Pure for-fun thread. Not to be taken as serious suggestion.

 

If you were forced to filter GSF's current suite of 12 variants down to 4--one of each class--which four would you let live and why? You aren't allowed to make any component swaps or other changes. You can ignore aesthetics though--assume you could give your variant of choice any skin you want.

 

My four would be these:

 

Scout: Bloodmark/Spearpoint

When not viewed against the Blackbolt or Sting, the Bloodmark is a solid, super versatile ship. It really fits the notion of a Scout being a swiss army knife of recon, mobility and utility. Tensor Field, Combat Command and Repair Drone are all great for team support. Alternatively, Targeting Telemetry and Distortion Field can be used to give the Bloodmark more solo fighting power. Its superior mobility allows it to harass and pressure targets, but its lack of Rocket Pods or Cluster Missiles limits its burst damage potential--which I believe gives the Strike more room to assert itself. Would Bloodmarks be the offensive powerhouses that Stings are? No. But I still feel like they would be routinely flown (for the full duration of matches even!) against the other three ships in my lineup.

 

Strike: Quell/Pike

This is a tough one, as in a world without Stings, all Strikes are suddenly much more competitive. Ultimately, I pick the Quell because I feel like it has a greater diversity of effective components, and it would be flown in a variety of configurations. Some with Heavy Laser Cannons, some with Quads, and some with Lights for undersat work. The Quell would also be flown with a variety of secondary weapons and shield components. Compare this with a Rycer, which would almost invariably be flown with Ions/Clusters/HLC, giving it a significant burst damage advantage against everything else. Why not the Imperium? I chose the Bloodmark to make it the go-to team support ship. I think the Imperium would be a bit redundant, and I want at least one ship in this micro-meta to have access to Cluster Missiles. Plus having both Charged Plating + Repair Probes on one ship would be too strong in this environment. As it stands, Charged Plating Quells that can't heal themselves will take a while to kill.

 

Bomber: Legion/Dronecarrier

This is perhaps the easiest. Legion has always been tuned just right against all opponents. It has a defined role in both Domination and TDM, and it can be built several different ways and still be viable. While I am sad that Hyperspace Beacons would not exist in this environment, I think the Razorwire is too biased toward Domination and does not offer the versatility of builds that the Legion does--the Razorwire is also very hard to deal with in a world without BLC Stings. I didn't consider the Decimus because I worried it might outperform the Quell, and I like the texture of play caused by the Legion not having have a missile break.

 

Gunship: Dustmaker/Comet-breaker

This was the hardest one. While the Quarrel is the quintessential "pure" Gunship, I think it would be too strong in a world without Stings or Blackbolts. As for the Jurgoran, while I love it in the real game, in this environment it would be the obvious choice over every other ship. A Slug, BLC's, Clusters, and Power Dive mean it could have its way with the three above ships. The Dustmaker, on the other hand, fits more naturally within the power level of the above three ships. Its primary role will be to fire its Slug Railgun, which is always effective (and the main counter to Charged Plating Quells). But otherwise, its choices of Primary Weapon and alternative Secondary Weapon are largely a matter of flavor and preference. Its shield choices are pretty interesting still--Distortion Field is not as mandatory in this environment, and even Fortress might be useful.

 

Looking back at my list, I realize that (quite by accident), each variant I selected is the "most undertuned" of its class. There are also no hybrids (unless you count the Dustmaker as one, which I don't).

 

I certainly think the above meta would be interesting--it would feel very, very different from the real game. Slower and much more deliberate for sure, with much longer time to kill. Whether I'd prefer it or not, I can't say. It might seem like just four ships would be boring out-of-hand, but in truth the current game is largely dominated by four variants.

 

I think the biggest risk would be Charged Plating Quells being too difficult to peel off satellites. Each ship is capable of countering them, but only at mid-or-greater range:

 

Bloodmark can equip Thermite Torpedoes

Quell can equip HLC's and Proton Torpedoes

Legion can equip HLC's and Proton Torpedoes

Dustmaker can equip HLC's, Slugs, and Proton Torpedoes

 

Maybe the Rycer would be the better Strike ... but I still worry Ion/Clusters/HLC would be too strong, and would break the "deliberate pace" theme.

Edited June 11, 2015 by Nemarus

Nova

Pike

Warcarrier

Condor

 

Nova: Speed, pods, stability.

