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[Wishful Thinking] Romulan Anti-Borg Ground Set
autumnturning
Member Posts: 743 Arc User
This post is primarily aimed towards our hard working Community Managers, as an entreaty for them to pass this along to the relevant Developers for consideration.
Fair warning, since this is a Design Document with Commentary ... WALL OF TEXT CRITS YOU!!!
M.A.C.O. Ground Set is the "Starfleet" Anti-Borg Ground Set. It features Polyalloy Weave Armor, a (team) PBAoE Stun retribution Shield, and a Phaser Sniper Rifle. Set bonuses are a Shield Capacitor and Tactical Readiness Network, plus the obligatory Integral Frequency Modulation.
Klingon Honor Guard Set is the "KDF" Anti-Borg Ground Set. It features Physical Augmentation Armor, a Revenge retribution Shield, and a unique Disruptor Pulsewave Rifle/Photon Grenade combination weapon. Set bonuses are Adrenal Booster and Blood of the Warrior, plus the obligatory Integral Frequency Modulation.
Omega Force Ground Set is the "Combined Forces" Anti-Borg Set. It features Energy Harness Armor, an Expose proccing Shield, and a "souped up" Anti-proton Compression Pistol that isn't really a pistol anymore and is now more of a "carbine" weapon that fires quick bursts instead of single shots. Set bonuses are what amounts to a Stealth Module and the Team Ambush Field, plus the obligatory Integral Frequency Modulation.
Jem'Hadar Armor Shroud Ground Set is NOT an anti-Borg Set, but I'm including it here for completeness since it lacks an environment suit (which all the Nukara Ground Sets include). It features Polyalloy Weave Armor, an Energy Damage Absorbing Shield, and a Polaron Full Auto Rifle. Set bonuses include what amounts to a Stealth Module and the Combat Triage Subroutine.
So ... if the Romulans were to fabricate their own Anti-Borg Ground Set ... what should it look like? What would they put in it? What ought to be in it? How much of "what has been done before" should be replicated into it (ie. no need to reinvent the wheel from scratch)? And most importantly of all, at least from the Artistic Perspective ... what "Direction" should the visual art for the set take? :rolleyes:
First and foremost, NONE of the previously mentioned Ground Sets features a weapon that does Plasma Damage. Considering that Romulans have a Trait that enhances Plasma Damage, you'd really think that any Anti-Borg Ground Set that the Romulans would come up with would (Duh!) have to be a Plasma based one. Looking around, I've personally been rather impressed by the performance of the Romulan Vendor Only supplied Plasma Repeater Pistol and the corresponding Plasma Piercing Beam Rifle which for some reason can only be obtained from a single NPC Vendor in the Romulan Command Center on New Romulus. To add insult to injury, these Common Only weapons only extend their Mk # up through IX. There are no Mk X, XI or Mk XII versions of these uniquely ROMULAN weapons (or if there are, I haven't found them yet).
Needless to say, I recommend that situation needs to change. :cool:
Now I wouldn't want to "lift" the Plasma Piercing Beam Rifle, the most suitable weapon for the purpose here, unmodified in its entirety from the Common version of the weapon for use in an Anti-Borg Ground Set. Instead, I recommend giving the weapon a "hybridizing" treatment akin to the Honor Guard Pulse Rifle ... except making the 2nd attack option a Plasma Grenade instead of a Photon Grenade. Working off the existing in-game text, you'd wind up with something like this:
Plasma Piercing Intrusion Rifle
Mk X (Very Rare) requires Romulan Reputation Tier I
Mk XI (Very Rare) requires Romulan Reputation Tier III
Mk XII (Very Rare) requires Romulan Reputation Tier V
Bind on Pickup (can only equip 1)
Vice Admiral / Lieutenant General
Piercing Beam Rifles have a primary weapon fire that can be maintained by holding down the primary attack key. While maintaining the Incendiary Beam Barrage you have an escalating chance of causing a Plasma Damage over time effect on the target.
The secondary fire mode launches a Plasma Grenade at the target, which explodes on impact, leaving a burning plasma fire that lingers in the explosion area.
Incendiary Beam Barrage
Incendiary Beam Barrage rapidly fires beams of energy at the target that continue as you hold down the attack key or mouse button. The attack deals more damage the longer you maintain it on a target and has a high chance of igniting the target with plasma fire, causing additional plasma damage over time.
Target Foe; Affects Foe
30 meter range (increased from 25 meters use in the base Common weapon)
0.35 sec activate
{X} plasma damage (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
{X} kinetic damage to Borg (Ignores Shields) (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
Increasing chance (5-15%) while maintained to cause: {X} plasma damage per second (Ignores Shields) (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
Increasing chance (5-15%) while maintained to cause: {X} kinetic damage per second to Borg (Ignores Shields) (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
5% chance: {X} plasma damage per second (Ignores Shields) (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
5% chance: {X} kinetic damage per second to Borg (Ignores Shields) (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
40% chance: chance for +2.5 critical chance when attacking
+10% critical severity
Plasma Grenade
Throws a Plasma Grenade at the target. The grenade explodes on contact, dealing area of effect kinetic damage. It is possible for the target to move away from the blast radius while the grenade is in transit. A burning plasma fire lingers in the explosion area, damaging anyone who enters. Damage from the initial explosion and plasma fire partially ignores shields.
Targets Foe
30 meter range
1.25 sec activate
30 sec recharge
{X} kinetic damage (50% shield penetration; damage reduces from epicenter) (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
{X} kinetic damage per second to Borg (50% shield penetration; damage reduces from epicenter) (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
Creates an 8' plasma fire patch for 15 seconds that deals:
{X} plasma damage per second (50% Shield Penetration) (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
{X} kinetic damage per second (50% Shield Penetration) (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
Rifle Butt
Expose Attack
Rifle Butt delivers various strikes with your rifle to the enemy, with a primary focus of causing knock back.
Affects Foe (1 max)
2.44 meter range; 90 degree cone
0.75 sec activate
{X} physical damage per second (50% Shield Penetration) (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
{X}% chance: Expose target for {X} sec (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
15% chance: Knockback +0.66 meters
So that would be the weapon ... a "Romulan-ized" version of a Klingon Honor Guard Pulse Rifle dealing Plasma damage instead of Disruptor damage, with a secondary fire mode that launches Plasma Grenades instead of Photon Grenades.
What should the Armor be based on then?
Well, looking at everything that's already been done (M.A.C.O., KHG, Omega, Jem'Hadar) the options of Polyalloy Weave, Physical Augmentation and Energy Harness have already been "used" for the Base Armor type. So why not go with something different? Particularly, why not go with something that meshes well with the weapon type already proposed above? :rolleyes:
In this case, I'd want to see the Base Armor Type be either Integrated Targeting (for even more +Critical Hit chance) or Recoil Compensating (to add +Critical Severity), in part because neither of these options has been used yet for making a Ground Combat Set. In terms of putting a "special" effect on the armor *itself*, I'm honestly thinking that porting over the "specials" of the Omega Force Armor makes the best fit ... adding +Critical Hit chance, +Critical Severity ... except doing all those things on a Base Armor Type of either Integrated Targeting or Recoil Compensating, instead of Energy Harness (so it isn't a "complete rip-off" of the Omega Force Armor). Personally, I'm leaning towards going with an Integrated Targeting Armor as the Base Armor Type so as to leverage the increased Critical Hit chance on the armor itself, the Romulan Reputation Trait that offers +3% chance to Critically Hit and then synergize those advantages with the "special" modifier on the Personal Shield detailed further down.
One interesting side note here is that the Omega Force Armor has an Energy Bleed proc which basically "doubles" the value of the base Energy Harness modifier (+5% All Energy Damage) for 6 seconds. I'm thinking it would be ... interesting ... to take that precedent and simply convert it into being instead a "doubler" of the value of the base Integrated Targeting modifier (+5% Critical Chance) for 6 seconds.
Romulan Intrusion Armor
Mk X (Very Rare) requires Romulan Reputation Tier I
Mk XI (Very Rare) requires Romulan Reputation Tier III
Mk XII (Very Rare) requires Romulan Reputation Tier V
Bind on Pickup
Vice Admiral / Lieutenant General
+5% Critical Chance
+{X} Physical Damage Resistance Rating (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
+{X} Kinetic Damage Resistance Rating (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
+{X} All Energy Damage Resistance Rating (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
+2.5% Critical Chance
+20% Critical Severity
When receiving All Damage, 10% chance of applying Target Analysis
That then leaves the question of what to do about the Shield?
In this case, the Omega Force Shield makes for the best "template" to start from, but in point of fact, NONE of the existing sets offers a "shield special" that exactly matches what I'd want to be looking for on a Romulan Ground Set. Why? Well because Romulans are all about being "sneaky green blooded bahstids" with exceptional Cloaking technology that keeps everyone else on edge. So what I'd be looking for in a Romulan Intruder Set would look more like this:
Romulan Intruder Personal Shield
Mk X (Very Rare) requires Romulan Reputation Tier I
Mk XI (Very Rare) requires Romulan Reputation Tier III
Mk XII (Very Rare) requires Romulan Reputation Tier V
Vice Admiral / Lieutenant General
+{X}% Dodge chance (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
+{X} Root Resistance (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
+{X} Knockback Resistance (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
{X} Maximum Shield Capacity (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
Fully regenerates after not taking damage for 3 secs.
