test content
Logo
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
Options
Sphere Builder Tech - Nice.
nikeix
Member Posts: 3,972 Arc User
Been playing with some of the goodies from the new lock box, and have to say there's a lot in there to like. 4-5 months from now the Infinity boxes are going to be a very different place. If you have some non-sphere builder goodies you've been eyeing, I encourage you to buy them sooner rather than later - this box WILL change the supply curve slightly.
The profession specific genetic resequencers? Nice. The Engineer ones do a great job of turning 'yeah-it's-there-on-my-tray' buttons into 'now...you DIE!' clickies. The science ones are also good fun (photonic ARMADA, byotch!) and the Tactical traits are good for making you feel like a stone cold killa more often without directly bumping your spike damage. I've run coordinated targeting solution on my Tactical captain whose supposed to be a fleet strategy badass, and it does the job playing up that multi-ship mastermind feel. Good day to die + Last Ditch effort give Tac captains some very Engi-like survival tools and put one of your big damage buffs where you can use it up front instead of never at all. All in all a pretty good counterstroke against the existing meta of Eng<Sci<Tac. Can't wait to see them hit the Infinity box and start to really proliferate into the general populace.
Ground-side I've only tried out the new Engineer ability - Explosive Probe. Its not going to redefine your experience, but it's certainly good. If you have any kind of Xindi theme going for you or your foot soldiers, its a great nod to the Xindi's particular flavor in design. But just looking at Repulsor Burst... Iron Man fans rejoice!
The new any-ship console. Ok, put simply? PURE LOVE. The Delphic Tear Generator console delivers +20% Bonus Exotic Damage (cat 2) & +5% Critical Severity. You could stop right there because that's an sweet deal even if its only other effect was to make your ship's farts smell like roses (which oddly enough IS what the Vizier's ship trait does...). But my hands-on with the clicky itself? This is what I'd always dreamed the various 'lance' abilities would be. For six seconds you absolutely pound the ever-living snot out of everything in a large cone with FX that make you feel like you're a dimension-shredding badass. It is simply one of the most satisfying attacks in the game for me. Plus it synergizes delightfully with its own console bonus and all the bonuses you've likely already been stacking on any ship you'd install it on.
But what I'm really pondering now its the Delphic Antiproton weapons. Especially maybe fitting a science ship with front-and-rear all turrets or front single cannons/rear turrets. Single cannons/turrets have the distinction of being the best proc-triggering loadout due to their short cycle time. More cycles, more rolls to proc. Plus your directed energy damage is probably shorted anyway in favor of space magic so its not like the lower base damage is cutting into your real damage total all that much. Being able to fire all six of your weapons in every direction every second does not suck. But why this catches my eye is the Delphic APs are maybe the only weapon where the directed energy procs boost your exotic abilities. For the first time, your weapons can be more that just the bowl of peach cobbler served after the main course - they can actually season the roast. Its Turkey Day, and dammit, I'm gonna make food analogies
. But bottom line: if you do Exotic damage as your day job, give these a cold hard look - they may be the best thing you've ever seen. Edit: alas, on closer inspection the proc is limited to weapon attack rolls only. So still pretty nifty, but not game changing. Probably just as well 
.
And while its not directly IN the Sphere Builder lock boxes, I splurged and picked up the three Sphere Builder lobi-store items for my main (dual beam, torp, console). They're good enough to make me seriously rethink my entire build to better exploit them. The torp write up really undersells it as the short description doesn't mention the special firing mode. First few times I read it I was thinking "well that sounds like the most boring torpedo ever. Why am I paying 200 lobi again?" Turns out Torpedo: High Yield (including the bonus T:HY you get from cycling the dual beam bank 10 times) makes it spit double the normal number of non-destructible warheads. Thing is a single target alpha-strike murdering BEAST, and it strings out the impacts over a couple of seconds so it drills through torp-hit immunity. To quote Trinity: dodge this... BANG!
Anyway, happy We Have Much To Be Thankful For Day and keep firing everything!
The profession specific genetic resequencers? Nice. The Engineer ones do a great job of turning 'yeah-it's-there-on-my-tray' buttons into 'now...you DIE!' clickies. The science ones are also good fun (photonic ARMADA, byotch!) and the Tactical traits are good for making you feel like a stone cold killa more often without directly bumping your spike damage. I've run coordinated targeting solution on my Tactical captain whose supposed to be a fleet strategy badass, and it does the job playing up that multi-ship mastermind feel. Good day to die + Last Ditch effort give Tac captains some very Engi-like survival tools and put one of your big damage buffs where you can use it up front instead of never at all. All in all a pretty good counterstroke against the existing meta of Eng<Sci<Tac. Can't wait to see them hit the Infinity box and start to really proliferate into the general populace.
Ground-side I've only tried out the new Engineer ability - Explosive Probe. Its not going to redefine your experience, but it's certainly good. If you have any kind of Xindi theme going for you or your foot soldiers, its a great nod to the Xindi's particular flavor in design. But just looking at Repulsor Burst... Iron Man fans rejoice!
