My suggestion for the HBA. One shot that lasts a full second. Half second charge. That's it's entire firing cycle. For BFAW, cut the beam duration in have, but make it to where only one beam lances out at a time. It still hits two targets, but it hits them one at a time. Obviously with a little less damage, since the beam's attack length is halved. This way, it can look like how it did in TNG, which I'm thinking a lot of cruiser caps would like, it hits harder than standard beam arrays, and at the same time, it's still balanced out.
How does that sound?
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My name is Rage, and I too support a revised Galaxy family.
As long as the heavy beams were balanced towards beams like DHC are balanced towards DC I would be ok with it.
again, this would benefit escorts more than cruisers...imagine an escort decloaking unleashing a BO3 with that kind of beam weapon.
cruisers are not meant for dealing burst dmg, it is not their role in this game.
About time an Alexindacobra: "It's time for X to be put into the game" thread appeared. It's been what, 3 months since the last one? More? Ok, that aside, here are my thoughts.
1) Again with the wall of text. You need to work on that bro. Makes it a pain to understand some of your threads. Spread it out, make it easier to comprehend for someone who doesn't want to have to use their mouse to follow where they're reading.
2) Firing arc vs damage. That's how this game has always been. Highest damage weapons have the lowest firing arcs. That is actually balanced.
3) BFAW + APB cruisers/dreadnoughts now rule the DPS roost. It kinda nullifies your comment about how BAs are lackluster. Hell, I don't even run Aux2bat and my BA Odyssey usually comes in first or second in total damage output in a lot of content, to say nothing of damage taken.
So as much as I do agree said idea would be cool, it's not exactly necessary, and tbh, it does help escorts and warbirds more than cruisers (which seems to be what you were going for, the cruisers that is). Sorry.
It is said the best weapon is one that is never fired. I disagree. The best weapon is one you only have to fire... once.
About time an Alexindacobra: "It's time for X to be put into the game" thread appeared. It's been what, 3 months since the last one? More? Ok, that aside, here are my thoughts.
This is the only problem with your suggestion. The arc of a weapon is based on it's damage potential. The more damage a weapon does, the smaller it's arc must be. Turrets have the lowest damage because they have the greatest arc (360 degrees), then arrays (250 degrees), then cannons (180 degrees), then dual beam banks (90 degrees) and finally dual cannons/dual heavy cannons at 45 degrees. Also, any weapons with less than 180 degree arcs are limited to forward hardpoints only.
I like the idea of heavy beams, and I think it'd be great if they used an effect similar to the TOS phaser arrays (where the beam is actually two beams very close to one another). I'm in agreement that cannons should not hold the highest damage output potential, as it greatly limits ships that want to go with a more classic beam setup (and those that cannot equip cannons). You just have to make them balanced.
Personally, I think we need two more types of weapons in this game:
1) Heavy Beam Arrays
45 degree firing arc
front only hardpoints
Equivalent damage to dual cannons (dual heavy cannons do the same damage as dual cannons, they simply have a different firing rate)
That's old pooy that the game was first designed on. Weapons that only have 45 Degree arcs are typicly designed for escorts or ships with extra manuverability. I am not trying to give escorts more weapons that is just esclusive for them. Thats why cannons can only be placed on the front of certain ships. A cruiser can't move the same way and spend most of its time fighting an escort from behind because an escort can ride in the back arc while the cruiser slow turns. Heavy Beams will change how people fight eachother and will no longer give onesided advantantages to manuverable ships.
Cannons are meant to hit the most...thats the point...the reason escorts fly cannons is because its the most dps...cruisers use beams and already hit enough with the FAW bug, I really dont need them one-shotting my cruiser just cuz theyre bigger. Maybe add graphics. NO DAMAGE
The FAW a bug on only certain ships because it don't put out much damage for me. Escorts also now hull tank and shield tank which has broken the class bounderies for ship roles that the Devs first boasted about at the game's begining. Now that they have already broken their guidelines, they might as well give DPS to cruisers. Most PVP match records show escort players with 12 or more kills and 0 deaths. The 0 deaths come from them tanking. Escorts not only tank against cruisers but tank against eachother. They already have their cake and eating it, too.