When you Critically Hit apply Ambush Cloak
That then takes care of the Base Items for Weapon, Armor and Shield. Next step ... Set Bonuses.
Set 2: Cloaking Module
Cloaking Module masks you from sight, but enemies can detect you at close range. While cloaked, your abilities that affect others (including attacks) are disabled.
Immediately after leaving stealth you will have a short duration damage bonus. This ability may be toggled on and off.
Targets Self
0.5 sec activate
20 sec recharge
+475 stealth
Skills that affect this ability:
Special Forces
Set 3: Team Ambush Field
Affects Friend and Self
+14.5 Dodge to self and allies
+2.5% Critical Chance
+2.5% Critical Severity
Set 3: Integral Frequency Modulator
Targets Self
0.5 sec activate
10 sec recharge
Overcomes Borg adaptation. Instantly applies new frequencies.
The Cloaking Module is a "direct copy" of the Stealth Module found on Tactical Operative Kits for Tactical Captains without changes or alterations. It just feels most appropriate for a Romulan Ground Set to include a Stealth Toggle rather than a Stealth Click (like Omega Force Set 2) or a Stealth Reflex (like Jem'Hadar Set 2). The Team Ambush Field is likewise a "direct copy" of the Set 3 bonus found on the Omega Force Ground Set.
The net result of all this "hybridizing" is that you ultimately wind up with a Plasma Damage based Piercing Beam Rifle/Plasma Grenade combo that has its closest counterpart in the Klingon Honor Guard Ground Set's weapon (with a touch of Omega Force Carbine precedent on range thrown in for good measure). You get a (relatively) unique Integrated Targeting Armor that is substantially a repurposed version of the Omega Force Energy Harness Armor, except that now the buffing is being added to Critical Chance instead of All Energy Damage. You also get a Personal Shield that automatically engages a brief Ambush Cloak while attacking that not only causes you to "flicker" in and out of Cloak but also applies an Ambush damage spike buff to your next attack. Finally, the entire Set is designed to leverage its damage increases through increased Critical Chance, which can have some other interesting effects on gameplay since it turns the Set into less of a "pressure" build like Omega Force and into more of a "surprise spiker" sort of philosophy.
And so, at long last, having laid out what I think would make the best/most coherent "Romulan" Anti-Borg Ground Set given the precedents we have to work within, the last question that would need to be addressed is ... APPEARANCE.
Basically, what sort of Art Direction should be given to the Art Department if (or better yet, when) they get tasked with actually making something for this?
A friend of mine who builds sonars for the US Navy once made a comment to me about the visual design of submarines in a Heavy Gear sourcebook for the world of Atlantis in that setting. The submarine had all kinds of doors and ports and niches along its hull, making it visually rather "complex" in appearance. My friend, who knows a good bit about what you *DON'T WANT* as an engineer in a world where the name of the game is to Stay Quiet, made an observation that sticks with to this day:
Visually Interesting is Acoustically Noisy
I'm thinking that for a Romulan Ground Set, where the "focus" of the Set is on Stealth and Cloaking, that this particular point is something that ought to be stressed in the Art Design. With just about every single 3-piece Ground Set we've got, everything about them is "Visually Interesting" ... or to put it another way, "busy" ... from an Art standpoint. The Omega Force Armor is festooned with grenades and SWAT radio gear, covered in segmented metal plates and just really ... noisy ... visually. The Honor Guard Armor has its fur collar and I Think Your Cape Is FAAAAABULOUS!!!! The M.A.C.O. Armor is probably the best of these, in terms of precedents, simply because the M.A.C.O. Armor is more of a form fitting "sleek" look, albeit one that seems to be more about "padding" than it is about "armor" per se.
So with that in mind, what I'd really recommend to the Art Department is to go for something akin to, but not exactly like the M.A.C.O Armor in that the objective is to go for a "Sleek Chic" sort of look that has more in common with a "melted jellybean" kind of graceful sweeping curves, flowing lines and smooth textures, so as to visually "speak to" the notion that Romulans make their armor in such a way as to "facilitate" their cloaking technology, rather than work against it. "Und dher shpaikee bitzs" everywhere falls under the heading of "Visually Interesting is Acoustically Noisy" and consequently makes it harder to take seriously the notion that this ensemble ought to be something that can "disappear from sight and sensors" (and stay that way!).
As far as materials and texturing would go ... I'd recommend making the armor look like it is made out of ceramics, rather than metals or padded spandex, worn "plate mail style" over a body suit. Coloration of the ceramic armor parts would follow the Romulan tradition of being "green" but since the armor is supposed to be a "stealthy" one for covert intrusion operations, the actual color of green would be more of a Midnight Green (ie. dark) instead of a more Forest Green color. The body suit under the ceramic "plate mail" outer armor would use the 22nd Century Romulan Costume texture that looks like a metallic mail. The net effect would be a "ceramics on metal mail" kind of look, where the ceramics would all be smooth surfaces and be substantially form fitting (for males and females), although not necessarily form emphasizing (just to be clear). As far as the Helmet goes, once again M.A.C.O. would set a better precedent here than Omega Force.
For the weapon, you could use the already existing Plasma Piercing Rifle art in the game, potentially without modification ... although I would recommend appending a "barrel drum" system to the underside of it reminiscent of the Klingon Honor Guard Pulse Rifle (but minus the "unnecessary cutlery" aspects that are uniquely Klingon). In other words, it ought to be acceptable to "borrow" the necessary parts and pieces from already existing in-game assets in order to cobble together a "new" weapon model.
And for anyone who has actually READ everything I just wrote ... thank you for actually reading all the way through that.
Fair warning, since this is a Design Document with Commentary ... WALL OF TEXT CRITS YOU!!!
M.A.C.O. Ground Set is the "Starfleet" Anti-Borg Ground Set. It features Polyalloy Weave Armor, a (team) PBAoE Stun retribution Shield, and a Phaser Sniper Rifle. Set bonuses are a Shield Capacitor and Tactical Readiness Network, plus the obligatory Integral Frequency Modulation.
Klingon Honor Guard Set is the "KDF" Anti-Borg Ground Set. It features Physical Augmentation Armor, a Revenge retribution Shield, and a unique Disruptor Pulsewave Rifle/Photon Grenade combination weapon. Set bonuses are Adrenal Booster and Blood of the Warrior, plus the obligatory Integral Frequency Modulation.
Omega Force Ground Set is the "Combined Forces" Anti-Borg Set. It features Energy Harness Armor, an Expose proccing Shield, and a "souped up" Anti-proton Compression Pistol that isn't really a pistol anymore and is now more of a "carbine" weapon that fires quick bursts instead of single shots. Set bonuses are what amounts to a Stealth Module and the Team Ambush Field, plus the obligatory Integral Frequency Modulation.
Jem'Hadar Armor Shroud Ground Set is NOT an anti-Borg Set, but I'm including it here for completeness since it lacks an environment suit (which all the Nukara Ground Sets include). It features Polyalloy Weave Armor, an Energy Damage Absorbing Shield, and a Polaron Full Auto Rifle. Set bonuses include what amounts to a Stealth Module and the Combat Triage Subroutine.
So ... if the Romulans were to fabricate their own Anti-Borg Ground Set ... what should it look like? What would they put in it? What ought to be in it? How much of "what has been done before" should be replicated into it (ie. no need to reinvent the wheel from scratch)? And most importantly of all, at least from the Artistic Perspective ... what "Direction" should the visual art for the set take? :rolleyes:
First and foremost, NONE of the previously mentioned Ground Sets features a weapon that does Plasma Damage. Considering that Romulans have a Trait that enhances Plasma Damage, you'd really think that any Anti-Borg Ground Set that the Romulans would come up with would (Duh!) have to be a Plasma based one. Looking around, I've personally been rather impressed by the performance of the Romulan Vendor Only supplied Plasma Repeater Pistol and the corresponding Plasma Piercing Beam Rifle which for some reason can only be obtained from a single NPC Vendor in the Romulan Command Center on New Romulus. To add insult to injury, these Common Only weapons only extend their Mk # up through IX. There are no Mk X, XI or Mk XII versions of these uniquely ROMULAN weapons (or if there are, I haven't found them yet).
Needless to say, I recommend that situation needs to change. :cool:
Now I wouldn't want to "lift" the Plasma Piercing Beam Rifle, the most suitable weapon for the purpose here, unmodified in its entirety from the Common version of the weapon for use in an Anti-Borg Ground Set. Instead, I recommend giving the weapon a "hybridizing" treatment akin to the Honor Guard Pulse Rifle ... except making the 2nd attack option a Plasma Grenade instead of a Photon Grenade. Working off the existing in-game text, you'd wind up with something like this:
Plasma Piercing Intrusion Rifle
Mk X (Very Rare) requires Romulan Reputation Tier I
Mk XI (Very Rare) requires Romulan Reputation Tier III
Mk XII (Very Rare) requires Romulan Reputation Tier V
Bind on Pickup (can only equip 1)
Vice Admiral / Lieutenant General
Piercing Beam Rifles have a primary weapon fire that can be maintained by holding down the primary attack key. While maintaining the Incendiary Beam Barrage you have an escalating chance of causing a Plasma Damage over time effect on the target.
