Deribus' Patent Pending Fatboy Rework

Thank you very much for implementing the idea!
I'll play around with it a little with my group (~1.7k rated) and provide some feedback here. I know the costs are purposely low atm, but if it fixes the mentioned problems while being able to defend stronger exps as well, I think it might be a good direction for the fatboy.

@deribus I think your turret yaw change suggestion is quite frankly perfect. I 100% support.

I don't think changing the AA guns to TMD is a good idea. I agree that the fatboy needs mobile TMD, but let's be honest, the fatboy's AA is not bad. Sparkies should have TMD instead of their pee shooter, though. I can make a thread about that if you want. Using sparkies together with fatboys for TMD is a match made in heaven.

One thing I don't like about it is the no rear shot makes it similar to the crab

You can micro it just like a crab, why is that a bad thing? I don't think the "faction diversity" gets killed because of that change

I still think the Fatboy should just get a bigger gun

If the aim is to boost its speed without it becoming crazy good at kiting, what about combining a speed boost with smaller more powerful and slower shots from its main gun? I.e. making it even easier to dodge the fatboy's shots (so it doesn't become significantly better vs say a GC or monkey, but will still do well against groups of sniper bots or assaulting a shielded position).

I'm not entirely sure re the turret angle changes but on balance I think I prefer the proposed solution since to me it is more intuitive that a unit can deliver better firepower when directly facing the enemy/attacking it, vs the current scenario where you deal less damage.

I'm unsure about the proposed 'cheaper but weaker' changes, especially the planned significant reduction to shield health (but no change to current health). I'd much prefer less of a reduction to shield health but coupled with a health reduction to offset - 12k shield health is barely more than a seraphim mobile shield. I also worry that if these changes (stat changes) were done in isolation it would mean that even 1 well micro'd fatboy would lose vs 1 monkeylord/1 ythotha, meaning you'd need 2 fatboys for an equivalent position to before (which would be even more expensive).

@maudlin27 said in Deribus' Patent Pending Fatboy Rework:

I'm unsure about the proposed 'cheaper but weaker' changes, especially the planned significant reduction to shield health (but no change to current health). I'd much prefer less of a reduction to shield health but coupled with a health reduction to offset - 12k shield health is barely more than a seraphim mobile shield. I also worry that if these changes (stat changes) were done in isolation it would mean that even 1 well micro'd fatboy would lose vs 1 monkeylord/1 ythotha, meaning you'd need 2 fatboys for an equivalent position to before (which would be even more expensive).

The fatty being way too overpowered now is 100% possible. These stats were basically Jip lowering then with me being like "Nah.. Make them even lower, but keep the same range", they are not balanced and there is not a lot of thought process behind the exact numbers (aka. his stats were honestly prob more logical but I wanted to go to the extreme). It's just a thought experiment I wanna play around with, to explain it a bit further:

The main problem with UEF land is that it's vulnerable to sniperbots just as the Cybran land. UEF basically has the counter for sniperbots (Fatty), but because it's so expensive it doesn't really counter them, because you build fatboys only later on.
So what I want to try is "What happens, if we just make it way cheaper?", which brings follow-up questions with the obvious one being "But with what stats?" and honestly that questions doesn't really bother me for now. I don't care about the exact number, I just want to see what happens if we just do it lol.
Other questions being "Can it still counter stationary arty?", "Is it still viable during lategame (against Megas etc.)?", "Is the airsnipe-problem still the same?", "Can other factions (especially Cybran) defend well against an early fatty?" which I want to test.

Some neat side effects I've noticed:

• The mobile factory-ability is actually useful now. Because currently the fatty costs 28k and by the time you have one, you have 5+ T3 support factories anyway, so it doesn't really matter. But because the fatty is so cheap now, you don't have a lot of support factories.
• If a monkeylord pushes and if you have two fatties, you can split them so the monkeylord can only chase one
• Due to Deribus' changes, you can micro it like a Megalith, with all four cannons shooting at the target while slowly retreating
  Bonus effect: It looks cute now.

So yeah, currently it's just to play around a bit cuz in my head it's hard to imagine how the changes shift the T3 UEF gameplay. I can imagine it being enough if the fatty is around 18k mass, which is still a lot for 'countering sniperbots', so I wanna try around with even cheaper costs (+ some decreses of the hp, dps etc.).
I also want to mention that none of this was discussed in the balance-team, nor was it a thought others had. This is 100% just me being like "Damn.. What if.."

I like the idea! A few concerns but interested in seeing where it goes, nonetheless.

If I may throw in an idea as well:
Why not increase the muzzle velocity (projectile speed)?

That would seem like a good option that affects Damage consistency without affecting damage per second, and it would improve the feeling and reliability of the unit without the need for drastic alterations or reworks.

Make the rear guns shoot forward so you get all the firepower attacking

i see no problems here

how tall the rear turrets would need to be to not shoot itself

@madmax I did check that, but in-game it was incredibly difficult to notice

Put em on a piston and extend as necessary. There, problem solved.
Let it not be said the UEF doesn't employ all its superior HUMAN engineering to achieve more gunfire on target.

Alternatively, can the turret not shoot UP and in an arc? Then it'll clear the frame, no?

also your firing arc image in the op doesn't account for the gun offsets

The fatboy has always bothered me as a terrible design from the uef/gpg as it cant use all its guns, like a battleship can broadside and use all of them the best a fatboy can achieve is 3 out of 4

@madmax said in Deribus' Patent Pending Fatboy Rework:

i see no problems here

Guns can point up and shoot high arc, even the guns shooting through the fat boy is better than uef having a worse version of the crab

a quick edit of a possible model change to fix the clipping

i would also move the forward turrets forward so the nose isn't reducing their arcs

@madmax said in Deribus' Patent Pending Fatboy Rework:

also your firing arc image in the op doesn't account for the gun offsets

MadMax making me reveal all my secrets

Yes, I know. I make one using the individual turret positions but it made things more complicated for no reason, so I simplified it.

Mine looks significantly different to yours though, even accounting for the different Fatty orientation.