SB's are VERYHEAVY armor type I believe, though they may be MODULE.

Yeah, i was definitly thinking of making it Active, its mainly as a first strike attack so it can get into the middle of an enemy fleet quickly, make a big entrance (as in, plowing in and damaging/destroying/knocking aside ships in the way) and then starting to open up with its weapons...

is there a way to disable the ability to turn autocast on or off? the idea is its mainly a first strike thing and after that it becomes useless, and i dont want the ship to be going to ramming speed for no reason...

i was also thinking of SotL weapons having a slight knockback effect? i just have this image in my head for a trailer i want to do one we have an Alpha or even Beta up and running, where a TEC (for example) fleet is getting nailed by a Vasari fleet with an Orkulus, and just as the Fleet Flagship Kol or Akkan or whatever i decide is about to be destroyed, with an Orkulus looming over it, i want a SotL with a reinforcement fleet to come charging in and the last minute with its weapons all firing, knocking the Orkulus out of the way or at least stopping it from firing.... it may not be an actual in-game representation, just something cool to show off the new ships/abilities/structures etc. this is just one episode, ill probs do many more focusing in as many aspects as needed.

btw, i saw the new forum you made for the mod on Aurora Games...

New turrets... could be an idea though we'd definitly have to think about it. Btw, in Entrenchment (in case you havent gotten it yet) Turrets have upgrades that affect its effectiveness (so for instance, TEC Gauss turret has Rocket Banks that give it a powerful short range attack, and a long range Meson Bolt Cannon which, as far as i understand it, is some sort of energy/particle weapon. both obviously increase damage output) and Hangar Defenses generally have some sort of ability to neutralise SC effectiveness, so the TEC have flak cannons, Vasari have an ability to shift all SC within range to a phased out state, stopping them from moving, firing, or taking damage. im not sure what the advent hangar does, i have a feeling it recharges shields, but dont quote me.

And, of course, Starbases could always be considered like 'heavy turrets'. One thing, though, could be to double (or just increase) the number of SB's allowed per GW. So, the average GW would have 2 SB's, Stars could have 6-8, and UCGW's could have 2-3...

So you may want to take that into consideration when thinking about new defenses...

Re-name them Survival Training [Cobalt] and Nanite Armor [Skirmisher] respectively, and you've got a deal.

hold on, does this ability affect all ships in range or just LF?

Random note, but I may have to decrease the range of Will of the Unity due to its possible abusable qualities...  If you managed to cram 160 Disciples into that small an area, you would have a ball of disciples that would be immune to focus fire...  The other two are pretty normal though...  Sure, the TEC would eventually get to the point where with that many cobalts you were regenerating 20 hull points per second, but even then, its just the same effect as a hoho...  You can kill something being healed by a hoho...  With the Vas, it would just be a pain like the TEC, but not impossible...

Battleballs are supposed to be used...  Without them, the Advent are worthless.  Their econ is horrible and only really have military going for them.  For this reason, BB's were made so they could take fleets on that are 2-3 times their size and win.

This has been addressed in another thread by having LF damage scale with range.  Closer=more damage.  It was rejected by a good chunk of the community.

It would appear that I skipped over this...  Well, I'll respond now.

Well, once again, now that I'm thinking about it, I'll write out some things that must be on the SotL's.

TEC:

Medium Range Anti-SC ability that does high damage.

Direct Damage backloaded ability.  Think souped up GRG.  (Weird, but I just realized that that is my mom's initials...  I know, random...)

Some bonus to increase combat effectiveness

Advent:

Grav Well sized Tele Push.  Super low damage, but have a range of 10000

Tele Cannon that can throw single ships to the opposite side of the Grav Well

Some Tele shield that reduces incoming damage by 25%/50%/75%

Vasari:

Phase Bomb that pushes things away slightly, disables them and creates a "frigate" like the missile battery that is a glowing orb that randomly shoots out beams at nearby ships.

Nanite Cloud.  Like the friendly one, only in reverse.  Damages the target (and all those within a range of 3000) for 30 DPS to hull.

Nanite Warheads that cause all attacks to cause long, destructive DoT's.  Ie: 5/10/15 DPS to hull for 10 seconds.

I know I left one out for each, plus the researchable passive, but still...  Just some things I want to make sure are in them...

Like I said, "*looks as Whiskey.*"  I was thinking that one of your races could incorporate that ship.  I think it would be a unique cruiser and could fill the "Disable" role.  Just make it so that the ships it rams get their abilities/weapons/engines/whatever disabled for x amount of time.  I think a ramming ship would be cool so long as it filled that role.  (And if you intend to use my idea in Legions, use my name idea or find one I like...)  The mesh would look cool..  Its a giant snow plow, only in space...  For the tip, it would have to be a cone that spreads out farther and farther so things that hit it wouldn't just get slightly deflected, but throw away.  I may get a pic of what I mean up some time next week because I'm gonna be busy the next couple days...

