Can we have...

[neilplus]

Fair enough. My ideas may well be bad, but maybe they'll trigger a good one from someone else. Giles did nibble at the Shield Equaliser

Personally, I see nothing wrong with a heavy weapon you can only fire when the laser temperature is zero - if you miss, you're really going to be in trouble while you wait for it to cool all the way back down from maximum temperature!

I admit that the multibeam stuff is problematic (although I did try to suggest potential limitations in addition to the price tag).

[neilplus]

...I think the energy bomb should go...

Now that I wholeheartedly agree with.

[lex_talionis]

yeh, i agree about the energy bomb - it's just too easy.

also, can someonee tell me the string for the scanner targetting enhancment? because it's disappeared from savefile - and nowhere do i see a repair option, and i can't buy a new one.

[TGHC]

i guess if you wanted that one-hit-kill, how about a one shot weapon that costs the earth (and most of the other planets) and can only be re-equipped at behemoths? to make it rare and only to be used in EMERGENCY.

Already there, as an energy bomb.

I assume that you can carry a Q bomb as well (haven't seen one available to buy yet though)

[TGHC]

Reminder to self..........read the whole thread before posting dumb replies

[Cmdr. Wombat]

...I think the energy bomb should go...

Now that I wholeheartedly agree with.

I agree. I try not to use energy bombs, although I must admit to having a few moments of weakness in that regard. Perhaps I shouldn't buy them...

On the other hand, I have only ever used the one Q-bomb, and that was just to see the effects out my rear viewport... I prefer to use the slot for a missile.

[Murgh]

...I think the energy bomb should go...

Now that I wholeheartedly agree with.

I agree. I try not to use energy bombs, although I must admit to having a few moments of weakness in that regard. Perhaps I shouldn't buy them...

God, I agree, but mellowed out on this campaign a year ago. if there ever was an element guilty of breaking the player-NPC equality principle, this is it. the only wart on the Elite canon, I think. but EliteA got it right and abolished it. for Oolite, the Q-bomb is a nice, sophisticated replacement.

but of course, since NPCs never use it, an anti-EBcrusader can simply just not buy it, and never be bothered. for that matter, in one's private game it's easy to completely remove it from the EQ shopping list..

[Arexack_Heretic]

have to say i agree with cmdr wonbat on that - oolites not just about getting the best guns to kill everything as fast as possible. it's about developing tactics, knowing when to fight and when to run away.

the thing is... ever played a FPS game where you're set to GodMode? it gets pretty boring... i don't think that oolite should really support that sort of thing. if it was possible just to blast things with a one-hit-kill weapon, there's never any player skill development past a certain point.

i guess if you wanted that one-hit-kill, how about a one shot weapon that costs the earth (and most of the other planets) and can only be re-equipped at behemoths? to make it rare and only to be used in EMERGENCY. perhaps a laser overload (that requires, obviously, a military laser) that, after uses, damages your laser to the point of making it the eqivalent of a pulse laser?

thing is, if you want to have superweapons, you really have to have more trade-offs than just an extortionate price-tag.

meh. just my two cred-chits worth...

Yep, I'm just interested in the big guns for NPC-ships like the behemoth, not for my own use.

About that energy bomb: yes it's unfair. But elite. In FE-FFE, the bombs were less deadly and used my NPC's.

@ your earlier question: buy/repair it at a tech12 world.

BTW I rescind any remarks I made about sun-skimming: It's easy.
Also the Mil laser cools down quite rapidly.

[lex_talionis]

Arexack wrote:

@ your earlier question: buy/repair it at a tech12 world.

yeah, tried that... wouldn't work. however, my complete savefile has gone arse-up, so i'm gonna have a to mod a new Jameson to get my specs back. keeping away from the cred and kill strings!

[TedJ]

yeh, i agree about the energy bomb - it's just too easy.

also, can someonee tell me the string for the scanner targetting enhancment? because it's disappeared from savefile - and nowhere do i see a repair option, and i can't buy a new one.

Hmm, it's EQ_SCANNER_SHOW_TARGET isn't it?

