Capships re-examined

[J-Kent]

Ok, so I like many have had the nasty experience of being pasted by a capship.
( a Xeno owned Osiris in this case, if I had had time for screenies, Id file for sanction. who sells underfunded terrorists order battleships?!)

So, I want to discuss capships from the perspective of a Trekkie/Star Wars/Homeworld guy who has seen many different ways of balancing ships.

In star Trek fighters almost dont exist. Ships weighing 800,000 metic tons and sporting 40 decks all have the agility of Luke Skywalker in an X-wing, and so its all capships and their balancing, 'nough said, not going there.

Freelancer has a more 'naval' feel to it, like Star Wars or Homeworld.

So, lets discuss capships from that perspective.

First, I know its been said, I have to reiterate, Capships cost way, way, way, too little.
Anyone can get one after only a short time powertrading.

Capships are supposed to be rare, and far too many show up both from players and in terms of NPCs, though not as badly for the NPCs.

Also, OORP capships tend to show up alot. Especially the bigger ones.

That, and I have heard it said that a skilled player in a fighter will 'eat capital ships for breakfast'
Thats not true. pure and simple. :(

Maybe people who own bombers can do that, but the average fighter player stands ZILCH chance of fighting a capship in numbers less than 2 dozen, plus their own capship backup. and most of them will die for sure.

This engagement with the Xeno Osiris? I had backup in the form of multiple large fighters, three or more gunships, and an outcast destroyer, and there were about 2 dozen NPCs from both sides SWARMING the area.

I didnt even go for the Osiris, I concentrated on the NPCs and he was just throwing so much fire in all directions that I was pasted before I could even hit the nano bots or cruise.

This is plain ridiculous.

I think that something has to give.

Now, Capships are essentially invincible where everything but bombers and maybe the absolute most elite SHFs are concerned. No one can even begin to argue otherwise.

Their problems are these;

1; Already spoken of, OORP or too easily purchased capships. Gunboats are actually ok, but too many people have fast access really big ships.

2; energy based missile turrets. enough said. ludicrous.

3; their shield recharge rates are far far far far too high. Now, Id argue that due to the massive power core it has, a capital ship should have large shields, but I argue that they should have little to no recharge, and be able to mount no shield batteries whatsoever.

Think about it, if, say, even a gunboat engages me in a very heavy fighter, I should have a chance of taking him out if Im very skilled and well equipped. But I wouldnt stand a chance, he has dozens of nanos and shield bots, and a recharge rate so fast he wont even have to use either.

Essentially the only way to even dent a capship is to have a capship or a bomber, you have to be able to eliminate his shields in 4 shots or less.

In a system with no recharge rate, a capship can have its uber-shields, but a fighter could, by constant hammering, knock them out.

to summarize,I can think, offhand, of a dozen different ways to affect capship balance, but I want to sum up the goals first.

1; A mid to high level expensive and well equipped fighter should be an even match for any gunboat.

2; A high level super heavy fighter with outstanding equipment and a highly skilled pilot should be able to realisticly defeat lower/lowest end cruisers/destroyers after a long grueling fight.

3; bombers should be a toe to toe match for everything up to and including destroyers/cruisers.

4; a group of high level well equipped fighters, 5 to 10, should be an even match for even a battleship.

5; 4 bombers should be able to wipe even a battleship like a blackboard.

6; Something, somehow, on capships, destroyer and above, has got to be nerfed so that low level players in fast ships, or highly skilled LF pilots, are almost impossible to hit with turrets even when firing sprays or flack. make the fighter players impossible or close to impossible, to hit with turrets, but make a flack turret that does only the damage of a standard fighter class weapon but could easily hit players in fighters.

This could be done with slower camera/turret revolving in bugger ships, or by tightening their firing arcs to create blindspots.

Lastly, something that will help alot of things, regardless of balance changes, is to alter the rules.
Ive been told the rule Im referring to is under review, but I admonish yall to remove it.

The rule is that fleeing in PvP constitues a death. Thats very OORP from my perspective. In the FL universe a guy or fleet or anyone is free to attack and retreat, dock, cruise, and 'lane, and re-engage at will!

This would give players like me an option between 'commit to battle and 99% likely go down under capship guns' and 'sit out like a wimp'
I could fight till badly damaged or until the odds got bad, then attempt to bug out (nothing garuntees I would suceed) without having to log off my character, endure any rule lawyering, or leave the system.

This would, in conjunct with perhaps a nerf to capship shields and turret rotation speed, make things infinitely better for us little cannon fodder weenies, especially in cases like this;

here is the scenario....

I am using hacker ID engaging multiple weapons platforms and barracudas for a mission, when out of nowehere with no warning or demands for surrender, an LSF tagged gunboat opens up on me.
(Isnt attacking without announcement or surrender demands OORP?)
regardless, hes within rights to attack me, and I knew that when I mounted the ID. Not complaining about that part. I was also in a dagger, so I have no insane pretentions of being able to defeat him.

Now any smart freelancer, pirate, or pilot of any sort, would bug out, but now that he's engaged me, Im going to die, one way or another. thats not fun. at all.

So if nothing else, I beg you to remove the fleeing = death rule, and I do ask nicely but very adamandtly that capships, as powerful as I think they deserve to be, should be re-evaluated carefully by the mod creators to make them more balanced.

In parting, Ill mention that for example in the original single player you were expected to take on massive fleets with minimal fighter support... You effectively had to destroy a Rheinland fleet in the Taus with no one but Juni and Sinclair and a few stilletos. and on hard difficulty your support is no help at all.

Just a point to consider.

---

"Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to several friends of mine, they like to keep a fixed distance from me most of the time, and they have a tendancy to spin and gyrate on multi-directional mounts faster than you can compensate for. They disgorge 75 isojoules of subatomic disruptive destructive energy. Fear the tachyon cannons"