FAForever Forums
    • Categories
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Groups
    • Login

    The Problems With The UEF - Part 2 (ACU Billy Nuke Upgrade)

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Balance Discussion
    119 Posts 32 Posters 14.3k Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • veteranasheV
      veteranashe
      last edited by

      How long does it take for a t1 Mex pay for it's self?

      What is listed in the helpful hints on the loading screen?

      E 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • E
        Exselsior @veteranashe
        last edited by

        @veteranashe said in The Problems With The UEF - Part 2 (ACU Billy Nuke Upgrade):

        How long does it take for a t1 Mex pay for it's self?

        What is listed in the helpful hints on the loading screen?

        https://github.com/FAForever/fa/blob/deploy/fafdevelop/loc/US/strings_db.lua#L7767C28-L7767C28

        It's 18 seconds though iirc since that doesn't actually say. 36 mass cost and returns 2 mass per second. I'm going to be very sad if I'm misremembering that.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • T
          TheWreck
          last edited by

          Not sure why billy nuke is underpowered when you can kill an entire t3 army with it and force a very large amount of mass of tmd note 20 tmd cost more than the billy nuke upgrade in terms of mass cost.

          ComradeStrykerC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
          • ComradeStrykerC
            ComradeStryker @TheWreck
            last edited by

            @TheWreck

            Mobile shields can soak up almost the entirety of the damage dealt by a Billy.
            A Billy deals around 12,000 damage.

            Just one Seraphim Mobile Shield has 10,000 HP.
            The UEF and Aeon shields are a bit weaker, hanging around 3,000 & 3,500 HP.

            1 T3 mobile shield practically nullifies the damage,
            3 or 4 T2 mobile shields also nullify the damage.

            This left Cybran as the only faction without a mobile shield, but to make up for it,
            they used to be able to redirect a Billy.
            But that ability has since been removed.


            Another note, the upgrade has a 30-second global cooldown, so, even if you load it before then, you can't fire it again until the cooldown expires.


            ~ Stryker

            ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • FtXCommandoF
              FtXCommando
              last edited by

              Only thing that scares you under sera shields as UEF are snipers, and billy kills the snipers.

              ComradeStrykerC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • ComradeStrykerC
                ComradeStryker @FtXCommando
                last edited by ComradeStryker

                @ftxcommando said in The Problems With The UEF - Part 2 (ACU Billy Nuke Upgrade):

                Only thing that scares you under sera shields as UEF are snipers, and billy kills the snipers.

                If they're under one shield, yes... the spillover damage carries on, but two? No.
                Everything and anything survives under two Sera mobile shields.

                You guys say a Billy "deletes entire T3 armies", and it does.
                But only if there aren't any mobile shields to protect against it.

                Now, I'm not implying it should wipe out shielded armies, either...
                But, it's just weird, that's all. Maybe something should be looked at here.


                ~ Stryker

                ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

                Sylph_S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • S
                  snoog
                  last edited by

                  Not to mention the range of sera TMD. Not like it's hard to follow an army with some engies if you know billy is a threat.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • Sylph_S
                    Sylph_ @ComradeStryker
                    last edited by Sylph_

                    @comradestryker Here's 2 seraphim shields and their friend, before and after being hit by a billy...
                    Am I missing something?
                    billy 2 shields.jpg

                    (To elaborate - I can't see how a unit easily hides under 2 seraphim shields to be undamaged by a billy nuke. It seems to require very specific positioning, where the billy only hits 1 shield, but the other is overlapped - it's rare for this situation to actually happen, and usually involves the unit being outside the blast of the billy in the first place.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • veteranasheV
                      veteranashe
                      last edited by

                      Put some units under there and see how much DMG they take

                      Sylph_S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • Sylph_S
                        Sylph_ @veteranashe
                        last edited by Sylph_

                        @veteranashe The units get messed up. That's why the zthuee was there in that example.

                        Units under seraphim shields take almost 3000 damage.

                        More than 1 seraphim shield makes no difference from what I can see (and from what I understand of how shields work).

                        I'm struggling to understand what ComradeStryker meant by "Everything and anything survives under two Sera mobile shields". I can't reproduce this.

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • veteranasheV
                          veteranashe
                          last edited by

                          Put about 20 t3 units under there in a standard formation.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • veteranasheV
                            veteranashe
                            last edited by

                            I was hoping you would test it out but I had some time.