If you want only escorts to have the high DPS then you got to give up tanking period with the big self healing gear. I doubt the Devs are going to go back and erase gear and rewrite the game to follow the old guideline, so all they can do to even things out is bring firepower to the less manuverable ship as well so crusers can enjoy tanking and killng. I didn't say anything about heavy beams one shoting other players but I did want them to one shot shuttle pets.
at this point i'd really wish they would just implement such a weapon just to see how long it would take people to realise how overpowered it would be...and how many restriction would follow for this weapon to balance it out again.
With the insane power overcapping one can make use of in the current game meta mixed with BFAW eptw and APB cruisers can lay down the highest and hardest aoe dps
Beams arrays are the easiest weapons to use
Dual beam arrays are heavy beam arrays but due to their limited arc aren't as effective
Canon and the shows have very little input into how the game works at the core it is a game based off the shows not a simulator based around the shows if it did gameplay would be mostly ground very slow and evolve around exploration nobody wants to do that do they?
Dual beams are disigned for the escorts that why thier arcs are 90 degrees. They don't even fire out of the cruiser's physical weapon hardpoints. They fire off the leading eadge where there is no array or banks. Dual Beams fire higher DPS than single cannons. I said make single Heavy beams should fire DPS like the single cannons. The single cannons have a 180 Degree arc which is good but don't look right firing from the ventral part of a cruiser.
I like the heavy beam array idea, sort of a counderpart to the DHC but not exactly since it's on the wide arc rather than the narrow arc, where the BA fires 4 shots, the HBA fires 2 that do twice the damage, so volley damage is higher but DPS is the same (possibly has increased proc rate).
Also add omnidirectional beam array. Having the same arc as turrets, it should also have a similar DPS.
At the same time rework beam abilities a bit. First off FAW is great and all, but FAW I actually lowers single target DPS slightly (not that it bothers me too much), but the main problem is the beamspam pisses off everything and with too many targets only succeeds in lightly scratching the paint by only tagging each one once or twice. Change it so that when FAW is active, one of the two beams from each array always goes to the primary target and there can only be 2-4 other ships as targets (though any number of fighters mines and torps). HBA would fire 3 shots with FAW
BO is great for spike damage, but again has DPS problems, depending on your build it can reduce DPS (depends how fast you recover that power). I'd actually love to see the spike and power usage drop just a bit but have it affect all arrays like FAW does, so when you hit BO every array gives a single large blast of a bit more damage than they usually give over their duration. Try to turn it into a better single target DPS like CRF is. (they could also just add another beam ability as the single target DPS, but there's already 6 beam abilities, speaking of which no idea what to say about target subsystem other than give SVs mark II instead of I)
Also there's special dual cannons: the quad cannons (taken from the defiant on DS9), as sort of the beam version of that (and similarly a unique item restricted to one a ship) I have a couple ideas.
First, inspired from ships like the Intrepid, Nova and Prometheus which have their dorsal saucer array bisected: the dual beam array. Has the same arc as a traditional array but in the side arcs has a bit lower DPS; at targets in the forward arc, however, it fires 2 beams doing slightly more damage than DBBs but also draws twice the power.
The second is inspired by this talk of a broadside cruiser: a beam array with damage more comparable to the cannon but can ONLY fire to the sides, it's missing the forward (or aft) 55 degree arc
I was asking fror Heavy beams to compet with single cannons because you can army single cannons on any ship but is doesn't look right firing from a cruiser that is supposed to be firing beams. I am trying to make the game feel like Star Trek and not Star Wars. For gamers thats looking for all cannons on everything , they are not Star Trek fans, they just want to shoot up everything as fast as the can. I mentioned only Daul Heavy should compete with DHC's. Dual connons have less DPS than Dual Heavy Cannons but they fire faster and longer. Dual heavy Beams would fire slower than Dual beams. I want Heavy beams to replace the single cannons that i have mounted on my PVP cruiser. Faw, right now, don't compete well agains RCF 1,2, or 3 because its not single targeted. Its only good to take out pets or mines. FAW only rapid fires on a one vs one situation which is rare in PVP.
Well FAW should really be the equivalent to CSV, ie. it is a multitarget damage spread. It's working fine right now for that function. I should also note FAW III DOES raise your single target damage if there isn't too much around to draw the shots away from your target.
CRF does lack an equivalent, again, I think BO should fill this role a bit better, or otherwise we should get another ability that does (but I think the latter may be going a bit overboard since we already have 6 beam abilities).
As for heavy beams, if something is in the 90 degree front arc, it is not competing with single cannons, it's more competing with duals. Personally, I don't think it's necessary or good to add a beam that has a 180 degree, and beams already compete with cannons since the extra weapons in a broadside adds a bit more damage. Heavy beams would be cool, but arguably, the only thing we really NEED are 360 degree beams.
We don't need the weapon types to be homogenous at all. I do agree that I think it's odd seeing cannons all over the place, I personally put beams on my escorts (except the defiant) for this reason, but this IS a game, and an RPG type rather an a simulation type.
Well FAW should really be the equivalent to CSV, ie. it is a multitarget damage spread. It's working fine right now for that function. I should also note FAW III DOES raise your single target damage if there isn't too much around to draw the shots away from your target.
CRF does lack an equivalent, again, I think BO should fill this role a bit better, or otherwise we should get another ability that does (but I think the latter may be going a bit overboard since we already have 6 beam abilities).
As for heavy beams, if something is in the 90 degree front arc, it is not competing with single cannons, it's more competing with duals. Personally, I don't think it's necessary or good to add a beam that has a 180 degree, and beams already compete with cannons since the extra weapons in a broadside adds a bit more damage. Heavy beams would be cool, but arguably, the only thing we really NEED are 360 degree beams.
We don't need the weapon types to be homogenous at all. I do agree that I think it's odd seeing cannons all over the place, I personally put beams on my escorts (except the defiant) for this reason, but this IS a game, and an RPG type rather an a simulation type.
The problem with high 3rd level Tac abilities like FAW 3 is that they are only available to escorts or battlecruisers. That doesn't help most cruisers in firepower at all. Heavy beams would at least give cruiser with slow turnrates some teeth in the rear of the ship because torps don't work much in PVP.
Odyssey, Excelsior, Regent and Fleet version of them are 3 Cruisers with a Lt.Com Tac station.
Admittedly BFAW2 & AP:B2 are a better combination than AP:B1 & BFAW3.
I was once DKnight1000, apparently I had taken my own name so now I'm DKnight0001. If I ask you a question it is not an insult but a genuine attempt to understand why. When I insult you I won't be discreet about it, I will be precise and to the point stupid.
The problem with high 3rd level Tac abilities like FAW 3 is that they are only available to escorts or battlecruisers. That doesn't help most cruisers in firepower at all. Heavy beams would at least give cruiser with slow turnrates some teeth in the rear of the ship because torps don't work much in PVP.
You're right not every cruiser can use FAW 3, but there's more than a few that can as well as a few science vessels that can as well.
Again, though, note that FAW is a multi target attack, so single target damage shouldn't be a priority with that anyways, just a happy bonus.
Cannon boats aren't as good as you think. Don't get me wrong, they have a lot of powerful builds. But it would have to be a case of having dual heavies in every slot to be an effective apples to apples comparison to your cruiser with beams fore and aft. Such as it is escorts have cannons up front, which do more than beams. But they also have to use turrets in the back, that do less than beams. Basically escorts have the best weapons on one side and the weakest on the other while cruisers have a middle ground between the two on each. Then when you throw abilities like beam fire at will in that scale differently or better than cannons and pretty quick it becomes more murky as for which is "better".
Cannon boats aren't as good as you think. Don't get me wrong, they have a lot of powerful builds. But it would have to be a case of having dual heavies in every slot to be an effective apples to apples comparison to your cruiser with beams fore and aft. Such as it is escorts have cannons up front, which do more than beams. But they also have to use turrets in the back, that do less than beams. Basically escorts have the best weapons on one side and the weakest on the other while cruisers have a middle ground between the two on each. Then when you throw abilities like beam fire at will in that scale differently or better than cannons and pretty quick it becomes more murky as for which is "better".
The reason escorts use turets are because they are so fast that you rarely ever get to attack them from behind.
Heavy beams would help address problems for all cruisers, not just the new ones that some people are continue to try to push on us. I am not buying a ship just because of its, BOFF setup. For me, I buy the canon cruisers from the show first, then I buy ships that I like the look of. When just like Dual beams come on many escorts by default, like Prometheous, Chimera, etc., heavy beams should come by default on cruisers sporting physical arrays like Ambassador, Galaxy, Nebula, Intrepid, Sovereign, and of course the new cruisers that have arrays visible.
I'm surprised by the amount of hate there is for having a new type of beam array? Personally, I think the Aux2Bat with Marion/Technician DOFF's has done more harm than good for cruiser captains. If you look on the exchange, a Marion DOFF will set you back about 30 million EC at least and then you can look to spend another 60 million EC getting the three very rare technician DOFF's. I'm sorry, but that is way above my budget and I imagine many other players. This means that a much smaller portion of the player base can do high DPS with their cruisers, while the Joe Blogs escort captain can do much higher sustained DPS with much less hassle.
Bring the Marion DOFF into line with that is acceptable and not frankly a tad OP, leave Aux2Bat as it is for technician DOFF's. Then, and only then I think will a heavier beam array type be more appreciated as the tactical captains in their JHAS's won't cry foul because they're not king of the hill anymore.
Personally speaking, I'd like to see what someone suggested a while back. A heavy beam array could do similar base damage to the current beam array (like dual cannons are to dual heavy) but have only one shot instead of 3 or 4 per cycle with a higher chance for CritH/CritD with the effect lasting a second longer than the quick pew pew of the current beams. Let them have a charge up like BO and make them look like they pack a punch. With a higher base energy drain rate they would be better suited to Engineer's who can boost their power levels better and not give escorts a new "I win" button. I think it's pretty clear for most to see that there is a glaring hole in the variety of beam weapons when compared to cannons and turrets, now is a good time to start planning to fill that gap with the first 360 degree beam turret with the Obelisk carrier.
On another note, if you're REALLY against a heavy beam array... think about this instead:
We all know that the Galaxy/Nebula have a large phaser array. These consist of many emitters linked together. So, how's about we think of it a bit like this:
You have a cruiser, say again for example a Galaxy which has 4 fore weapon slots. You can put 1 Phaser Beam Array in there and it will do it's thing as usual. However, why not introduce a new "weapon" which act's a bit like a tactical console which boosts certain stats for energy weapons on that forward section. Could go like this:
So we have one beam array, which has it's normal stats but can do higher damage per shot or have higher CritH/CritD/Acc etc per shot making it more like a heavy beam array.
Just my 2p.
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Cannons are meant to hit the most...thats the point...the reason escorts fly cannons is because its the most dps...cruisers use beams and already hit enough with the FAW bug, I really dont need them one-shotting my cruiser just cuz theyre bigger. Maybe add graphics. NO DAMAGE
Well, logically it makes sense that bigger ships have higher damage output and more powerful weapons. That's the whole point of making ships so big. If it were possible to put huge, high damage weapons on tiny ships there'd be no need for cruiser type ships. I also agree that, for game purposes, there does have to be a balance so escorts aren't being blown away in every engagement.
I would say, heavy beams, same damage as dual beams, firing arc of regular beams, but lower accuracy. Lower fire rate, probably that of dual cannons.
As far as changing the effects goes, I'd rather see something more like the show, where ships only fire 1 beam, but it changes in intensity and duration depending on the power put into it. I would argue that instead of having 8 beams firing at once (which adds to some of the lag and graphics problems) have 1 beam, that does the same damage, but lasts longer, and does that damage every second for however long, and has 360 degree firing, so its not firing from random places on ships (usually through nacelles and pylons).
Cannon boats aren't as good as you think. Don't get me wrong, they have a lot of powerful builds. But it would have to be a case of having dual heavies in every slot to be an effective apples to apples comparison to your cruiser with beams fore and aft. Such as it is escorts have cannons up front, which do more than beams. But they also have to use turrets in the back, that do less than beams. Basically escorts have the best weapons on one side and the weakest on the other while cruisers have a middle ground between the two on each. Then when you throw abilities like beam fire at will in that scale differently or better than cannons and pretty quick it becomes more murky as for which is "better".