The secondary fire mode launches a Plasma Grenade at the target, which explodes on impact, leaving a burning plasma fire that lingers in the explosion area.
Incendiary Beam Barrage
Incendiary Beam Barrage rapidly fires beams of energy at the target that continue as you hold down the attack key or mouse button. The attack deals more damage the longer you maintain it on a target and has a high chance of igniting the target with plasma fire, causing additional plasma damage over time.
Target Foe; Affects Foe
30 meter range (increased from 25 meters use in the base Common weapon)
0.35 sec activate
{X} plasma damage (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
{X} kinetic damage to Borg (Ignores Shields) (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
Increasing chance (5-15%) while maintained to cause: {X} plasma damage per second (Ignores Shields) (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
Increasing chance (5-15%) while maintained to cause: {X} kinetic damage per second to Borg (Ignores Shields) (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
5% chance: {X} plasma damage per second (Ignores Shields) (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
5% chance: {X} kinetic damage per second to Borg (Ignores Shields) (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
40% chance: chance for +2.5 critical chance when attacking
+10% critical severity
Plasma Grenade
Throws a Plasma Grenade at the target. The grenade explodes on contact, dealing area of effect kinetic damage. It is possible for the target to move away from the blast radius while the grenade is in transit. A burning plasma fire lingers in the explosion area, damaging anyone who enters. Damage from the initial explosion and plasma fire partially ignores shields.
Targets Foe
30 meter range
1.25 sec activate
30 sec recharge
{X} kinetic damage (50% shield penetration; damage reduces from epicenter) (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
{X} kinetic damage per second to Borg (50% shield penetration; damage reduces from epicenter) (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
Creates an 8' plasma fire patch for 15 seconds that deals:
{X} plasma damage per second (50% Shield Penetration) (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
{X} kinetic damage per second (50% Shield Penetration) (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
Rifle Butt
Expose Attack
Rifle Butt delivers various strikes with your rifle to the enemy, with a primary focus of causing knock back.
Affects Foe (1 max)
2.44 meter range; 90 degree cone
0.75 sec activate
{X} physical damage per second (50% Shield Penetration) (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
{X}% chance: Expose target for {X} sec (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
15% chance: Knockback +0.66 meters
So that would be the weapon ... a "Romulan-ized" version of a Klingon Honor Guard Pulse Rifle dealing Plasma damage instead of Disruptor damage, with a secondary fire mode that launches Plasma Grenades instead of Photon Grenades.
What should the Armor be based on then?
Well, looking at everything that's already been done (M.A.C.O., KHG, Omega, Jem'Hadar) the options of Polyalloy Weave, Physical Augmentation and Energy Harness have already been "used" for the Base Armor type. So why not go with something different? Particularly, why not go with something that meshes well with the weapon type already proposed above? :rolleyes:
In this case, I'd want to see the Base Armor Type be either Integrated Targeting (for even more +Critical Hit chance) or Recoil Compensating (to add +Critical Severity), in part because neither of these options has been used yet for making a Ground Combat Set. In terms of putting a "special" effect on the armor *itself*, I'm honestly thinking that porting over the "specials" of the Omega Force Armor makes the best fit ... adding +Critical Hit chance, +Critical Severity ... except doing all those things on a Base Armor Type of either Integrated Targeting or Recoil Compensating, instead of Energy Harness (so it isn't a "complete rip-off" of the Omega Force Armor). Personally, I'm leaning towards going with an Integrated Targeting Armor as the Base Armor Type so as to leverage the increased Critical Hit chance on the armor itself, the Romulan Reputation Trait that offers +3% chance to Critically Hit and then synergize those advantages with the "special" modifier on the Personal Shield detailed further down.
One interesting side note here is that the Omega Force Armor has an Energy Bleed proc which basically "doubles" the value of the base Energy Harness modifier (+5% All Energy Damage) for 6 seconds. I'm thinking it would be ... interesting ... to take that precedent and simply convert it into being instead a "doubler" of the value of the base Integrated Targeting modifier (+5% Critical Chance) for 6 seconds.
Romulan Intrusion Armor
Mk X (Very Rare) requires Romulan Reputation Tier I
Mk XI (Very Rare) requires Romulan Reputation Tier III
Mk XII (Very Rare) requires Romulan Reputation Tier V
Bind on Pickup
Vice Admiral / Lieutenant General
+5% Critical Chance
+{X} Physical Damage Resistance Rating (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
+{X} Kinetic Damage Resistance Rating (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
+{X} All Energy Damage Resistance Rating (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
+2.5% Critical Chance
+20% Critical Severity
When receiving All Damage, 10% chance of applying Target Analysis
- +5% Critical Chance for 6 sec
That then leaves the question of what to do about the Shield?
In this case, the Omega Force Shield makes for the best "template" to start from, but in point of fact, NONE of the existing sets offers a "shield special" that exactly matches what I'd want to be looking for on a Romulan Ground Set. Why? Well because Romulans are all about being "sneaky green blooded bahstids" with exceptional Cloaking technology that keeps everyone else on edge. So what I'd be looking for in a Romulan Intruder Set would look more like this:
Romulan Intruder Personal Shield
Mk X (Very Rare) requires Romulan Reputation Tier I
Mk XI (Very Rare) requires Romulan Reputation Tier III
Mk XII (Very Rare) requires Romulan Reputation Tier V
Vice Admiral / Lieutenant General
+{X}% Dodge chance (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
+{X} Root Resistance (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
+{X} Knockback Resistance (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
{X} Maximum Shield Capacity (scaled by Mk # and Rarity)
Fully regenerates after not taking damage for 3 secs.
When you Critically Hit apply Ambush Cloak
- Targets Self Only
- +100% All Energy Damage for 5 sec (expires on next attack)
- +245 Stealth for 5 sec (expires on next attack)
That then takes care of the Base Items for Weapon, Armor and Shield. Next step ... Set Bonuses.
Set 2: Cloaking Module
Cloaking Module masks you from sight, but enemies can detect you at close range. While cloaked, your abilities that affect others (including attacks) are disabled.
Immediately after leaving stealth you will have a short duration damage bonus. This ability may be toggled on and off.
Targets Self
0.5 sec activate
20 sec recharge
+475 stealth
Skills that affect this ability:
Special Forces
Set 3: Team Ambush Field
Affects Friend and Self
+14.5 Dodge to self and allies
+2.5% Critical Chance
+2.5% Critical Severity
Set 3: Integral Frequency Modulator
Targets Self
0.5 sec activate
10 sec recharge
Overcomes Borg adaptation. Instantly applies new frequencies.
The Cloaking Module is a "direct copy" of the Stealth Module found on Tactical Operative Kits for Tactical Captains without changes or alterations. It just feels most appropriate for a Romulan Ground Set to include a Stealth Toggle rather than a Stealth Click (like Omega Force Set 2) or a Stealth Reflex (like Jem'Hadar Set 2). The Team Ambush Field is likewise a "direct copy" of the Set 3 bonus found on the Omega Force Ground Set.
The net result of all this "hybridizing" is that you ultimately wind up with a Plasma Damage based Piercing Beam Rifle/Plasma Grenade combo that has its closest counterpart in the Klingon Honor Guard Ground Set's weapon (with a touch of Omega Force Carbine precedent on range thrown in for good measure). You get a (relatively) unique Integrated Targeting Armor that is substantially a repurposed version of the Omega Force Energy Harness Armor, except that now the buffing is being added to Critical Chance instead of All Energy Damage. You also get a Personal Shield that automatically engages a brief Ambush Cloak while attacking that not only causes you to "flicker" in and out of Cloak but also applies an Ambush damage spike buff to your next attack. Finally, the entire Set is designed to leverage its damage increases through increased Critical Chance, which can have some other interesting effects on gameplay since it turns the Set into less of a "pressure" build like Omega Force and into more of a "surprise spiker" sort of philosophy.
And so, at long last, having laid out what I think would make the best/most coherent "Romulan" Anti-Borg Ground Set given the precedents we have to work within, the last question that would need to be addressed is ... APPEARANCE.
Basically, what sort of Art Direction should be given to the Art Department if (or better yet, when) they get tasked with actually making something for this?
A friend of mine who builds sonars for the US Navy once made a comment to me about the visual design of submarines in a Heavy Gear sourcebook for the world of Atlantis in that setting. The submarine had all kinds of doors and ports and niches along its hull, making it visually rather "complex" in appearance. My friend, who knows a good bit about what you *DON'T WANT* as an engineer in a world where the name of the game is to Stay Quiet, made an observation that sticks with to this day:
Visually Interesting is Acoustically Noisy
I'm thinking that for a Romulan Ground Set, where the "focus" of the Set is on Stealth and Cloaking, that this particular point is something that ought to be stressed in the Art Design. With just about every single 3-piece Ground Set we've got, everything about them is "Visually Interesting" ... or to put it another way, "busy" ... from an Art standpoint. The Omega Force Armor is festooned with grenades and SWAT radio gear, covered in segmented metal plates and just really ... noisy ... visually. The Honor Guard Armor has its fur collar and I Think Your Cape Is FAAAAABULOUS!!!! The M.A.C.O. Armor is probably the best of these, in terms of precedents, simply because the M.A.C.O. Armor is more of a form fitting "sleek" look, albeit one that seems to be more about "padding" than it is about "armor" per se.
