What do you think about CD's and Bombers and Gunboats.

[Jinx]

bombers having the option of cd/torp or double torp is kind of a heritage of the old days - when there was the "nova cannon"

for those who may not remember

- the nova cannon was what the SNAC is today... it inflicted 48.000 damage ( or something like that ) - and used up ~45% of a bombers powerplant ( "a bombers powerplant" = either GMG bomber or RH bomber - cause these were the only 2 )

- the choice of the bomberplayer was to either use dual novas for serious anti-cap or CD / torp ... usually used for singleplayer piracy or support roles - cause a bomber with just one nova wouldn t be able to sustain damage on a battleships shields.

why was it revised?

- cause the setup of a dual heavy weapon enabled good players to insta-kill in just one single pass - hence, the SNAC was introduced - more damage, higher energy costs - but no ability to do a double hit in one pass. ( and henceforth - the bombers were revised so that this tactic wouldn t be possible ( or at least easy ))

now - what happens when we take the CD off a bomber?

- bombers won t be able to be used in "singleplayer" ... you ll need at least ONE more player to put the bomber to its full use.
- a bomberswarm against a battleship or even a cruiser will NOT win ( but it might force the capital ship to retreat )
- a bomber vs. a gunboat will be at a severe disadvantage ... IF the bomber decides to actually fight the gunboat.


most of those points might sound beneficial - from the point of view that it is not meant to be a singleplayer game anyway - and we are forcing other players with other ships into multiplayer, too ( escorts ).

it does however leave the question if that is an overall beneficial thing.

unless one is blind - the idea that each ship can have escorts that actually requires them - is at the very least ... naive.

battleships and traders show that escorts do not quite work. - and while the bomber would "just" need someone with a CD - it might also mean that this someones roleplay and gameplay might be "too much reduced" to just being a mobile CD. ( leaves the question - who wishes to be a mobile CD )

it might also mean that the tactical loss of that one mobile CD can turn the tide of battle- no matter how much it would have been in favour of the bombers. - 10 bombers vs. 1 battleship will still not win... if the mobile CD has gone down.



we have a nice example of such "specialized ships" when we look at the repair ship. - having one - and protecting one can turn a weaker side into a winning side. - it remains to see if actually roleplaying a repair ship is fun though.

also - if bombers become too much of a team efford - but rather useless alone - they might become the tools of "only groups of players" - which means that you won t pick up the random indie anymore when you need him ( and many fights that happen spontanously require these random individuals )



much of disco is an inter-dependable chain. - take out one factor - and the rest crumbles.


edit:

it appears hard to have a serious discussion about hot-topics these days - you get the typical one-liners and the unreflected comments.

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