Judging by the patch notes so far, the Devs disagree. "Temperance, thy sword be 'normalization' and it cuts with both edges. Nerfing the excessive, Buffing the down-trodden."
I hadn't encountered much criticism of cannon builds before, but now I am starting to wonder if there is a trend towards this.
Now personally, I am a beamboat captain, but only for the reason I keep spinning my ship like a top, so forward facing weapons not a good idea as the front of the ship is rarely facing the target.
And also, being a cruiser captain, most cruisers can't equip cannons anyway, so the decision was made for me.
I have used cannons on my escorts though, just because I thought they were made for that weapon platform.
But generally, I follow a principle a friend told me several times when someone gets in your face about your build being "wrong": It's my character and I can do whatever the heck I like with it.
Bees like honey, they don't like vinegar.
Everytime someone makes a character that is an copy of an existing superhuman, Creativity is sad
Nerf beams and FAW into the ground, I went on sto reddit builds and asked about a cannon build and every single reply was dont use cannons only use beams and FAW.
We're at a point where you use a beam boat or nothing.
Perhaps going to Reddit was your only mistake there.
See, I didn't go there, use cannons and have great results with them. Pehaps 180k+ is not great for some but I must tell you it's great enough for all the content this game throws at me!
For the new Tzenkethi maps and their way of fighting I claim cannons even better than beams for a change. If you approach them from the right angle you basically shredder them like buttah.
Nerfing the mechanics behind FAW only means nerf the same mechanics that make cannons viable.
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Perhaps going to Reddit was your only mistake there.
I disagree. Reddit's /r/stobuilds is probably one of the best places to get proper build advice around. There is hardly any misinformation there and anything wrong or fallacious is quickly corrected by people who know better. I am a regular there, and I have never seen anyone of good reputation/standing in that community say not to use cannons and stick to beams and FAW. The only time I've seen such advice was when someone was trying to build a cannon ship out of a very slow cruiser, in which case I would say that advice was sound.
Perhaps going to Reddit was your only mistake there.
I disagree. Reddit's /r/stobuilds is probably one of the best places to get proper build advice around. There is hardly any misinformation there and anything wrong or fallacious is quickly corrected by people who know better. I am a regular there, and I have never seen anyone of good reputation/standing in that community say not to use cannons and stick to beams and FAW. The only time I've seen such advice was when someone was trying to build a cannon ship out of a very slow cruiser, in which case I would say that advice was sound.
Good to know.
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Most of the changes didn't bother me, but even without trying it, I could instantly see one that would earn my ire:
Stealth Module has been re-designed:
Is now a duration based click ability with a 60 second cooldown, which will start when pressed.
I did think I should try it before pronouncing judgement and unfortunately, it's even worse then I feared. 10 seconds and then it's off.
To me, stealth is about choosing your time, slow, cautious and planned action, not beating a timer because your cloak is about to deactivate!
In Cure Ground, I waited for the Borg patrol to reach a certain point in their sweep pattern, dashed around behind them and then decloaked to attack.
This takes a minimum of 20 seconds, can even be 30 seconds or longer.
So in conclusion, I think the Stealth module is now completely useless and will be removing it from my kit when I decide what module should take it's place.
Bees like honey, they don't like vinegar.
Everytime someone makes a character that is an copy of an existing superhuman, Creativity is sad
I haven't had a chance to play my Tac and engineer on the ground yet - I only had some time to play the Arena event on my Sci. I noticed that Hyperonic radiation now deals a lot more damage (in theory at least, going from somewhere near 30 to 250 damage per second). That's a good change I think, the damage component of this ability was next to useless before, I basically only used it to trigger the Biochemist reduced damage resistance effect.
Maybe the power itself will be somewhat more useful now.
I haven't really had a chance to test the effect of the changes to Causal entanglement or the fleet body armour with 80% CritD chance yet as I only played the Arena event and I have no intuitional estimate of how much difference these things would have made before the change of course. I hope it's nothing too serious; as both these things have significant drawbacks (limited range for C.E. and very low resistance for the body armour) so they should keep giving some significant bonus to the amount of damage you're dealing.
Played my Fed SciGuy yesterday evening after the Patch finished installing. Don't do a lot of ground anyways. Was running Stormbound to collect the Quantum Phasics Space Set. So the only Ground component was boarding the Tholian flagship to recover the Tox Uthat. Only thing I really noticed which was different was the Kligat was no longer a one-shot-kill weapon. It did damage, yes, sometimes significant damage. But it is now just one more club in the bag, rather than the must-have leadoff for an alpha strike. Not upset about this. It is what it is and that's all it is.
Helping a Fleetmate power level a Fed char this weekend, so I will have plenty of time to find out what I like and what I don't about the new balance for Ground. I suspect this 'balance pass' thing will be like the Skills revamp. Lots of people will come here to complain about their favorite thing being allegedly "nerfed into uselessness!"
Until they find a new favorite thing which they will use before using anything else.
A six year old boy and his starship. Living the dream.
Played my Fed SciGuy yesterday evening after the Patch finished installing. Don't do a lot of ground anyways. Was running Stormbound to collect the Quantum Phasics Space Set. So the only Ground component was boarding the Tholian flagship to recover the Tox Uthat. Only thing I really noticed which was different was the Kligat was no longer a one-shot-kill weapon. It did damage, yes, sometimes significant damage. But it is now just one more club in the bag, rather than the must-have leadoff for an alpha strike. Not upset about this. It is what it is and that's all it is.
