Net Melee Balance Mod Discussion

[Shiver]

It looks like the new Ur-Quan curbstomps Earthlings,

That was a deliberate design decision. Ur-Quan wouldn't be worth using if Earthling was as damaging to it as in vanilla Star Control.

[Death 999]

There are degrees to these things. I think having the fighters available to shoot down nukes is a good idea. I think having those fighters be a valid offensive option is overkill.

Earthlings, I feel, ought to be at least a speed bump for an Ur-Quan. As it stands... are they?

[Shiver]

I see where you're coming from, but am not changing ship stats based upon it. Earthling is more than a speed bump against the ever-hated Kohr-Ah, while totally helpless against Chmmr. Also consider that Earthling is very cost-effective in vanilla UQM, where no experienced player even uses Ur-Quan.

Ur-Quan that isn't advancing behind fighter cover isn't playing against Earthling properly. A few tips on how to take advantage of this: When a squadron of four approaches, don't turn on the PDL the moment a fighter enters your range. Wait for at least two, preferably the whole squadron, before cutting loose. You'll get hit, but it's still much more energy-efficient. If Ur-Quan is spamming multiple squadrons and hanging back you won't be able to do this, but you should be able to hit the unguarded mothership with a few nukes.

[Shiver]

Mod updated. I fixed the desync bug and removed a few annoying special exceptions. Here's the full list of changes for anyone who cares:



Chenjesu: Price has been lowered to 24.

Kohr-Ah: Special exceptions involving Mycon and Kohr-Ah weapon collisions rolled back.

Pkunk: Respawn chance begins at 75% and drops by 10% per respawn. Price has been set to 20.

Mycon: Top speed lowered from 27 to 26. Plasmoid energy cost returned from 21 back to 20. Ship price increased to 16. Special exceptions involving Mycon and Kohr-Ah weapon collisions rolled back.

Syreen: Special energy cost increased from 6 to 9. Special cooldown increased from 20 to 28.

Thraddash: Very slight primary weapon range increase.

Ur-Quan: The desync bug has been fixed. The fighter idle behavior that occurs when at long distances from the enemy ship has been axed. Fighter launch cost decreased from 5-per-Fighter to (4-per-Fighter + 2).

Utwig: The extra energy boost from Kohr-Ah buzzsaws has been axed. Maximum battery size increased from 20 to 26. Starting energy remains at 10. Price has been raised from 22 to 24.

VUX: Price raised from 12 to 14.

Yehat: Price raised to 18. Twin Pulse Cannon projectiles are now partially affected by the Terminator's velocity. Shield timer increased from 10 to 11 and battery freeze timer which occurs upon shielding also increased by 1 point to match.

Zoq-Fot-Pik: Tongue length increased substantially. Acceleration increased from 10 to 11. Top speed increased from 40 to 44. Price raised from 6 to 8.

[Rider]

Fighter launch cost decreased from 5-per-Fighter to (4-per-Fighter + 2).

How is this a change? It'll still cost 10 energy to launch both fighters...

[Shiver]

How is this a change? It'll still cost 10 energy to launch both fighters...

There aren't "both" fighters.

[Lukipela]

SO is Mycon now the Kohr-Ah killer, or does that Yehat change you enabled make them more effective against a Marauder?

[Shiver]

SO is Mycon now the Kohr-Ah killer, or does that Yehat change you enabled make them more effective against a Marauder?

Mycon is a soft counter, meaning that you can expect to do its point value in damage but probably not win outright. I dropped top speed so that Kohr-Ah chasing Mycon in a straight line will catch it a tiny bit faster, but the match is almost identical to vanilla UQM. The right technique for both sides of Mycon vs. Kohr-Ah is unintuitive, but I really should've noticed it sooner. I've been using a lightweight fleet with no 30 point ships and no Utwig or Chenjesu quite successfully against the few people that can still be bothered to play.

[Lukipela]

Is there a hard counter against the Kohr-Ah? I assume not, but I'm not sure. I really like the idea of Utwig and Chenjesu being ranked the same. The Utwig are supposed to be pretty high tech and slow down the Kohr-Ah, so it's fitting that they rank as high as the guys who slow down the Ur-Quan.

[Shiver]

Is there a hard counter against the Kohr-Ah?

Utwig! As it was even in vanilla UQM, though the technique is difficult for most players. I used to say that the difference between an average player and an expert was whether they could take Kohr-Ah with Utwig, but then this newbie Cyarus showed up and played that match-up perfectly despite sucking at almost everything else. I only gave him a brief one sentence summary of how to do it and he was knocking down my Kohr-Ah without taking any damage like a pro immediately. He didn't stay in the arena long, unfortunately.

[Lukipela]

*slaps forehead*

Of course, dunno what I was thinking there.

[Death 999]

So, what happened to that resolution you made at the end of the previous page? Was just cheapening the fighters by 2 energy a squad enough to make up for their not draining energy?

[Shiver]

So, what happened to that resolution you made at the end of the previous page? Was just cheapening the fighters by 2 energy a squad enough to make up for their not draining energy?

I did not remove fighter energy drain. Somehow I missed that while updating my text file that contains the list of recent changes. There was a no drain fighter build I tried which you've all heard about in this thread.

[Alen]

I find that the Yehat work well against probes but that might just be my play stile.