so, state of the game is like this: escorts are Dmg dealers that now wont be able to do quite good dps, the cruisers are the, can everything - but not really - class, and science are the wow i have a lot of useless- powers to use - class.
whats about implementing some Tanks, Healers and DDlers ? so far, i can find a counterpart of every power of science as well in engineering, tactical is some sort different.
while i like the idea, that every ship has every consoles, but with different maximums, thats quite useless if science and engineering are giving the same types of powers. (eg scienceteam shield heal = EP to Shields, engiteam hull heal and Aux to Structural = Hazard Emitters)
my suggestion is the following:
cruiser will be tanks, so engi consoles should deliver Resist-Buffs to: shields, Hull and against subsystem failures. - NO SELF-HEALS
Science will be Healers of Hull and shields, and curing debuffs, OR Supporters with Holds, Debuffs, SubsystemDMG, THEY WILL HEAL
Escorts will be DDlers using Dmg debuffst, and buffs of their own dps and special dps things (most like they are now)
now to the powers itself, using the existing ones:
CRUISERS:
should use Aux to Structural, to Dampeners and Engiteam for resistance, the "healHull" parts will be removed, therefore the resistances will go up a bit, but will NOT STACK, but the DR on resi will GO AWAY, therefore the values of consoles and powers will say things like 10% -dmg to say max 30% dmg income for 30sec (instead of 70 or 80% thingy wchich in real is normally some like 20% ^^)
in their two science consoles now cruisers can get some sort of flexibility by using either some: heal others powers, or heal yourself- if your healer fails- powers, or some of the protect me from attacking me-powers (viral and scramble)
as tactical consoles there should be given 2 NEW tac powers:
1ST:Fake Expose (space) you fake an expose by dropping your shields, giving you 20% resist all, and pulling ALL AGGRO to you of all nearby enemys
2ND: Beam Fire
@Will: you fire your beams randomly @ targets in your wepaonrange, the beams will do normal DMG but will produce a ****ing lot of attention to your attention-*****-cruiser, so that you can tank
--> that should make a valuable tank out of the cruiser, cause he will produce more aggro, without dealing more dps, and he will take less dps than others cause of his rota of -%dmg income powers and consoles.
now to Science:
Science will use their consoles on Healing or Supporting, the support site with debuffs is fine i think so i will jump to the healer:
healing powers should have a LOW cooldown and should restore shields and hull, WITHOUT GIVING RESISTANCE. that will prevent healers from surviving endlessly (i dont want to create a paladin ^^) abilities can be like they are now, but there should be some new instant hull heal, that restores Hull. all other abilities are already there and must just be adjustetd in CD.
now one IMPORTANT THING : HEALS on yourself will be HALF as effective as when used on others, that will prevent cruisers to survive endlessly with the two science heals they could have, and Scienceships to heal themself while using their 2 engi consoles for resi-stacking!
THAT POINT IS REALLY IMPORTANT, i dont want paladins in this game ^^
science ships may use their other consoles for flexibility in a) make dps a bit, b) making support (target shields subsystem and so on) or c) make a bit aggro (that would be stupid, but possible ^^)
ESCORTS are fine in their abilities and can get their flexibility in using the engi slots for boosting powers with aux to XYZ or get a bit resi and their Science slots for getting support or healing a bit. (as i said heals will be more effective on others than on yourself, so escorts wont do well in surviving since they make dps)
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and voila: you get a REAL class/role system in this game, without the fail of "everyone has a heal, a debuff, a resibuff" forcing players, that all players must add their heals in a team to get the cruiser stay alive. i think every classrole should do its work without another player, but killing ships should need teamwork, in this case:
I tank YOU dps
not
I tank, and make a bit dps, and heal a bit, and YOU heal me, make dps, and resibuff me ...