Strikecraft(fighters, bombers and corvettes) in ES

reynanuy

Newcomer

13 years ago

Apr 13, 2012, 10:37:48 PM

As far as I know, there are no strikecraft(fighters, bombers and corvettes) in ES as of now; or at least they haven't been unveiled yet. It would make a nice and awesome surprise to have them there, but something tells me they have been left out; probably for some future expansion if at all. The things is that from what we know from the battle portion of the game, it seems to indicate that strikecraft are not that easy to implement; specially balancing their abilities across all phases. Not to mention integrating them with the rest of the game in a meaningful(abilities, heroes, tactics, research, traits, etc) way, as they rightfully deserve. Of course I would like to have them be in the game at some point and I expect that I am not the only one who feels the same, after all I got very exited when I saw those external bays in the concept art because of this very thing. It was somewhat disappointing not to see the bays in actual screen shots, but it was to be expected really. In any case I thought we could start the discussion on how these could be implemented in ES, with what little we know so far of it's mechanics.

One option would be to have each strikecraft be a standard design(best engine, beam, etc), mostly to keep things simple and they would get better as the weapon is improved. This allows for fighters and bombers to be merely modules you add to ships, they would of course cost more resources as they improve in the game. In combat when to launch fighters would be most critical, launch them early and they can get torn to pieces before reaching your target; launching them too late and the carrier might be done for by then. Heroes abilities should also improve their effectiveness, as they do the rest of the fleet. The introduction of strikecraft would also make the research of flak batteries more important and almost essential, since missiles would not be the only threat they counter. From a graphical point of view, it would be awesome to have the fighters launch from bays(just like in N:TJI or HW2); as awesome as that sounds, I don't think it's essential for the feature. One thing to avoid IMO is specialized carriers, any hull should be able to carry fighters; since in space there are no constraints such as the ones here on earth, which make aircraft launching from battleships/cruisers almost impossible.

So what do your guys think? Should this be implemented? If so, how then? Let's get the ball rolling, maybe then some dev might like to share some thoughts on the subject and make our day

Boygor

Newcomer

Boygor

Newcomer

13 years ago

Apr 13, 2012, 10:49:33 PM

I like the idea but i've found fighters in many games to be too slow compared to beam weapons to make a huge impact. I suppose it would depend on the length of the battles.

Specialised carriers would be OK from a customisation perspective (why limit the types of ship you can build) although there should be a major penalty to their combat effectiveness if their mothership is destroyed in the middle of a battle.

Smight

Enthusiast

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Smight

Enthusiast

40 000g2g pts

13 years ago

Apr 14, 2012, 8:37:16 AM

there is Carrier class mentioned in "UE Navy Vessels Lexicon"

Boygor

Newcomer

Boygor

Newcomer

13 years ago

Apr 14, 2012, 9:42:16 AM

Smight wrote:
there is Carrier class mentioned in "UE Navy Vessels Lexicon"

Superb

I used to love loading up a ship in Moo2 with assault shuttles for capturing the odd enemy vessel/ antarans. hopefully we'll get a nice variety of fighter style ships in this game.

Headcrab

Newcomer

Headcrab

Newcomer

300g2g pts

13 years ago

Apr 14, 2012, 12:32:07 PM

I personally would love to see the carrier/motherships able to transport half a fleet into battle. Just imagine 2-3 of these ships jumping into battle and then "exploding" into a giant fleet including ships from fighter size up to Frigate/Cruiser class! The motherships would then only have a supportive role in the actual battle (maybe Shields, Energy support, etc) and no guns. Is there any info, of how amplitude sees the different roles of the ships? Like any Rock, Paper, Scissors type of mechanics for the different classes?

SomeGuy

Newcomer

SomeGuy

Newcomer