Pilot Archive

Even if the bugs with overloads were fixed, i still think that the root of alot of problems is in overloads; especially if you compare it to the E/W/S system where the system of trade offs was very pronounced.

How do you think the abscense of all overloads effect PvP?

Having said that, how do you think the E/W/S system would effect PvP?

My feeling is that all these cries for PvP damage reduction are misplaced. In E/W/S terms, i shouldn't be able to set my Engine, Weapons, and Shields at maximum recharge, at all times. That, in and of itself, is imbalancing i think.

But beyond that, i just want more control and interaction with my ship.

• The mass game- overloads are meant to improve effectiveness for the mass you pay. Hard to monkey with that and not trump the entire principle.


• The power game- this is where most overloads are broken and I think if it gets fixed and balanced it will go a long way to addressing inequities


• The recovery game- Increased drain or decreasing recharge rates is a valid cost measure that should be explored more


• Duration and Downers- I think the principle of a timed effect and a downer afterwards would be valid. A design concept from spices that would make sense when applied to machinery. After your droid primes the systems, they go as long as they can, and it should take time for them to be repaired after use.


• Genius droids- right now a droid is capable of running every overload and whatever tactcial programs you choose once the timers are done. I think a good cost would be to slow down the DI by a factor for each program running (fixing the timer costs first of course). Also, make it so the quality of your droid plays a role. I as a DE would love being able to make and sell a superior product (blatant plug but logical) Corollary to this would be a possible increase in Hyperspace calculations based on the number of programs running.


• Limit cross faction access. My other post deals extensively with this. I think the synergies of Weapon Overload and Capacitor Overcharge are far too powerful for free and easy access. Built in content comes from finding a way to gain long term use of the program, and access to it (slicing). Please check out my other long post to get the gist of my ideas in that regard.

In conclusion, I agree there are problems with the system, no reasonable pilot disagrees. I think fixing Droid commands should be a much bigger issue for us than it is, and layering added content onto them once they work correctly will improve the system.

I think it would hurt pvp atm.

I believe the only thing people can do PvP in space is dogfight. Removing the overload programs would make dogfighting in larger ships like the KSE, Oppressor, X-wing, etc. futile. These Ships depend on those programs in order to be competitive with the A-wing, Tie Trio (Adv, Int, In), and dunelizard (?).

BUT pvp atm is ONLY dogfighting so if you take the ability to dogfight away from most ships you've taken away any incentive for players to fly other ships besides the 65k speed daemons in pvp.

I would like them to add content so that larger ships have a purpose other than dogfighting so that if you were to take away the overload programs these ships wouldn't become useless. For the recond I don't like the fact that larger ships can dogfight with the smaller ships with the help of overload programs. It blurs the roles of the ships so that every ship can be a fighter but not every ship can be a bomber. This hurts the smaller ship as the larger ships can do their job and that of a bomber.

(Note: B-Wing will never ever in a million years be a fighter even with EO4, and an engine with 75+ YPR...I've tried it...)

But removing Overload programs on the PvE side would probably be disastrous... Those programs are very much built into the design of how the JTL missions are completed. As much as I want WO3 to be fixed I know that many players, myself included, depend on that in order to enjoy PvE.

I think a better solution is to tweak how the overload programs function. IE EO4 should increase top speed only. NOT YPR. The need for a great engine and a manueverable fighter are much less because of that program. Top speed is what players need most, getting from Point A to B is much less with that program but that doesn't mean it should make bombers and fighters handle better as well.

Another issue I hesitate to raise is activating droid programs in deep space. Since there is no decay there when you hyper out of DS all your droid programs are still running. Which means that master pilots can be running around all space zones running lvl 4 overloads and experiencing no Decay. It may seem like a small issue but all other players have to suffer decay when running lvl 4 programs in those zones and I think it's going to cuase problems if we allow players to turn on lvl 4 programs in deep space and keep them running when their damage is repaired in normal space. Any other ship systems that are repairedin normal space kill teh droid programs that are running on those systems.

>>I don't want to get into the E/W/S system since I'm not familiar with it,

It's pretty simple, and elequent really.

Think of it more as energy management. Or power rerouting on the fly.

By default, your engine draws the most power. Your ship has a finite amount of power. Any increase in power to another system, draws its power from your engines, making you fly slower. Any decrease of power to other systems puts that energy back to your engine.

E W S is

Engine
Weapon
Shield.

These are the places you can reroute power to, each has the following settings,: (use Shields in this example)

- Drain shields at maximum rate
- Drain shields at increased rate
- Maintain current shield charge
- Increase shield recharge at increased rate
- Increase shield recharge at maximum rate.