So with that in mind, what I'd really recommend to the Art Department is to go for something akin to, but not exactly like the M.A.C.O Armor in that the objective is to go for a "Sleek Chic" sort of look that has more in common with a "melted jellybean" kind of graceful sweeping curves, flowing lines and smooth textures, so as to visually "speak to" the notion that Romulans make their armor in such a way as to "facilitate" their cloaking technology, rather than work against it. "Und dher shpaikee bitzs" everywhere falls under the heading of "Visually Interesting is Acoustically Noisy" and consequently makes it harder to take seriously the notion that this ensemble ought to be something that can "disappear from sight and sensors" (and stay that way!).
As far as materials and texturing would go ... I'd recommend making the armor look like it is made out of ceramics, rather than metals or padded spandex, worn "plate mail style" over a body suit. Coloration of the ceramic armor parts would follow the Romulan tradition of being "green" but since the armor is supposed to be a "stealthy" one for covert intrusion operations, the actual color of green would be more of a Midnight Green (ie. dark) instead of a more Forest Green color. The body suit under the ceramic "plate mail" outer armor would use the 22nd Century Romulan Costume texture that looks like a metallic mail. The net effect would be a "ceramics on metal mail" kind of look, where the ceramics would all be smooth surfaces and be substantially form fitting (for males and females), although not necessarily form emphasizing (just to be clear). As far as the Helmet goes, once again M.A.C.O. would set a better precedent here than Omega Force.
For the weapon, you could use the already existing Plasma Piercing Rifle art in the game, potentially without modification ... although I would recommend appending a "barrel drum" system to the underside of it reminiscent of the Klingon Honor Guard Pulse Rifle (but minus the "unnecessary cutlery" aspects that are uniquely Klingon). In other words, it ought to be acceptable to "borrow" the necessary parts and pieces from already existing in-game assets in order to cobble together a "new" weapon model.
And for anyone who has actually READ everything I just wrote ... thank you for actually reading all the way through that.
THE Balanced Budget Build
Protonic Kool-Aid Down The Drain Cruiser
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Protonic Kool-Aid Down The Drain Cruiser
Immortal BOff Skills combo for Ground
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Klingon Honour Guard armour is based to look heavily ceremonial. These are the guys that guard the chancellor and the emperor. Lots of traditions to uphold as well as fufill the Klingon need to be deadly.
M.A.C.O. armour is based on the no nonsense federation armour. Smooth, simple, functional. Like their space suits, they are white. In many ways they took a space suit and slicked it down with some curved plates.
Omega Force Armour this seems like the mercenary set of the three, style is not even the thought here. Armour, check. Lots of weapons, check. Ugly, double check. It is made to be functional and not be too horrible to either the federation or the kdf. So it will work for any other factions that pop in as well for the neutral set.
Romulans. . . Let's look at their clothing choices for a while. TOS, colourful two tone uniforms with shiny parts and sashes on men and women. (To be fair most of TOS was colourful.) TNG, patterned puffy jackets and severe pants and boots. Some sign of the raptor on a belt or harness. in game Tal Shi'ar, two tone tops, durable pants and boots, pointy shoulders. Raptor insignia on belts and harnesses even larger than before.
Now we want a romulan armour: First I propose a throw back on the old TOS helmet. Using the basic shape of that but with a visor hiding the eyes. (Gives tac updates.). The chest piece should have enlarged shoulder points to match current trends, while the chest piece uses overlapping plates as it goes down the side of the ribs. Styled similar to folded wings or feathers. Center on the armoured belt will be the raptor in it's glory. Leading down to functional tough pants and hard boots that for the sake of style should look to have a knife tucked into it.
For colour I think we should use the RRW base yellow/brown on all the soft pieces. All parts of hard armour save for the raptor should be in shades of romulan green. This gives a passive camouflage on Mol'Rihan and will look sharp on stations and invading borg cubes.
The raptor should be in high gloss gold. You don't hide the raptor behind anything less than a full cloak.
As to the rifle suggestion. May I suggest a two type weapon as opposed to plasma grenades. make the second fire option be disruptor fire instead of plasma. So you show the heritage on both sides and it gives you longer before you have to swap your weapon or remodulate.
Originally Posted by pwlaughingtrendy
Network engineers are not ship designers.
Nor should they be. Their ships would look weird.
Thank you for making the effort to do so. ^^;
If you don't mind my asking ... which small details? It would be utterly surprising if anyone were to agree with EVERYTHING, in total, without reservations or alternatives, so I'd be interested in hearing what you think.
Which is part of the reason why with this [Wishful Thinking] Proposal I'd like to lay down a marker that a Romulan Anti-Borg Ground Set should NOT BE "op as all hell" as you say. It's why I researched What Has Been Done Before so as to benchmark and honor the precedents already set within the game. It's why for everything that I proposed above I essentially took things that already exist and adapted and modified and made substitutions using other things that are already in the game, and wherever possible looked for what the game balance *already* considers to be "equivalent" bonuses or factors because of how they're structured.
In other words, there's no good reason for why a Romulan Anti-Borg Ground Set would have to be "op as all hell" before players would even consider it. My stance is that going for a "lateral equivalency" involving DIFFERENT options, as opposed to reaching for a "vertical overshadowing" involving OVERPOWERED options, is the right course to take.
Oh indeed! Klingon Honor Guard not only needs to BE tough, it needs to LOOK tough as well! This is very much in the warrior tradition of "letting it all hang out" (so to speak) so that anyone looking at you thinks twice before deciding to mess with you. So ceremonial pomp and circumstance, but also form following function. In that respect, the Klingon Honor Guard set is very well crafted in its artistry!
This is why of the Anti-Borg Ground Sets the M.A.C.O. armor is the closest thing we've got to a "sleek chic" look. The armor is certainly "elegant" in its simplicity, which is a design cue I strongly recommend for any Romulan Anti-Borg Ground Set armor, primarily because when you're trying to be Stealthy it doesn't help for your armor to be "loud" and covered with protrusions involving lots of fiddly bits hanging out everywhere. Instead, you want to go "clean and simple" with the design aesthetic for a Stealthy look. Hence my recommendation for a "melted jelly bean" sort of design sense made in hard ceramics.
My first thought on seeing the Mk XII Omega Force armor was that I was looking at something for the AD Police out of Bubblegum Crisis or some sort of ESWAT armor that belonged in Appleseed. I disagree with you on the styling though. This is totally a submission of Form to the necessities of Function, and is completely consistent with an Elite Commando "loaded for bear" type of aesthetic where you aren't dressed to impress, you're dressed to PERFORM. I will freely admit that the grenades strapped onto the armor would have made more sense if the Set 2 bonus was a Photon Grenade ability, allowing you to "throw" a Photon Grenade just like the Tactical Kits do. As far as I'm concerned, the design of Omega Force armor is all about GET IT DONE and can't be bothered with "chewing bubblegum" (while forgetting names), so in that respect it's also very "in your face" and direct about what it is and what it's for ... so, again, kudos on the Art Direction.
The problem with this approach is that it's almost an apples vs oranges kind of thing. All of the things you're citing here are UNIFORMS ... not ARMOR. It's like comparing T-shirt and jeans against (American) football pads and jerseys. The whole purpose behind what's going on, as far as design aesthetics go, don't line up.
Now, granted, there are some aspects of the uniforms that it would be wise to "echo" on any Romulan Armor designs, but that doesn't mean you want to take a "uniform" look (or even its silhouette) and directly translate that into an "armor" look.
Now THIS makes perfect sense ... so much so that I'm mildly embarrassed to say I didn't think of it first. ToS Romulan Helms (originally designed so the studio wouldn't have to stick "ears" on every extra in shot that kept falling off mid-take) could be "updated" to make them fully head enclosing with a "faceless" visor in front (akin to M.A.C.O. and Omega Force).
The "big shoulders" phenomenon is something that "makes sense" when you've got a soft cloth type uniform, but starts getting ridiculous (not to mention counterproductive) when you've got a hard, rigid armor design. Hard(er) to be Stealthy when you have trouble fitting through doors (without clipping something) when your shoulder parts are just too wide to be practical, and serve no meaningful purpose.
The fundamental underlying philosophy that ALL successful armor design relies upon is ... you don't wear ANYTHING that isn't actually keeping you ALIVE. It's true for any armor designs historically in the real world, and it should be true for any armor designs in the future as well. Enlarged shoulder points for Romulans is a fashion trend that is acceptable in Uniforms, but which serves no purpose on Armor.
My recommendation is "rounded shoulders" that follow the contours of the body underneath it. For visual reference, think more like Stormtrooper armor out of Star Wars (please forgive the mention) with its rounded, practical, functional shoulder pieces ... except done in dark green ceramics instead of (cheap white) plastics.
Now THIS is an EXCELLENT suggestion! I hadn't considered the possibility of working in any kind of "wings" motif into the armor, but doing so along the sides of the torso/abdominals and possibly along the outsides of the legs as well on the thigh is just brilliant. As a longtime City of Heroes player (damn I miss Virtue Server!!
