First: the primary reason I'm making this post is to make the pun in the title. How did we go so long not realizing "Farce" is one letter different than "Force"? Each reply to this thread must contain a Force/Farce pun or it will be considered invalid.

Second: Ion Missile. Is there a more worthless component in the game? Once rendered absolutely unusable by its medium lock-on time combined with short range, it was at least given a medium range at some point. But it's still just ... useless.

The biggest (but not only) reason why it's useless? Its overly long cooldown. Compared to its "sibling" Concussion Missile, whose cooldown is a modest 5.5 seconds, Ion Missile has a 11 second cooldown! The same as a Proton Torpedo. You'd think that would mean the Ion Missile must be pretty awesome to hit with, if we can only fire it every 13.6 seconds.

But then you look at its damage: 1580 to shields or 197 to hull. And a whole 20 energy drain to weapons and engine. Wow! 20! The same amount as you lose when firing Light Laser Cannons for one second.

Dare we even compare this to an Ion Railgun? Some have said, "No you can't compare railguns and missiles, because unlike a railgun, you can lock on with missiles while also shooting your primary lasers."

That is a valid argument ... for every missile except Ion Missile. Why? Because if you are in range to shoot your target with primary lasers while locking on with your Ion Missile, then by the time the Ion Missile hits the target's shields will likely be gone already. Which means that all the Ion Missile does is 197 hull damage and a pitiful energy drain, less damage than a single hit of your lasers will do.

Now sure, if you've spent 35500 requisition on your Ion Missile, you also get a 40% slow for 12 seconds. Of course, a Concussion Missile upgraded to tier 5 gives you a 30% slow for 15 seconds and an extra 25 engine energy drain ... in addition to the massive damage Concussion Missile does ... huh. Why do Concussion Missiles have an Ion effect on them? BECAUSE REASONS.

And coming in 2.8, we get the Interdiction Missile, which gives (without any upgrades at all) a 50% slow for 8 seconds. Upgraded, the slow lasts for 10 seconds, and you get a 20 point energy drain. Oh and don't forget the Interdiction Missile locks on a full second faster and has a cooldown of only 8.3 seconds. Sure it's a bit shorter range, but it also deals 690 damage to hull or shields.

Why is it that two missiles that are not Ion Missile seems to be better at disabling/crippling foes than Ion Missile?

Obviously Ion Missile is broken. So how do we fix it?

Well, one option would be to just remove it from the game and replace it with Interdiction Missile. I'd welcome Interdiction Missile as an option on my Bloodmark, Imperium or Quell, and I think most others would too.

The other option is to actually make Ion Missile usable and desirable in some situations. Here are some possible ways to do that:

1) REDUCE THE COOLDOWN to 5.5 seconds. There's no reason Ion Missile shouldn't be identical to Concussion Missile in terms of firing arc, lock on time, range and cooldown--not unless it gets significantly buffed to have very powerful and unique capabilities.

2) Make its energy drain far more significant--on the order of 50 or so.

3) Give it an AOE arc (like Ion Railgun) that does half damage to nearby targets. This would mean that even if your primary target's shields shields are already down, you may get some Ion-utility by dropping the shields of other enemy ships. It'd also turn Ion Missile into another mine-clearing option.

4) Increase the hull damage to ~700. If I spend 2.7 seconds locking with a missile, and I won't be able to fire it again for 11 (or even 5.5) seconds, then at least make it do the damage of a Cluster Missile if the target's shields are already down.

Not saying all of these should be done--but any combination of them would help.

"May the Farce be with you"

First: the primary reason I'm making this post is to make the pun in the title. How did we go so long not realizing "Farce" is one letter different than "Force"? Each reply to this thread must contain a Force/Farce pun or it will be considered invalid.

 

Second: Ion Missile. Is there a more worthless component in the game? Once rendered absolutely unusable by its medium lock-on time combined with short range, it was at least given a medium range at some point. But it's still just ... useless.

 

The biggest (but not only) reason why it's useless? Its overly long cooldown. Compared to its "sibling" Concussion Missile, whose cooldown is a modest 5.5 seconds, Ion Missile has a 11 second cooldown! The same as a Proton Torpedo. You'd think that would mean the Ion Missile must be pretty awesome to hit with, if we can only fire it every 13.6 seconds.

 

But then you look at its damage: 1580 to shields or 197 to hull. And a whole 20 energy drain to weapons and engine. Wow! 20! The same amount as you lose when firing Light Laser Cannons for one second.

 

Dare we even compare this to an Ion Railgun? Some have said, "No you can't compare railguns and missiles, because unlike a railgun, you can lock on with missiles while also shooting your primary lasers."

