Eliminate this ability by tweaking the max amount of the same ship to the number in a fleets wing (50). This would force no more than 50 of the same ship in each fleet. when carried into the logical conclusion of blob balancing. Each fleet would end up with 5 ship types.

Wrong section.

Sometimes ccp does a good job balancing stats (t1 cruisers, e.g.), and some others they wreck weapon systems or hulls and after that nobody uses them. Feels like a lotto to be honest. No one is perfect i guess.

costs huge amounts of development time

Eliminate this ability by tweaking the max amount of the same ship to the number in a fleets wing (50). This would force no more than 50 of the same ship in each fleet. when carried into the logical conclusion of blob balancing. Each fleet would end up with 5 ship types.

Good, bad, impractical, unfair?

Discuss?

Citation needed

Wrong section.

Also, no - this'll just mean that instead of 1 fleet, you'll have 10 fleets so that the BS (or slowcat, or whatever doctrine) numbers stay the same.

It's not like the super-powers down in the big blue donut run around with 4000 man fleets to squash their neighbours every day... Typical turn out is in the hundreds, and then some coalitions split up their forces into multiple theaters. For epic turn outs, you have to wait for the weekends, give advance notice, or just be lucky enough to have enough people ready to fight at the time. And even then they won't necessarily bring the ships you want.

Crap, I wish our ships had model years where the stats and skins of the old models were intact. I don't know about the caracal though as far as ship variations over the years but I sure would like an old drake or hurricane or Absolution.
.

1 fleet of 250 megathrons in a single mumble channel.
5 fleets of 50 megathrons in a single mumble channel.

Spot the difference.

If its not a new idea, its a redundant post isn't it? I asked to discuss not propose. I posted it here because of a broader cross section of talent. Features and Ideas impresses me as ship centered rather than group play. If the mods disagree, so be it but my first thought is that the idea has merit and creates new possibilities so much so that you would like to see the discussion be derailed and locked before it can see the light of dayI see new names, thanks for your responses.

I understand that the numbers will gravitate towards the blob mentality. This isn't to nerf blobs, its to divert resources from the bottomless pit of re-balancing. It will never end unless something else changes and quite frankly, I hate balanced ships. This shouldn't be a game about ships, it should be a game about people. Blob battles should be won on strategy and leadership and the ability to work together.

If you have ten fleets instead of one, you now need ten fleet commanders. for one this opens up leadership positions and another point is that it raises the bar from a competitive standpoint because it makes it harder to coordinate. team skill weigting rises as a proportion of overall difficulty and energy expenditures. Fatigue becomes a factor and additional errors increase the probability of a "turn of the tide" mistakes. These increase the potential content creation and drama. Of course in addition to more potential for errors is a somewhat increased strategic options available. Since force is not as concentrated, its free to split and handle the new broader range of threats.

Though the initial tendency would be to counter with the simplistic addition of fleets, more creative commanders could enjoy broader fleet comps under their control.

So your saying you liked the days where the only viable ship was the Hurricane, compared to today where every ship is viable?

Need five times the boosters. Don't need anyone with the FC skill trained.

Did I win?

As I see it the core of the ship balancing problem, which costs huge amounts of development time, is not about the ships.

There is no such thing as perfect balancing. persuing it is a waste of resources.

The true problems occur when very minor imbalances are multiplied a thousandfold by big fleets.

Eliminate this ability by tweaking the max amount of the same ship to the number in a fleets wing (50). This would force no more than 50 of the same ship in each fleet. when carried into the logical conclusion of blob balancing. Each fleet would end up with 5 ship types.

FC's and wing commanders would be more involved.
More variety on the battlefield.
Still enough alpha if a supreme commander directs multiple fleets.
And more development time for things other than ship nerfs.

To name a few, I'm sure more could be added as well as presenting new problems to solve but I think a core game changer???

Good, bad, impractical, unfair?

Discuss?

Dinsdale, you may have some point about how a lot of the changes lately have favoured Null in the overall scheme, but really, trying to claim that T3's getting nerfed is a Null Conspiracy?
T3's are out of balance, they are more specialised than T2, rather than better than T1 & broader & more adaptable than T2. That's been known for years.


Anyway, the way to break the blob. Line of Fire mechanics, more space terrain that matters & affects tactics, and spreading fights out more. So a fleets versatility starts to matter.