Pending Balance Changes Feedback Thread

@ftxcommando

Ravagers are usually built as part of a firebase, meaning they can be shielded and covered by lower tech PD. The same is not true of naval static defense especially Cybran which has no way to shield things on water

put the xbox units in the game pls u_u

If you're firebase warring with ravagers you're bad. You're spending more than a t2 arty, combined with getting a needless t3 ACU, to spam a unit that is countered by either t3 mobile arty if your opponent got that instead (which results in more tactical flexibility as well) or you are like 3 t2 arty behind and out of range of his t2 arty base.

You also can't perpetually defend with ravagers against pushes the way HARMs enable you to because of the SACU dynamic. Torps die to sams built in 7 seconds, ships die to the harms built in 10 seconds unless you perpetually babysit your navy.

Sacu's are kind of a gray sheep sine there are only two valuable preset options, engineering and ras and engineering is just too good in navy support role both to scoop up the reclaim and to spam harms quickly... Now this is mostly DG problem with Setons here and there

What I trying to say give hrams slap on the wrist in the nerf department and figure out a way to make sacu more relevant and optimised for the mid t3 stage.

Analyze, Adapt, Overcome...

@ftxcommando

I don’t know why you brought up firebase wars, everything you said is correct but not relevant, the discussion was about how Harms losing to 9 t1 subs is fine because a ravager will lose to its mass equivalent in strikers. So we’re talking about how the T3 static defense fares against other units not other base structures. Ravagers are usually supported by shield and other pd. Harms are not shielded or supported by other torp launchers. On top of that, subs have no collision and there’s no walls or terrain to block them from getting close to harms and overwhelming it but the same is not true on land. Subs are also garbage for their cost and the same isn’t true of strikers

put the xbox units in the game pls u_u

@maudlin27 said in Pending Balance Changes Feedback Thread:

@TheWheelie

from a conceptual level an underwater defense unit should not have that much hp in general.

From a conceptual level I would expect a defense unit to have more health than a non-defense unit (which is also consistent with static AA, T2 arti and PD vs their mobile counterparts). So presumably your point is an underwater unit should not have as much HP as a surface unit (something I'd agree with).

However, the Atlantis is a fairly big contradiction to that - to be consistent, given it's already being changed in this update, should it have a significant DPS boost and health nerf to be consistent? It currently has 40k health, almost as much as a battleship, and far more than it's closest comparable unit, the T3 Seraphim subhunter.

Not sure why the atlantis comparison is relevant? I mean you are right that atlantis hp is inconsistent compared to other sub hp/mass but it's a t4 and they are all special in a way and shouldn't really be compared too much to non t4's.

Meanwhile in terms of the severity of the nerf/your point it could always be buffed if it's too big a nerf, much higher priority changes have taken a while (e.g. GC), so I think it optimistic that if the HARMs was nerfed into obscurity it would be a priority for a buff in the near future. Better to nerf moderately and then if it's still a problem to nerf again than to risk making the unit near-unusable.

The intention is to have more frequent balance patches. Hopefully something akin to the delayed gc change won't happen again.

Aside from that harms are currently considered insanely strong. The bt change is also way more significant than you think if you take into account the current way to use harms. All in all imo this isn't anywhere close to nerfing harms into obscurity

To illustrate why it looks too big a nerf - I would expect an immobile torpedo defence unit to be a mass efficient counter to a head on attack by torpedo units (indeed previously when I've called for a buff to T1-T2 torp launchers due to their weakness against surface naval units I've been told they're meant as a counter to subs, not surface ships). From a general balance perspective it is sacrificing mobility, and is a higher tech level (so harder to obtain), so should be compensated to some extent for this. Meanwhile the relationship seen on land where T1 units are mass efficient against higher tech units is less relevant as it's simple to concentrate a large number of submarines in a single area (achieving a similar 'force concentration' benefit to higher tech land units) - the same can't be done for land units, where 100 t1 tanks won't all be able to engage at once, and where aoe is much more prevalent.

So, doing a simple sandbox test of spawning T1 subs out of range of a harms and having them attack it, 9 T1 subs (the mass equivalent value is 8.333) bring a HARMS down to 3.7k health.
In other words, even before the range nerf is factored in, T1 subs will mass for mass trade roughly equally to the proposed harms. That seems a nerf too far, especially given HARMs is outranged by T3 surface naval units (battleships) which can kill it for free (and more easily than before with the combined removal of stealth, reduction to HARMs range, and reduction to health).

I have no idea what this is supposed to mean. Did you know labs easily outvalue ravagers? percies? Any t4? In a real game this type of sandbox stuff is completely irrelevant because it just doesn't work like that.

Also fyi, torp def isn't meant just to counter subs

@thewheelie said in Pending Balance Changes Feedback Thread:

Right now you need 4 torps(if all torps land their hit) to kill most cruisers, after this change you need 6 torps. The 15 range isn't gonna let you kill 2 more torps if they were coming for your cruiser even when kiting away so in a straight up torps vs cruiser matchup this is definitely a buff for the cruisers.

ok sick thanks

profile picture credits to petric

will never answer to u again buddy

@thewheelie why not

profile picture credits to petric

I feel t2 cybran destros gonna be way too op with the upcoming patch, because they have stealth boats with range it is way too powerful. They are hiding in the stealth field and u always have to come very close to them do deal some damage. Also cybran t2 subs are now need 3 torps to shot them, not 2. It is a bit op that it has now more range than a battlecruies of the UEF. Same range was already painful as t3 navy is slow and u can hardly micro them. Whereas Neptuns are used to counter t1/t2 spam.