Helping a Fleetmate power level a Fed char this weekend, so I will have plenty of time to find out what I like and what I don't about the new balance for Ground. I suspect this 'balance pass' thing will be like the Skills revamp. Lots of people will come here to complain about their favorite thing being allegedly "nerfed into uselessness!"
Until they find a new favorite thing which they will use before using anything else.
Complaints about things being 'useless' are not reasonable anyway. The game content can be completed with basically any build, the only problem was that because there are a few dominating builds, it's hard to compete and get a chance to kill something too (for example, torpedo builds vs. FAW builds that will almost always hit their targets faster).
It's a good thing they're trying to correct these issues now. That will only make more different builds useful - while perhaps making the best builds a bit less useful but since they're already the best right now, that shouldn't be a serious issue.
I'm also very happy with the correction to the Kligat. It was a strange idea to put something in the game with only benefits (always crit, long range use, short cooldowns, shield ignoring) and no drawbacks whatsoever.
I too suspect there will be some complaining - but eventually I think people will also realise that a balanced game - and the encouragement that comes from all builds being just as viable - is something we all benefit from.
Comments
Now personally, I am a beamboat captain, but only for the reason I keep spinning my ship like a top, so forward facing weapons not a good idea as the front of the ship is rarely facing the target.
And also, being a cruiser captain, most cruisers can't equip cannons anyway, so the decision was made for me.
I have used cannons on my escorts though, just because I thought they were made for that weapon platform.
But generally, I follow a principle a friend told me several times when someone gets in your face about your build being "wrong":
It's my character and I can do whatever the heck I like with it.
Bees like honey, they don't like vinegar.
Everytime someone makes a character that is an copy of an existing superhuman, Creativity is sad
Perhaps going to Reddit was your only mistake there.
See, I didn't go there, use cannons and have great results with them. Pehaps 180k+ is not great for some but I must tell you it's great enough for all the content this game throws at me!
For the new Tzenkethi maps and their way of fighting I claim cannons even better than beams for a change. If you approach them from the right angle you basically shredder them like buttah.
Nerfing the mechanics behind FAW only means nerf the same mechanics that make cannons viable.
Looking for a fun PvE fleet? Join us at Omega Combat Division today.
I disagree. Reddit's /r/stobuilds is probably one of the best places to get proper build advice around. There is hardly any misinformation there and anything wrong or fallacious is quickly corrected by people who know better. I am a regular there, and I have never seen anyone of good reputation/standing in that community say not to use cannons and stick to beams and FAW. The only time I've seen such advice was when someone was trying to build a cannon ship out of a very slow cruiser, in which case I would say that advice was sound.
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Good to know.
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I would be prepared for that. On ground they not only touch captain’s powers but also individual kit modules and CD times of those.
From what I have seen so for I agree with most of the changes they do. I’m more optimistic than worried atm.
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I did think I should try it before pronouncing judgement and unfortunately, it's even worse then I feared.
10 seconds and then it's off.
To me, stealth is about choosing your time, slow, cautious and planned action, not beating a timer because your cloak is about to deactivate!
In Cure Ground, I waited for the Borg patrol to reach a certain point in their sweep pattern, dashed around behind them and then decloaked to attack.
This takes a minimum of 20 seconds, can even be 30 seconds or longer.
So in conclusion, I think the Stealth module is now completely useless and will be removing it from my kit when I decide what module should take it's place.
Bees like honey, they don't like vinegar.
Everytime someone makes a character that is an copy of an existing superhuman, Creativity is sad
Maybe the power itself will be somewhat more useful now.
I haven't really had a chance to test the effect of the changes to Causal entanglement or the fleet body armour with 80% CritD chance yet as I only played the Arena event and I have no intuitional estimate of how much difference these things would have made before the change of course. I hope it's nothing too serious; as both these things have significant drawbacks (limited range for C.E. and very low resistance for the body armour) so they should keep giving some significant bonus to the amount of damage you're dealing.
Helping a Fleetmate power level a Fed char this weekend, so I will have plenty of time to find out what I like and what I don't about the new balance for Ground. I suspect this 'balance pass' thing will be like the Skills revamp. Lots of people will come here to complain about their favorite thing being allegedly "nerfed into uselessness!"
Until they find a new favorite thing which they will use before using anything else.
Complaints about things being 'useless' are not reasonable anyway. The game content can be completed with basically any build, the only problem was that because there are a few dominating builds, it's hard to compete and get a chance to kill something too (for example, torpedo builds vs. FAW builds that will almost always hit their targets faster).
It's a good thing they're trying to correct these issues now. That will only make more different builds useful - while perhaps making the best builds a bit less useful but since they're already the best right now, that shouldn't be a serious issue.
I'm also very happy with the correction to the Kligat. It was a strange idea to put something in the game with only benefits (always crit, long range use, short cooldowns, shield ignoring) and no drawbacks whatsoever.
I too suspect there will be some complaining - but eventually I think people will also realise that a balanced game - and the encouragement that comes from all builds being just as viable - is something we all benefit from.