Squad Leader Archive
Thread: voice your opinions: should SLs have a group HAM reduction skill?
posted this yesterday, but with a dumb title that was misleading... I also put it on the main discussion board but it's impossible to get the general public to talk about SLs since we're so few and forgotten. So what do yall think? IMHO this would make us a VERY valuable addition to a group.
so the Squad Leader community is simply baffled (and dismayed) by the proposed changes/additions to the class...
a few of us have begun brainstorming some suggestions we could offer to the devs so they can get a feeling for what the community thinks would be GOOD changes to make. The proposed changes have the effect of making group members pets for the SL to control... and none of us want that.
One idea that is being passed around is that SLs be allowed to reduce the HAM costs of their group members' special abilities. This can be done either as a passive ability (but VERY slight) or as an active ability the SL has to spend their own HAM on (the greater cost would mean greater benefit over what the passive would give).
IMHO, this fits well with the fiction of what a SL should be... remember, the manual says our "very presence makes the group stronger" or something to that effect. Currently that is FAR from being true in terms of game mechanics.With HAM reduction, we would definately make our groups more effective.
so here's the two possibilities for this:
if it's a passive ability, give like +5 Group Efficiency at Novice SL
+2 +3 +2 and +3 in tiers 1 through 4 of one of the skill trees...
and another +5 to Master (for a total of +20% HAM Group Efficiency at master)
IF ACTIVE:
in one of the 2nd tiers you get /toughenup (or whatever) which gives the group +25 HAM efficiency for a short time at the price of some of the SLs mind pool
in the 4th tier you get a +50 /toughenup with a larger cost
obviously these CANNOT stack and would have to either active OR passive and not both.
So speak up SWG fans... would you support this?
20% is too little. it should be moire like 50% at master but require a HAM-using special SL ability. it can have a timer like maskscent. HAM is reduced for x amt of time. the time going up with skill level.
20% sounds about right, 50% is too high in my opinion. Myself also a master sharpshooter it costs me 97HAM for Strafeshot2. To have that halved would be out of control, not that I would enjoy it.
yeah obviously the numbers can be balanced out for fairness...
20% for a *passive* ability seems fine to me (since you incur no HAM costs yourself)
50% for an *active* might be too high... but you'd have to balance that with how long it would be active for... or reduce the number to 40 or something.
My opinion, very simply:
10 / 20 / 30 / 40 %, at each tier.
Capt V... do you mean 10/20/30/40 as an active skill or passive?
that's a bit too much to expect from a passive (always on, no costs to use) skill.
to max at 40% reduction for an ACTIVE skill that costs us mind to use seems ok to me
it has to be either or, we can't have both
Posted this in the Squad Leader Correspondent report thread but reposting here...
I'mabsolutely against healing mind damage. I LIKE the fact that there are things that groups can't cure instantly. Groups shouldn't be able to shoot-and-loot on a sun up to sun down basis. Last I checked, the Zerg is not a known SWG playable race.
I would be amenable to having discounted HAM costs for actions done while in a group lead by a Squad Leader, however, be it passive or active.
I'd also think that a group lead by a squad leader would accumulate battle fatigue at a slower rate than other groups (perhaps on an incremental basis?). Or, as an active ability, the SL would be able to negate HAM costs for a short duration, transfering the burden to battle fatigue (i.e., an ability that would normally cost 46 Health insteadadds 46 (or more) battle fatigue) much in the way that an deeply inspired person can lift more, run farther, etc. through force ofwill only to be exhausted in a deeper sense after the conflict is over.
Either -
Passive with a consistent drain on some pool
OR
Active with a length timer or a reset timer, or both.
Should SLs have a group HAM reduction skill? My answer is maybe.
We have been led to believe that having an SL lead your group should make the group more efficient in combat. Would HAM reduction make a group more efficient? Yes. Are there other ways to make SLs make the group more efficient? Yes. Would I be happy with SL even if it didn't have HAM reduction? Yes...if SLs are effective at making a group more efficient in some other ways.
--Ze'ev
Considering we have no viable combat skills, to add ourselves why sell ourselves short with 20%?
MY major point is if we put in a skill that no one notices then we have put in nothing at all.
If we put in a skill that is barely notciable then we have a barely working skill.
You have to take in cosideration, to get groups(and we friggin need groups dont we?) we will need obvious positive group skills that everyone will notice.
After all a great leader can make a group of men fight like twice their number. If we cannot impact groups in a noticeable way then we are hung out to dry.
Don't sell us short, the DEV's rarely give you everything you ask for, if the number is too high let them change it.....let the game balance itself change it. I think even 40% would be ok.
Things are going to change alot in this game(heck defense mods dont even work right now) we have to decide right now how we fit in the game, what our role will be. You sit quiet undersell yourself you will get exaclty what you fought for ....nothing or barely noticeable skills.
I really want this to be a great grouping class