The new capital ships die far too easily. Just yesterday, I was manning a turret on the UIT capital ship, and after encountering a swarm of robots, I noticed that the ship's HP had been reduced from 100% to only 56%. It hadn't even encountered any player enemies or reached Sedina B-8 yet!

IMHO, for a ship of this size, this situation is ridiculous. These ships need more sophisticated defense mechanisms. The following are some suggestions:

* Until all turrets are destroyed, they should be surrounded by an energy field, similar to that used by Abbott Eilon in Section IX of the backstory ( see http://www.vendetta-online.com/h/storyline_section9.html ), that prevents any hull damage. I would suggest a wavery translucent blue field for visual effects, the absence of which would indicate when the ship hull were vulnerable. This field would simultaneously make combat much more interesting, and necessitate escorts, thus promoting group interaction.

* Capital ships should be escorted by a variety of Prosus/Dentek Assault ships, Arklan Guardians, and Hellman Overseers that only attack approaching enemies (i.e., ships of players with a negative faction standing of at least -200 versus the faction of the capital ship) and ships that cause damage to the capital ships or their turrets.

* The firing arcs of the turrets need to be increased so that they can shoot enemies right next to the hull.

* Unmanned turrets should automatically track and fire upon enemy fighters, although perhaps using weaker weapons.

* Turrets should be able to choose from a variety of available weapons for dealing with various types of opponents (after all, these are huge capital ships with much space inside). The current high-speed, high-damage turrets are not equally effective against all kinds of opponents. Some suggestions are the following:

.....- Gauss Cannon MkII for dealing with robots.

.....- Screamer Rocket Launchers with 100 rockets per turret for dealing with enemy bombers.

.....- Gemini Homing Missile Launchers with 100 missiles per turret, also for dealng with enemy bombers.

.....- Chaos Swarm Missile Launchers with 800 missiles per turret, also for dealing with enemy bombers.

.....- Concussion Mine Launchers with 50 mines per turret, for moving away enemy Ragnaroks trying to lay lightning mines near turrets.

In addition, each turret should be defended by a ring of at least five permanent lightning mines, built as part of the ship surrounding the turret. This would also discourage Ragnaroks laying lightning mines around the turrets of stationary capital ships.

In addition, I strongly suggest using tractor beams to automate docking after the ship leaves port. IMHO, the concept of hailed capital ships stopping for thirty seconds to allow players to dock seems suicidal in combat sectors. Capital ship tractor beams would automate the docking process for moving capital ships, and alleviate the need for them to remain stationary, while simultaneously preventing player ships from colliding with moving capital ships.

While Lord Q has suggested in the related thread "L-Mining Turrets" ( see http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/10060#115259 ) that he "never had any trouble docking while [the capital ship] was moving," I strongly disagree. When I first tried docking with a moving capital ship, I lost two ships in failed docking attempts, one of them in an ion storm in an asteroid field while under fire from robots.

Docking with a moving capital ship can be very dangerous, and stopping the capital ship for thirty seconds to dock can be suicidal. One solution in this situation would be capital ship tractor beams, to be used only for automating docking.

Lastly, there should be some greater purpose to the capital ships. In the story, why are they all heading toward Sedina B-8? In real wars, ships do not just head toward neutral areas so that pilots can practice dogfighting. They usually head toward enemy stations or headquarters in order to attack them.

Instead of having them all move toward Sedina B-8, I would suggest having them all move toward enemy CtC transport docking stations. This would link CtC and the capital ships, and give them a greater purpose. They would automatically destroy any CtC transport ships attempting to dock.

The UIT capital ships could always attack the loser of the previous CtC weekly round, ostensibly for the purpose of allying with the stronger power. Since many UIT players may care about their Itani faction standing, any unmanned turrets could automatically attack CtC transports while the UIT capital ships are protected by a combination of Prosus/Dentek Assault ships, Arklan Guardians, and Hellman Overseers. This would give added incentive for players to work harder together in CtC.

-- DekuDekuplex Ornitier

"Docking with a moving capital ship can be very dangerous, and stopping the capital ship for thirty seconds to dock can be suicidal. One solution in this situation would be capital ship tractor beams, to be used only for automating docking."

I've done it... it's a challenge yes, but not impossible. Making a trap on the bucking and rolling deck of an aircraft carrier is tough too, you know. I'd strongly disagree with adding tractor beams for automatic docking. Docking in the heat of battle should be a difficult challenge even for the most seasoned pilots. This game needs more challenges.

As far as the cap ship dying too easily, I agree 100%.

Going by occam's razor, the simplest solution here would be to increase the cap ship's hp.

However, I do think there could be some fundamental flaws to the cap ship's current defenses, particularly in the limited range of the turrets.

I like the idea of different weapons for different turrets, but I think these should have to be equipped while the cap ship is docked next to a station. Perhaps there could be a 50 cu "cap ship weapon" cargo item that behemoths can transport onto the cap ship before it leaves on its tour.

Perhaps the cap ship should also be given armor which reduces the damage it takes from all shots by 1,000. Therefore only powerful weapons would hurt it... you wouldn't be able to hang out underneath it and blast away with nIIIs.

The capital ships going to B8 is just a fun test, as stated by the devs. It serves no purpose other than for them to find and destroy capital ship bugs and will probably disappear once they have missions around the cap ship.

Docking with a moving cap is difficult, not impossible. It's a new skill to learn. I like docking with a moving cap ship - stopping it for thirty seconds seems to cheapen the thrill.

Re: Phaserlight

> I'd strongly disagree with adding tractor beams for automatic docking. Docking
> in the heat of battle should be a difficult challenge even for the most seasoned
> pilots. This game needs more challenges.

