Nyx - why is it so good?

[Mímir]

Yep. There are a lot of ships that are going to get fixed up (including Rapier), but to my knowledge Nyx is not one of them.

Nyx is ridiculously easy to pilot, hard to hit and has a big powercore. I haven't tried out a Lynx, but it seems like Nyx is the definite "king of the Taus" - what is the reason for this? Is it balanced against a 4.85 Sabre that since received nerfs?

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[Caconym]

It's probably mainly because of the shape. The classical cone shape leaves relatively little big spaces to hit. Mix that with a good turning speed, and you have something very hard to hit.

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[Lythrilux]

It's probably mainly because of the shape. The classical cone shape leaves relatively little big spaces to hit. Mix that with a good turning speed, and you have something very hard to hit.

Pretty much this.

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[Nerva]

Not only its shape is favorable but the shield hitbox is very tight around the ship which leaves very little area to shoot at.

But I think the question here is "Why it was made that good?" and not "What makes it so good?".

[Haste]

I've already given it a substantially larger shield hitbox for the next update. Mind you, it's not the only fighter that's been altered that way.

The reason the Nyx is so good though, yeah, is the combination of:

• Exceptionally tight shieldbox,
  
• Very sleek shape creating an excellent front and back profile - as long as you either face your opponent directly or keep them well behind you, you're golden,
  
• Tight weapon placement that makes it easy to get 'full hits' where every weapon hits, again thanks to its shape,
  
• Excellent agility as it's both responsive and has an above-average max turn rate,
  
• Average or above average stats in the hull/bot&bat/powercore categories.
  

It's one of those all-rounders that doesn't have any real weakness. The closest thing to a weakness I can come up with is its very large top and bottom profile, which does make it relatively easy to get good hits on in group fights, provided you can get in a position to take advantage of that profile.

As for king of the Taus: I'd say that title probably goes to the Rapier. While not as fast as the Nyx, it has an even tighter shield hitbox, an overall more compact hull (doesn't have the "top profile weakness" of the Nyx) and even more hull hitpoints. It's not just the king of the Taus, it's the king of Sirius.

The differences are minimal, though. Both ships are very easy to fly. The Rapier is slightly more forgiving in group fights as poor dodging and showing the Nyx' top profile can get the latter ship killed quickly, while the Rapier doesn't really have that weakness.

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This will probably interest you: the Nyx' current shield hitbox (left) and the future one (right):

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[Jack_Henderson]

Going by feeling, the Lynx belongs equally into the ranks of the "3 kings of the Taus". Is it getting changed in any way? I think most things said about Nyx and Rapier apply to the Lynx, as well.

Btw, I totally agree on the statements on Nyx and Rapier shieldbox and reasons why they work just a little too well in comparison to others. But so does the Lynx, imo.

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[Haste]

Going by feeling

That's why "feelings" are risky when balance is concerned. Players' experiences shooting certain ships depend largely on who is flying what ship, how often they've shot that particular ship (you learn to adjust for shape when aiming, after all) and so on and so forth.

Here's a comparison image of the Nyx and the Lynx. The red 'lines' visible represent the Nyx' frontal shield hitbox, while the gray parts are the Lynx. Note how the former fits into the latter with ease.



Now you may want to note that only shows the front profile, but simply trust me when I say the surface area of the top and side are very similar. The Lynx is much wider and a bit shorter, while the Nyx is really just a long, narrow, triangle.

I'm not going to deny that the Lynx dodges well, but it's really not in that top tier of 'wonky hitboxes'. I personally like the Lynx, but when compared to the Nyx in other areas it's not quite as amazing. A little more hull & bots and bats doesn't make up for that amazing agility the Nyx has, which makes it much less prone to getting permanently outturned by, say, Sabres.

The Lynx is a solid ship and can last a long time in a group fight, but that struggles in smaller-scale fights against opponents in faster ships. I would say it needs neither a buff nor a nerf with that balance of strengths and weaknesses.

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