Tomorrow is the 2.8 whateverdealie, which comes along with the patch notes for the earliest PTR.

So we won't expect them to be DONE or anything, but we will expect them to have some GSF changes, if any are appropriate.

1- New Gunship and Bomber. This was confirmed today, so if it doesn't make tomorrow's notes, it'll be along soon. I made a thread about the Type 3 Gunship- it sounded like the ship would have cluster missiles as an option, meaning it might be a shorter range gunship than what we have seen. This would be the "Attack Skiff". The Type 3 bomber we know nothing about beyond the earliest glimpse where it was the "Fighter/Bomber variant".

But... what about beyond (1)?

What changes do you think you'll see?

2- I predict no changes to the structure of crewmembers, but we might see some buffs to some of the weaker passives and/or copilot abilities. I'd give this low odds, sadly.

3- I think we'll see some fixes to the broken tooltips, such as thermite's final tier right option.

4- I think we MIGHT see a few balance tweaks to strong components. The outliers here remain distortion field, slug railgun, burst laser cannon, and cluster missiles. I think its likely we'll see one or more small nerfs here- I think distortion field in particular remains an outlier with its very powerful missile break.

5- I think they have to change something about EMP. It could be wishful thinking, but EMP missile is poor and EMP itself is a suicide vest.

6- I think we will NOT see balance changes to the generally weak-ish components. The outliers here are rapid fire laser, ion missile, any reactor but large, maximum energy thrusters, and ion mine.

What do you guys think is gonna happen?

I question whether Distortion Field's strength is in its lock break. After all, EMP Field also brings a lock break (with AoE and lingering immunity, to boot!), but it's less common on Novadives and Blackbolts than Distortion Field is on the ships that can equip it. I rather think the combination of evasion and lock break is what's attractive, along with the low opportunity cost (EMP field forces the scout to give up either burst or mobility, both of which are pretty critical).

Does that mean Distortion Field shouldn't be tweaked? No, and I'd be glad to see some of its evasion go. On the other hand, it means that buffs to other components (off the top of my head, Quick-Charge Shield, Directional Shields, and Feedback Shield) might be another avenue to the same destination. I could see that happening instead of a Distortion Field nerf.

I'd be very glad to see any of these changes, though, especially nerfs to BLCs and slugs. Reducing the amount of burst damage would, imo, be a very good thing for the game.

the end of the world

I question whether Distortion Field's strength is in its lock break. After all, EMP Field also brings a lock break (with AoE and lingering immunity, to boot!), but it's less common on Novadives and Blackbolts than Distortion Field is on the ships that can equip it.

EMP has a 45s CD, dfield 20s. That's a huge difference.

EMP has a 45s CD, dfield 20s. That's a huge difference.

But:

Dfield breaks missile locks on yourself, EMP prevents all missile locks on yourself and 3 allies.

But:

Dfield breaks missile locks on yourself, EMP prevents all missile locks on yourself and 3 allies.

EMP Feild is available on 1 ship.....

Distortion shields are available on an entire ship class and one of the strongest offensive ships in the game the T1 Gunship.

Emp Field means you lose out on other strong offensive options, taking Distortion on the ships that has it they dont really lose anything as its the strongest defensive option there.

EMP has a 45s CD, dfield 20s. That's a huge difference.

This, and I'll also point out that the distortion field doesn't come at the cost of a system, and only one ship can have it- and that ship can also have distortion field, AND is ludicrously agile.

Your choices with shield components are 'things that break missiles' and 'things that don't break missiles' and the second set is weaker than the first- which is just disto!

EMP has a 45s CD, dfield 20s. That's a huge difference.

Hm. For some reason I thought EMP was 30s, which is still a disadvantage but justifiable because of the AoE and 3s duration (and the whole drones thing, but then there's the evasion thing too). Not sure why I missed that.

This, and I'll also point out that the distortion field doesn't come at the cost of a system, and only one ship can have it- and that ship can also have distortion field, AND is ludicrously agile.

 

Your choices with shield components are 'things that break missiles' and 'things that don't break missiles' and the second set is weaker than the first- which is just disto!

Yeah, I mentioned the opportunity cost in there. It's quite a thing.

Still, it's not like the other options are flat out bad (excluding fortress and feedback), or like dfield has no disadvantages. Clusters break through dfield easily, especially given the lowered shield pool. QC makes you more evasive, and Directional on a ship with a reactor just throws up walls (or gives ridiculous regeneration, your choice).

I dunno. It's not that I don't think dfield needs tweaking, but it'd be nice to see some buffs to the other shields as well. That's coming from a BLC scout, though -- nerfing the primary threat in dogfighting might remove the need to buff other shields.

Well, fortress shield is the worst anything in the whole game. I didn't even list it up there, it's so bad. Feedback needs redesigned- if you add enough damage to it to matter, then it's doing hull damage to scouts if they attack a gunship, and screw that. It can do damage, but it should debuff or whatever.

If we saw buffs to the trashcan components- rotational, feedback, fortress, weapon power converter- I'd be pretty surprised tbh.