 

That is a valid argument ... for every missile except Ion Missile. Why? Because if you are in range to shoot your target with primary lasers while locking on with your Ion Missile, then by the time the Ion Missile hits the target's shields will likely be gone already. Which means that all the Ion Missile does is 197 hull damage and a pitiful energy drain, less damage than a single hit of your lasers will do.

 

Now sure, if you've spent 35500 requisition on your Ion Missile, you also get a 40% slow for 12 seconds. Of course, a Concussion Missile upgraded to tier 5 gives you a 30% slow for 15 seconds and an extra 25 engine energy drain ... in addition to the massive damage Concussion Missile does ... huh. Why do Concussion Missiles have an Ion effect on them? BECAUSE REASONS.

 

And coming in 2.8, we get the Interdiction Missile, which gives (without any upgrades at all) a 50% slow for 8 seconds. Upgraded, the slow lasts for 10 seconds, and you get a 20 point energy drain. Oh and don't forget the Interdiction Missile locks on a full second faster and has a cooldown of only 8.3 seconds. Sure it's a bit shorter range, but it also deals 690 damage to hull or shields.

 

Why is it that two missiles that are not Ion Missile seems to be better at disabling/crippling foes than Ion Missile?

 

Obviously Ion Missile is broken. So how do we fix it?

 

Well, one option would be to just remove it from the game and replace it with Interdiction Missile. I'd welcome Interdiction Missile as an option on my Bloodmark, Imperium or Quell, and I think most others would too.

 

The other option is to actually make Ion Missile usable and desirable in some situations. Here are some possible ways to do that:

 

1) REDUCE THE COOLDOWN to 5.5 seconds. There's no reason Ion Missile shouldn't be identical to Concussion Missile in terms of firing arc, lock on time, range and cooldown--not unless it gets significantly buffed to have very powerful and unique capabilities.

 

2) Make its energy drain far more significant--on the order of 50 or so.

 

3) Give it an AOE arc (like Ion Railgun) that does half damage to nearby targets. This would mean that even if your primary target's shields shields are already down, you may get some Ion-utility by dropping the shields of other enemy ships. It'd also turn Ion Mine into another mine-clearing option.

 

4) Increase the hull damage to ~700. If I spend 2.7 seconds locking with a missile, and I won't be able to fire it again for 11 (or even 5.5) seconds, then at least make it do the damage of a Cluster Missile if the target's shields are already down.

 

Not saying all of these should be done--but any combination of them would help.

 

"May the Farce be with you"

How dare you farce me into speaking a certain way! RABBLE!

Why do Concussion Missiles have an Ion effect on them? BECAUSE REASONS.

 

Good, Nemarus, Good. Let the Farce flow through you ...

First: the primary reason I'm making this post is to make the pun in the title. How did we go so long not realizing "Farce" is one letter different than "Force"?

Some of us have, in fact, already noted this. Your thread has thus been rendered farcical. Which, of course, is entirely appropriate.

1) REDUCE THE COOLDOWN to 5.5 seconds. There's no reason Ion Missile shouldn't be identical to Concussion Missile in terms of firing arc, lock on time, range and cooldown--not unless it gets significantly buffed to have very powerful and unique capabilities.

 

2) Make its energy drain far more significant--on the order of 50 or so.

 

3) Give it an AOE arc (like Ion Railgun) that does half damage to nearby targets. This would mean that even if your primary target's shields shields are already down, you may get some Ion-utility by dropping the shields of other enemy ships. It'd also turn Ion Missile into another mine-clearing option.

 

4) Increase the hull damage to ~700. If I spend 2.7 seconds locking with a missile, and I won't be able to fire it again for 11 (or even 5.5) seconds, then at least make it do the damage of a Cluster Missile if the target's shields are already down.

 

Not saying all of these should be done--but any combination of them would help.

 

"May the Farce be with you"

This Farce thing has got to go (pretty soon a farce of farce thread is going to cause a blackhole to emerge devouring the entire GSF community!) lets avoid the disaster and let the meme die with dignity....

That being said I agree entirely about Ion Missile being "out of tune" with the rest of the missile options in the game. I can also see the trepidation of the Dev's to carefully balance the energy drain (a lcokable ion rail is not something we need)

As it stands its not a competitive option at all, I disagree a bit on how to fix it:

IMO the biggest glaring issue is range, for it to be effective at dropping shields BEFORE you engage the target with lasers then it has to be proton range (10k). This would go a long way to fixing it but I also suggest reducing the reload time (perhaps to that of concussion missile)

If they want to keep the long reload then they need to consider the magnitude of the energy drain, if it is going to be 11 seconds then it will need to mostly disable any shield on which it lands (single fire for effect, not multiple)

Additionally I would consider bumping up the missile travel speed, to further guarantee that it hits before you are in laser range. For simple reading I will break it down below:

Ion Option 1) Increase range to 10k + reduce reload time (to that of concussion) + Increase missile travel speed

Ion Option 2) Increase range to 10k + increase energy drain / shield damage (tuned to drop most shields in a single hit) + Increase missile speed

If Ion functioned as either of these I think it could be a great utility missile for getting shields down and hampering systems.