And each race would have a TT, not just the TEC.  For the TEC-Arlow Class Troop Transport, Advent-Enlightenment Class Telekinetic Mobilizer, Vasari-Mani'k Invader (yes, its from sinners...).

Just take a range of 50 or so (depends on the size of the ship because range is distance from center) and make it so it targets a single ship like any standard firing ability.  Once the ability fires, instill a nerfed repulse buff to all enemies in a radius of 30 or so and don't forget to give it a damage instant action...  I could send you the actual files, but I'm too lazy...  The above is enough for you to do it though...

thanks. This could be useful

Though, it would likely LOOK better if you also combined the 'Intercept' ability on the Kodiaks, and also make it only work in ONE direction. Realisticly, a ship can only ram another if its in front of it (or behind it, but not usually). Using the 'Intercept', 'Repulse', and some kind of weapon ability like GRG, or Nano-Disassembler, or even Cleansing Brilliance/Disintegration would probably give the best results.

EDIT: crap, the danged 'Forums Go Boom' page double-posts me again!

thanks. Ah, so that's the part that makes it point at the target. I hadn't noticed your mention of 'Intercept'. My bad.

thanks. Very helpful

hey, im back from holidays

so, lets get to it:

With the ramming speed (the original idea) like i said, i wanted it a one-time, 'surprise attack' style effect that simultaneously brought the SotL well within firing range of most of the enemy fleet with as many weapons as possible, while also disrupting formations and what-not, causing havoc and creating an initial advantage. its mainly to make sure the generally very slow moving SotL has an immediate effect on a battle, not just rocking up when the battle is all but decided.

This said, the other ideas were good, race-specific, but dont quite achieve this outcome... perhaps Vasari do their short range phase jump thing their... Defensive Utility Cruiser, is it?... does, and "due to the large size of the ship and amount of power required, the exit point of the jump causes nearby ships to be damaged and thrown out of the way", while the Advent could maybe have some sort of inertial field causing the SotL to move much faster with less effort, while telekinetically repulsing the enemy ships, doing damage much like the TEC Ramming Speed... or else maybe expanding their shields, to simulatneously push away enemy ships, and increase the speed of the SotL by using the shield as leverage... meh, call/explain it as you will, but that was my original idea.

No, i meant, is it possible to deactivate Autocast on an ability? so even if you right click it it wont autocast every three minutes... (i also say this because ive seen Kodiaks simply manouvering in a GW use their Intercept ability wastefully, and with a 3 minute cooldown... if a SotL uses its Ramming Speed-esque ability to get from one side of a GW to another, just before it goes into battle, it would be annoying) as for 3 min cool down, thats cool. i cant see it being needed within 3 minutes once activated anyway.

I dont know if we want it on all SotLs in-game, i was simply wondering from a movie-making point of view, it would facilitate the whole coming to the rescue at the last minute... i could always have an Akkan fire an Ion Bolt at the same time the SotL rocks up, but yeah, if you think its possible and worthwhile to have in-game, sure, lets try it.

i was getting to it... you might also want to advertise it somewhere in the OP, because i only found it by chance

i realise this... as much as i would like to see it (sometimes on central worlds with many Phase Lanes, a single TEC or Advent SB just doesnt quite cover all the entrances...) i can understand that 2 Big Red Buttons would be a kick in the head... still... perhaps making the heavy weapon platforms you are talking about appear like starbases (in the sense that they are simply large, well armored structures with many weapons that can fire over 360 degrees at many targets) would be a good idea... perhaps incorporate them with a secondary ability... anti-SC, recharge AM/Shields/Hull etc etc... or not, big guns is cool with me too.
However, making light turrets sill viable should be a concern. perhaps making light (as in the current turrets that we have) turrets better suited against light targets like scouts/LF/LRF/LC etc while heavy weapon platforms as better vs SC/HC/Caps/SotLs etc

Anti-SC ability: cool, something like tracer fire... or detonating "Nukes" at medium range from the ship (when i say Nukes, just to give an idea and a visual, we can call it whatever.

