Reduce the Prices on Battleships

[Jinx]

i think we should - despite all discussions about the price set one thing clear...

battleships are still a joke compared to what their shape and appearence "suggests" ( i m not using the term "ought to be" cause thats a lot more subjective even - but a ship with thousands of crew members, enough material and a reactor to power a medium sized town a life long.... - for that, they re still pathetic )

now - what options do we have?

we have the idea of balance by players or balance by RP shiptype.

and thats the problem really. - when it comes to players - one battleship equals ONE player. - and ONE battleship cannot be taken down by ONE bomber = one player. - it takes 2 but rather 3 players to take down one if this one player pays enough money.

so in fact - you don t pay for your shipclass so much - but you pay to "weigh as much as 3 other players".

the RP approach is to think of - well.. .roleplayed terms. - for that matter... one battleship = maybe 2000 or more crew members that work a LOT better than a single person, cause they can share their work - perform a lot more tasks in the same time be a lot more flexible and adaptive to any situation. - when we apply that standard....

one battleship is better than even a dozen bombers - maybe not by taking those 12 bombers down - but by CERTAINLY surviving them.


what effect has that on the gameplay? - we simply cannot afford it. we don t have that many players - and it is still a fact. the fastest and safest way to take down a battleship is to deploy..... two battleships ( as opposed to 2 to 3 bombers )



i would truely love battleships to be a lot more durable - be the very last to go down in a fleet battle.

the new balance gave battleships roughly 3 times the hitpoints they had in 4.84 - while at the same time not really touching the bombers dps. - so it does take the bomber more than three times longer to take down a battleship now ( armour included ).

the fine line is to be drawn between "durable enough" and "a boring combat".

yes, we could give a battleship 20.000.000 base armour, making it 80.000.000 top armour - making it so that they cannot fight bombers more effectivly - but they d literally take HOURS to be taken down even by 6 bombers... and only if the battleship captain went for a RL shopping trip meanwhile.

"should" they have at least that much armour in RP? - hell, yeah. - but its simply boring. - even unopposed, a bomber would sit at an optimal range, dodge the projectiles rather easily - and push his SN button every 20 seconds ..... for 5 hours. yay.

so playability is the key.




right now - the prices are OK. - they reflect "a great deal of money" and frankly.... everyone knows that they are NOT worth it - not at all - the only capital ships that "might" currently be worth the time it takes to buy them are battlecruisers, cause they offer a very good deal for the money.

making battleships cheaper will not get rid of any problem we have ( if we actually do have a problem ) - but the net effect is the same as to boast the general trade output. ( better trade = richer traders, richer pirates )

making them admin approved or otherwise only available to an elite will not suddenly make them better. - those that wish for it should be aware of that. - just cause we "might" only have 2 or 3 on the entire server doesn t mean it suddenly gets 20.000.000 hitpoints!

same with making them even more expensive.



so - right now, they are affordable by factions and individuals alike. - and once you have a 5k ( or another large ) transport - it doesn t take long.


the ONLY way to reduce battleships ( and practicly every other shiptype with expensive weaponry and equipment ) is to increase the maintenance costs.

* a suggestion that was always shot down by even those that wish to REDUCE battleship numbers *


i had suggested in the earlier days of the 4.85 developement to apply "random" ( that means, not every time, but maybe 20% of each time ) jumphole damage to the whole system ( that is the whole ship + components ) ( as suggested in the singleplayer capaign )

so - when a battleship entered a jumphole, there d be a 20% chance that it would take damage ( wahtever the damage - 10% 20% who knows ) - that would make "defensivly" used battleships a lot more attractive, cause in order to "attack" someone - the ship would need to travel a good deal. ( advantage for house battleships, cause THEY can use gates which wouldn t cause damage )

and even then.... we wouldn t buff battleships up to what they might be in RP.

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