If you compare distortion to its real competitors- quick charge and directional- it's very very rare to pick one of those two over it. And for what it is worth, I agree with you- I think even directional and quick charge could use small buffs.

But:

Dfield breaks missile locks on yourself, EMP prevents all missile locks on yourself and 3 allies.

1. If you are good the difference between breaking/preventing is minimal, just want until they launch the missile.
   
2. No one cares about allies. It's all about mememememmeme.
   

If you compare distortion to its real competitors- quick charge and directional- it's very very rare to pick one of those two over it. And for what it is worth, I agree with you- I think even directional and quick charge could use small buffs.

Well directional still needs the ability to actually choose the shield direction rather than cycling. Right now it is good for everything except the actual ability, which is mostly pointless.

Well directional still needs the ability to actually choose the shield direction rather than cycling. Right now it is good for everything except the actual ability, which is mostly pointless.

I'm seriously considering an alternate build on my Skybolt that uses Reinforced/Deflection armor and Directional Shields, but never presses the button.

Well directional still needs the ability to actually choose the shield direction rather than cycling. Right now it is good for everything except the actual ability, which is mostly pointless.

i find i like keeping directional shielding neutral until i take some damage. Most often that means I'm jousting or have someone on my tail. Being able to switch to rear is a very good thing in either situation, either as i pass the jouster or the moment I realize I'm being tailed. Boost away and then turn while moving shields forward. As soon as you're out of the fire you put them back all around. Using them in that way has been very successful and I rarely wish for something different.

EDIT: Getting a little more on topic, my hope is that they do reduce the burst damage of BLCs and Slugs. I'd also like to see the shield piercing on seismic and interdiction mines drastically reduced or removed even if that means a buff to their damage.

I question whether Distortion Field's strength is in its lock break. After all, EMP Field also brings a lock break (with AoE and lingering immunity, to boot!), but it's less common on Novadives and Blackbolts than Distortion Field is on the ships that can equip it. I rather think the combination of evasion and lock break is what's attractive, along with the low opportunity cost (EMP field forces the scout to give up either burst or mobility, both of which are pretty critical).

 

Does that mean Distortion Field shouldn't be tweaked? No, and I'd be glad to see some of its evasion go. On the other hand, it means that buffs to other components (off the top of my head, Quick-Charge Shield, Directional Shields, and Feedback Shield) might be another avenue to the same destination. I could see that happening instead of a Distortion Field nerf.

 

I'd be very glad to see any of these changes, though, especially nerfs to BLCs and slugs. Reducing the amount of burst damage would, imo, be a very good thing for the game.

Agree with nerfs to blc, but slug railgun? No. Slug railgun is fine the way it is. Ion railgun I assume is going to get its area effect nerfed eventually. You don't want something that's suppose to do sniping damage take 5-7 hits to kill something with the speed other ships can close in to kill you fast. With the frail defenses of gunships, the slug is balanced to it.

Agree with nerfs to blc, but slug railgun? No. Slug railgun is fine the way it is. Ion railgun I assume is going to get its area effect nerfed eventually. You don't want something that's suppose to do sniping damage take 5-7 hits to kill something with the speed other ships can close in to kill you fast. With the frail defenses of gunships, the slug is balanced to it.

QFT. Any nerf to slug damage would have to come in the form of a reduction in maximum charge time + a heavy reduction in energy cost. Slug already has by far the lowest dps of any "primary" weapon in the game. You can't reduce the DPS any further without utterly crippling the gunship.

This is one of those times where Verain is right that you just want to delete gunships - and it doesn't help that you've avowed that desire in the past.

This is one of those times where Verain is right that you just want to delete gunships - and it doesn't help that you've avowed that desire in the past.

Won't deny that I think gunships are one of the dumbest design decisions they've made for GSF, but that doesn't mean I want them to be nonviable (which is what I assume you mean by deleted, even if typing is hard). There are plenty of ways you can change railguns to reduce or eliminate the problems they introduce without making them nonviable. I've discussed those before, as well, but perhaps you've forgotten.

I think gunships bring another element into space combat. There should be more than just "fighters." Gunships to me are like modern submarines. They pack a big punch and have to be sneaky with their targeting. Submarines are squishy vessels and can't take much of hit before they're sunk.

There's really no changing slugs currently without making them useless. Change damage, useless, many shots to take down something. Scouts and strikes will murder you before you get them. Change range, useless, scouts and strikes close before you get a shot off and you're dead. If you exchange damage for quicker recharge, same thing happens. Strikes and scouts will mow you down before you kill them. I think I've mentioned this argument a lot myself. Slugs are balanced right now. Needing 25% charge to fire off. Good. Ions are fixed on charge. As a gunship pilot myself, I won't mind ions going to single target and heck take my blcs away too. We're not close range ships anyways.

I would like the devs to do something with fortress shields and interdiction drives. Right now they're pretty useless components. Would like to have some more roll out options. With gunships there's maybe 2 roll options to take. There's the gunships with feedback and then the rest with distortion fields. Wouldn't mind seeing another engine option like retros or something like that.