The new any-ship console. Ok, put simply? PURE LOVE. The Delphic Tear Generator console delivers +20% Bonus Exotic Damage (cat 2) & +5% Critical Severity. You could stop right there because that's an sweet deal even if its only other effect was to make your ship's farts smell like roses (which oddly enough IS what the Vizier's ship trait does...). But my hands-on with the clicky itself? This is what I'd always dreamed the various 'lance' abilities would be. For six seconds you absolutely pound the ever-living snot out of everything in a large cone with FX that make you feel like you're a dimension-shredding badass. It is simply one of the most satisfying attacks in the game for me. Plus it synergizes delightfully with its own console bonus and all the bonuses you've likely already been stacking on any ship you'd install it on.
But what I'm really pondering now its the Delphic Antiproton weapons. Especially maybe fitting a science ship with front-and-rear all turrets or front single cannons/rear turrets. Single cannons/turrets have the distinction of being the best proc-triggering loadout due to their short cycle time. More cycles, more rolls to proc. Plus your directed energy damage is probably shorted anyway in favor of space magic so its not like the lower base damage is cutting into your real damage total all that much. Being able to fire all six of your weapons in every direction every second does not suck. But why this catches my eye is the Delphic APs are maybe the only weapon where the directed energy procs boost your exotic abilities. For the first time, your weapons can be more that just the bowl of peach cobbler served after the main course - they can actually season the roast. Its Turkey Day, and dammit, I'm gonna make food analogies
. But bottom line: if you do Exotic damage as your day job, give these a cold hard look - they may be the best thing you've ever seen. Edit: alas, on closer inspection the proc is limited to weapon attack rolls only. So still pretty nifty, but not game changing. Probably just as well .And while its not directly IN the Sphere Builder lock boxes, I splurged and picked up the three Sphere Builder lobi-store items for my main (dual beam, torp, console). They're good enough to make me seriously rethink my entire build to better exploit them. The torp write up really undersells it as the short description doesn't mention the special firing mode. First few times I read it I was thinking "well that sounds like the most boring torpedo ever. Why am I paying 200 lobi again?" Turns out Torpedo: High Yield (including the bonus T:HY you get from cycling the dual beam bank 10 times) makes it spit double the normal number of non-destructible warheads. Thing is a single target alpha-strike murdering BEAST, and it strings out the impacts over a couple of seconds so it drills through torp-hit immunity. To quote Trinity: dodge this... BANG!
Anyway, happy We Have Much To Be Thankful For Day and keep firing everything!
Post edited by nikeix on
0
Comments
oh, you know THAT's going to turn out to be a bug, especially if it isn't mentioned in the description anywhere
#LegalizeAwoo
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
"We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
No... It's deliberate. It's buried in the long text description. Its just not in the pop-up window
I was seduced by the promo pic of the weapon showing wisps of energy flowing out of the blaster, THIS NEVER HAPPENS! Everything to do with this Lobi store item is a lie. all it does is fire very weak partially-phased blobs of gentleman's relish haphazardly towards your enemy. Honestly, throwing a custard pie would have more effect.
If you are looking for a lobi weapon, go with the Boolean cannon, energy whip, or the herald purple stick of death, avoid the hand blaster, bloody useless thing.
Well if you have an alt modlelled on Richard Simmons, then the Delphic Handblaster would be a perfect weapon to suit.
The ship weapons have been quite good so far but they're also broken: you can't use beam overload with them.
The tac trait is just fantastic, as is the ground module. It doesn't look impressive but it really hits hard.
I've seen this. It tends to happen when there's a lot going on behind the torpedo from the player's perspective.
Speaking of the torpedo, I don't know if firing a salvo of six instead of three does any more damage but it certainly looks impressive.
Also I took the opportunity to get some more science and engineering space traits.
I had the feeling that the ships didn't end up all that popular, and if there's any reason for that, I'd say it's looks, not mechanics. The looks are why I didn't even really consider them. Even though I might have liked getting that Charged Particuel Burst trait. Many years ago, shield draining was a very viable build for PvP (not so great for PVE). With the Buff and traits for Tachyon Beam and the new cHarged Particle Burst, maybe there could be a return. But buying an ugly lockbox ship just for a trait? Meh ...
That console though... I picked up a second Delphic Tear and added it to my black magic Paradox... Holy snot on fire, each pulse of that thing hits like a truck. If you've got any sort of exotic/radiation build it just slots right in.
Yeah... I'm generally open minded about ship designs and like the variety, but I didn't expect those to be hot sellers. I'd kinda like the dreadnought just because I enjoy carrier gameplay (and I likely will have the frigates for once the infinity box updates). But not enough to even remotely consider 'first run prices'. It'll drop to diddly squat in a few months and I may pick it up then.
I managed to snap this happening: