Ramblin Man
Empyreum
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Posted - 2006.11.22 20:46:00 -
[1]
 Originally by: Jak'ai
The plain fact is that you can't increase hitpoints on large ships enough to feel like large ships pounding on each other, because to do so you would render smaller ship classes unable to outdamage the tanking ability of anything larger than them.
Isn't that what Tuxford's blog was about - why they're going with a hitpoint increase instead of a TPS (tank) increase? In other words, they're gearing combat more towards inevitable death (DPS > TPS) as opposed to sustainable tanking (DPS < TPS).
Originally by: Jak'ai
Thus, showing up in a smaller ship renders you useless because destruction is the only metric by which you can measure success. Sooner or later I believe that the EVE combat system will need an overhaul. There isn't any more room on the damage curve for distinct ship classes (distinct identity being something that the new ships are struggling with IMO) and the whole system feels like it's being homogenized to a "my DPS is greater than yours - I win" contest.
The "destruction is the only metric by which you can measure success" point is valid, but Tuxford also made the point that the hitpoint boost/battle lengthening was a precursor to the eventual addressing of that problem. I think his point re: HEAT, etc., that "their impact is lessened if you don't have time to actually manage it," is equally valid. An HP boost gives more return than the addition of HEAT/subsystem targeting would right now. Furthermore, it's easier to code. 
Originally by: Jak'ai
Uncouple the ship classes from relying on the same damage scale, introduce incremental damage (i.e. you can destroy subsystems but maybe not be able to destroy a much larger ship completely) and start giving the ship classes unique abilities to differentiate them and give specialists a needed niche. IMO, that's the way things need to go sooner or later.
I'd have to agree with Tux's point that specializations don't matter as long as you live in a world in which a battle consists primarily of DPS vs. TPS. Change things around to a hitpoint buffer-based battle, and EWAR and other effect-over-time modules become a lot more useful.
I do wholeheartedly agree with the "destruction is the only metric by which you can measure success" point though (enough so that I reiterate it here). Until this changes, DPS-on-single-target is almost always going to be preferable to specialized ship usage (logistics, anyone?).
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