                            Units close to the edge of the shield where the billy hits take like 2k damage.

                            Snipers towards the rear of the shields take less than half of their ho in DMG. Took 2 Billy's to destroy the mobile shields gens.

                            This is because the outer ring on billy is crap damage.

                            Sylph_S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • Sylph_S
                              Sylph_ @veteranashe
                              last edited by

                              @veteranashe The point I'm making is: more than 1 seraphim shield makes no difference.
                              (related: "Everything and anything survives under two Sera mobile shields." doesn't ring true.)

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • veteranasheV
                                veteranashe
                                last edited by

                                Ohh yeah probably, I tested with 2 mobile sheilds.

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • W
                                  WilloWisppsi
                                  last edited by

                                  @ComradeStryker there's another use for Billy!

                                  As UEF you can teleport into the back of an enemy base preferably into a back pond then get billy and then snipe an acu sitting in the water IF it has ras instead of a shield upgrade/nano. Only works if there's 1 ACU left or if it's a no share game, but I've done this enough to know it works!

                                  ComradeStrykerC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • GuyG
                                    Guy
                                    last edited by Guy

                                    Can I throw in one more suggested change which is to reduce the size of the explosion graphic, it makes it look like an almighty explosion which is totally disproportionate to the actual damage caused, particularly in the outer ring.

                                    Apart from that, along the lines of what's already been said, I'd love to see one or more of the following:

                                    • Faster projectile speed (consider it a hypersonic missile...?)
                                    • Slightly increased damage in the outer ring (or add a middle ring that adds another step between the high damage centre and the outer)
                                    • Slightly reduced cost of the upgrade and/or missiles so it's a more attractive upgrade option.
                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                    • T
                                      TheWreck
                                      last edited by

                                      It worth pointing out that as uef you should always make spearheads because they are cheep and have insane dps but they also take down parashields extremely well so the argument that 2 parashields stops a Billy isn't really accurate.

                                      ComradeStrykerC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • ComradeStrykerC
                                        ComradeStryker @TheWreck
                                        last edited by

                                        @thewreck said in The Problems With The UEF - Part 2 (ACU Billy Nuke Upgrade):

                                        the argument that 2 parashields stops a Billy isn't really accurate.

                                        Range is a massive factor.
                                        Billy and Spearheads have very drastic range differences.


                                        ~ Stryker

                                        ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • ComradeStrykerC
                                          ComradeStryker @WilloWisppsi
                                          last edited by ComradeStryker

                                          @willowisppsi said in The Problems With The UEF - Part 2 (ACU Billy Nuke Upgrade):

                                          @ComradeStryker there's another use for Billy!

                                          As UEF you can teleport into the back of an enemy base preferably into a back pond then get billy and then snipe an acu sitting in the water IF it has ras instead of a shield upgrade/nano. Only works if there's 1 ACU left or if it's a no share game, but I've done this enough to know it works!


                                          You can, but unless you teleported with a T3 suite (and even if then) it'll take quite some time to obtain both upgrades and the projectile, and then the projectile flight time - assuming you don't stall on resources.

                                          If I recall correctly, with 100 BP or the T3 Suite, it'll take an ACU exactly 100 seconds to obtain both upgrades (Tac & Billy) and build the Projectile.

                                          100 seconds to not stall nearly 10K Mass and 675K Energy.

                                          It's not cheap to build a Billy with a T3 Suite:
                                          ae925d09-cfdb-4c27-aa47-279ac60bb135-image.png

                                          Doing so also leaves your ACU in your opponent's backlines without a way out, as you swapped your Teleport upgrade.
                                          So, you're right that it has to be with one opponent left, otherwise, you're stuck!


                                          @FtXCommando, correct me if I'm wrong, but you suggested that certain ACUs get a few upgrades swapped around?
                                          One of which was the Teleport upgrade for UEF to be moved to the Right Arm, where RAS and Gun reside.

                                          I'd love to see that idea come to fruition.


                                          ~ Stryker

                                          ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • veteranasheV
                                            veteranashe
                                            last edited by

                                            Uef sheild t3 telle com would be more cancerous than tele maser and I'd love it

                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                            • First post
                                              Last post