Thoughts on Broadside Design
Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2014 6:33 pm
I've heard a bunch of people complain about how broadsides deal 'too much damage.' Most of the time my counter argument to that is that mobility is a fairly decent counter to it -- admittedly not a perfect counter due to the chunkiness of battlecruiser movement, but still the best one. However, recently I've been trying to think of a way to maintain the potential damage of broadsides, but make movement a more effective counter to it.
So here were my overall thoughts.
At the moment, it's actually incredibly easy to aim broadsides at a fairly distant target. Those who are experienced on navigation typically understand how to rotate the battlecruiser in just the way as to hit a certain 'sweet spot' and snag a target with most, if not all, of the shots fairly easily. I can appreciate the effort and skill it takes to make this kind of shot, but at the same time another part of me also kinda dislikes it in the fact that broadsides can be focused so easily upon 'a single point in space.'
And what this sort of leads me to think is that broadsides, which to me felt like a weapon that was intended to be used in closer range, is actually very capable of being used in long range combat. Admittedly there are still drawbacks -- aspects like coordinating off-screen attacks with another deck member and such, but even so part of me begins to wonder if maybe it's too easy if people are complaining about such high damage output.
I personally think that overall, end game damage is in a pretty nice position if you only take battlecruiser against battlecruiser. Once you start introducing other ships it becomes an entirely different story, but I think that's only natural and it becomes a potential factor for both sides still -- it also adds a more worthwhile value to small ships and the hanger. But more importantly, this primarily looks at a sit down fight. And, of course, it takes a lot of energy to run. Wrapping helps, but the way that it's used has always felt abusive to me in a way that should not have been originally intended. I still think there are a number of ways to address the wrapping issues, but that's for another time and place considering the complexities of those ideas.
So in short;
Lets be honest -- changing movement or collision around broadsides would be a pain in the ass. In the past, the smaller BC size generally made hitting all broadsides more difficult, which meant movement actually felt worthwhile as a 'dodge tanking' method. Due to the bulky size of the battlecruiser, this isn't as viable any more which is extremely unfortunate. However, the size of the battlecruiser relative to small ships also feels a like better outside of broadsides -- the comparison feels more apt, and gives small ships a much easier time hitting shots.
In that case, if we wanted to resolve the issue, we probably shouldn't be fixing movement or collision size, but rather the way broadsides work themselves.
Now if the key to broadsides is being a 'powerful blast in close proximity,' the next step would probably be to create some method of dampening its ranged combat potential. However, I also don't feel as if reducing broadsides range is also a good answer, as it essentially means it's only effective use becomes in close proximity combat, which makes it purely an anti battlecrusier weapon. So rather than altering the range of the weapon, I feel as if it would be more appropriate to alter the shape of the weapon.
See, the reason it's so easy to focus broadsides is due to the 'potential hit area,' which is designed to be like a box. Before the box was a lot narrower due to the battlecruiser size, and now has become a lot more... *ahem* broad, if you will. At face value this doesn't cause a huge issue because it means splitting the fire across a larger area as well, which in theory should mean it's more difficult to successfully hit, but there comes out main issue -- by turning the battlecruiser at a particular rate, you can influence the effective shape of the broadsides 'hit area' to have a focal point at a large variety of ranges. In this way the theory behind the 'box' setup becomes a fairly moot point, because the broader firing area actually gives the battlecruiser the ability to create a more distant focal point at its default turning rate, and due to the generally larger nature of the battlecruiser this means that it's actually very unlikely to mess this point up by a large enough margin that any of the shots would actually miss. As a result, movement as a tanking method becomes obsolete, and instead only retains value as a retreating option.
To me it's hard to say whether or not this is a good or bad thing, but at the very least it means that screwing up broadsides is really difficult, and so it becomes a very assured source of high damage. However, if we want to change this broadsides should fan out a bit more rather being exactly parallel to one another.
Creating a fan shape means a couple of things to me:
So here were my overall thoughts.