DDBA: first off, what is Backloaded? second, i did want to give all SotLs a very high powered DD cannon much like on their respective lancers specifically for Anti-SotL combat. something on a turret to cause massive damage to SotLs and SB's but have such drawbacks as to make it ineffecient to use against anything smaller than a Cap. it would also have the draw back of a short period of disabilty, much like the lancers have now when firing, but much shorter. (say, 5-7 seconds). each Race's weapon type would be the same as its lancer prototype, but more powerful and visually different (so say the Advent Beam Cannon is Blue/Green, the SotL version may be redish-pink with a less confined (messier) beam)

I had two passive ideas in mind for all SotLs:

1. Increases damage/reduces damage taken/increases regen/increases speed/increases chance to hit/increases firing speed or all of the above (general combat effectiveness increase) of all friendly or owned ships in a GW by 5/7/10% or some other appropriate number

2. when the SotL is destroyed, all friendly/owned ships in a GW lose buffs stated in 1. and suffer 5% reduction of general combat effectiveness for 15-20 seconds after SotL is destroyed, and returning to normal after the 15-20 second period.

the idea is to make them like real "Hero" ships, increasing general combat effectiveness for ships in a battle, and weakening moral when destroyed...

i am concerned about one thing though, didnt you say each ship has a certain number of 'nulls', where 13 are taken up by engines, 3 by weapons and 4 by abilities or something like that? i remember because i wanted to give caps an anti-SC ability but you used the above as a reason for why its impossible... so im just asking, if that 20 null limit is hardcoded, how are we going to fit everything we want on each SotL?

Anyway, i figure here is a good place to finish the Vasari SotL

Weapons Fore: 2 Phase Missile Banks, 4 Pulse Beam Cannons, 2 Wave Cannons (the Starbase type that is effective vs structures also)

Weapons Port/Starboard: 3 Phase Missile Banks, 3 Wave Cannons

Weapons Aft: 4 Pulse Cannons, 2 Wave Cannons

Abilities:

Ramming Speed Equivalent

Direct Damage Anti-SotL ability on a turret

Passive Combat Effectiveness Buffing Ability (including the negative buff when SotL is destroyed)

Anti-SC ability... perhaps a Turbulent Gravitational Field that rips SC apart.

im also wondering if we want to give SotLs some meagre SC capacity... maybe let them build 2-4 squadrons of interceptors only? or some other style of SC to fill a niche...
alternatively, if its possible, the ability to choose which SC style (Bombers/Fighters/Interceptors etc) you want, and have all Squadrons slots filled with that one type...

the thing is, due to the incredible power of SotLs im cautious of making them too Race specific... i think making them do generally the same thing with slightly different number values/names/styles/drawbacks etc, maybe a single unique ability for each SotL will be best... otherwise the balancing could become hell and would affect battles negatively (insofar as balance would be broken). We could create 2 types of SotL, one more Combat oriented and the other more Utility/Ability oriented... and you get to choose which you want for your three...

i wont go into backstory because Volt said he will change it anyway, so ill leave that up to you.

also, one thing i was thinking about, i was playing a mod the other day and i saw the author had replaced the standard SC style with a 'formation' of SC that worked exactly like that, flying around in formation, firing together or slightly off-set... i think this would be awesome for Interceptors, just from a visual point of view...

lastly, i was thinking about each races missile-esque tech... the Vasari fire one blast every few moments, (from memory) TEC fire mad barrages, and Advent only have their Psionic Blast tech on the starbase so its not very common anyway...

i was thinking about some sort of missile cruiser or a 'corvette'. medium speed, just has lots of missile tubes (or equivalents) for firing on multiple targets... i know it doesnt fill a need anywhere, and could be quite superfluous, but im just putting it out there.

Also, some other kind of Utility cruiser would be nice, just to add something new and fresh, considering all we've done so far is add combat ships... it would have to be race specific (for instance, TEC could use a UC to replenish shields etc, while Advent could use one for Hull. this sint necessarily a suggestion, just an example)

i think some researchables for speed and turning speed for each race would be great. the upgrades would affect all ships by speeding up their accelleration, top speed and turning speed. we would have to decide which race we would like to be the fastest and which the slowest... i imagine the fastest would be Vasari... slowest Advent, considering they prefer damage output and survivability over speed...

lastly, i was thinking about the LF thing we were talking about to increase its combat survivability. So, instead of increasing its speed or something, why not a researchable passive that increases the chance to miss/decreases chance to hit (however it works) of any ships attacking the LF. and just a thought that popped into my head now, some sort of researchable active abilty that gives the LF a short range Rocket Barrage within a narrow cone, just for like a DD targettable thing to increase damage output

so, those were most of the thoughts i had over the holis... how is everyone btw? how was Band Camp Volt?

Rez, 'BACKLOADED' refers to the damage application. There are 2 types- 'BACKLOADED' and 'OVERTIME'. Backloaded damage is used on all the projectile weapons, like Pulse Lasers/Guns, Plasma, Missiles, etc. etc. Basically, whenever the entire effects of the burst get to the target, the damage is applied, while on 'OVERTIME', it's applied as the effect is applied. OVERTIME is used exclusively on Beam and Pulse Beam weapons.