Gully Alex Foyle
Black Fox Marauders
Repeat 0ffenders
95
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Posted - 2014.04.14 14:08:00 -
[1] - Quote
This is an awesome idea! Was about to post it myself, but found this thread first.
I'll start off by acknowledging it would be very complex to implent and balance. It certainly would have to be a major project for CCP.
But guys, would you prefer CCP to put resources on side-features such as mobile structures or pretty ship skins, or on one big feature that would affect every single engagement of the game, adding a substantial new layer to the gameplay?
Forget the implementation difficulty for a moment, and just think of some of the possibilities:
1) Kamikaze ships become a viable tactic (+á la Homeworld  ). So the fc could choose to use his ships for higher total damage over time, or one big 'alpha' from kamikaze dmg
2) When you know you're doomed in a fleet engagement, you can be the hero and try to take valuable enemy assets with you. How cool is that? Especially if you're flying a cap or supercap.
3) More skill and depth to fleet fits and range tactics. Now if you have enough logi, pounding the enemy fleet at zero is too often the single most effective tactic. This sadly doesn't reward neither the pilots nor the fc's skills - it reduces everything to elementary school dps math... 
Some ideas for balancing and avoiding drawbacks:
a) use missile mechanics, so high speed and low sig mitigate damage. you could easily devise the 'dmg curve' in such a way that pods and drones become almost immune; and frigs close to exploding battleships have a chance to survive if they don't sit still...
b) for highsec, further buff mining/hauling ships' tank (since suicide gankers would suddenly get a 'free' dmg buff)
c) regarding crimewatch, if you self-destruct and dmg somebody it's an aggression. if somebody else kills you nothing happens.
d) 'Jita problem' (or any station for that matter) is easily solved: stations have some high tech gizmo that absorbs 'blow-up' dmg, you're safe as long as you're in docking range
e) slightly buff close range weapon systems, to compensate for the fact that sitting at close range now makes you vulnerable to blow-up dmg
f) reduce self-destruct timer to 10-20 seconds
TL;DR: I love the idea because it has the potential to deeply affect combat mechanics and tactics, further emphasizing player skill vs. pure numbers. I think it's worthy of CCP's time to analyze in some depth the obvious implementation/balance difficulties. |