Mega-Cruisers

I think you have a point

Unless those cruisers have the ability to jump to any explored gravity well in the same star system without the need to follow phase lanes, I'm gonna have to say NO, because what would be the point of having this mega-cruiser, what role would it fill, what would be its purpose. I really hate when ships piggyback on one another. We already have:

Colony Frigate, Scout Frigate, Light Frigate, Long Range Frigate, Flak Frigate, Siege Frigate

Defensive Support Cruiser, Offensive Support Cruisers, Light Carrier, Heavy Cruiser

Starbase Constructor (TEC/Advent), Anti-Structure Cruiser (TEC/Advent), Mine Layer (Vasari)

The only unit that I think is missing is a unit specifically design for RAIDING. A fast, hard hitting, low hull unit capable of inflicting serious damage, capable of reaching enemy territory faster, but really weak in ship to ship combat.

We already have siege frigates, but they suck.

True, but all that is needed to make them good is:

+10% hull & shields for a little more survivability,

+10% increase in planetary bombing damage

a drop from 14 to 12 supply points

and maybe a new upgrade/ability for each faction's sisge frigates, for example, Vasari Destructors could be equipped with Reintegration, TEC could come fully equipped with the Fallout upgrade and Advent with a movement speed upgrade.

i kinda like the suggestion. half-capital ships basically, kinda neat. maybe they would have fewer levels to gain as well, maxes out at level 5 or something. they could come in different varieties. a super-carrier for Advent (4 squadrons and a special ability to support them). a super Phase Missile ship for Vasari (4 batteries of phase missiles, and maybe an anti-structure special ability for them). a super Auto-Cannon gunship for TEC (covered in turret mounted auto-cannons so it could fire 360 degrees like a flak but deal high damage like a Kodiak). 

 

kind of a big change though, would have to be material for an expansion pack. also would just be a flavor thing mostly. the current combat system already covers the bases very thoroughly and is well balanced so adding new stuff would be just for fun i think. to me anyway it doesn't feel like there's anything important missing but that doesn't mean you can't add new stuff for coolness factor. 

I think a drop in supply points would be all that is needed.

About those Mega-Cruisers...they might be a little too close to capital that people will opt to build mega cruisers over cap ships. This would make cap ships not as good anymore.

I think adding such a ship would radically change how players prioritize the use of capital ships vs normal ships.  Before you could introduce something like this, you would need to increase the power of all capital ships and then re-balance them with the rest of the game.  Then you can more effectively introduce a middle ground ship which is what I suppose a mega-cruiser would function as.  I also think having a normal ship, which is what this would be, able to gain levels could lead to problems from spam. 

I think what some people are looking for is a ship that can lead a small fleet, but be expendable.  For the most part, cap ships are expensive and losing one can be a serious blow to a fleet if your fleet depends on the support abilities of said cap ship.  Personally I wouldn't mind seeing capital ships to be rarer, more expensive, but truely awe inspiring.  I'm sure many people here have played homeworld 1 or 2.  While playing that game, most fleets I encountered consisted of frigates and destroyers.  However, when a battlecruiser or two showed up, you knew you had to do something about that thing before it started chewing up your lesser ships.  Capital ships in SOASE don't really generate that same kind of feeling here. 

um, I think you guys think that mega cruisers would not serve at purpose, or that they would replace a cap ship, but they wouldn’t, the only way that it is possible for 1 mega cruiser to beat a cap ship could be if the that if a mega cruiser was level 5 (max level 5), attacked a support cap ship that was level one and that had a non combat related ability. Then the mega cruiser might win but it would have taken server damage, so no mega cruisers would not replace cap ship. Also they would serve several purposes

1. on small maps (18 planets or less) players might not have enough resources to build more than 1 or 2 cap ships, this could make smaller games more interesting

2. the mega cruisers could be used to implement new abilities such as cloaking and other stuff that people think there should be

3. as I have read on other posts, and I agree, there are not enough ship types

 

mega cruiser i disgree the cruisers are speacialist ships support ships buff ships nothing less nothing more apart from 2 cruisers that are offencive ships it would be a waste and a ship cheaper than a captial but has the same abilities you can just spam them like people do with LRMs and Carriers may aswell just add a Dreadnought to the captial list than a Cruiser

The raiding ship thing actually has existed in the game for a long time.

Try TEC scout + the tech that gives it the assault structure ability before you disagree.  Add the ability to not be affected by jump inhibitors and you've got a really, really nasty unit...  I literally turned the tide of a late game stalemate with 10 of these (costs 2 fleet points each, very cheap, very fast and effective).

well maybe they could only have two abilities that could only get to level two, and maybe the mega cruisers would not get a upgrade point until level two or three

 

I think there is still some space for a few ship types. For example we lack a combat frigate, the light frig dies too quickly to be a front line unit while the flak frig can take damage, but isn't that damaging to enemy ships. Some middle ground ship would be nice there. Also i would like a combat carrier cruiser, a ship that can fight and carry one squadron, a cross between light carrier and heavy cruiser. My reasoning with this would be to have some cross purpose ships to use as raiders or flank fleets without the huge fleet point cost of the main fleet...

As for the Mega Cruisers... I did suggest something a while back about a battle cruiser, a ship that has firepower comparable to a capship without the armor (and support buffs), basically something in between heavy cruiser and a battleship, a combat only unit.

 

 

Good Idea keep working

 

That was my point actually.  We don't need new ship classes, but some ships such as sieges frigates can use an upgrade. 

I also agree that we dont need new ship classes, but if one were to be created, I would prefer a Raider for all three factions.

NomadWarriorSoul, I DO know about the Arcova's Time Explosives, but the timed explosive ability does not turn the Arcova into a good raider. A good Raider can destroy structures and/or bombard planets to make a profit and destabilize the enemy. Arcova's can't do that, you'd be lucky if you succeeded in destroying 2 structures with your 10 scouts. The damage they do is very impressive (1200), but have you look at the cooldown time for this ability; 900 (15 MINUTES). They also require a lot of micro to make it work, otherwise they could just start targetting different structures, and you would end up with no damage done to the enemy.

And what about the other 2 factions, Advent Seeker have no such ability, and please don't tell me about the Advent Seeker's Martyrdom, 250 points of damage AND you lose the ship, it sucks. Vasary have even less raiding capabilities with their Jikara Navigators.

The only way to raid in this game right now is targeting refinery/trade ships (but you dont need a raider to do that) and upgrading Vasari with the Wreckage Auto-Salvage ability.

 

Foraven, light frigates are easy to destroy only if you overwhelm them with superior numbers or if you have the right counter (Long Range Frigates). Otherwise, they are fine the way they are right now. At mid games, you HAVE to back your light frigates with support cruisers (hoshiko/guardian/overseer) and in late games switching to heavy cruiser might be a good idea (keeping a small number of light frigates, even in late game, is always a good idea for support).

 

Back to the mega-cruiser idea, I am not oppose to it, but no one here made any reference to what role it would play except to say that they would be better than heavy cruisers but weaker than capital ships. If you want a ship capable of leveling up and using special abilities: build a Capital Ship, if you want a hard hitting cruiser, build a Heavy Cruiser, thats what they are for! What would be the counter to this mega-cruiser?, right now I dont see the point of this unit whatsoever!!!

 If you look at their stats, light frigates are fairly weak and do die quickly if you concentrate on them in fleet battles, and you don't need LRM for that (LRM just kill them faster). Personally, it's the first units i target, it grind the enemy fleet firepower quickly. What i want is some ship that can take what a flak frigate can while having firepower to damage ships, a cheaper heavy cruiser to pad the fleet while not taking as much fleet points. Combat frig could have side mounted weapons to help damage more ships at once.

No, heavy cruisers would still have their place. What "mega cruisers" could do is have multiple weapons to target multiple enemies at once (like battleships) for cheaper. Counter could be heavy cruisers (since they can soak damage and dish as much), other mega cruisers, bombers. Right now most ships in Sins are forward shooting and target only one ship at once, having one dedicated at hitting multiple would have it's use and also serve at drawing enemy fire that would normally go at the valuable capital ships while being more expendable.

It would be interesting to hsve the cap ships see a boost and have these mega-cruisers in the game as well. Have the Kodiak, Destra, Skarovas cruisers be smaller versions of the mega-cruisers. If you notice, the other cruisers are pretty much support craft, much like the cruisers today. These heavy cruisers are the only cruisers really for combat (not counting the carriers). It would be interesting to see the mega-cruisers as more of an offensive force.