Re: Omni turbo.
Its DPS is higher because armor of the same level heavily resists laser and kinetic. RK15 is even more damaging than omni turbolaser, but more major enemies (i.e., Charon pirates, gladiators with monopole deflector or blast plate) resist kinetic more than laser. Level 4 is a bad place for weapons. In the New Beyond, they are much rarer than weapons of level 2 or 3; and in Ungoverned Territories, most are relatively underpowered and almost obsolete like level 1 weapons were in New Beyond. Finding a level 4 or 5 weapon that you want in the New Beyond is a luck-based mission. In Ungoverned Territories, you usually want level 5+ hardware. (Usually, because I want waste cannon, but only stations past St. K's can install it.) Enhanced Omni turbolaser/RK15 is useful in Ungoverned Territories, but does not overshadow the weapons you find there.
If I get Omni turbolaser (or RK15) early enough for Battle Arena AND laser collimator (or cannon accelerator for RK15), sure, it is overpowered... like other out-of-depth items (though Battle Arena gives out-of-depth enemies). I do not always find Omni turbolaser/RK15 before St. K's, and occasionally, not at all in the game. In one game, I looted an EMP cannon in Eridani, and that made Battle Arena (and Charon frigates) trivial.
For Wolfen, I occasionally use the collimator if I have not yet found a second non-device item to use, which is uncommon. Cargo expansion (usually miner's) is a given, and I often find a second device, either solar panel or patcher arm (although I might use weapon enhancer instead of solar panel if I have solar armor, otherwise the panel stays on). For Spartan, Raijin, and other ships with only two non-device slots, engine becomes high-priority once Titan becomes available.
JohnBWatson wrote:The heavier weapons, like howitzers, aren't underpowered. The ones that have neither WMD nor omni don't seem to have much use, killing both gunships and capital ships more slowly than alternatives, while exposing the player to much more return fire.
Howitzers are powerful, but not always so good against (some) gunships because their shots knock-out your shots, and howitzers fire slowly. When I tried howitzer against gunships, they kept shooting down most of my shots. As for skirmish weapons without WMD and Omni, well, yes, they are less than optimal, but sometimes, you take what you can get, and they are not underpowered against appropriate targets. Against a swarm of gunships, if I kite to line them up or stay within point-blank range where I cannot miss, my hit rate is high and I will kill gunships faster than with an Omni. If I can tank a capital, I will definitely kill it faster than with an Omni without WMD. Omni is mostly useful if you need to run-and-gun (attack while dodging things you cannot tank) or if your aiming is poor. Omni without WMD (which is most of them) is primarily a gunship killer, although it can be used to kill capitals slowly if run-and-gun is the only way to win without dying.
JohnBWatson wrote:As I said earlier, there is no AI fix for kiting. Right now, it is mathematically impossible to defeat a faster, longer ranged enemy unless it makes a major error.
True, and I expect that to be the case in a frictionless environment like in deep space. If the enemy is on the losing side like this, and it is chasing the winning side, the smart thing it should do is to stop chasing (and maybe gate out if it has nothing to defend). That alone should reduce some enemy casualties. Player will probably not go out of his way to chase every last gunship.
JohnBWatson wrote:Considering the fact that the player loses the progress made since the last death after resurrecting, there's still a challenge there. I will say that I liked the old resurrection system better, though - it felt more faithful to the genre.
This is one reason why I call Transcendence Diablo 2 in space. (Another reason is real-time instead of turn-based.) You only lose progress if you do not save. If I want to abuse resurrection, I save anytime I make useful progress so that when I die, I do not need to do it again. I prefer the old system, but the game auto-saves when you gate, and it is very possible to get stuck in a no-win situation; for example, gating when you have a few seconds left before you die from radiation. Enough people got into no-win situations that it was a problem, and resurrection was implemented.
JohnBWatson wrote:A hardcore mode would be a nice feature to add, though, to justify its existence, it should probably change more than one thing. Here's what I'm thinking of:
- Enforce permadeath
- Enforce no backtracking
- Remove fire rate adjustment for hostile ships
- Prevent docking while a hostile/angry ship is within 50 ls
- Class powers reload upon entering a new system rather than over time
- Globally halve the sell price of equipment
I disagree for "Hardcore". In Diablo 2, all Hardcore did there was enforce permadeath, nothing else, and it played much differently. People played a bit smarter and prioritized defense more, dupes were not as common, and player-killing griefers were common. Given how mainstream Diablo is (or was), if you call a game "Hardcore", people expect enforced permadeath (only).
All I want from a "Hardcore" mode in Transcendence is forced permadeath. (I have made a mod that does this, but it is a bit sloppy in execution - must resurrect once, and obituary is overridden by "honored permadeath".) I am a shameless powergamer who wants to win, and if push-come-to-shove, I will break permadeath conduct to win at any cost if necessary, if my character dies late enough.
No backtracking is "Ironman". This is possible in Stars of the Pilgrim, without Corporate Command. In Corporate Command, the final chimera mission is in a dead-end system, Belt Algez, and forced Ironman would be impossible (without skipping the Chimera mission line). Eternity Port has dead-end systems (Urak and Terminus), and not visiting them is noted on Game Statistics. The backtrack to Sirius after killing the final boss probably should not count since that is akin to leaving the dungeon with the amulet of Yendor. Option for Ironman should only be offered for adventures that do not have dead-end systems, aside from final systems like Heretic.
Re: Desperate Escape
Disintegration trumps Desperate Escape? (I will need to try that.) But that is only against the final boss.
Re: Sung
Earth Slavers only appear near Citadels or during Huari missions. They are a non-factor if player wants to avoid them. (I do because ShieldsDown is deadly to solar armor users.) Steel Slavers are slow and already have an obnoxious PeacefulRestraint hack. It would probably be useful if there was another Sung ship built for that purpose and included in random encounters.