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projectile weapons vs energy weapons... possible change to help cruisers?
threat21
Member Posts: 300
so geko mentioned on a recent podcast about making some changes for ships to bring some usefulness for cruisers, mostly surrounding armor plating and such... but it got me thinking. When you look at any of the Starfleet ships (I don't mean andorian or atrox etc) all of them have projectile ports on them, from the TOS Connie to the Oddy. So why not separate weapon slots on ships for projectile and energy weapons?
So lets take the t5 galaxy for example. As it stands, it has 4/4 weapon slots. For a ship that big, it obviously is capable of a lot of energy output. Canon wise, we all know the galaxy class has a butt ton of phaser banks and forward and rear torpedo launchers. So what i'm suggesting is not to dedicate a portion of the slots for projectiles but instead adding to the existing ones. I was thinking maybe 4 or 5 energy weapon slots and 2 projectile slots forward and the same rear.
In the case of escorts, being smaller ships leave the same number of total slots but maybe use 3 energy and 1 universal forward and 2 energy and 1 universal aft. I know some folks like to use more than 1 projectile type weapon aft, like mines or what not... I dunno i'm just tossing this out there off the top of my head.
My thought process on this is mostly centered around threat generation for cruisers. We all know escorts put out massive damage and as it stands right now, even with embassy consoles, most cruisers have an extremely difficult time pulling and holding threat (though im sure some escort captains have skill in threat control for pvp and that surly doesn't help much =p) This would allow for more damage potential and hopefully push them over that threshold that will help them to serve in their primary role.
Anyway, just my 2 cents on this subject.
So lets take the t5 galaxy for example. As it stands, it has 4/4 weapon slots. For a ship that big, it obviously is capable of a lot of energy output. Canon wise, we all know the galaxy class has a butt ton of phaser banks and forward and rear torpedo launchers. So what i'm suggesting is not to dedicate a portion of the slots for projectiles but instead adding to the existing ones. I was thinking maybe 4 or 5 energy weapon slots and 2 projectile slots forward and the same rear.
In the case of escorts, being smaller ships leave the same number of total slots but maybe use 3 energy and 1 universal forward and 2 energy and 1 universal aft. I know some folks like to use more than 1 projectile type weapon aft, like mines or what not... I dunno i'm just tossing this out there off the top of my head.
My thought process on this is mostly centered around threat generation for cruisers. We all know escorts put out massive damage and as it stands right now, even with embassy consoles, most cruisers have an extremely difficult time pulling and holding threat (though im sure some escort captains have skill in threat control for pvp and that surly doesn't help much =p) This would allow for more damage potential and hopefully push them over that threshold that will help them to serve in their primary role.
Anyway, just my 2 cents on this subject.
Post edited by threat21 on
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they like using time travel a lot in their missions /shrug. seriously though, the same way they implement any change I guess? Sorry I didn't come up with a project plan for that. didn't realize that was required to make a suggestion, i'll know better next time.
I'd actually be more interested in seeing projectile weapons paired with passive bonuses for equipping them because their damage output is so erratic.
I realize it probably runs counter to what the OCD completionist would like because it makes little direct sense but I'd think, for game balance reasons, it would make some sense to me if turnrate and hull/shield bonuses could be tied to number of projectiles used.
This could maybe be accomplished indirectly by giving weapons subsystem bonuses attached to them.
DHCs would get none. Single cannons might get some. Beams get more. Projectiles and mines would get more still.
Anyway, geco asked for suggestions to help bring out the cruisers, I made one =p
But really your first challenge is to convince Cryptic that big ships are not merely cheerleaders.
Boosting damage to any weapon type or defense to any console type will only serve to make Escorts that much more OP.
something along the lines of how the omega torp is with its magazine?
thats probably the issue, cruisers are the favorite ships in the game, they should be the easiest ship to spec on, but instead is the escorts, and thats the whole issue.
doesn't exactly help that most fed cruisers are downright inferior to KDF cruisers(with the exception of the excelsior, regent and odyssey).
personally i think cryptic needs to make cruisers more newbie friendly thats all.
Personally, I am really, really liking the 'paladin aura' idea for cruisers. When the idea was first brought up on the podcast, I immediately thought of how useful it would be on my Bortas. Other players seem to naturally gravitate towards it and follow it around, it would be awesome if they'd get a bonus/incentive for actually... well.. escorting that beastly siege-engine. My dedicated support character would absolutely love it for their Corsair as well - hopefully it would encourage people to stop running out their healing range.
Say, 'Fleet Targeting Assist' or similar. Perhaps one ability for increasing defence and another for increasing accuracy. A 15% boost to each, if you are within 1km, diminishing effects as you get further away. Have such abilities share a global CD/etc. Kinda negates sci-captain's Sensor Scan ability though.
I'd prefer to just have 5/5 weapon slots. Or even 5/4 will do. Just leave the energy level as is so captains have to choose between a higher energy level per weapon or more weapons/etc. The other benefit for Cryptic is that players will need more weapons and perhaps they might spend dilithium or even zen to get them.
Next. Sci-vessels to get 4/4 weapon slots.
Nah! Your first challenge is to get cruiser captains to L2P so they ahve an idea of where their ship's abilities really are and how to best get the output they want.
That or convince Cryptic to make cruisers less tanky and more shooty.
to be fair, this is already true for escorts lol, easiest ship to use by far.
Honestly, the devs have acknowledged there's a huge imbalance between cruisers and well everything else and they're scratching their heads and asking us to help come up with ideas to help solve the problem. This isn't about trying to beat 'other classes' as you so elegantly put it, its about remaining competitive and doing the job that they were intended from day 1.
*edit
and for the record, I fly escorts on most of my toons with the exception of one toon that im using a jem dread on. I would love to see cruisers hop into a stf and be the meat shield instead of seeing threat bouncing all over the place.
this is already possible through, all you need is a few points in threat control(hell i can keep aggro on my engie with just 3).
Lol Escort online.
"scratches head" What is this Tholian Expansion you speak of?
Like I said months ago I think torps should do a bit more shield damage I mean you never heard Picard hold the Photon torpedos till the shields were down, Sisko didn't keep the Defiant from firing her Quantums till in punched through the shields of those pesky little JHAS"
So what are torps only like pesky little mosquito bites to shields, especially when energy weapons have full effect on both shields and hull.