If the Raptor is to be featured on the belt for this armor, I would hope that Cryptic would somehow make available two different options for the belt ... one with the Imperial Raptor, with wings spread wide horizontally ... and one with the Republican Raptor, with the wings held up vertically so that with the feather spread the whole thing is somewhat ovoid/egg shaped in outline.
I'm actually thinking more in terms of hard ceramic "plate" armor on the thighs, greaves for the lower legs and ceramic armor topped "shoes" (or boots if you prefer). That way you have an "armored" look from head to toe.
I strongly suspect that those colors were chosen as "earth" tones meant to evoke a feeling of being "close to the planet" and living a simpler, less technological lifestyle. Personally, I rather like the 22nd Century Romulan Top where the non-cloth part of it is a blue tinted silver (color E10, specifically) that looks like polished steel in a variety of lighting conditions. As I mentioned in my OP, *that* is the texture and color I'd want under all the ceramic "hard armor" bits seen inside the joints and gaps in the armor.
Are you thinking of the Romulan 1, 2, 4 Materials in the Ship Costume Editor (3 is the "brown" one, remember)? I'd agree with you except that I have the feeling those specific materials and colors are too "light" to really "look right" on a Body Armor ... hence why I recommend more of a darker green such as Midnight Green or even a Hunter Green instead. Alternatively, the darker green used in the Reman 1 and 2 Materials in the Ship Costume Editor might serve, including the chevron texture pattern of the Reman 1 Material.
How about gold for the Imperial Raptor (wings spread wide) and silver for the Republican Raptor (wings held high)?
Eh ... I like my Piercing Beam Barrage plus Plasma Grenade combo gun, thanks. :rolleyes:
Protonic Kool-Aid Down The Drain Cruiser
Immortal BOff Skills combo for Ground
I think I was not clear on my critique of the Omega look. It does look functional and I quite agree that with all those grenades strapped to it one of the set bonuses should have been the ability to throw a grenade. . .
Now my reason for comparing uniforms to armour is linear. Look at Klingon uniforms. ENT, TOS, TNG and onward. Hard, functional, and intimidating. All that leather and the shoulder pads you assume had some combat value. When they went to make something for the honour guard they stepped their style in that regard up a notch.
Starfleet uniforms, Colour coded for our convenience. But trim, less going on than in Archer's jumpsuit. In STO the basic armour everyone wears is a colour coded hard plastic uniform basically. When they did the M.A.C.O. it was spruced up with thicker parts to handle more damage. White like a space suit and when combining light, what do you get combining a bunch of colours? White. So it is the uniform of the Starfleet branches in a sense.
Hmm, you have a point on flared shoulder pads. Perhaps they can do the M.A.C.O. idea. at Mk XI you have very light shoulders. But the Mk XII has heavier pauldrons for better protection.
Hmm, since this is probably going to be RRW only they will most likely go with the new raptor only. If they do give the option I agree whole heartedly to make one gold and the other silver, too.
My only reservation on armouring the thighs is it possibly being a bit thick for a 'trim' suit. Perhaps hard portion 'pads'?
I do like the idea of hard greaves with a piece going over the kneecap.
Down to earth brown maybe what they were going for. Perhaps when they inevitably make recolouring an option you can go brown or green. I do like the blued silver for under portions with varied green upper portions. I mentioned shades of green so it could carry highlights and not look like a green blotch. Darker shade definitely work as well.
And well the rifle suggestion had two parts really. I liked the plasma/plasma you went with. It has a better feel for it. But none of the other highend armours came with a lingering effect like the plasma grenade does. I suggested the disruptor over/under concept to be unique and have an alternative incase they want to nix the grenade launcher.
Originally Posted by pwlaughingtrendy
Network engineers are not ship designers.
Nor should they be. Their ships would look weird.
I haven't tested the peircing beam rifle vs the Borg since rapid fire weapons tend to be adapted to quickly but a combo set I use on my rooms and remains is.....
Plasma wide-beam rifle mk xi (critd)(crth)(dmg) irrc
Antiproton pulse wave assault mk xi (also from dilithium store)
any sword type melee weapon as optional backup
Fleet Advanced Recoil Compensating Armor mk XII (critd= 80%)
Fleet advanced or elite ground shield
kit of choice for class
By the way, the Omega set weapon is a full auto rifle, not a compression pistol. The Klingon Honor Guard Armor is also polyalloy weave, not physical augmentation armor. The Jem'hadar is labeled as "Polyalloy weave armor" ingame, yet it lacks Physical damage resistance. Due to this lacking, the armor is actually Energy Dampening armor. If I may make a suggestion for a Romulan set:
Romulan Republic Special Operations Set
Weapon:
Romulan Republic Split Beam Rifle Mk XII
X Plasma Damage x2
5% Chance X Plasma Damage Per Second (Ignores Shields)
15 Kinetic Damage vs Borg
+4% Critical Chance
+20% Critical Severity
Armor:
Romulan Spec Ops Armor Mk XII
+10% Stealth and Perception
+64 Physical Damage Resistance
+64 Kinetic Damage Resistance
+64 All Energy Damage Resistance
+60.1 Maximum Hit Points
When receiving all damage: 10% chance to grant +10 perception for 10 seconds to self and team (Max 3 times)
Shield:
Romulan Republic Personal Shield Mk XII
+29.1 Root Resistance Rating
+29.1 Knockback Resistance Rating
308.7 Maximum Shield Capacity
Fully Regenerates after not taking damage for 3 seconds.
+10% All Energy Damage Resistance
When receiving all damage: 10% chance of applying Aerobatic Movements: +10% run speed increase for 6 seconds to self and team.
Two piece bonus:
Portable Cloaking Device
45 second recharge
+15% All Energy Damage
+10% Dodge chance
+300 stealth for 10 seconds
Three piece bonus:
Covert Operative Network
+2.5% Critical Chance
+2.5% Perception
+2.5% Run speed
--->Ground Combat General Bugs Directory
Real join date: March 2012 / PvP Veteran since May 2012 (Ground and Space)
Addons in Red are the things I would personally change as you need the Integral Frequency Modulator to be a true stf set (still not sure why they never just made that a part of the set weapon personally), and I have grown rather fond of the Romulan Wide-Beam rifle (exploit weapon same as a split beam, but able to exploit 5 targets vs split beam's 3). Combined with a pulsewave you have a nice group expose/exploit combo. I think getting the romulan visual for the set would be the trickiest party and a version of the Centurion helmet really belongs as the MK XII headpiece. Interesting ideas to think about though.
- The faction-specific sets are also a design point that feeds into the ethos of the faction. The KHG is all about the KDF way of getting in close and beating the enemy to a pulp; hence 'Adrenal Booster' and using a pulsewave/grenade launcher combo. The MACO set is all about damage reduction to UFP personnel, hence the Shield Capacitor and the use of a long range sniper rifle. The Omega set is a bit of a mish-mash of the two, with the stealth field for damage reduction, but the assault carbine to appeal to the KDF's attitude. The Romulans, to my mind, are hit and run specialists, using their superior stealth technology and plasma weapons to hit hard and fast and escape before the enemy can retaliate.
So, I like the idea of a version of the piercing plasma weapons from RRW Command, but with a different secondary. I propose a hard-hitting plasma 'bolt', akin to the secondary on a standard High Density Beam rifle, as the secondary. This gives the RRW Set (or the Rihannsu Theirr as I started calling it) something of a unique weapon, and is fairly in keeping with the spirit of the Romulan ethos.
But yes, I agree with an Integrated Targeting Armour or Recoil Compensating Armour as a basis for the armour shell, and with your thoughts on the shield.
Another idea I had for a shield was a blending of the MACO shield with a Personal Energy Harness Shield, giving us:
-+29 Root Resistance
-+29 Knockback Resistance
-Chance of 10% energy damage buff for 4 sec when taking damage.
A 2-piece set inclusion of the Distortion Field virtually copy-pasted from the Omega set, and the following 3-piece set passive (as well as the obvious Integral Frequency Remodulator) :
Tactical Intelligence System:
+15 Perception
+15 Stealth
+15% Exploit Damage
+25% Resistance to Flanking Damage
The basic idea is that the Romulans are superior at gathering intelligence and reacting quickly to it. This is only my first real thought on numbers/abilities for the 3-piece bonus, so may be revised later.
As for the look/art direction of the Rihannsu Theirr... Well, I like the idea of a sleek armour designed for stealthy movement, but obviously capable of taking a hit (One-Hit Kills from Heavy Tac Drones notwithstanding
The idea of a visored update of the old TOS-era helmet I like. Furthermore, I would suggest that the armour visual is akin to the 'Romulan Klingon' pieces, but with less of a plastic/glossy sheen to them, and a similar curved plate effect used throughout, with use of the 'shimmer material' of the RR dress uniform, or the patterned effect used in the standard RR uniform. Much as I'm sure it'll provoke a wailing and gnashing of teeth, a more armoured version of the KDF RR uniforms would be similar to what I'm thinking, with the option (I dislike things being thrust upon me unwillingly) to have a double cape, similar to the Romulan uniforms current 'rank capes' and maybe a version of the Romulan belt that is more similar to the Omega Force hip attachments than anything else.
