

Which, while entirely sensible from a balance perspective, it makes it virtually as useless as the Intel boff power Kinetic Magnet. Especially if it ends up being beaten by DEM3.

The design of this ability has changed since the Blog was submitted. The new description is thus:

* Compares target's Hull value at the time of application, and at time of expiration (5sec), and re-applies a portion of that missing value.

In other words, if a target started at 100,000 Hull and 5sec later (at expiration) had 50,000 Hull remaining, a percentage of that missing 50,000 would get re-applied as Physical damage.

This means that healing and regeneration are 'soft' counters to the ability. It also removed the need for a damage cap - the new design no longer has one.

borticuscryptic

mustrumridcully0 wrote: »

I wonder how many stacks one really can realistically get, considering the short life expectancy of NPCs. Might be more interesting at higher difficulty levels than at lower ones.

This is one of the primary aspects of the feature we're going to be watching for feedback on. We want to make sure that Builders from this set of abilities are useful in that regard, even when used against smaller enemies.

questerius

It's almost like adding a necromancer to the team. Decay everywhere.
It may be advantageous and maybe after rereading the article I'll get exited, but for now i simply don't feel the connection.

orondis

borticuscryptic wrote: »

orondis wrote: »

There is currently a hard cap on the amount of damage that can be stored

Which, while entirely sensible from a balance perspective, it makes it virtually as useless as the Intel boff power Kinetic Magnet. Especially if it ends up being beaten by DEM3.

The design of this ability has changed since the Blog was submitted. The new description is thus:

* Compares target's Hull value at the time of application, and at time of expiration (5sec), and re-applies a portion of that missing value.

In other words, if a target started at 100,000 Hull and 5sec later (at expiration) had 50,000 Hull remaining, a percentage of that missing 50,000 would get re-applied as Physical damage.

This means that healing and regeneration are 'soft' counters to the ability. It also removed the need for a damage cap - the new design no longer has one.

Now that does sound good, thanks for the information.

markhawkman

borticuscryptic wrote: »

davefenestrator wrote: »

Have you also considered adding some boffs to the Temportal Pack like in the Delta Pack? Some for each faction would be appreciated. And some level-up TOS phaser pistols and rifles while I'm being greedy

The pack will include Specialization Qualifications - items which allow you to add the Temporal Operative specialization to any existing Bridge Officer.

We chose to go this route, rather than clog up the already-rather-full Bridge Crew Rosters of existing players.

Goood, Goooood, not all of my Borg Boffs have a spec yet. Hmm.... I need to update the chart with that.

nadiezja

I like this. The teleporty abilities sound like a blast. Tell me the Heisenberg whatsit will be a kit module too?

borticuscryptic

nadiezja wrote: »

I like this. The teleporty abilities sound like a blast. Tell me the Heisenberg whatsit will be a kit module too?

Uncertainty Burst is the ground equivalent. And yes, there will be Kit Modules for captains, of all of the listed ground abilities.

nebfab

Could be interesting if builder/consumer balance is just right... But I'm far more excited by the main spec tree.

And then, there's Heisenberg amplifier and its ground version... IMO, It's thematically the most fitting one in the bunch, and can be at least situationally useful but... Imagine, say, grav-welling spheres in the ISA, and then someone, by mistake or for sheer trololol uses this.

breadandcircuses

The "teleport-y" powers (Uncertainty Burst/Heisenberg Amplifier) seem especially... interesting... but it seems a bit complex to have included coding within both abilities to prevent ending up stuck in an object or off the map. For the player that would simply be an aggravating trigger for "/stuck", but certain NPC's could completely prevent completion of a mission/objective. Whether triggered by accident or intent, that could lead to issues...

The other potential hangup is the distance teleported. One of the big reasons to avoid Overwhelming Force is that, other than significant limitations on the CPB/PSW it generates, is that the knock is capable of scattering enemies outside the convenient clumps our CC is creating*; a big enough distance could make the ability entirely undesirable, and one that scales with the rank of the ability would make a lower-rank version superior to a higher-rank version for general gameplay.

It's a neat idea in concept, but I'm wondering just how useful it'd actually be... and if NPC's are using it against us it could get obnoxious fast.



*You really ought to create a DOff that converts KnockBack to KnockTo, or even just one that affects PSW that way. Assuming it also worked with Overwhelming Force, which most things don't.

kjwashington

I am concerned by the new abilities. Depending on the numbers, they can be either very OP or very useless. I'm hoping that hey end up at least being useful. It looks like to use them to their most effectiveness, you'll want at least one entropy builder and one consumer. A build I already have in my head is to Use GW3, fly into the center of the enemies and use shared fate 1, then use timeline collapse 1. As stated before, depending in the numbers, this tactic could be devastatingly OP or underwhelmingly useless.

nebfab

breadandcircuses wrote: »

It's a neat idea in concept, but I'm wondering just how useful it'd actually be... and if NPC's are using it against us it could get obnoxious fast.