Escorts shouldn't even slot turrets any more unless they literally have nothing else to slot. No point. Mines and KCB (and now the Omni Antirproton beam for those that use AP) are better suited to the task of Aft weapons for extremely maneuverable escorts.
Heck, some among my fleet have even started going back to aft torpedoes just for the heck of it. Specially those in Fleet Defiants, who get to use their Ensign tac without really giving up anything worthwhile.
Well, logically it makes sense that bigger ships have higher damage output and more powerful weapons. That's the whole point of making ships so big. If it were possible to put huge, high damage weapons on tiny ships there'd be no need for cruiser type ships. I also agree that, for game purposes, there does have to be a balance so escorts aren't being blown away in every engagement.
I would say, heavy beams, same damage as dual beams, firing arc of regular beams, but lower accuracy. Lower fire rate, probably that of dual cannons.
Why should they be less accurate? You are already wanting to slow the rate of fire.
Escorts shouldn't even slot turrets any more unless they literally have nothing else to slot. No point. Mines and KCB (and now the Omni Antirproton beam for those that use AP) are better suited to the task of Aft weapons for extremely maneuverable escorts.
Heck, some among my fleet have even started going back to aft torpedoes just for the heck of it. Specially those in Fleet Defiants, who get to use their Ensign tac without really giving up anything worthwhile.
Add to that the fact that escorts are fast and maneuverable enough to keep its target in the FA most of the time that having to shoot a weapon in the rear arc is an afterthought.
ok, in that case it would only mean that certain battle cruisers would become the prefered ship in sto.
meaning that with heavy beams, you wouldn't do anything for the majority of cruisers out there, but only a selected few, which are already the number one choice among cruisers and infact are more than competitive when it comes to dps.
the restriction of D(H)C to escorts and certain cruisers is dumb anyway. Everybody dumb enough to use DHC on his 6 turnrate cruiser should have the freedom to do so. (actually it is not even dumb in PVE)
more so for science ships and the idiotic feature of "target subsystems" (only with beams, why??)
so 3 things i'd like to see in space combat are:
a)360 degree beams
b)all type of energy weapons do significantly less dmg to hull, in order to make the use of torps viable
c)no weapon restrictions for cruisers and sci vessels. It is already balanced through turnrate
c1)target subsystem available for all weapon types, including torps and mines.
somebody also mentioned to give beam arrays an ACC bonus similar like DHC have 10% crtD, also a valid idea imo.
so 3 things i'd like to see in space combat are:
a)360 degree beams
b)all type of energy weapons do significantly less dmg to hull, in order to make the use of torps viable
c)no weapon restrictions for cruisers and sci vessels. It is already balanced through turnrate
c1)target subsystem available for all weapon types, including torps and mines.
somebody also mentioned to give beam arrays an ACC bonus similar like DHC have 10% crtD, also a valid idea imo.
a) There's one but I agree I should be able to get a Beam of any type in 360.
b) Bring back Torpedoes as viable I like it.
c) Once again I agree, and the Ha'Nom has a Cloak and Dual Cannons.
c.1) OK I'm all for subsystem targeting applying to the next weapon, be it Beam, Cannon or Torpedo. But seriously Mines?
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My name is Rage, and I too support a revised Galaxy family.
again, this would benefit escorts more than cruisers...imagine an escort decloaking unleashing a BO3 with that kind of beam weapon.
cruisers are not meant for dealing burst dmg, it is not their role in this game.
1) Again with the wall of text. You need to work on that bro. Makes it a pain to understand some of your threads. Spread it out, make it easier to comprehend for someone who doesn't want to have to use their mouse to follow where they're reading.
2) Firing arc vs damage. That's how this game has always been. Highest damage weapons have the lowest firing arcs. That is actually balanced.
3) BFAW + APB cruisers/dreadnoughts now rule the DPS roost. It kinda nullifies your comment about how BAs are lackluster. Hell, I don't even run Aux2bat and my BA Odyssey usually comes in first or second in total damage output in a lot of content, to say nothing of damage taken.