But that's just been my initial thoughts...
Tim
It's almost to be expected that as the Mk # increases from X to XI to XII the appearance of the parts and pieces on the armor get ... beefier. That's the precedent set with all of the other Ground Sets, and there's no reason to expect a Romulan Anti-Borg Ground Set to be any different in *that* regard.
Best way to handle this particular wrinkle would be to have the actual armor ITEM have a RRW Raptor with upwards wings and the "egg" shaping to it done in silver ... but then for the Mk XI and Mk XII Costume Reward options for completing those sets, when you're in the Costume Editor at the Tailor and are selecting a Belt for your Uniform, you have two options on the Belt ... a Gold Imperial Raptor or a Silver Republican Raptor. That way the "default" on the item itself is a Silver Republican Raptor, but if you complete the set and choose to make take it as a costume design you can then select the Gold Imperial Raptor, thereby supporting both options by extension.
The main thrust of the "sleek chic" aesthetic I'm advocating for is that I want to steer things away from a "macho" sort of Warhammer 40k-ish "humungo armor" look that's all "masculinized" into being a gigantic torso, shoulders bigger than the head (each), and a general "tank like" appearance of just really heavy, heavy, HEAVY armor. If it helps any, I'm thinking more along the lines of a "Light Plate and Mail" sort of armor, rather than a "Field Plate" or even a "Full Plate" type of appearance, so as to make the whole thing *look* like it ought to be nimble and evasive/elusive rather than built to Timex specs ("takes a licking and keeps on ticking"). Mind you, we're talking high tech space armor here, not AC vs THAC0 material pulled from first edition AD&D.
The key thing is though that for anti-Borg combat you're going to want a lot of HARD surfaces on your armor because any flexible or "soft" armor is going to be a Weak Point for injecting assimilating nanites, so you need something that would be defensive against such "injector" attacks. This is why I recommend using a hard ceramic shell material and having that armor protect the thighs as well as the shins so as to not create a gigantic "weak spot" in the upper leg region. Spartan Warriors and Athenian Hoplites could get away with not wearing thigh armor because they carried nice big shields to protect those areas (as "mobile" armor). We don't exactly get the "luxury" of carrying armored shields in STO (we just get "magic" personal shields with a Blue Bar), so as far as Art Direction and appearances for armor goes, not having a hard armor on the thighs would be a mistake.
My thoughts exactly. :cool:
A significant portion of my thoughts with the weapon was the simple fact that Romulans have a Ground Trait that allows them to deal more damage with Plasma Weapons. By throwing a Disruptor damage type into the mix you are diluting the advantage and return on investment of selecting that particular Romulan Trait.
Protonic Kool-Aid Down The Drain Cruiser
Immortal BOff Skills combo for Ground
I have run Infected Manus (elite) a few times with my outrageously underpowered Mk IX (white!) Plasma Piercing Rifle and I haven't noticed that the Borg adapt to the weapon any faster than any others. My guess is that just like the situation with procs on space weapons, where the proc chance isn't checked per shot but rather per attack (or volley, if you prefer), the coding behind Borg Adaptation relies on a system of stacking up adaptation per attack rather than per hit ... and for precisely the reason of leveling the playing field for rapid fire weaponry (or at least, not tilting it so far against them as to be disruptive to game balance).
So I suspect that what people are encountering with this bit of "common knowledge" that rapid fire weapons get adapted to (too) quickly is ... that the rapid fire weapons really have fast Recharge times on their attacks, rather than the fact that they fire in "bursts" of shots, each shot of which stacks up the Adaptation more quickly because the Adaptation rate depends on shots that hit, rather than "attacks" that hit (if the distinction I'm making here has meaning for you).
So people are both right (in one sense) AND wrong (in another) about this particular bit of conventional wisdom on this subject, methinks. And I say that because my common Piercing Plasma Rifle Mk IX actually does do a nice stream of damage numbers for almost the same span of time as any other weapon in my experience in the same situations.
Protonic Kool-Aid Down The Drain Cruiser
Immortal BOff Skills combo for Ground
... *sigh* ...
I had really hoped this wouldn't be necessary, especially for people who profess to know their way around PvP. So ... let's look at what I actually wrote in my first post, instead of what you imagine I wrote, shall we? :rolleyes:
So ... what does that mean?
First of all, I don't know where you're getting 6 seconds of +100% energy damage, since I clearly wrote 5 seconds, not 6 like you claim ... AND ... I very clearly wrote that the buff EXPIRES upon attacking ... which means it applies to ONE attack instead of 6 seconds worth of attacks.
So ... in gameplay ... what that would mean is ... if you Critically Hit while wearing this Shield, you go into Ambush "mode" ... and this effect lasts for either 5 seconds or until your next attack, whichever comes first, and then the Ambush Cloak expires ... meaning it only applies to ONE attack.
When using the Intrusion Rifle as I designed it in my first post, the most likely impact this would have on gameplay is that while maintaining a continuous Barrage of fire on a single target, intermittently (because of a Critical Hits), you'll get a +100% damage buff for a single volley of plasma shots during the continuous stream for a brief spike of damage (1 attack's worth) ... and you'll be able to "tell" because your avatar will oh-so-briefly do a Stealth animation and then fade right back to normal almost immediately because you're attacking continuously (hold down the mouse button) causing the Ambush Cloak to "expire" almost instantly.
As advertised in my first post in this thread, this would cause attackers using the full Set to "flicker" in and out of Ambush Cloak, which I think would make for a really interesting combat effect that would be uniquely Romulan.
Realistically speaking, in actual gameplay, just about the only way to leverage this into being something "more" than it really is would be to use something like a Sniper Rifle of some variety, and somehow manage to make the Ambush Cloak proc boost your 2nd attack on the Sniper Rifle for an extreme spike of Exploit damage against an Exposed target. However, needing to score a Critical Hit on *something* first in order to proc the Ambush Cloak would make being able to do this "on demand" a sufficiently Good Trick that at that point you need to applaud the player's skill (and patience) in setting up that shot more than you need to be complaining that they were able to take it (let alone make it).
Attacking continuously with a "rifle" type weapon ~3 times per second for 6 seconds with a +5% Energy Damage buff amounts to a +90% cumulative damage over time effect (roughly speaking) ... while for "pistol" type weapons that can fire as many as ~4 times per second (theoretically anyway) adds up to a +120% cumulative damage over time effect ... relative to the baseline. My point being that a +5% Energy Damage for 6 seconds buff effectively amounts to granting +1 "free shot" worth of damage delivered (roughly speaking) if attacking continuously for that entire span of time ... which is basically equivalent to putting +100% Energy Damage onto a single attack. The difference however between the two is Pressure vs Spike damage delivery, in which the "pressure" option is a lot more "forgiving" of player skill and opportunism (ie. if you make a mistake or miss an opportunity, you're not losing out on much), while the "spike" option is pretty much All Or Nothing, use it or lose it, which is a lot LESS forgiving of circumstances and opportunities in actual gameplay.
So ... Equivalent But DIFFERENT.
Once again, let's actually look at what I actually wrote, shall we? :rolleyes:
So a "medic" using this ability would be unable to affect others while the Cloaking Module is active. Science Captains and Science Bridge Officers on the ground have no inherent ability to reduce Recharge times, since that's a Tactical Captains Only ability. This means that in PvP a Science Captain using the Cloaking Module is out of the fight until they toggle it off ... and once they've toggled it off, it's going to stay off for at least 20 seconds, nominally speaking.
If 20 seconds isn't long enough to kill a Science Captain or a Science Bridge Officer in PvP ... how much longer would you need to kill them? My point here being that if you can continuously fire upon a "medic" Science Officer (captain or bridge officer) for 15+ seconds and STILL not be able to kill them, then the root cause of the problem isn't in the possibility that "medics" can use a Cloaking Module to avoid letting you shoot at them.
Again, let's look at what I actually wrote, shall we? :rolleyes:
By my accounting, that looks like a +7.5% Critical Chance on the armor, with a 10% chance to increase that to +12.5% (total) for 6 seconds. I don't know where you're getting the idea that this adds +15% Critical Chance on the armor like you claim. The only way you could get to that is by adding in the Set 3 bonus ...
... which by the way is a carbon copy of the Set 3 bonus on Omega Force, as I'm sure you're already aware. If you're going for the Set 3 bonus then you're using the weapon too, which has a 40% chance for a "chance for +2.5 critical chance when attacking" which I copied verbatim off the Plasma Piercing Rifle Mk IX (common) writeup in-game. So what you're really looking at is a +Critical Chance of +10% nominally with a rare potential to spike up to a +17.5% for brief intervals (if the armor and the weapon both proc together). Even at an attack rate of ~3 shots per second on continuous fire, that still really means scoring a Critical every few seconds (like 2-4) of continuous fire (ie. every 5-12 attack volleys or so) while using a weapon that doesn't have an Exploit Attack.
Let me repeat that in case it wasn't already obvious enough.