-

Re: Starfisher

> Docking with a moving cap is difficult, not impossible. It's a new skill to learn. I
> like docking with a moving cap ship - stopping it for thirty seconds seems to
> cheapen the thrill.

While it is true that docking with a moving capital ship is a challenge, and while I agree that other players are certainly entitled to their own opinions, IMHO, it is a purely tactical, rather than a strategic, one, and not terribly intellectually interesting. I'd rather concentrate on different weapons strategies for attacking oncoming attackers, and be able rapidly to switch among manning turrets, escorting the capital ships, and fetching Repair Module ammunition.

Automating the docking sequence would enable rapid switching among manning turrets, flying escort fighters, and fetching repair module ammunition, and help the player concentrate on optimizing the defense strategy. Manually docking every single time during every switchover makes this process excruciatingly tedious, and provides no extra strategic challenge. It only provides a very repetitive tactical one.

-- DekuDekuplex Ornitier

... What? You're going to have to dock with the ship everytime you leave no matter how you do it. Letting the players get tractored in means that there will be a five second pause where they are sitting on their hands rather than flying.

Docking with the cap ship is not excruciating. It's not all that difficult, really. Turn on physics mode. Turbo ahead of the ship in the general line of the docking bay. Turn off turbo, turn so you're looking at the bay but not moving toward it. Line up, dock. Just like docking on a real station, except that you have to be in front of the thing.

Docking with the cap ship shouldn't be an automatic task. We used to fight around stations all the time, and it was a chase if someone tried to run to the dock whenever they were hurt. Some became specialists at hotdocking, and others became good at shooting someone down as they ran for the dock. It added a whole new level of tension and excitement to the game that got taken out when station guards made their appearance, which sort of sucks.

Trust me, having hot-docking back in the game would be far more fun than making docking while under fire easier than it's even been in the past.

"Automating the docking sequence would enable rapid switching between manning turrets, flying escort fighters, and fetching repair module ammunition, and help the player concentrate on optimizing the defense strategy. Manually docking every single time during every switchover makes this process excruciatingly tedious, and provides no extra strategic challenge."

I'm sorry, but that statement is simply false. Since you can't possibly be talking about strategy in it's prodcution/large manuevers sense, I'll assume you mean long term decisions in a tactical battle. Docking has probably THE most strategic impact of any decision you can make as an escort fighter. It means that you may be blocking the exit or preventing someone else from landing, it means you aren't out there defending, it means whoever you were attacking is now free to go and someone else might not know to pick him up - the decision to dock should not be made lightly and casually.

And once you dock, you're docked. I don't see how it has any effect on the other things you listed - you already can switch roles rapidly... just undock. Docking again makes you a turret. Undocking frees you up for every other role. How does auto-docking speed this up any? To make it fair there would have to be a delay while the ship tractored you in - if you were good at manual docking you could probably do it faster.

I think a good example of cap. ship docking can be seen int he Battlestar Galactica mini series. When Apollow first comes to Galactica he is suprised that they have him fly in uinder his own controle rather than bring him in with an automated docking system. But later when they are in a battle with the cylons Adomma orders that the pilets make "combat landings" then the pilets basicly crach their vipers ontp the deck, because they are taking fire, and don't have time to set up for a nice stable by the book landing.

i would agree that an automated docking sytem would make sence, but it would take a long time. i imagin you hail the cap ship and instead of comking to a stop, it engages a tractorbeem and slowly and carefully pulls you in. this whole process could take up to 30 seconds where you are not strafing, or doging ion any way, but moving slowly into the docking bay (i expect this would be anopying to program though). that way you can dock automaticly but it will be faster to simply do a combat landing and fly in manualy.

they also did this once in a Star Trek movie (i think it was the Final Fronteer). in order to speed up the docking process they fly a shuttel into the bay manualy, it takes less time but is a dangerous procedure.

A note on cap ships dying too easily:

I'm inclined to agree, but moreso in the context of their turrets. It's no fun to jump into B-8 and start popping off shots at a frigate that's only got half its turrets working by the time the other cap ships arrive. It may give n00bs an ego boost to say that they helped take down a cap ship, but it's no fun.

I think cap ship turrets should respawn every jump they make up until they reach B8, coming to the table fully armed. Doing so would provide a real challenge for any fellow or enemy cap ship turret gunners and other pilots who come to the table.

Docking on a moving cap ship would be easier and faster in combat situations if the port were in a different place, say the stern. Or maybe have a few of them in different spots. I don't mind docking on a moving cap ship, but maybe it's not for everyone.

--Harpo

mechanics...

when your turret is destroyed or you enter a destroyed turret you are faced with a puzzle of some sort that resembles a turret's console. once you put the pieces back together and reconnect some wires the turret becomes opperational again. maybe not with 100 percent armor, but still useable.

just a thought

That's kinda cool.

I like the puzzle idea.
You could have a designated puzzle solver (mechanics,like you said) to take over dead turrets and fix them, while the person who was controlling it takes another, or flys outside.

Another repair solution would be to make the repair guns more useful. How about a small port version that's maybe 3/5ths as powerful than the current one, and a large port one that has a large range, lower repair to small ships, moderate repair to ships 12kg or something or more, and high repair to caps.

However, these cap ships that attack sedina B-8 are probably intended to be debug, since they don't serve any purpose within the game really. If you want to try a "real" cap ship fight, be -600 or less (hah) Serco, and attack the cap ship patrolling between SkyCommand and the Itani border. That one is still around isn't it? Well, the wingmen might or not attack, but either way, they need a larger attack range.

The turret repair idea is kinda cool, but it would require that the turret not explode and still be visible on the ship. Maybe the HUD reading would say "disabled turret" or something like that?