At the moment, it's actually incredibly easy to aim broadsides at a fairly distant target. Those who are experienced on navigation typically understand how to rotate the battlecruiser in just the way as to hit a certain 'sweet spot' and snag a target with most, if not all, of the shots fairly easily. I can appreciate the effort and skill it takes to make this kind of shot, but at the same time another part of me also kinda dislikes it in the fact that broadsides can be focused so easily upon 'a single point in space.'
And what this sort of leads me to think is that broadsides, which to me felt like a weapon that was intended to be used in closer range, is actually very capable of being used in long range combat. Admittedly there are still drawbacks -- aspects like coordinating off-screen attacks with another deck member and such, but even so part of me begins to wonder if maybe it's too easy if people are complaining about such high damage output.
I personally think that overall, end game damage is in a pretty nice position if you only take battlecruiser against battlecruiser. Once you start introducing other ships it becomes an entirely different story, but I think that's only natural and it becomes a potential factor for both sides still -- it also adds a more worthwhile value to small ships and the hanger. But more importantly, this primarily looks at a sit down fight. And, of course, it takes a lot of energy to run. Wrapping helps, but the way that it's used has always felt abusive to me in a way that should not have been originally intended. I still think there are a number of ways to address the wrapping issues, but that's for another time and place considering the complexities of those ideas.
So in short;
- Broadsides is pretty easy to use at a distance despite, in my opinion, being a mechanic that should be optimal at close range.
- The counter for broadsides is very clunky and costly.
Lets be honest -- changing movement or collision around broadsides would be a pain in the ass. In the past, the smaller BC size generally made hitting all broadsides more difficult, which meant movement actually felt worthwhile as a 'dodge tanking' method. Due to the bulky size of the battlecruiser, this isn't as viable any more which is extremely unfortunate. However, the size of the battlecruiser relative to small ships also feels a like better outside of broadsides -- the comparison feels more apt, and gives small ships a much easier time hitting shots.
In that case, if we wanted to resolve the issue, we probably shouldn't be fixing movement or collision size, but rather the way broadsides work themselves.
Now if the key to broadsides is being a 'powerful blast in close proximity,' the next step would probably be to create some method of dampening its ranged combat potential. However, I also don't feel as if reducing broadsides range is also a good answer, as it essentially means it's only effective use becomes in close proximity combat, which makes it purely an anti battlecrusier weapon. So rather than altering the range of the weapon, I feel as if it would be more appropriate to alter the shape of the weapon.
See, the reason it's so easy to focus broadsides is due to the 'potential hit area,' which is designed to be like a box. Before the box was a lot narrower due to the battlecruiser size, and now has become a lot more... *ahem* broad, if you will. At face value this doesn't cause a huge issue because it means splitting the fire across a larger area as well, which in theory should mean it's more difficult to successfully hit, but there comes out main issue -- by turning the battlecruiser at a particular rate, you can influence the effective shape of the broadsides 'hit area' to have a focal point at a large variety of ranges. In this way the theory behind the 'box' setup becomes a fairly moot point, because the broader firing area actually gives the battlecruiser the ability to create a more distant focal point at its default turning rate, and due to the generally larger nature of the battlecruiser this means that it's actually very unlikely to mess this point up by a large enough margin that any of the shots would actually miss. As a result, movement as a tanking method becomes obsolete, and instead only retains value as a retreating option.
To me it's hard to say whether or not this is a good or bad thing, but at the very least it means that screwing up broadsides is really difficult, and so it becomes a very assured source of high damage. However, if we want to change this broadsides should fan out a bit more rather being exactly parallel to one another.
Creating a fan shape means a couple of things to me:
- Immediately this means that was a base, with no movement in a battlecruiser vs. battlecruiser fight, the greater the distance the more shots that should miss the intended target.
- Rotating the battlecruiser alongside broadsides would compensate for the cone to create a narrower area of effect, and possibly even eliminate a point of convergence.
- It becomes a lot more difficult to use in a chase, since in order to focus all fire upon a single target you either need to match your opponents speed and be in close proximity, or you would need to rotate to compensate -- which means constantly diverting your chase path.
- You don't have to be directly parallel to the enemy in order for it to be effectively used -- this is a minor point, however.