Kais Klip
Eagle's Warrior's
Eyrie Alliance
0
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Posted - 2012.04.24 15:40:00 -
[1] - Quote
One of the first prominent ideas that formed in my head was to separate armour and shield tanking into "buffer" (ie, non-regenerating) and active (active in the current sence, or even by the following proposition if it is met well).-á
You then throw in armour repairing drones that will give armour players in station-less areas a way to recover, by way of extremely slow repair in the form of inefficient drones (that could be active during your log off period), new-class repair ships that one must dock or otherwise attach to (the focus is on the absence of damage application from that docked/attached individual (who can still be shot at, unless he's in the belly of a capital), or simply extremely cheapened in-station repair (which should be the preferred option). -á
Then came the realisation of the fact that the aforementioned was a massive deployment of one's middle finger to our beloved logi pilots. They would still be on hand to efficiently repair shield tankers, but will not have any significant, on-the-field impact for armour bearers. A way to more eloquently integrate them into this system escapes me, seeing as I very much doubt there is a willingness to convert logi ships into the mentioned repair ships (which come in all sort of sizes - in effect, the drones would be mini versions of repair-frigates and the like, with these ships operating by attaching themselves to another ship (hence removing its offensive capability), a bit like Plovers (frigates) cleaning an alligator's teeth (Why you can't fire).-á
Then my main idea; change the mechanics of active shield tanking. Instead of repairing hit-points, change the system to grant a window of complete invincibility (100% resistance). A window which will obviously be stacking-penalised. This brings active tanking into the fray of blobs - wherever they be blob-blobs or just one side that outnumbers the other. If all the opposing ships fire during the seconds-lasting invincible window of "lol-try-again", nothing happens to the ship. What the blob will have to do is split and co-ordinate their fire at timed segments (should be easier now that the lag issues have been improved), ensuring some of their hits make it through - this maintains the advantage of numbers while bringing in "entertaining" micro for the defenders (panic/excitement sets in as theres no way to know if that alpha will be aimed at you, and if so, when) -áand rewarding group co-ordination, amongst over things. Of course, co-ordinated ultra-blobs will still annihilate this defence set-up, just like they will a buffer tank of the same caliber -in terms of shielding, larger shield modules will offer higher ratios of invincibility-to-vulnerability.
Yes, it's a big change. But it is important to change - to adapt - and with the recent flurry of similarly-shocking (in terms of uniqueness) changes, such as Captain's Quarters, upcoming ship-role redesigns etc. there's no better time to implement either the changes outlined by myself and/or other similarly jarring ideas. The past few months have been revolutionary and proved that change is not only possible, but inevitable. So why not jump in now? |