Ground Combat is the biggest reason I've not been around lately.
It's a nice change of pace once in awhile but it often sucks up lots of action time. I don't think it should. They just last soooo long.
I was very excited to have the difficulty slider... up until I played a ground mission in which droves of Borg kept my team and I stun-locked most of the time. I wasn't happy with how long GC took before, now I'm very unhappy that I can't keep difficulty separate for it (or ditch most GC altogether).
I'd prefer half, maybe even 1/3rd, the amount of time spent in ground combats. They should be cut down. Space Combat is where all the fun's at, as most everyone knows. I'd rather focus on that than the slot machine gambling that is spamming exposes until you're a winner and hitting an exploit. It's boring and, worse, takes too long. I feel like I'm playing Star Trek Ground Combat.
Either cut down GC lengths or give us an option to skip some. Thanks!
I definitely think the best option is to revamp ground combat, rather than drastically reducing the amount of times we actually have to do ground combat. If it's actually an enjoyable experience that doesn't take an inordinate amount of time, then it will be a much more positive part of the game.
The revamp should include:
1) At least a 50% reduction in the number of encounters. This is what takes so freaking long, there seems to be an average of 50 enemies on a normal ground map, much higher on some episodes. The size of the encounters are okay I suppose, but there should only be 3 encounters at all per map.
2) The mini-games that have gotten recent attention should be implemented and used for the "blinky" objectives on a ground map
3) Non-shielded damage should be drastically increased(or hitpoints reduced). The "trash" mobs that don't have shields should drop very quickly, unless they're some kind of energy-resistant creature.
4) Focus on having a more difficult "boss" encounter at the final location of a map, rather than wave after wave of trash groups.
#2 and #4 would take the longest, but would provide a huge benefit, in my opinion.
Oh, I agree with making ground combat more fun but that would likely take quite awhile to rehash.
I was just going for the short term solution. Reducing the large amount of mobs on ground missions, as you mentioned, would be one way to help in the meantime.
Comments
The revamp should include:
1) At least a 50% reduction in the number of encounters. This is what takes so freaking long, there seems to be an average of 50 enemies on a normal ground map, much higher on some episodes. The size of the encounters are okay I suppose, but there should only be 3 encounters at all per map.
2) The mini-games that have gotten recent attention should be implemented and used for the "blinky" objectives on a ground map
3) Non-shielded damage should be drastically increased(or hitpoints reduced). The "trash" mobs that don't have shields should drop very quickly, unless they're some kind of energy-resistant creature.
4) Focus on having a more difficult "boss" encounter at the final location of a map, rather than wave after wave of trash groups.
#2 and #4 would take the longest, but would provide a huge benefit, in my opinion.
I was just going for the short term solution. Reducing the large amount of mobs on ground missions, as you mentioned, would be one way to help in the meantime.