So as much as I do agree said idea would be cool, it's not exactly necessary, and tbh, it does help escorts and warbirds more than cruisers (which seems to be what you were going for, the cruisers that is). Sorry.
nope, you missed 2
That's old pooy that the game was first designed on. Weapons that only have 45 Degree arcs are typicly designed for escorts or ships with extra manuverability. I am not trying to give escorts more weapons that is just esclusive for them. Thats why cannons can only be placed on the front of certain ships. A cruiser can't move the same way and spend most of its time fighting an escort from behind because an escort can ride in the back arc while the cruiser slow turns. Heavy Beams will change how people fight eachother and will no longer give onesided advantantages to manuverable ships.
The FAW a bug on only certain ships because it don't put out much damage for me. Escorts also now hull tank and shield tank which has broken the class bounderies for ship roles that the Devs first boasted about at the game's begining. Now that they have already broken their guidelines, they might as well give DPS to cruisers. Most PVP match records show escort players with 12 or more kills and 0 deaths. The 0 deaths come from them tanking. Escorts not only tank against cruisers but tank against eachother. They already have their cake and eating it, too.
If you want only escorts to have the high DPS then you got to give up tanking period with the big self healing gear. I doubt the Devs are going to go back and erase gear and rewrite the game to follow the old guideline, so all they can do to even things out is bring firepower to the less manuverable ship as well so crusers can enjoy tanking and killng. I didn't say anything about heavy beams one shoting other players but I did want them to one shot shuttle pets.
Dual beams are disigned for the escorts that why thier arcs are 90 degrees. They don't even fire out of the cruiser's physical weapon hardpoints. They fire off the leading eadge where there is no array or banks. Dual Beams fire higher DPS than single cannons. I said make single Heavy beams should fire DPS like the single cannons. The single cannons have a 180 Degree arc which is good but don't look right firing from the ventral part of a cruiser.
I was asking fror Heavy beams to compet with single cannons because you can army single cannons on any ship but is doesn't look right firing from a cruiser that is supposed to be firing beams. I am trying to make the game feel like Star Trek and not Star Wars. For gamers thats looking for all cannons on everything , they are not Star Trek fans, they just want to shoot up everything as fast as the can. I mentioned only Daul Heavy should compete with DHC's. Dual connons have less DPS than Dual Heavy Cannons but they fire faster and longer. Dual heavy Beams would fire slower than Dual beams. I want Heavy beams to replace the single cannons that i have mounted on my PVP cruiser. Faw, right now, don't compete well agains RCF 1,2, or 3 because its not single targeted. Its only good to take out pets or mines. FAW only rapid fires on a one vs one situation which is rare in PVP.
CRF does lack an equivalent, again, I think BO should fill this role a bit better, or otherwise we should get another ability that does (but I think the latter may be going a bit overboard since we already have 6 beam abilities).
As for heavy beams, if something is in the 90 degree front arc, it is not competing with single cannons, it's more competing with duals. Personally, I don't think it's necessary or good to add a beam that has a 180 degree, and beams already compete with cannons since the extra weapons in a broadside adds a bit more damage. Heavy beams would be cool, but arguably, the only thing we really NEED are 360 degree beams.
We don't need the weapon types to be homogenous at all. I do agree that I think it's odd seeing cannons all over the place, I personally put beams on my escorts (except the defiant) for this reason, but this IS a game, and an RPG type rather an a simulation type.
The problem with high 3rd level Tac abilities like FAW 3 is that they are only available to escorts or battlecruisers. That doesn't help most cruisers in firepower at all. Heavy beams would at least give cruiser with slow turnrates some teeth in the rear of the ship because torps don't work much in PVP.
Admittedly BFAW2 & AP:B2 are a better combination than AP:B1 & BFAW3.
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When I insult you I won't be discreet about it, I will be precise and to the point stupid.
You're right not every cruiser can use FAW 3, but there's more than a few that can as well as a few science vessels that can as well.
Again, though, note that FAW is a multi target attack, so single target damage shouldn't be a priority with that anyways, just a happy bonus.
The reason escorts use turets are because they are so fast that you rarely ever get to attack them from behind.
I wish they would come up with a new beam BOFF power that is rapid fire for single target that could compete with RCF.