@gabitii
t2 sub cost: 1100 mass
t2 torp cost: 270 mass
3*270 < 1100
-> Still worth suiciding the torp bombers if you assume they're just going to die

Cybran Destros can't retreat in a straight line anyway cuz they stop shooting -> Either you're not going to deal dmg while doing that or you have the potential to get in range anyway if you want to escape sideway. That also requires perfect reaction timing as Auroras. Definitely always happens.
Referring to UEF Navy it's still worth it to suicide torp bombers or just build a couple of coopers since they're going to be buffed afaik.

Required rating for participation in balance talks when?

@sladow-noob what about stealth stuff? I have tried the beta balance patch in the sandbox and cybran destros are just way too strong against, for example, aeon and sera, even with full vision to sera, and cybran was not microed, just staying. Aeon t2 navy is just the weakest now, since the frigates dont have any AA and cruisers do not participate in the battle at all. Cybran frigs have the best AA and also their cruiser deal extra damage to the enemy. UEF and Sera on the other side are useful against tech 3, since the bships are very slow u can deal a lot of damage. Also they are useful in the siege of the base. Whereas aeon cruisers are just useless. But nevertheless I think in the combo with stealth cybran destros are way too powerful. For now I only see UEF destros that can really do smth against cybran destros, since they have a lot of HP and shield boats to tank damage when coming closer. Aeon is the weakest t2 as I see now.

"Aeon t2 navy is just the weakest now, since the frigates dont have any AA and cruisers do not participate in the battle at all."

Screenshot_2.png

Required rating for participation in balance talks when?

@sladow-noob yeah wrong point. Aeon t2 is the weakest cause can be torped too easy... Now fine

It's still a clowntake.

Required rating for participation in balance talks when?

Aeon still has both the strongest frigates and destroyers. Calling Aeon the weakest t2 navy is just so wrong on every possible level.

Required rating for participation in balance talks when?

How are Aeon cruisers useless? They Probably have the best AA, especially taking into account hover flak gives them spatial control in combination with their high velocity.

Aeon still has one of the most oppressive t2 navy stages especially if you combine navy with their hover flak and shields, though I think navy for them is actually in a pretty nice spot now so I'm not saying they should be nerfed more than the frig cost change.

That said, I'm a little worried about playing UEF vs Cybran navy match up in particular pre T3, or more specifically pre full scale late game eco T3. I think too many of these balance changes are a straight buff to an already not bad Cybran navy. Reverting frig cost nerf + destro buff + implicit sub buff with torp bomber nerf seems like a lot. I nearly always use a few torps to counter t2 cybran sub aggression because making coopers early feels bad. Sure it's worth it to suicide torps math wise, but a competent opponent can very easily set it up so they get all the reclaim from the subs + torps.

Guys just stop being so arrogant and listen to me a bit please. It is not ok that t2 destros have more range than t3 battlecruisers. Assuming that gameplay of cybran is always being hided in stealth fields it is gonna be way too op. Aeon cruiser are useless in battles I said, not useless in general. They have a good AA yes, but they never participate in battles of ships or in siege of base, like others do. I am ok with one destro having range 85 but not the cybran which is almost always in stealth. For now I see only UEF destros countering them or UEF navy in general. But still some barracudas and all the shields are down.

@gabitii said in Pending Balance Changes Feedback Thread:

It is not ok that t2 destros have more range than t3 battlecruisers.

Why is it not okay that a t3 direct fire beam weapon has less range than a t2 indirect fire artillery weapon? If you're Cybran and pumping out destros at t2 while your opponent is pumping out BCs with shield coverage, you're going to have a bad time.

Aeon cruiser are useless in battles I said, not useless in general. They have a good AA yes, but they never participate in battles of ships or in siege of base, like others do.

Aeon has t2 hover flak and shields. They arguably counter torps harder at t2 in high eco navy based games than any other faction if you're planning to have to deal with torps and prep for it. Aeon also has other tools like tempest and missile ships + strong high dps BS for shore bombardment, they don't need cruisers in the same way sera does for instance.

Assuming that gameplay of cybran is always being hided in stealth fields it is gonna be way too op.

This is where you might have a point, but I'd have to actually try it. On the fence about how this will play out and frankly I haven't played enough recently to have a bunch of t2 navy interactions with good players on the current balance, let alone enough to see how I feel about this.

@gabitii 2 air factories on t1 scouts cancels them into oblivion.

how can you even possibly call aeon cruiers bad???? makes no sense considering they have a decent RoF and insane alpha, ofc you don't see them too often because you have hover flak+shield combo that literally is one of the strongest combo in the game against anything but ahwassa.

Aeon has by far the best destro with op torps, insane alpha and amount of hp that it has, good thing that you don't consider retreat as an option, next time you won't be having fun with cybran destro being the only one that can't shoot back, must be because it is op?

you are also wrong on so many levels about siege weapons since aeon has tempest and missle cruisers that will make you insta quit if you lose navy.

queuing with a newbie to show him the beauty of tmm and meeting tagada be like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLcRpdZ0Xb0&ab_channel=Tomoko