Pike: Dual locks are super fun, albeit not super useful

Warcarrier: My most played craft, although I'm better at rampart.

Condor: A striker? A gunship? You chose!

An interesting topic to think about.

 

 

Scout: Novadive/Blackbolt: Scouts tend to be a multi-role platform, and I think Novadive has the widest diversity of components. Dogfighter? LL/Pod/Targeting Telemetry. Capture and range? S2E, Booster Recharge, Barrel Roll, Cripple and Utility? Sab probe and EMP. Not having clusters and burst laser make it so it doesn't become too overpowered. Spearpoint would be nice, but too many of its components make it a one trick pony.

 

Bomber: Warcarrier/Legion: It's simply the best balanced. It's a threat to pretty much any close range target, but doesn't have quite the same level of overpowering stackability that a minelayer has.

 

Strike: Star Guard/Rycer: Had to think about this one for a bit. Ion/Cluster combo is very powerful, but maybe that is fine. A strike really should be a threat to anything it can get in its sights. Pike/Quell has a bit more variability, but unless you can fix some of its crap utility missiles and possibly tweak lock mechanics a bit it still has the issue of being the joke of the battlefield. Clarion/Imperium are my favorite of the strikes in live game, but unless you make Combat Command and Remote Slicing a more compelling choice I think it should sit it out.

 

Gunship: Another one to think over but finally settled on Comet Breaker/Dustmaker. It's probably a little vulnerable to Novadives in this scenario, but that's probably ok. It's a fine ship on its own, the problem with it is that it was outclassed by the existing gunship even before it launched. The railgun alone makes it a threat and less of a joke without its much improved siblings hanging around.

With only Spearpoint, Pike, Warcarrier and Comet Breaker, gunship walls may be too hard to break. Charged Plating Pike under a satellite would be a problem too, as you already noticed. I would choose NovaDive, Star Guard, Warcarrier and Comet Breaker.

Finally! a set up where emp missiles will be useful for nests!

 

Blackbolt/Novadive

Rycer/Starguard

Legion/Warcarrier

Dustmaker/Cometbreaker

 

Would we still have 5 slots though? Probably roll 2 blackbolts then, 1 lancer, 1 mine clearer.

Anyone suggesting NovaDive is really failing to see how poor T2 GS would perform against TT/Laser/Pods/Wingman. Spearpoint is the only viable option if you want balance, but even that could be a bit overpowered if equipped with TT. Regular lasers with 1.75 damage crits should not to be underestimated.

 

I like the Starguard/Warcarrier/Comet Breaker balance, and I think it could play out in a really fun way. It would be awesome to organize an event where people only choose the lower tier ships.

Edited June 16, 2015 by RickDagles

Eygh.

 

I don't like the four ship meta. But:

 

Type 3 Scout, Type 3 Strike, Type 2 Bomber, Type 2 Gunship.

 

This lets all four ships in, but it doesn't give much build diversity. Specifically, the type 2 gunship has to be around because the other two gunships would be too good in this meta. That's basically including a poor ship because the other sides are so poor.

Filter the classes as choosing for oneself (assuming other people also have to choose 4 ships), or as choosing for everyone (like a dev deleting ships) ?

Pure for-fun thread. Not to be taken as serious suggestion.

 

If you were forced to filter GSF's current suite of 12 variants down to 4--one of each class--which four would you let live and why? You aren't allowed to make any component swaps or other changes. You can ignore aesthetics though--assume you could give your variant of choice any skin you want.

 

My four would be these:

 

Gunship: Dustmaker/Comet-breaker

This was the hardest one. While the Quarrel is the quintessential "pure" Gunship, I think it would be too strong in a world without Stings or Blackbolts. As for the Jurgoran, while I love it in the real game, in this environment it would be the obvious choice over every other ship. A Slug, BLC's, Clusters, and Power Dive mean it could have its way with the three above ships. The Dustmaker, on the other hand, fits more naturally within the power level of the above three ships. Its primary role will be to fire its Slug Railgun, which is always effective (and the main counter to Charged Plating Quells). But otherwise, its choices of Primary Weapon and alternative Secondary Weapon are largely a matter of flavor and preference. Its shield choices are pretty interesting still--Distortion Field is not as mandatory in this environment, and even Fortress might be useful.

 

There can only be one gunship, Redeemer for the win. You speak of blasphemy.