I'll add my vote against the ebomb too... mucho cheesy. I don't bother with it myself but tolerate it since it was in the original versions I played. I much prefer the QC mines (oooh, perty! ) and hardened missiles these days.

:EDIT: Wowsers, my ranking just went up to competent... can I show this to my boss?

[JensAyton]

- a Lepton Beam that subjects the target to a massive blast of charged particles, temporarily disabling it. Divide and conquer for pirate packs.

I like it. Basically a new damage type. Generalisation: Lepton weapons increase a charge in the ship; the higher the charge, the worse its maneuvering, up to a point where it becomes paralised until enough charge dissipates. This of course applies to the player ship, too. We should carefully avoid referring to it as ion charge.

- a Lepton Bomb. See above. Temporarily disables everything in range. Not sure how we explain the fact that your ship remains unaffected, though!

It doesn’t. It works like a Q-bomb, without the cascade effect.

Actually, what all this is suggesting to me is a data-driven approach to weapons. Each laser, missile or bomb is specified in a plist entry, with damage rate for each type of damage – shield, hull, lepton/static charge – and cooling rate. To avoid abuse the game could force a minimum cooling rate/damage relationship. Oh, and the plist should also specify laser colour, which ought to be an attribute of the type of weapon rather than the ship.

I’m not entirely against multi-mounts, as long as they share cooling, although the number of mount points (in each direction) should also be a ship attribute.

I don’t like the E-bomb. I don’t like the ECM, either – it’s an E-bomb for missiles. It acts like a really big EMP, with an either-or effect. ECMs should have a continuous effect of weakening missile tracking, with a chance of confusing them sufficiently so they change targets if another ship crosses their path (technical: if |target-ship - missile| · |other-ship - missile| < threshold). Missiles should also have a tracking cone, allowing them to overshoot and lose track of their target; this cone could be reduced by ECMs. Obviously this paves the way for multiple levels of ECM, and multiple degrees of ECM-hardenedness.

The current EMP effect could be achieved by a more expensive-to-use EMP unit. Or simply be a side effect of the “lepton bomb” - if a missile builds up a big enough charge, it dies.

[Selezen]

I agree with Winston - the energy bomb is a fairly big cop-out, even though it's only a one-shot. Modifying it as he suggests would be beneficial, since it wouldn't solve all the problems by destroying everything, but it might even the odds out somewhat against fleets - the escorts could be taken out, and maybe some middle-sizd ships that have been smacked a few times with a laser, but still leave a bit of a fight.

[TGHC]

I also very rarely use the energy bomb, it's the penultimate survival resort but still a bit of a kopout. However it is true to the original game, so I would not like to see it removed entirely.

I can see a case for it being a bit weaker, it's effectiveness based on the shield strength of the opposition, only those with miltary/naval shielding would survive, albeit wounded and whimpering. There also ought to be shield damage or something to oneself as a result, requiring maintainence at the next planet. As with many other people it has always been incongruos to me that you can survive your own energy bomb.

I like the idea of the Q bomb that you have to get the hell out of the way to avoid being toast yourself. This is more in keeping with the Quid Pro Quo philosophy that every gain must cost something.

nb now I know that I have to have an empty space in my missile rack for a Q bomb, I'm gonna buy one and try it

[Arexack_Heretic]

how about draining two energybanks (on an unupgraded craft)?

[neilplus]

..., in one's private game it's easy to completely remove it from the EQ shopping list..

That's a good idea, I'll do that. Every so often, I have a finger glitch and accidentally buy one whilst meaning to buy something else

Mind you, now that we have the Q-bomb, I'd be quite happy to see the Elite energy bomb relegated to the Elite-strict mode. Trying to sucker a Thargoid into being next to a Q-bomb when it goes off is amazingly good fun My favoured method is to fly up to it on injectors, drop the bomb a few seconds before I'd shoot past the Thargoid, pull up 90 degrees and make off. Pulling up is important - the Q-bomb coasts at whatever speed you were doing when you dropped it...