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interceptor ships
This is mostly a question to the devs about the feasibility of this concept.
Interceptors should be just that, great at intercepting, but not so great at PvP. Thus far the problem has been that if you give a ship higher speeds it becomes overpowered in PvP and breaks the fine balance we have.
I propose a new class of ship, with the following stats as a base. I can't see this being too difficult to implement, and don't see it being of much use in 1on1 PvP.
Thrust (forward): 350N
Thrust (reverse): 0N (can't thrust in reverse)
Thrust (sides): 75N (strafing is limited on purpose)
Spin Torque: 5Nm ( this should be kept low, as the ship is intended mostly for forward motion)
Max Speed: 140 m/s
Turbo Speed: 240 m/s
Turbo Energy: 50 m/s
These are base stats, could be adjusted of course, current values are meant only to illustrate the concept.
This ship would have unmatched forward speeds, and thus would be an excellent interceptor. But the low spin torque makes it harder to maneuver in fair combat situations (PvP). Also, the fact that there is no reverse thrust means that this ship is practically useless against the current VO ships in fair combat, and the reduced side thrust further limits the ships combat capabilities. The ship could still glide in reverse (fly forward, shut down thrust and spin around), but it couldn't accelerate backwards.
Interceptors should be just that, great at intercepting, but not so great at PvP. Thus far the problem has been that if you give a ship higher speeds it becomes overpowered in PvP and breaks the fine balance we have.
I propose a new class of ship, with the following stats as a base. I can't see this being too difficult to implement, and don't see it being of much use in 1on1 PvP.
Thrust (forward): 350N
Thrust (reverse): 0N (can't thrust in reverse)
Thrust (sides): 75N (strafing is limited on purpose)
Spin Torque: 5Nm ( this should be kept low, as the ship is intended mostly for forward motion)
Max Speed: 140 m/s
Turbo Speed: 240 m/s
Turbo Energy: 50 m/s
These are base stats, could be adjusted of course, current values are meant only to illustrate the concept.
This ship would have unmatched forward speeds, and thus would be an excellent interceptor. But the low spin torque makes it harder to maneuver in fair combat situations (PvP). Also, the fact that there is no reverse thrust means that this ship is practically useless against the current VO ships in fair combat, and the reduced side thrust further limits the ships combat capabilities. The ship could still glide in reverse (fly forward, shut down thrust and spin around), but it couldn't accelerate backwards.
drazed can I ask what you are going to do with said interceptor ship? I mean I suppose it can catch things and follow them through jumps but it could probably be lost through the old jump through empty sectors trick. The other key that you guys are missing on an interceptor is that it needs to actually stop something from getting a way. otherwise you just have a ship thatis good at going forward and then not really doing anything else once it gets there
Having my own interceptor concept out there, I don't entirely disagree with what you've proposed, drazed.
However, zero reverse thrust is just plain silly--if nothing else, this thing is prone to over-shooting the target, and should be able to back up to compensate. The reduced strafe thrust and spin torque are more -- and I do mean more -- than sufficient to accomplish the purpose of limiting its PvP utility.
However, zero reverse thrust is just plain silly--if nothing else, this thing is prone to over-shooting the target, and should be able to back up to compensate. The reduced strafe thrust and spin torque are more -- and I do mean more -- than sufficient to accomplish the purpose of limiting its PvP utility.
peytros, jumping through empty sectors only works if the chaser doesn't know what he's doing or is too slow, I've followed ships through multi-empty-sector-jumps many times, and only a few manage to get away. Infini-boost ships are much more likely to get away then sector skipping, imho. This class of ship would address the inability to chase infini-boost ships, but...
Dr. If you overshoot a target you turn around and chase it down again, this isn't supposed to make running impossible, just make catching up to runners possible ;) I would be ok with a reduced reverse thrust, but would prefer non-at-all. Additionally, you could just throttle down all the way, and shoot the target as you float by in reverse ;)
Last point on running, this ship would make a great running ship, I'm not gonna argue that. Basically any ship that's designed to intercept is going to be great at running too. Limit it's cargo capacity and it's not useful for running pretty much anything other then yourself to another station (taxi ship). So yeah, this would be a great runner ship as well as interceptor, but since it will be pretty much useless in what we here consider PvP I think it's fine that it can run, as long as it can't run with too much cargo ;)
Dr. If you overshoot a target you turn around and chase it down again, this isn't supposed to make running impossible, just make catching up to runners possible ;) I would be ok with a reduced reverse thrust, but would prefer non-at-all. Additionally, you could just throttle down all the way, and shoot the target as you float by in reverse ;)
Last point on running, this ship would make a great running ship, I'm not gonna argue that. Basically any ship that's designed to intercept is going to be great at running too. Limit it's cargo capacity and it's not useful for running pretty much anything other then yourself to another station (taxi ship). So yeah, this would be a great runner ship as well as interceptor, but since it will be pretty much useless in what we here consider PvP I think it's fine that it can run, as long as it can't run with too much cargo ;)
Drazed: lest you forget the severe combat limitations of any interceptor concept proposed here, the last thing you want to do is "float by" the front end of another ship, much less "turn around" in front of it.
Stay behind it, or die.
Stay behind it, or die.
I like this idea, a lot, but I'm curious if it would have the one or two ports (small of course). If it's an interceptor, it won't have much fire-power so it can move fast.
As to sector jumping, I prefer to use the gov EC-89, for it's free. I don't even equip a weapon (even though the gov blaster is free). It would make going from one side of the universe to another much quicker, thus making it easier to make it to NW and BS, etc.
As to sector jumping, I prefer to use the gov EC-89, for it's free. I don't even equip a weapon (even though the gov blaster is free). It would make going from one side of the universe to another much quicker, thus making it easier to make it to NW and BS, etc.