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So, now consoles make me a smarter captain?
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Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
Why do consoles now provide a boost to one skill of mine or another instead of improving the actual ship/shield/weapon their suppposed to be affecting?
The most recent example of this is the coveted "Field Generator", which used to provide a handy +35% shield HP per unit. Now, they provide a +35 to my shield skill. Why?!
Think of it this way: I have a car. And I decide to throw a Nitris Oxide booster on it, which should do something like provide a +30% acceleration rate. Under the system the consoles are currently moving towards, this Nitris system instead gives me a +30 to my driving abilities.
That doesn't make sense.
Consoles should improve the ship, not the captain.
My other concern with this is, under the old system: I knew what my shields were rated at, I had a pretty good idea as to what my increase in effectiveness would be with the Field Gens. But now, I get a +35 to some shield skill (which I never really bothered to improve upon in the first place) how does that factor into combat? Does it make the shield regenerate quicker, or does it add the hitpoints anyways?
My main arguement is: It really shouldn't be affecting the player's skills, it should be affecting the vessel's functionality instead. Even if this ultimately achieves the same effect in game, it just seems like a bizzare description of the console's function.
The most recent example of this is the coveted "Field Generator", which used to provide a handy +35% shield HP per unit. Now, they provide a +35 to my shield skill. Why?!
Think of it this way: I have a car. And I decide to throw a Nitris Oxide booster on it, which should do something like provide a +30% acceleration rate. Under the system the consoles are currently moving towards, this Nitris system instead gives me a +30 to my driving abilities.
That doesn't make sense.
Consoles should improve the ship, not the captain.
My other concern with this is, under the old system: I knew what my shields were rated at, I had a pretty good idea as to what my increase in effectiveness would be with the Field Gens. But now, I get a +35 to some shield skill (which I never really bothered to improve upon in the first place) how does that factor into combat? Does it make the shield regenerate quicker, or does it add the hitpoints anyways?
My main arguement is: It really shouldn't be affecting the player's skills, it should be affecting the vessel's functionality instead. Even if this ultimately achieves the same effect in game, it just seems like a bizzare description of the console's function.
Post edited by Unknown User on
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They reverted the Field Generator console with the patch on February 3rd. It retains its old bonus of +35% capacity, and will until Geko works out the math that caused the change to give horrendous numbers.
Why are the devs moving consoles towards this trend?
If it isn't broke, why are you fixing it??
It seems every week now that the mechanics or abilities for this game are in a constant state of flux. I know that a few are to be expected, but this constant changing of things that aren't broken is becoming more hassle than it is worth.
What makes this whole "Changing things that don't need to be changed in the first place" affair even worse is that with every new patch something else in the game breaks, sometimes stuff that has nothing to do at all with any of the changes.
Not to mention all the bugs that have been there for months and see no fixes at all..
It's frustrating.
You see the word "Skill" and think "Only people have skills, and my captain has those skills, so it's making him smarter."
What you should be thinking is "This improves my ship's stats. It's a console.That improves the ship's stats."
I mean, it isn't really hard here.
The skills are an abstraction. Maybe the console represents improvement to the ship's crew- you know, the guys who actually fly the thing? You're the dude who sits in the chair and tells them what to do, not the dude who actually does it, so why are you complaining now?
More to the point, it's incredibly obvious why they're moving to consoles improving skills, and that's because it saves them a lot of time and effort that they can then put into other pursuits.
Rather than having to code a direct modification of this or that game element for a console, they can just go call_function=Skillname { Skillname+x}
and have it boost that skill by a value. As a programmer, that shaves off a massive amount of time and effort, although it does require various pieces of tuning and development to get in place.
Essentially, they're laying infrastructure for future improvements, much as they did with 'Season 4' and the ground combat update.
If they can get it to work properly, it'll be a great investment for future release of content and items.
It doesn't tell me exactly HOW it improves the functionality. Oh sure, it gives me a buff of some type and no doubt I'm better off with it than without it. But what EXACTLY does that buff mean? What does having a +35 to my shield skill mean in terms of shield hitpoints and/or shield regeneration? Little information like that was useful in the console's description.
An example of this would be Geordi making a new Sensor Array system for the D. Geordi's, being a better-trained Engineer, created something for his ship that other Galaxy Class ships didn't have. Of course he didn't know his new array would cause a sub-space tare, but that's another matter.:)
In game terms Picard wasn't buying up his personal Skill with Sensors to do it himself. He was buying up his crews' ability to do things beyond the norm: IE, he was paying points to have a Geordi in his crew who could make a Sensor Array that functioned better.
In your above example: "Geordi's new and improved sensor array" would have some sort of bonus attached to it, which sets it apart from the standard sensor array.
You're saying that having a + to a skill simply means my crew is doing a better job. Well that's wonderful. My issues are: A.) What exactly are they doing in terms of improvement. And B.) Why is a console affecting them in this manner anyways?
Does "Geordi's new and improved sensor array" grant a 5% increase in sensor range?
Look, initially consoles were supposed to be bridge consoles that allowed the crew to perform their tasks better. So in that sense I understand where you're coming from, and maybe the devs have decided to move the consoles back into that role. That would certainly explain a few things.
BUT, over the last two years, that's not the role they've played. Instead, "consoles" became modification slots that allowed you to improve your ships stats. I.e. Relays that allowed you to transfer energy quicker, or some pre-fire chamber that boosted your torpedo's damage, and so on.
I'd just like to know how having a console improves my effectiveness as opposed to seeing that it simply improves some skill.
I understood you, it adds +14 to skill, so what the heck does that mean? 10% shield regen? 20% more hp?
You would like some form of description telling you what the improvement is but I assume the bonus is relative to each person since people have different skills. So in trying to simplify coding they may have added more work...
The reason it's done is because it makes the most mechanical sense. There is one variable that affects the effectiveness of a particular power or attribute.
Of course, they could go behind the scenes and change the names of the bonuses. But - that obscures the actual mechanics and makes the game more confusing.
One thing to consider is that there is a lot of "hidden math" that we usually don't see. But if there is an effect like +35 % damage, it's not actually a 35 % to damage. It's actually +35 % to base damage of a weapon at Mark 0 (Standard Issue). The reason for this is that the bonuses you could attain would go out of hand otherwise, impossible to balance (for weapon damage specifically it's already bad e nough that weapon power actually does not work like the other damage strength modifiers).
If you start looking at almost *anything* in this game, you'll find examples that don't make sense. I'm a Tac character (for instance). I suddenly lose my abliity to somehow throw grenades if I equip a melee kit. Or, when I equip my Squad Leader kit, I suddenly 'forget' how to make anything more than the most basic melee attacks? And what? Sci and Eng characters arms are broken and they can't lob grenades with them at all? Nor can they take martial arts classes and perform drop kicks?
It's a console. It boosts stuff. Who cares how it works. If you think too much into it, *nothing* makes sense. Just chill and enjoy the game.
It's not as though I'm asking for information that they've never provided before. They DID provide this information and it was extremely useful when it came to deciding how to outfit my ship.
I'm very much aware of all the "hidden math" that goes on behind the scenes, but it doesn't excuse removing useful explanations of a console's functionality, so the question remains:
What exactly is the benefit the consoles are providing now as opposed to what they were doing before?
This is not an unreasonable question to ask, and for those who say "who cares how it works?" I do. If you don't, more power to you. Stop reading the thread and allow me to get my answers.:rolleyes: