Patch When? #2 - Dev Diary - Fighter Balance

[Haste]

Art by @Kauket

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Hello. I'm stealing Aingar's format. Welcome to the second "Patch When?" dev diary entry. It's Balance Time™.

No Discovery Freelancer patch would be complete without us fiddling with fighter balance, so of course Fire & Fortune is going to include its own batch of changes to everyone's favorite ship class. We've turned a few knobs when it comes to the power level / annoyance level of Light & Heavy fighters, and we've fully overhauled "Fighter Special Weapons".

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Light & Heavy Fighters

Easily the most difficult class of fighter to balance, light fighters have continued to be frustrating to shoot at despite our best efforts to tone down their (groupfight) survivability in the last few patches. For Fire & Fortune, we've taken the nerfbat to light fighter turn acceleration, making them less responsive, less twitchy and therefore easier to hit. In addition, both light and heavy fighters have had their powercore recharge slightly toned down. Heavy fighters, in particular, often had effectively stronger powerplants than the VHF in the same line. Now, there's a bit more progression in damage output from light to very heavy fighters.

Depending on the effectiveness of the light fighter response nerf, we may increase the thruster energy at light fighters' disposal, which can easily be done in our first post-Fire & Fortune patch. We're aware that light fighters currently, ironically, suck at pursuing targets compared to heavier fighters, and would like to improve this aspect of the class. However, we're very hesitant to undo what progress we've made in making light fighters more fun to encounter.

Fighter Special Weapons

The bigger change to fighters as a whole is our overhaul of 'special weapons'. No longer do they go on a cruise disruptor (or much more rarely, dedicated) slot. Now, all fighters have had two of their (usually low-class) gun slots changed to optionally mount 'fighter heavy weapons' on them. We've done a full balance pass of all the equipment that goes on these slots as well, of course. Let's briefly touch on each archetype:

ASMD Light Railgun

The ASMD Light Railgun -- effect by @Titan* -- true refire is 1.00, gif was made during early effect testing

A reimagination of the Helios Pulse Beam, the ASMD Light Railgun is a heavy-hitting, low-refire, 900 m/s velocity sniping weapon. Dealing equal hull and shield damage, it hits hard enough for a pair of ASMDs to two-shot VHF shields. All this power, of course, comes at the cost of efficiency, making it one of the least efficient heavy weapons available to fighters.

Blackout / Inferno / Tartarus Pulse Cannon

These weapons are most comparable to a pulse version of the Mini Razor. They deal very large amounts of shield damage per shot, but are tricky to land due to their low muzzle velocity. Still, there's few weapons available to fighters that can handle the heavier shields of freighters and gunboats better than these heavy pulse weapons.

Mini Razor

The Mini Razor has been changed relatively little. While it is still the hardest-hitting single-shot weapon available to fighters, its damage has been approximately halved to account for the possibility that two can be run on the same fighter. However, it's also gained a very significant chunk of efficiency in the process, making it one of if not the most efficient hullbuster fighters can mount.

Cannonball Missile

The heaviest and literally dumbest missile available. The Cannonball has been turned into a dumbfire missile with a massive explosion radius and similarly massive damage. It's set up to detonate exactly 300 meters away from the user when fired at standstill, and by manipulating your ship's velocity you can make it explode further away. The Cannonball takes a little bit of getting used to, but is incredibly powerful once mastered.

Firestalker, Sidewinder & Paralyzer Missiles

Fighter missiles, in general, have received the most extensive changes of all fighter heavy weapons. Their turn rate, in particular, has been significantly reduced. Where a live server Sidewinder turns at a staggering 173.6 degrees per second, rendering it effectively un-dodgeable and making countermeasures the only viable, well, countermeasure, the new Sidewinder turns at a more sensible 63 degrees per second.

Don't be fooled into thinking these missiles are weak, however. With high fire rates, high damage output, very generous ammo pools and the ability to mount two launchers, a heavy missile-wielding fighter is a force to be reckoned with. Ask any of our playtesters if you need convincing.

While on the subject of missiles, I'll have to briefly touch on countermeasures: they have had their ammo counts massively reduced, cooldown between uses increased, and success rates slightly toned down. Now that missiles are expected to be dodged with quick movements, countermeasures have been turned into more of a backup plan.

Light Missiles: The Feldgeist, Flechette, Javelin, Longbow, Peacekeeper & Shuriken

The Liberty Peacekeeper Missile -- effect by @Titan*

Light missiles are another missile archetype available. They reach significantly higher velocities, have a better firing arc and have a wider seeking cone. In return, however, they turn slower than heavy missiles, averaging at a little over 30 degrees per second. These missiles are the brawling turn-fighter's missile of choice, as they can more easily keep up at close range. Of course, they won't hit quite as hard as a Firestalker or Paralyzer would, but their high fire rate makes up for that weakness.

Our overall aim with missile changes is to add a large amount of new gameplay and diversity to fighter loadouts. In addition, missiles have a convenient feature: they aim themselves. This allows players with less developed aiming skills to still contribute and deal meaningful damage. Lower turn rates make missiles a little less fire-and-forget, however, and more skilled players will still be able to squeeze more value out of them.

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We've personally had a ton of fun balancing and playtesting these weapons, and we're looking forward to seeing how the community uses all these fun new tools. Stay tuned for (hopefully) some more details on our gunboat rework, featuring significantly bigger structural changes than what we've done with fighters.

[Giorgio]

the ASMD Light Railgun is a heavy-hitting, low-refire, 900 m/s velocity sniping weapon

As a 1.00 enthusiast, I approve.

[Couden]

It is nice to hear that you no longer have a dilemma of mounting CD or MR. Also curious about missiles.

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[Demonic]

It is nice to hear that you no longer have a dilemma of mounting CD or MR. Also curious about missiles.

Yeah... I actually might be able to actually DO something in snub combat now. Cause my skill is otherwise nonexistent. Also, how the hell do you get the low refire weapons to cycle in such a way they create a continuous chaingun fire?

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Links
Characters and feedback | Freelancer's Woes | MacRory's Irregulars

[Lusitano]

well ... this is one of those things that we really have to wait to see !

[L1ght]

Having had the privilage to test out everything since day one, I'm super happy with the concluding results. That being said , the new missilies are efing based they've added a lot more depth to snub pvp. I'm curious to see how the cool pvpers will adapt and how many cool more pvpers we'll get as certain missilies do require some skill to use , but when you learn how to properly use them oh boy... As for me personally my all time favorite remains the RAIL GUN, changing playstyles from the boring old 4 hull busters and 2 debs to a lot more variety is just epic.

P.s Haste forgot to mention the cool new fighters coming out and the fact that we have FUSES (don't tell him I said that)

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[Couden]

P.s Haste forgot to mention the cool new fighters coming out and the fact that we have FUSES (don't tell him I said that)

He knows how 2 read (hopefully)

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[Toaster]

P.s Haste forgot to mention the cool new fighters coming out and the fact that we have FUSES (don't tell him I said that)

Bro, stop leaking!!!

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Olivia Sable
On hiatus

[pillow]

the fuses allow people to properly roleplay as npcs before they explode

[HonourWolf]

Having been added as a playtester recently and testing out the new snub weapons, It has been a really cool experience overall.

Most of the main missiles homing missiles(Paralyzer, Firestalker and Sidewinders) feel generally fun to play around with in a way that one has to lead and in a way "push" his missiles to where you want them to go.

With said missiles, you can also create multiple traps against your opponent whether you're firing 2 missiles together or separately to make them move the way you want them to move. That is also without saying that you still have your guns, mines, and cruise disruptors to ensnare your enemies with.

Cannonballs on the other hand did not resonate with me in the little time I had using them but they do deal massive amounts of damage and also displace your enemies not forgetting that you can also chain fire them to create more opportunities for yourself and to pressure your enemy.

The light missiles were interesting overall, allows one to maintain pressure and keep the enemy moving and should they be caught sleeping, they'd be outturned and hit by them in their efforts to reset the fight to a neutral position.

Light Railguns were phenomenal and will tickle the fancies of all the aimers, rewarding patience, good aim, and positioning.

I was also quite terrible with the mini razors but if one is able to force their opponents to make a mistake, it's an incredibly punishing amount of damage to take.

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