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How Still Not Much Variety By Now In Torpedo Spread Patterns?
praetorniral
Member Posts: 60 Arc User
I often use (doesn't everybody) simultaneous spread when firing torpedoes but there doesn't seem to be much canon inspired flexibility in firing options. For forward launchers of Starfleet vessels like the Galaxy/Sovereign classes they can fire a maximum of 10-12 torpedoes simultaneously . But in canon the options should be between firing 1 torpedo or the whole whack of 10 -12 at once simultaneously from a launcher or in rapid succession.
While in game you can just fire just 1 torpedo or them all in rapid succession or simultaneously there isn't as far as I have determined different spread patterns like "Sierra" referred to in "Yesterdays Enterprise"; i.e a variety of clusters directed at even just the one target short of the full spread of 10-12. Of course you might argue why wouldn't you want to just go for maximum simultaneous spread in game anyway (unless in specific instances fewer torpedoes;photon/quantum did more damage) and when you don't run out of them as they would in canon until restocked at a starbase.
While in game you can just fire just 1 torpedo or them all in rapid succession or simultaneously there isn't as far as I have determined different spread patterns like "Sierra" referred to in "Yesterdays Enterprise"; i.e a variety of clusters directed at even just the one target short of the full spread of 10-12. Of course you might argue why wouldn't you want to just go for maximum simultaneous spread in game anyway (unless in specific instances fewer torpedoes;photon/quantum did more damage) and when you don't run out of them as they would in canon until restocked at a starbase.
Post edited by baddmoonrizin on
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So: It's a game, and they didn't want to annoy players by making torpedoes consumables.
Consumeble torps would be a needless busy work and I think no mainstream MMO uses consumeble ammo since WoW got rid of it, it annoys players and simply adds busy work you need to do to be effective.
TL:DR the OPs suggestion would really just add a layer of complexity that really isn't needed or wanted by the majority of the player base.
That was probably because the original idea was that Enterprise had the standard US submarine setup of six forward tubes and four rear tubes. It is illustrated in dialog at one point where Kirk orders forward tubes two, four, and six to be readied to fire.
on the flip side, consumable weapons would be a much needed EC or Dil sink. and it would not be just torpedos, it would be cannons too. remember the things they had stacking up in the Defiant lounge?
BUIT if you did that they would really have to change the torpedo mechanics to make them worthwhile, like instead of shields mitigating the damage, they are reduced by it.
Consumeble ammo like that makes really bad gold sink.
Firstly it's bottom heavy since it's something everyone will need to do, after all if you got no ammo for that slot it'll be useless. Because of this it either has to be priced so low that it really won't have major effect on those with a lot of funds or it'll create a barrier for new players where they waste all their EC/Dil on ammo.
secondly having ammo means that those weapons need to be inherently superior everything else or something you must use. If that is not done people will simply stop using those weapons and avoid the busy work.
A good resource sink is something players want to do but don't have to do, consumeble ammo is the exact reverse of that in that most players would rather not do it, but will have to do it if such a mechanic is implimented.
true but without ammo that launcher would be dead weight, so it would worse then an empty slot.
If, for example, a torpedo launcher can hold a maximum of 12 charges, different torpedo spreads could let you fire say, all 12 at once, or 3 spreads of 4 each in short succession like 5s apart, and maybe it takes 30s to fully refill the charges.
Of course, IRL torpedo spreads were used to put out a fan of torpedoes to increase the chance to hit a target if it changes speed or direction. That is more important for torpedoes with little to no guidance. In STO that isn't quite relevant, and torpedo spreads are basically just AOE explosions, and HYT is all or nothing.
So if we have something like the omega torpedo but with torpedo spreads, the question is why and what does it do to add to gameplay? I think the omega torpedo itself is woefully obsolete with torpedo doffs with other torpedoes, and torpedo spread can cooldown quite fast with reciprocity and other boff CD abilities, and there are also some very fast reloading torpedoes also. With that in mind I don't see a lot of reason for different torpedo spreads that use fewer torpedoes but maybe recharge faster, or can be used multiple times in a row, because those effects are kinda already possible.
[quote"]I'm fairly sure the OP is not suggesting a limited supply of torpedoes. Nothing in the OP indicates that. What the OP seems to want could easily work like the omega rep torpedo launcher which has charges that replenish over time.[/quote]
You got that in 1. I'm merely interested in if there would be any potential in game introduced tactical utility generally in spreads > 1 <10 or 12 when full spread might seem more of a less focused blitzkrieg at times. .Such as being able to focus more limited spread attacks with or without direct energy weapons on systems and subsystems.
except US submarined have not had the 6/4 setup in a very long time. most have just 4 amidships. I thin the Seawofs ahve 6 not sure about the Virginias but I suspect 4
No their always single torpedoes fired singularly or together. It's multiple single torpedoes initially obscured by a big photon/quantum light effect so they appear as one until they start diverging towards their target (s)
Launchers would be a set of tubes, that get re-loaded over time. If you set the launcher to manual fire instead of auto-fire then the number of loaded tubes builds up and you fire a salvo instead of a single torpedo. Combine that with torpedo spread and you fire salvos at multiple targets.
This would make torpedoes more attractive since they can then do massive spike damage. (PVPers would no doubt howl for a nerf.)
We already have the High Yield boff skill so that one is covered.
Regardless of the canon reason, it was the animation effect that I was talking about.