Bring the Marion DOFF into line with that is acceptable and not frankly a tad OP, leave Aux2Bat as it is for technician DOFF's. Then, and only then I think will a heavier beam array type be more appreciated as the tactical captains in their JHAS's won't cry foul because they're not king of the hill anymore.
Personally speaking, I'd like to see what someone suggested a while back. A heavy beam array could do similar base damage to the current beam array (like dual cannons are to dual heavy) but have only one shot instead of 3 or 4 per cycle with a higher chance for CritH/CritD with the effect lasting a second longer than the quick pew pew of the current beams. Let them have a charge up like BO and make them look like they pack a punch. With a higher base energy drain rate they would be better suited to Engineer's who can boost their power levels better and not give escorts a new "I win" button. I think it's pretty clear for most to see that there is a glaring hole in the variety of beam weapons when compared to cannons and turrets, now is a good time to start planning to fill that gap with the first 360 degree beam turret with the Obelisk carrier.
On another note, if you're REALLY against a heavy beam array... think about this instead:
We all know that the Galaxy/Nebula have a large phaser array. These consist of many emitters linked together. So, how's about we think of it a bit like this:
You have a cruiser, say again for example a Galaxy which has 4 fore weapon slots. You can put 1 Phaser Beam Array in there and it will do it's thing as usual. However, why not introduce a new "weapon" which act's a bit like a tactical console which boosts certain stats for energy weapons on that forward section. Could go like this:
Fore - | Photon Torpedo | Phaser Beam Array | Phaser Emitter | Phaser Emitter |
So we have one beam array, which has it's normal stats but can do higher damage per shot or have higher CritH/CritD/Acc etc per shot making it more like a heavy beam array.
Just my 2p.
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Well, logically it makes sense that bigger ships have higher damage output and more powerful weapons. That's the whole point of making ships so big. If it were possible to put huge, high damage weapons on tiny ships there'd be no need for cruiser type ships. I also agree that, for game purposes, there does have to be a balance so escorts aren't being blown away in every engagement.
I would say, heavy beams, same damage as dual beams, firing arc of regular beams, but lower accuracy. Lower fire rate, probably that of dual cannons.
Not if it was a cruiser only weapon
Escorts shouldn't even slot turrets any more unless they literally have nothing else to slot. No point. Mines and KCB (and now the Omni Antirproton beam for those that use AP) are better suited to the task of Aft weapons for extremely maneuverable escorts.
Heck, some among my fleet have even started going back to aft torpedoes just for the heck of it. Specially those in Fleet Defiants, who get to use their Ensign tac without really giving up anything worthwhile.
Why should they be less accurate? You are already wanting to slow the rate of fire.
Add to that the fact that escorts are fast and maneuverable enough to keep its target in the FA most of the time that having to shoot a weapon in the rear arc is an afterthought.
ok, in that case it would only mean that certain battle cruisers would become the prefered ship in sto.
meaning that with heavy beams, you wouldn't do anything for the majority of cruisers out there, but only a selected few, which are already the number one choice among cruisers and infact are more than competitive when it comes to dps.
the restriction of D(H)C to escorts and certain cruisers is dumb anyway. Everybody dumb enough to use DHC on his 6 turnrate cruiser should have the freedom to do so. (actually it is not even dumb in PVE)
more so for science ships and the idiotic feature of "target subsystems" (only with beams, why??)
so 3 things i'd like to see in space combat are:
a)360 degree beams
b)all type of energy weapons do significantly less dmg to hull, in order to make the use of torps viable
c)no weapon restrictions for cruisers and sci vessels. It is already balanced through turnrate
c1)target subsystem available for all weapon types, including torps and mines.
somebody also mentioned to give beam arrays an ACC bonus similar like DHC have 10% crtD, also a valid idea imo.
a) There's one but I agree I should be able to get a Beam of any type in 360.
b) Bring back Torpedoes as viable I like it.
c) Once again I agree, and the Ha'Nom has a Cloak and Dual Cannons.
c.1) OK I'm all for subsystem targeting applying to the next weapon, be it Beam, Cannon or Torpedo. But seriously Mines?
If I ask you a question it is not an insult but a genuine attempt to understand why.
When I insult you I won't be discreet about it, I will be precise and to the point stupid.