Well, Tarantulas use a hostile TP regularly, it's annoying but nowhere near as dangerous as, say, Na'Kuhl swarms in their queue. Actually they or other swarms of enemies with cone-type weapons may be one possible use for this, or any other situation where you pulled too much aggro.

Grief potential is definitely there, though.

bberge1701

borticuscryptic wrote: »

davefenestrator wrote: »

Have you also considered adding some boffs to the Temportal Pack like in the Delta Pack? Some for each faction would be appreciated. And some level-up TOS phaser pistols and rifles while I'm being greedy

The pack will include Specialization Qualifications - items which allow you to add the Temporal Operative specialization to any existing Bridge Officer.

We chose to go this route, rather than clog up the already-rather-full Bridge Crew Rosters of existing players.

I see that the pack includes 6 Specialization Qualifications, which unlocks once per account on a character of your choice. Am I correct in assuming that the qualifications are bound to account? In other words, can I distribute them amongst my existing captains?

nadiezja

Borty - can I call you Borty?

You just made my day.

I'mma go teleport the Harbringer of M'Tara around a bit. It'll be great!

breadandcircuses

nebfab wrote: »

breadandcircuses wrote: »

It's a neat idea in concept, but I'm wondering just how useful it'd actually be... and if NPC's are using it against us it could get obnoxious fast.

Well, Tarantulas use a hostile TP regularly, it's annoying but nowhere near as dangerous as, say, Na'Kuhl swarms in their queue. Actually they or other swarms of enemies with cone-type weapons may be one possible use for this, or any other situation where you pulled too much aggro.

Grief potential is definitely there, though.

Hehe, yeah, Tarantulas do do the teleport... but that generally lobs you in front of their super-duper-spinny-cone-of-webs attack.

The potential issue with the new abilities isn't necessarily the teleport itself, but rather the random direction, AoE, and possibility of a faster cooldown or greater number of enemies using it. I know from experience that a "well aimed" Singularity Jump can teleport you inside of a gate or starbase, for example. The random direction is even more interesting on the Ground, however, because it has the potential to interact badly with sloped/tiered terrain, environmental objects, etc... there's just more stuff to teleport into/through.

borticuscryptic

breadandcircuses wrote: »

The random direction is even more interesting on the Ground, however, because it has the potential to interact badly with sloped/tiered terrain, environmental objects, etc... there's just more stuff to teleport into/through.

According to my testing, and general understanding of our engine, teleports on ground make a raycast check before moving entities, so that they don't end up moving thru solid objects or into unplayable/inaccessible volumes.

dragonsbrethren

borticuscryptic wrote: »

According to my testing, and general understanding of our engine, teleports on ground make a raycast check before moving entities, so that they don't end up moving thru solid objects or into unplayable/inaccessible volumes.

I try to report them as I "discover" them, but I've run into quite a few areas that this check would probably consider acceptable, but cannot be escaped from. Typically low walls/railings that you can jump over from one side, but not the other.

breadandcircuses

dragonsbrethren wrote: »

borticuscryptic wrote: »

According to my testing, and general understanding of our engine, teleports on ground make a raycast check before moving entities, so that they don't end up moving thru solid objects or into unplayable/inaccessible volumes.

I try to report them as I "discover" them, but I've run into quite a few areas that this check would probably consider acceptable, but cannot be escaped from. Typically low walls/railings that you can jump over from one side, but not the other.

Yeah, I've definitely managed to do it myself. I figured it was canon and sort of wrote it off as a lapse in situational awareness; with Singularity Jump, for example, I tried paying more attention to where my ship was aimed before triggering the ability. The new ability has no control, however, and teleports multiple targets in random directions... seems problematic, especially if you've ever encountered Thralls-in-Walls.

How big is the ray that's cast in this check, btw? Is it an actual ray (that might easily fit through openings and environmental gaps), or does it factor in the size of the subject's hitbox?

stobg2015

One thing I'm not seeing here is an ability that removes Entropy defensively (from the caster). Seems to me that 'Chronoplasty' and 'Causal Reversion' should have that built in.

sennahcherib

that seems interesting, but could you please make the visuals of all these new skills less flashy? the foes don't need abilities to blind me in combat, because most of the time I am overwhelmed by too many flashy visuals (ground and space).

or you could add in the options a way to disable these visuals or at least lowering the lighting of these visuals. thx

iconians

borticuscryptic wrote: »

breadandcircuses wrote: »

The random direction is even more interesting on the Ground, however, because it has the potential to interact badly with sloped/tiered terrain, environmental objects, etc... there's just more stuff to teleport into/through.

According to my testing, and general understanding of our engine, teleports on ground make a raycast check before moving entities, so that they don't end up moving thru solid objects or into unplayable/inaccessible volumes.

But it's canon!​​

banatine

The only thing that makes me slightly sad about this is the lack of intention of adding Temporal boff stations to any older ships...

i mean, Seriously, if the Wells/Mobius/Paradox/Annorax dont deserve Temporal tricks, i don't know what's going on with this crazy timeline anymore

deleroux

A new Boff and a bunch of new abilities I'll never be able to use with any of my current ships.

Excuse me while I contain my excitement.