Forums » Suggestions
I am ambivalent about utility + weapon combos, but strat's suggestion of combined utilities makes a lot of sense, I think.
Most of the utilities aren't useful enough to be equipped on their own, but a couple of them in combination could very well be worth a port.
Radar extender + AWACS comes to mind as an obvious combination.
Most of the utilities aren't useful enough to be equipped on their own, but a couple of them in combination could very well be worth a port.
Radar extender + AWACS comes to mind as an obvious combination.
but strat's suggestion of combined utilities makes a lot of sense, I think
erm... when did I become Strat? :)
I do like AWACS + Extender though. That'd be a winner.
erm... when did I become Strat? :)
I do like AWACS + Extender though. That'd be a winner.
A weapon plus utility device with the weapon only being limited in ammo would be imbalanced. It will allow someone to have a quick burst as if they don't have the a radar extender at all plus having the radar extender to help them. If something like this is made, damage needs to be lowered. For example, if a radar extender is only judged to be worth half a port and some rockets are added with it; then the rockets need to hit for half damage.
or, yannow, fire half the ammout of rockets.
It was late, I was tired, and all VPR are the same :p
Why is a damage nerf required, rather than an ammo nerf?
What is AWACS?
What is AWACS?
If you are too lazy to use Google before mouthing off, you should be gut-shot with a large caliber hollow-point round and have your abdominal cavity filled with rock salt.
If you are too lazy to use Google before mouthing off, you should be gut-shot with a large caliber hollow-point round and have your abdominal cavity filled with rock salt.
Thank you for that completely useless comment, with abnormally unreasonable intent.
AWACS = group-radar-relayer addon/thingy.
An ammo nerf on weapons that don't use ammo in the first place doesn't make any sense. A neutron blaster for instance doesn't use ammo under any circumstances.
An ammo nerf on weapons that do use ammo, on the other hand, makes a lot of sense. If you're going to combine a cargo scanner and an iceflare launcher, you clearly have less room to work with than if you were equipping an iceflare by itself; a few extra rockets would logically be the first things to go.
Kierky: AWACS
An ammo nerf on weapons that do use ammo, on the other hand, makes a lot of sense. If you're going to combine a cargo scanner and an iceflare launcher, you clearly have less room to work with than if you were equipping an iceflare by itself; a few extra rockets would logically be the first things to go.
Kierky: AWACS
A neutron blaster for instance doesn't use ammo under any circumstances.
ladron, meet the capacitor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor
ladron, meet the capacitor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor
Lecter: What you would notice if you had actually read the article you linked to is that capacitors are a circuit component used to store charge over a short period of time, and release it over an even shorter period of time, to momentarily create a high current through a circuit.
You'll also notice that the "batteries" we use on our ships now are actually capacitors, presumably charged from a central power plant on the ship.
It is true that any "neutron blaster" ever built would contain hundreds or thousands of capacitors in its design.
Capacitors are not, however, relevant in any way to a discussion on whether neutron blasters use expendable ammunition.
If you're just interested in reading about circuit components though, you might try inductors next. They are considerably more fascinating than capacitors.
You'll also notice that the "batteries" we use on our ships now are actually capacitors, presumably charged from a central power plant on the ship.
It is true that any "neutron blaster" ever built would contain hundreds or thousands of capacitors in its design.
Capacitors are not, however, relevant in any way to a discussion on whether neutron blasters use expendable ammunition.
If you're just interested in reading about circuit components though, you might try inductors next. They are considerably more fascinating than capacitors.
Let's try again. Currently, energy weapons draw power directly from the ship's power cell. You can fire the weapon until all the power in the main cell is gone, and as soon as that main cell is recharged, you may fire again.
A neutron blaster that was not able to be so linked, say due to the engineering requirements of mixing it with a cargo scanner, might instead draw power directly from its own capacitor. This secondary capacitor would have much lower total capacity, say 50, and recharge much more slowly (also draws power from main cell), say at a rate of 5/second. This neutron blaster, then, would have "limited ammo" in the form of a secondary capacitor from which the weapon directly draws its power and that is of limited capacity and recharge rate.
Get it yet?
A neutron blaster that was not able to be so linked, say due to the engineering requirements of mixing it with a cargo scanner, might instead draw power directly from its own capacitor. This secondary capacitor would have much lower total capacity, say 50, and recharge much more slowly (also draws power from main cell), say at a rate of 5/second. This neutron blaster, then, would have "limited ammo" in the form of a secondary capacitor from which the weapon directly draws its power and that is of limited capacity and recharge rate.
Get it yet?
How about: the capacitor (or even the gun itself) is made out of cheaper material to keep the cost down when mixed with a utility... and therefore fries after a certain amount of usage. The repair guys at any docking station happen to be very good about repairing such things, though, and can fix the gun in a second for a small fee.
You guys are trying too hard.
You guys are trying too hard.
Lecter: That is a completely different concept, and has nothing to do with ammo limitation. You're getting closer, but also farther from anything that is likely to be implemented in this game.
Atice & Lecter: Listening to people who know jack shit about physics or engineering talk about physics and engineering is making my ears bleed. You guys are the ones trying to hard.
Besides the fact that it doesn't make sense in terms of in-game technology, ammo-limited energy weapons aren't a feasible solution from a gameplay perspective either. They would either have little enough ammo that there might as well not be a gun connected to the utility device, or they would have sufficient ammo that it might as well be unlimited for 1v1 dogfights and piracy situations. If you want to create a 'weaker' energy weapon combined with a utility device, the way to do that is decrease the muzzle velocity, damage, or firing rate of the weapon; in other words, work within the existing concepts of balance we already use for all of the weapons in the game.
In my opinion, the best solution would be to take an existing low-power, low-mass energy weapon (like the ion or phase blaster) and combine it with an existing utility device. Give the new add-on the combined mass, grid usage, and energy consumption of the original devices, and keep the other stats the same.
Atice & Lecter: Listening to people who know jack shit about physics or engineering talk about physics and engineering is making my ears bleed. You guys are the ones trying to hard.
Besides the fact that it doesn't make sense in terms of in-game technology, ammo-limited energy weapons aren't a feasible solution from a gameplay perspective either. They would either have little enough ammo that there might as well not be a gun connected to the utility device, or they would have sufficient ammo that it might as well be unlimited for 1v1 dogfights and piracy situations. If you want to create a 'weaker' energy weapon combined with a utility device, the way to do that is decrease the muzzle velocity, damage, or firing rate of the weapon; in other words, work within the existing concepts of balance we already use for all of the weapons in the game.
In my opinion, the best solution would be to take an existing low-power, low-mass energy weapon (like the ion or phase blaster) and combine it with an existing utility device. Give the new add-on the combined mass, grid usage, and energy consumption of the original devices, and keep the other stats the same.