*Edit* As far as the mobility effect is concerned, it doesn't seem to go with the Ion concept. Seems to me like this is a throwback from a time when there were few snares in the game. While this is nice it certainly isn't a main effect of the missile, this is fine as is or they could remove the token effect and buff something else. Either would be okay in my book*

This Farce thing has got to go (pretty soon a farce of farce thread is going to cause a blackhole to emerge devouring the entire GSF community!) lets avoid the disaster and let the meme die with dignity....

 

That being said I agree entirely about Ion Missile being "out of tune" with the rest of the missile options in the game. I can also see the trepidation of the Dev's to carefully balance the energy drain (a lcokable ion rail is not something we need)

 

As it stands its not a competitive option at all, I disagree a bit on how to fix it:

 

IMO the biggest glaring issue is range, for it to be effective at dropping shields BEFORE you engage the target with lasers then it has to be proton range (10k). This would go a long way to fixing it but I also suggest reducing the reload time (perhaps to that of concussion missile)

 

If they want to keep the long reload then they need to consider the magnitude of the energy drain, if it is going to be 11 seconds then it will need to mostly disable any shield on which it lands (single fire for effect, not multiple)

 

Additionally I would consider bumping up the missile travel speed, to further guarantee that it hits before you are in laser range. For simple reading I will break it down below:

 

Ion Option 1) Increase range to 10k + reduce reload time (to that of concussion) + Increase missile travel speed

 

Ion Option 2) Increase range to 10k + increase energy drain / shield damage (tuned to drop most shields in a single hit) + Increase missile speed

 

If Ion functioned as either of these I think it could be a great utility missile for getting shields down and hampering systems.

 

*Edit* As far as the mobility effect is concerned, it doesn't seem to go with the Ion concept. Seems to me like this is a throwback from a time when there were few snares in the game. While this is nice it certainly isn't a main effect of the missile, this is fine as is or they could remove the token effect and buff something else. Either would be okay in my book*

Why are people afraid of missiles any way? When was the last time you got hit with a missile other then Clusters in your Scout or your GS. Give that man a cookie for hitting you he earned it.

In other words why shouldnt an ion missile be crippling its not like they are hard to avoid, much easier then any Rail gun.

Don't get me wrong, I believe Ion Missile should be powerful. IMO not as grand a scale as a full charge Ion (but granted thats my opinion)

This missile should be feared, and it should be a premier support /cc weapon. Sadly it is not, I am in favor of doing anything to this missile (even if they decided to make it lockable ion rail) leaving it as is pretty much gimps any class that has access to it (as some other possibly viable choice is missing)

Anyways, you know me I am not a "grand sweeping changes" guy. Upping the range is a must IMO but not the end of its needs, that just helps it to be used as intended. It should do what it says: "Drops shields" and it should do this really well (or what the **** is the point eh)

Why are people afraid of missiles any way? When was the last time you got hit with a missile other then Clusters in your Scout or your GS. Give that man a cookie for hitting you he earned it.

 

In other words why shouldnt an ion missile be crippling its not like they are hard to avoid, much easier then any Rail gun.

Agreed on wondering why anyone fears giving missiles too much power. Those with lock-on over 2.5 seconds require an incredible amount of work (and network luck) to lock on with. And in most cases you can't be firing your lasers at the same time because of range or tracking penalty. And once you do lock on and fire, there's a very good chance the missile will still be evaded via engine or DF.

Though I must admit I've been having fun running a Dustmaker without a railgun and instead using both torpedoes. I'm pretty much always sitting out from 10k out, locking on with one torpedo or the other (doesn't matter which). If I fire and someone engine-breaks, I'll immediately switch to the other torpedo and lock on with it. Any ship without Distortion Field is guaranteed to get hit with one torpedo or the other, which is satisfying.

Of course, if I had just been using a slug railgun, I'd have killed the target five times over in the same amount of time. But my Dustmaker is for goofy fun, not being optimal.

I do think that an Ion Torpedo would instantly and automatically make more sense than an Ion Missile. But in order to be worth using instead of Proton or Thermite (which both have pronounced "DOOM" effects if they connect), it would need to be quite crippling. And because torpedoes definitely cannot be locked on while also shooting lasers, the Ion Torpedo would need to be balanced against the Ion Railgun apples to apples (or at least closer to it).

