POLL: Carrier idea thread

[Proselyte]

Unpopular opinion: All non-FWG battleships are basically carriers because Freelancer battleships always served as FOBs for fighters . . .

Bismarck/Tokugawa will certainly carry more fighters than Elbe.

While I do like the line of thinking tying this back to the vanilla (and current) depiction of battleships, we also run up against the problem that we have ships specifically designated as carriers by role in game right now. They just happen to be, mechanically, battleships. And, despite their size, it would be fairly easy to guess why despite their capability to carry strike craft, a "battleship" wouldn't carry more than a smaller dedicated vessel - devoted internal space.

A battleship, by role, is likely going to devote a bunch more of that bulk to armor, damage control, internal support systems for its big guns, etc., and maybe any leftover space we can get some hangars in there for versatility. Every battleship is kind of a carrier, but they are not dedicated carriers - they are battleships. Trying to apply the size differential between the Bismarck and the Elbe would have to necessarily include reclassifying all these supposed "carriers" into something else, or else we'd look very silly with the Rheinland carrier having half the capacity of their big brawling turtle.

I'm personally in favor of giving the docking mods that capacity buff and getting the carriers specialized as what they claim to be, doubly so with this thought of letting them carry ammo resupply and gear swaps around. A perk shared with the regular battleships too, just with less space. Not so much a fan of letting them dock gunboats personally - imagining those popping out of an Overlord seems a bit goofy to me, even if we've got the contrivance of docking much larger things on NPC ships.

In the end, the work around PvP balancing them as their own thing (if they aren't to stay simply a different battleship) is beyond me, but I love the roleplay opportunities around dedicated carriers and dock-mods, so the distinction matters I think, even if current pop makes it seem pointless.

[LuckyOne]

All the ideas sound nice in theory, but aren't very useful in practice due to current low-ish server population.

I once proposed one thing that would be a serious buff to carriers and make Disco battles more akin to the scenes seen in a Star Wars movie or a Battlefront game and that is to make them function as spawn points that can respawn snubs as long as they have "tickets" left.

That would also mean that the endurance of the snubs towards caps could be dialed back down, because dying in a snub would mean you don't need to be out for an hour but could jump back in as long as the carrier had spare snubs to replace the killed ones - basically every battle with a carrier present would turn into a limited respawn event.

Of course that suggestion would seriously backfire with skilled players present in battle as a team would e.g need to beat someone like Wesker up to 10 times, depending on how many respawns per carrier were allowed.

On the other hand with that implemented Disco fleet battles could be made a less frustrating experience, especially for situations where a cap gets a lucky shot on a snub right after a battle starts.

[Jayenbee]

Docking Modules should hold 2x Fighters/Bombers each or 1x Freighter/Gunboat, change my mind.

A slightly faster firing Flak that had a little dispersion and far less explosion radius would make for a cool defensive weapon.

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When contending with a monster, you'd be wise to give the devil his due.

[Caconym]

A and B are good ideas
C: Docking on GBs means:
- you get a fast moving fast turning ship that can engage and disengage with bombers in it - OP. In all the team fights I've seen or been, the GBs were the last to go down and they took the longest. Sometimes PVP dead would expire and their players returned.
- they are designed to be anti snub - add fighters inside and its OP.
- they need to stand still for 11 seconds to dock - if not disengaged, they are dead
D: player choices. Some don't even use flaks, they just dodge. Current flaks use a lot of energy and in the current MissileLancer, you have to be very good with them and at dodging to not get splash damage
E: Sounds nice

Correct me if I'm wrong, but C seems like it's supposed to be "carriers can carry a GB" and not "GBs can fit docking modules".

These are great ideas, please make carriers great again. They have a ton of potential for fun.

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[Lord Chaos]

Ships	Bays	Modules
Battlecruisers	1 Docking Bay	Snub Docking module (takes 1 slot) What? You whanted a fleet?!?
	2 Loadout Bay	Ammo module (takes 1 slot. autobuy all ammo), Repairs module (takes 2 slots. autobuy repair all), No guns for you. Heres the bullets for your free slot
Battleships	2 Docking Bays	Snub Docking module (takes 1 slot) Gunboat Docking module (takes 2 slot, mount 2 of the same to work) 2 snubs OR a Gunboat, dont even start.
	3 Loadout Bay	Ammo module (takes 1 slot. autobuy all ammo), Repairs module (takes 2 slots. autobuy repair all) Armory module (takes 3 slots. weapons, lots of weapons) You must choose...choose wisely...
Carriers	3 Docking Bay	Snub Docking module (takes 1 slot) Gunboat Docking module (takes 2 slots mount 2 of the same to work) Cruiser/Destroyer Docking module (takes 3 slots mount 3 of the same to work) "screams can be heard over the comms* o.O Either you take a big junk or small junks... not all the junks.
	6 Loadout Bay	Ammo module (takes 1 slot. autobuy all ammo), Repairs module (takes 2 slots. autobuy repair all), Armory module (takes 3 slots. weapons, lots of weapons) Just kidding, its a Carrier bro, ofcourse it can take all our junk.

Balanced Loadout and Docking Bays numbers according to role and common sense.

All docking Bay and Loadout modules that require more than 1 slot must be "x of a kind" mounted for it to work. (were "x" is the number of slots required)
Not all is bad, players can grind to get module parts and by having them equipped not lose them just cause they exploded.
No nanobots or shield bateries available from repair module, repairs ship and equipment only.

Money should be charged for every service it should have the regular price and the money goes to the "module crew" meaning no one.

Love your ideas bro really nice.

[Nomdszoner]

Several possibilities:
A: An inexhaustible source of energy, but with only a few heavy turrets.
B: An inexhaustible supply of ammunition, but only with missile turrets.
C: An endless supply of docking modules, but without turrets.
D: Standard equipment, an ordinary aircraft carrier that will not be harassed by pirates.

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[CreatorRA]

How about this?
Add new exclusive missiles(not easily destroyed) to the carrier as well as missile slots to replace the Heavy Turrets, and new efficient flak to defend against fighter attacks.
At the cost of some armor cuts.

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[Firewolfy]

im all for making the docking mods more useful as long as the carrier itself doesn't get nerfed, BSs already in a tougher spot for surviving right now IMO. or at least, make any nerfs optional if using different types of mods on the ship.

[LuckyOne]

Can we also get the consumables on the Docking Modules to be a bit cheaper than the NPC bases? That would also be a good incentive to use them more.

Could incentivise someone to RP as a "lemonade-stand" style of a support vessel, that sells bats, bots, mines and missiles to people in need.