So if my shields are near down, ill probably increase shield recharge to max. This will pull from my engine and ill be flying slower then molasis in january as a result. To offset this speed decrease, ill have to reroute most of my weapon power back to my engine so im not a sitting duck. To get back in the fight ill set my shields to normal, and increse weapon charge.

LIkewise if im not getting hit much, ill probably set my shields to maintain current charge, put weapons at increased recharge, and let the rest go to the engine. But if i get hammered, im back to having to reroute power.

If i just want to get the hell out of dodge, i could reroute ALL my power from shields and weapons and let it all go to the engine. Obviously im not doing much except running away at that point, as nothing else has a charge.

In every scenario i can mention, there is a clear trade off, and at no point in time, do you have it all.

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Tumbler2002 wrote:
I
Another issue I hesitate to raise is activating droid programs in deep space. Since there is no decay there when you hyper out of DS all your droid programs are still running. Which means that master pilots can be running around all space zones running lvl 4 overloads and experiencing no Decay. It may seem like a small issue but all other players have to suffer decay when running lvl 4 programs in those zones and I think it's going to cuase problems if we allow players to turn on lvl 4 programs in deep space and keep them running when their damage is repaired in normal space. Any other ship systems that are repairedin normal space kill teh droid programs that are running on those systems.

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Take away no-decay from Deep Space would further reduce the number of players willing to Pvp. There's not enough willing participants as-is on my server.

Any system that allows me to supercharge myself in all aspects is a flawed system . Even when they fix WO3, it's still a borked system. For starters it trivializes the game, in both piloting and most of the content. Then theres the whole PvP issue. CTSS is argubly the best and worst command of them all.

THe droid commands are clearly inspired from the E/W/S system. The very first command i was looking for was to increase recharge rates, only to discover they took the basics and made buffs out of them. Why?!

I really dont understand why they had to take what is basic flight functionality, and split it three ways as a permabuffs. We're they that bankrupt on ideas? This is one of the first things i noticed when i started JTL. Maybe its coming from the background of Xwing & tie fighter game series makes this stick out to me more. I guess you'd just have to have played both systems to have a point of comparision.

Personnaly i want a more active, engaging time piloting. I'd rather just jump in my ship, reroute power as needed and go. Instead I sit around and buff myself at starport, and frankly its getting old. Id rather have full control over my ship, at all times. Its just simply more engaging, and its a proven system that works and is far more balanced than the doc buffs of space. Infact, thats exactly what droid commands are in action... doc buffs that give you 3000 ham.

>> I don't want to see it taken away.

I do, i think their cheese on a stick (but thats obvious)

But take away droid commands and i think three things will happen in PvP right now.

1.) Damage is drastically reduced, however, you cant exactly shunt anymore either. ( Shunt while in game as it is now, negates any posssiblity of damage reduction.) So fights take a more hits now. Ought to make the whiners happy. Probably like 3 to 5 hits instead of the 2 hits (give or take) it is now.

2.) Everyone slows down in scale to one another. I'm not sure what to make of that really. Probably combined with lack of shunting ensures fights don't last umpteen hours. But i dont think its going to cause any great rift between ship types, same scale, only lower.

3.) You can't hold down the trigger monday, and fire tell sunday anymore. So you'll have to pick your shots more carefully. (novel concept for many)

So back to my orignal post, again, droid commands are i think the real thing to look at. Not arbitarily reducing the damage. Now.. about that E/W/S ...

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Ducimus wrote:
>> I don't want to see it taken away.

I do, i think their cheese on a stick (but thats obvious)

But take away droid commands and i think three things will happen in PvP right now.

1.) Damage is drastically reduced, however, you cant exactly shunt anymore either. ( Shunt while in game as it is now, negates any posssiblity of damage reduction.) So fights take a more hits now. Ought to make the whiners happy. Probably like 3 to 5 hits instead of the 2 hits (give or take) it is now.

2.) Everyone slows down in scale to one another. I'm not sure what to make of that really. Probably combined with lack of shunting ensures fights don't last umpteen hours. But i dont think its going to cause any great rift between ship types, same scale, only lower.

3.) You can't hold down the trigger monday, and fire tell sunday anymore. So you'll have to pick your shots more carefully. (novel concept for many)

So back to my orignal post, again, droid commands are i think the real thing to look at. Not arbitarily reducing the damage. Now.. about that E/W/S ...

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Message Edited by JediNg on 04-11-2005 06:22 PM

>>2. people would die before they pass each other, whoever has more guns wins. lame idea.

Disagree. You should be flying in a corkscrew or something, not flying straight and level at each other. Also remember that even though everyone is slower, some ships are still more manuverable then others. I garuntee you a pilot in a T/ln could kill a guy in a krayt or B wing.

>>3. fixing WO3 will fix that

Not really, with cap overload you can still spam laser fire, just for not quite as long as before.

Message Edited by Ducimus on 04-11-2005 06:41 PM