The full Romulan Anti-Borg Ground Set as I've proposed it doesn't have an Exploit attack (unless if you count meleeing with the Rifle Butt attack) ... just like the Klingon Honor Guard Set doesn't have an Exploit attack. That's because rather than relying on Expose/Exploit to deal heavy damage, the set as I've proposed it instead relies on Critical Hits, which then proc the Ambush mechanic instead, thus creating a need for a 1-2 combo of attacks that yields a "pressure spike" of two heavy hits in a row (one Critical, one Damage buffed). And, as if that wasn't enough ... the weapon itself isn't a "spike" damage weapon but more of a "pressure" type weapon with its continuous fire mode. Heck, the Ambush Cloak is all but completely wasted on the Plasma Grenade attack because the only damage being enhanced on the grenade is the plasma damage over time since the explosion damage is Kinetic, not Energy.
Protonic Kool-Aid Down The Drain Cruiser
Immortal BOff Skills combo for Ground
As should already be abundantly apparent, I readily agree.
This is why I figured it isn't enough to just merely "throw numbers at the problem" and do Game Design In A Vacuum where all I have to do is come up with stats for the balance team (/em wave to Adjudicator Hawk) and then give the Art Department nothing to go on. THAT very much feels like a "job half done" instead of addressing the entire issue with the attention it would need (and deserves). Part of the problem though is that discussing the Art aspects can only be done through TEXT here in the forums, which isn't exactly the best medium for talking about VISUAL details that haven't even been done yet.
The ToS Centurion Helmet is ... yeah ... that's one of those "staring you in the face" kinds of blunt force obvious once it has been put on the table. :P
Protonic Kool-Aid Down The Drain Cruiser
Immortal BOff Skills combo for Ground
Hence the Cloaking Module in the Set 2 bonus and the Ambush Cloak on the Personal Shield (since that's the most "sensible" place to put such a thing). It's really the best I can do for a "hit and run" combat style leveraging Stealth game mechanics. The STO ground combat system isn't really ideally suited to supporting a hit and run specialist ITEM set, since that's really more a matter of playstyle and player tactics (and build strategy beyond simple inventory items).
That's another option I wouldn't want to dismiss out of hand. I would however lodge the complaint that doing that would mean that the 1st attack on the weapon is a continuous stream of fire while the 2nd attack is basically a single "spike" damage bolt of energy that is also an Exploit attack that can hit multiple targets in a line. That has ... implications ... that a weapon capable of only a single target attack or throwing a plasma grenade doesn't have to deal with.
Thank you.
Glad you approve.
Protonic Kool-Aid Down The Drain Cruiser
Immortal BOff Skills combo for Ground
There is a big difference between providing a reasonable boost to spike damage, and an unreasonable boost to spike damage. +5% all damage for 6 seconds isn't bad, it's small and has a pressure effect. +100% for one shot every time you Critically hit is an absurd passive ability to oneshot someone without using any skill. You don't realize that because you don't play Ground PvP.
Medic: "Well, I've managed to cause three tactical officers to burn their buffs trying to kill me, but now I am about to run out of heals. They will soon down me if I don't do something fast. I know, I'll cloak and they won't be able to touch me."
Science officers are tanks, they are designed to be hard to kill while still putting out respectable amounts of damage. It takes a lot of skill from a tactical officer to kill a skilled medic. I can tell you know, if my Medic could get infinite perfect cloak on ground, I would never die...unless I did something really stupid. That is true for anyone that is good at ground PvP. One of the downsides of running the Tactical Operative kit is the fact that you are easy to kill when not cloaked.
All armor buff procs stack three times, that's +15% critical chance. Add in your "set bonus" and you get +25% Critical chance. For a tactical officer, that will mean they can get about a 90% chance to Critically hit with buffs, and that's before factoring in combat armor bonuses.
A 90% critical chance is not a "brief interval", you aren't taking anything outside of proposed set into account. Tactical officers already Critically hit 0.5 - 1 seconds in ground combat. It's nowhere near as rare as you make it out to be, nowhere close. With a 90% critical chance, split beam rifles would have a 1% chance of NOT critically hitting on a fire cycle, full auto rifles would have a 0.1% chance.
Such an attack would never only be one or two heavy hits in a row. It would always result in a large number of chain high damage attacks. You are also missing the fact that there is nothing stopping the player from simply slotting an expose attack weapon in their other weapon slot.
--->Ground Combat General Bugs Directory
Real join date: March 2012 / PvP Veteran since May 2012 (Ground and Space)
Now since the devs just aren't going to do a special Romulan anti borg set lets have fun anyway.
For the weapon I'm thinking Omega and HG both have area damage secondaries while only Fed's have a single target focus weapon. So maybe a Piercing rifle type weapon with a charge-able High density beam mode (maybe in disruptor damage). Makes them a little distinct from the other faction, while maintain the unique weapons LoR brought in.
For the armor instead of upon crit how-about a bonus when flanking? After all never turn your back on a Romulan. Use recoil compensating and then add a bonus to stealth-sight and all energy damage.
And start with a Repulsion shield, but instead of repelling opponents it is a spike of radiation damage (with immunity to radiation for yourself.) Add at least 20% reduction in plasma damage and I think it wouldn't be a bad bet.
The two piece bonus could be a smoke grenade or something unusual (maybe a smoke grenade turret), while the first 3 piece set should give a bonus to healing (like 10%) and to all allies on low health a bonus to weapon secondary recharge. (Like the [Rch] modifier that isn't used all that often.
As for style, a buckler shield on one arm would add to it's appearance of armor without massively bulking the suit out at higher marks. Bonus is the cowering expression in the face of an explosion would put your shield up in the way of damage.
I would kick babies for a Romulan ground set.
Valdus | Charn | Costello | Typhus | Thyran
hmmm how about instead of normal radiation, theleron radiation or the ability to charge up a theleron blast similar to the Nukara cryo set with the electrical discharge?
could use the repeating pistol type of primary fire with 2ndry as the wide beam, did I say I really liked the wide beam rifle :P
If there are Tactical Captains who can get to 60% Critical Chance indefinitely then that would be a balance problem with Tactical Captains then, wouldn't it?
But just for the sake of humor value ... please explain, in detail (meaning, Show Your Work), how a Tactical Captain achieves a 60% Critical Chance before adding in Weapon, Armor or Personal Shield.
/em popcorn
Uh ... you do know that every Captain in the game has access to the Romulan Reputation system, right? Meaning that every faction in the game would have access to these items equally ... meaning you wouldn't need to be a Romulan (or Reman) race Captain in order to access them. In what way would that be "conveniently limited to Romulans" ...? :rolleyes:
And just for the sake of argument, I have no problem with putting a limiter on how often the Ambush Cloak can proc, should it be necessary for game balance because Tactical Captains are as overpowered as you assert when it comes to Critical Chance. Something on the order of "Effect can only happen once every {X} seconds" on the Ambush Cloak, with values of 10 sec for Mk X, 8 sec for Mk XI and 6 sec for Mk XII perhaps ... should it PROVE necessary for game balance. Mind you, I'm just tossing out numbers here for illustration purposes, rather than as a demand or insistence that I'm "right" and everyone else is "wrong" somehow. I could just as easily go with 10/9/8 instead of 10/8/6 or some other variation for the progression of the "proc limiter" on the Ambush Cloak should it PROVE necessary for game balance.
You say that as if Ground PvP isn't "ruined" already by Tactical Captains (much like they do to Space PvP too, but that's a whole other plate of Gagh).
Ah. So you're going to play the "I'm pulling rank on you!" card. Got it.
Excuse me. Did I *SAY* that my armor buff stacks 3 times? Let's look, shall we? :rolleyes:
Hmmm. There appears to be a DISTINCT LACK of anything saying "stacks 3 times" there. That means that your ASSUMPTION that the buff would "stack 3 times" is just you imagining things (again!). Coincidence? At this point you have enough of a track record in this thread to suggest the answer is "No."
Indeed, even if you are correct in that "all the other set armors let their special stack 3 times" when their long form tooltips don't contain mention of that (and I LOOKED), then that sounds like a "bug" that ought to be corrected so that they don't stack and instead work as advertised ... wouldn't you agree? :rolleyes:
For what it's worth, even if other armor buffs "stack 3 times" like you say, I was operating under the assumption that the buff on my proposed armor would only "stack ONCE" ... instead of 3 times ... as advertised. Is that a problem for you?
Furthermore, in order for the special effect buff to stack 3 times, you'd need to take damage (at least) 3 times in 6 seconds. Being hit by damage often enough to make the proc "likely" to stack 3 times within that span of time ought to be enough to kill you before the proc can stack 3 times. I mean, the odds of the proc happening 3 times in succession is literally 1000 to 1. How many times can you get hit by damage within a 6 second time span and not be killed? What are the odds that getting hit LESS THAN that many times will proc a 10% chance 3 times within that time span so that you can live long enough to use it?
In other words, I don't look at a 10% chance when receiving All Damage and immediately conclude "this will be triple stacked EASILY, IN PERPETUITY" like you apparently do.
So it's Tactical Captains who have ridiculously overpowered skills and need to be nerfed then so that they stop "ruining" Ground PvP for everyone else then ... yes? :rolleyes:
By this point, the only thing I'm missing is a good reason to continue taking your complaints seriously.
Protonic Kool-Aid Down The Drain Cruiser
Immortal BOff Skills combo for Ground
Check the C-Store. :P
Edit: My mistake. Dilithium Store.
