one thing that has been going around the player base since beta....why arin't the avalons back in yet? there have been loads of threads, but I'm really wondering what the devs have on it :)

*cough*bump*cough*

Apparently you *CAN'T* have their "word" [thoughts] on this.

It's been addressed repeatedly since beta. Most recently (I think) it was addessed on 8/17/05 when Incarnate said:

"...And yes, I do want to make missiles targetable, it's come up in the last couple of meetings (a requirement for cap ship defensibilty against torpedos).. anyway."

So the torpedos were taken out long ago because they were too powerful and had no role without the Cap ship. Now we have Cap ships, but in their current state they would be completely defenseless when attacked using the torpedoes. That's just not fun.

There will probably need to be a few other little tweaks to the torps to avoid having them become either ubiquitous or useless. Maybe it would take a good while for them to arm, and perhaps they would be tough to hit or could take a few hits before being destroyed. Would they just fizzle out if destroyed, or blow at full force? Would defense turrets on stations be needed to avoid the inevitable station-spamming? All are things to be considered so we don't have the same problems as we did before.

FM pretty much covers it. We pulled them because they were extremely devestating weapons that were being exploited, and had no real purpose in the game (their intention being to assault capital ships.. which we hardly had).

Secondly, I dislike the idea of a weapon of massive power that has no real counter-defense. Trust me, I *love* the avalon torpedo.. after all I created it, and I want them to exist for the purposes of capital assault (once we have actual.. worthwhile capital presence).. but I also want targetability. Otherwise the slow-moving ship will be doomed simply due to a lack of maneuverability, while the people from that team/nation/guild have to watch helplessly as the big torpedo slowly crosses space and nukes their beloved ship. That's.. uncool.

To recap, once the Avalon has A) a Point, and B) a Countermeasure, then we'll put it back.

Word.

oh i get it.

so wouldnt swarms fit in the same category?

Swarms are just plain annoying... I should be able to shoot them down with a popcorn gun.

ahh, so what you need is

A) cap ships, and, huzzah! you have targets for it now! (DUDE THE LEVI! if it doesn't count, nothing does)

B) change Avalons to a simple bot aken to the seeker drone, only it goes forward, now, if you change that, then, huzzah! fighter bay!

thank you for you're time.

I'm sure countermeasures are on the to-do list for a lot of things. Seeker missle defences would be cool (decoy flares or chafe), as well as detination screens. The show battlestar Galactica has this thing call the flak barrier. The ship blasts a layer of flak in all directions, detinating incoming weapons and ships. Would be cool to see something liek that eventually.

-tm

Yeah, flak would be good to have for capships, and flares and chaff would be good for our ships.

That said, I can wait for the Avalons (or missile countermeasures) for a loooooooooooooooooong time.

I want those torpedos back IF we can ride them!

Muahahaha... the most poetic revenge ever...

And I want to be able to put a message on those torpedos if they're target-able.

WORD.

>I want those torpedos back IF we can ride them!

Oh Yeah. Slim Pickens style.

Dr.Strangelove !!! yes please.