Add all four of your suggestions and it might make the ships that are forced to use Ion Missile worthwhile in competitive matches. Ion Missile is a farce, I find nothing to complain about in this thread and thus must (regretfully) agree with all points and suggestions. This missile needs improvement (as does EMP). However, I think it might be better if Ion Missile and Ion Torpedo were separated. Have one distinctly more powerful with a longer lock-on (torpedo) and one that is weak but spammable (cluster missile-y). It could, if balanced properly, make for more interesting loadouts.

I do have one other suggestion of my own:

Redesign and rename Ion Missile into Farcical Torpedo. 6 second lock-on, instantly travels to the target on launch. Upon hitting the target, Farcical Torpedo explodes into confetti and removes the enemy player from the match, preventing them from moving in the game world for 30 seconds while launching fireworks into the air. Talent upgrades could include 10km+ AoE, shorter lock-on, increased firing arc (180 degrees should be sufficient).

Second: Ion Missile. Is there a more worthless component in the game?

Yes, of course. A solid example is Fortress Shield and Feedback Shield. I would argue that EMP missile is also more worthless, and Rapids compete.

The biggest (but not only) reason why it's useless? Its overly long cooldown. Compared to its "sibling" Concussion Missile, whose cooldown is a modest 5.5 seconds, Ion Missile has a 11 second cooldown! The same as a Proton Torpedo. You'd think that would mean the Ion Missile must be pretty awesome to hit with, if we can only fire it every 13.6 seconds.

This is entirely correct. Your post could have ended here. Instead, your anger consumes you, and seized by the dark side of the farce you are.

Dare we even compare this to an Ion Railgun? Some have said, "No you can't compare railguns and missiles, because unlike a railgun, you can lock on with missiles while also shooting your primary lasers."

Railguns also are only on the gunship frame, etc. There's really no comparison, because they root you in place.

That is a valid argument ... for every missile except Ion Missile. Why? Because if you are in range to shoot your target with primary lasers while locking on with your Ion Missile, then by the time the Ion Missile hits the target's shields will likely be gone already.

1)- You may not actually strip the shields.

2)- You may be locking on to one target and shooting another, though I'll grant this is uncommon, it is absolutely possible.

3)- Your target may face you with a stronger shield arc which the ion missile may immediately delete.

But anyway, the point that you are getting to is simple: Ion Missile is woefully undertuned.

1) REDUCE THE COOLDOWN to 5.5 seconds. There's no reason Ion Missile shouldn't be identical to Concussion Missile in terms of firing arc, lock on time, range and cooldown--not unless it gets significantly buffed to have very powerful and unique capabilities.

 

2) Make its energy drain far more significant--on the order of 50 or so.

 

3) Give it an AOE arc (like Ion Railgun) that does half damage to nearby targets. This would mean that even if your primary target's shields shields are already down, you may get some Ion-utility by dropping the shields of other enemy ships. It'd also turn Ion Missile into another mine-clearing option.

 

4) Increase the hull damage to ~700. If I spend 2.7 seconds locking with a missile, and I won't be able to fire it again for 11 (or even 5.5) seconds, then at least make it do the damage of a Cluster Missile if the target's shields are already down.

I think 1 and 2 would be correct, and together would be great.

I think 3 all by itself would still result in a poor missile, but it would at least have some powerful trickery when it hits, especially if it spread its debuff.

I don't think 4 matters much at all.

I think the debuff / stats thing should be important.

In my opinion the two main things that could use changing on Ion Missiles is the CD, and the range. For me, the ramge really is the deal-breaker. I realized that I could be shooting the target and have their shields nearly depleted by the time the missile got a successful lock and connected with the target. It could also use a bit more of a "drain" effect, but I don't know of it'd be a good idea to throw that many buffs at it at one time. If it did receive a massive buff in one patch, it may cross over to the dark side of the farce.

I'm sorry, that was so bad

In my opinion the two main things that could use changing on Ion Missiles is the CD, and the range. For me, the ramge really is the deal-breaker. I realized that I could be shooting the target and have their shields nearly depleted by the time the missile got a successful lock and connected with the target. It could also use a bit more of a "drain" effect, but I don't know of it'd be a good idea to throw that many buffs at it at one time. If it did receive a massive buff in one patch, it may cross over to the dark side of the farce.

 

I'm sorry, that was so bad

I think with its current range, it is best combined with LLC's. Hit them with an Ion Missile from 7.7k out. It drops their shields and snares them, making it easy to close and melt their hull with LLC ... of course, that assumes you hit them with the missile, and it assumes they don't "turn the other arc" to you

Right now, it just feels like there has to be a perfect storm of luck and right place right time to make this missile useful. And the cooldown doesn't you spam attempts.

I use ion missiles in conjunction with concussions on my Quell. I engage most targets outside of quad laser range as a missile platform.

This is probably the only halfway viable way to use them, I can't imagine having them as my only secondary weapon option.