You are asking for a "distinctly Romulan" set, which implied you wanted it for the Romulan faction only, my mistake.
Tactical captains on the ground do not ruin ground PvP. Also, no, I'm saying that you need to play ground to understand the implications of adding the set pieces that you suggest.
All percent chance to apply buff stats on armor stack three times, they need to be balanced around that fact. Cryptic would never allow for a bonus +Critical chance stat on armor that already has +5% critical chance. Even if they did add a +Critical chance proc to armor, it would be a 10% chance to add +2.5% for 6 seconds, stacks 3 times for a total of +7.5% critical chance. Then in active combat, this proc activates very frequently. Players stay alive a lot longer than you would think in ground PvP, it's not hard at all to get 3 procs on the armor.
No, Tactical officer skills are balanced around a cooldown. What you are proposing would create imbalance, as +100% all energy damage would be the same as giving someone an Ambush III with no cooldown. If Cryptic were ever to create such a proc, although unlikely, it would need a 30 second cooldown and stacking with ambush would need to be prohibited, as the proc would give players at least +250% all damage. There used to be a bug where tactical officers could kit switch to stack Ambush I, II, and III for basically 350% all damage instead of 150%. A proc with +100% damage would be starting to get close to that buggy level of damage again.
--->Ground Combat General Bugs Directory
Real join date: March 2012 / PvP Veteran since May 2012 (Ground and Space)
Let me see if I've got this added up right:
2.5% (x2) Base Critical Chance, Combat Specialist
3% (x2) Romulan Tier I Trait, Strike Team II
5% (x2) Lucky, Target Optics
7.5% (x1) Strike Team Specialist
10% (x1) Gambling Device
= 43.5% Critical Chance from Traits, Skills and Devices only
You then claim:
2.5-7.5% Weapon modifiers
2.5-10% Team Ambush Field (set 3 bonus)
14% Advanced Targeting Armor
= +19% to +31.5% Critical Chance from Armor, Personal Shield and Weapon
43.5 + 19 = 62.5%
43.5 + 31.5 = 75%
So 62.5-75% is YOUR base expectation.
This is why I asked you to Show Your Work.
Please explain to me how it is possible to wear Advanced Targeting Armor *AND* the Romulan Intrusion Armor that I detailed in my first post (or an Omega Force Armor) AT THE SAME TIME. Wouldn't this be a case of EITHER/OR instead of BOTH/AND like you're assuming? Bearing in mind, that if you're wearing the Advanced Targeting Armor like you specified instead of the Romulan Intrustion Armor as I've designed it (or the Omega Force Armor) ... you won't be getting the Set 3 bonus, meaning no Team Ambush Field (generated by you) either.
Also ... doesn't this analysis demonstrate that pretty convincingly that the Romulan Intrusion Armor (alone) as I've designed it could offer up to +14% Critical Chance and have NO GAME BALANCE IMPACT simply because there's *ALREADY* an item available for that slot that does that much in the game? And haven't I already shown that 2.5+5=7.5 enough times already for you to realize that 7.5 does not equal 14 ... even when you add ONE +5 to the 7.5 to make it 12.5%? Heck, the only way to make the Romulan Intrusion Armor (alone) as I've designed it better than the 14% Critical Chance that you cite for Advanced Targeting Armor is to have the "special" on the Romulan Intrusion Armor stack twice so as to reach a total of +17.5%. You keep saying that "every armor stacks its proc 3 times" so therefore the Romulan Intrusion Armor as I've designed it would HAVE TO be able to stack its proc 3 times ... even though I've already come right out and *proven* that you have no grounds upon which to make that assertion or even to necessarily believe that it would HAVE TO BE true.
/em facepalm
So, thanks for the input and opinion, but at this point I think it's pretty safe to say ... you really haven't thought this through sufficiently well to be taken seriously. Thank you for playing.
Protonic Kool-Aid Down The Drain Cruiser
Immortal BOff Skills combo for Ground
Ohh Reman styles. . .
Based on the uniforms shown for Nemesis throw backs and the modern equivalents I am thinking that if you made Reman armour styled differently than Romulan armour, and not certain D'tan and crew really should, Then we should look at similar body styling but. Darker colouring, all the way to black with purple highlights. Those seem the be the dark and moody colours used classically for them.
Have not checked recently. But are Reman's locked into the reman factional uniform or do they have the option of regular romulan faction uniform as well?
Meaning the Federation and KDF uniforms for allied romulan/remans. I know RRW uniforms they can wear either romulan or reman clothes.
Originally Posted by pwlaughingtrendy
Network engineers are not ship designers.
Nor should they be. Their ships would look weird.
Your armor would be affected by combat armor skill points as well. +5% Critical chance would turn into +7.4%ish critical chance. The extra +2.5% would become 3.6%ish. The proc would also be affected, pushing it up to 7.4%ish critical chance. Even for your sake of "only one stack on the proc", which is something Cryptic has never done with armor, you'd still be at 18.4% critical chance and +20% Critical severity. If the proc stacked three times, which is how Cryptic has made such procs in the past, that would be 33.2% critical chance, 19.4% more over Advanced Targeting armor. Now do you see how the armor will be overpowered?
--->Ground Combat General Bugs Directory
Real join date: March 2012 / PvP Veteran since May 2012 (Ground and Space)
Oh, so NOW you come clean about what you meant.
So Advanced Targeting Armor is +10% Critical Chance (base armor, no skills) ... and is NOT destructive to game balance, because it's already in the game.
My construction for Romulan Intrusion Armor adds +7.5% Critical Chance (base armor, no skills, no proc(s)) ... which can go as high as +10% Critical Chance if wearing the Full Set (thanks to the Set 3 bonus) ... and IS destructive to game balance because it offers that buff "full time" ... just like Advanced Targeting Armor.
But then(!) ... it also comes with a proc to add an additional +5% Critical Chance on top of that ... what's the word I'm looking for here ... oh yes ... PARITY ... and you get all bent out of shape over it, ranting and raving that this would permanently destroy Ground PvP game balance for all eternity!
Yeah ... no ... I'm not buying what you're selling. Thank you for playing.
I see a min/max PvPer whining a lot. I see champagne glasses filling with QQ because it becomes theoretically possible for fleetingly brief TRANSITORY moments to stack Critical Chance very high with the formulation I've put forwards.
However, I see NO APPRECIATION on your part that such theoretical maximums are anything BUT frequent, let alone that the baseline performance level of what I've designed, absent situational factors, is very much in line with the already established game balance performance levels and norms. Therefore I see no compelling reason to continue lending your complaints the credence they might otherwise have deserved.
Thank you for playing. Good day, sir.
Protonic Kool-Aid Down The Drain Cruiser
Immortal BOff Skills combo for Ground
There is far too many +stat bonuses provided by your theoretical set. I've been attempting to have a civil conversation with you in this thread, yet you have demonstrated that you have no desire to even attempt to do so. I've taken time to sit down and present a sound argument as to why the set would be imbalanced. You've merely responded to my arguments with a condescending and heavily sarcastic tone. I didn't just start writing what I wrote without thinking. I took the time to analyze everything that you presented as a core set and I noticed an imbalance.
Yeah...you may not take me seriously, but with your actions in this thread and with the arguments I present, no dev wandering by the thread will take you seriously either. I highly doubt we will ever see a reputation set with +12.5 critical chance and +20% Critical severity on just one piece of armor. The Omega force set is designed to be the damage dealing set, yet we don't see more than +7.5 Critical chance when the full set is slotted. Advanced Targeting armor is designed to sacrifice about 40 damage resistance rating for an extra +10 Critical chance, which is why it is balanced.
--->Ground Combat General Bugs Directory
Real join date: March 2012 / PvP Veteran since May 2012 (Ground and Space)
http://starfleetprotectors.guildlaunch.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9300290
Wow, sometimes the dedication of STO fans to test things impresses me.
Maybe it would be simpler since this is only a theoretical discussion anyway to use the base stats of the Fleet advanced targeted armor if you really want the crit chance and think of another bonus like khg adrenal booster which is a heal + melee damage enhancement which would work well with both romulan/reman ground damage in the racial trait?
After all we want a good looking armor and undoubtedly some players would get it just for the looks, so anyone looked in the foundry's art assets for potential ideas? maybe mix match some screen shots in a graphics program?
ps- majortiraomega your knowledge of the ground pvp mechanics has always impressed even when you were killing me
Enjoy the game
Ah yes ... the good old "I'm pulling rank on you, AGAIN!" card. You've already played it once, and doing so didn't help you any.
Yes, yes ... you've been terribly victimized. When asked to Show Your Work you turn in an Incomplete and resort to comparing apples to oranges in order to say you were right all along. When you IMAGINE things that clearly haven't been said, it hurts your feelings to get called on it and have it pointed out for all to see (using direct quotes no less!) that you're just making stuff up.
Well, you have CONSISTENTLY made it excessively difficult for me to do so. Not just once or twice, but multiple times.
(*polite cough*)
I see what you did there. You're not fooling anyone, you know.
I'm sorry, but at this point, I really can't take your doubts seriously anymore. Good day, sir.
Protonic Kool-Aid Down The Drain Cruiser
Immortal BOff Skills combo for Ground