Here are the list of the most popular/best-explained suggestions in the thread so far.
I'll be making a poll with these
soon(TM). If I missed any or misrepresented somebody, please let me know.
1. Wingflier's Solution:1. Buff Fighter raw damage by 50% [117,600 -> 176,400]
2. Buff Fighter speed from 76 -> 80.
3. Nerf Fighter multipliers by 33% [Medium 2.4 -> 1.6| Close-Combat 2.4 -> 1.6| Polycrystal 5 -> 3.3] - Damage against these hull types stays nearly the same.
4. Buff Bomber raw damage by 25% [78,400 -> 98,000]
5. Nerf Bomber multipliers against Heavy, Ultra-Heavy, Structural, Artillery, and Command-Grade by 33% [6 -> 4]
6. Nerf Bomber speed from 76 -> 62.
2. Minotaar's Solution:Idea: Make the Fighter specialize in killing Guardians.
Proposed Changes:
Hull type changed to Medium for the following types of Guardians:
EMP
Heavy Beam
Laser
Lightning
Special Forces Rally
Spire Implosion
Starship Disassembler
Tachyon
Tractor
Vampire
3. Diazo's Solution:So, I would suggest buffing the fighters range to at least equal that of the bomber, if not to about 110% that of the bombers range. I expect this change alone would give the fighter all the help it needs, but to really take advantage the fighter needs a small speed boost.
Move Speed: The other issue I have with the fighter is that while its speed is slightly above average, it is still only really average. And it is the same as the bombers speed. Due to the attack-chase mechanic I just mentioned this means the fighter can't catch the bomber in a tail chase. So, boost the fighters speed slightly, to about 110% that of the bombers speed.
4. Diazo's Alternative Solution:Alternative Fix: If the general community consensus disagrees with me and feels that the fighter is a broken unit, my alternative suggestion would be to give the fighter a massive speed boost, to 75 or 80% that of a raid starship to really highlight it's interceptor role to allow the fighter to get into a position where it's 150% base dps that it has on paper could be more effectively used. I personally don't see the fighter needing a boost this big but any fix I might support will have to account for the fact that the fighters numbers on paper are above average, it is other game mechanics that make the fighter underwhelming.
5. Keith's suggestion:I've ignored the threads on this for some days now, didn't seem like they were getting anywhere
Making a bunch of guardians into medium hulls seems like a good idea, though that may nerf the bomber starship since that's largely anti-guardian in role. Other than that I'd been thinking of adding a slight boost to fighter speed, slight nerf to bomber speed, and making both more focused on damage to their bonus types (without really increasing it).
6. Chemical Art's suggestion:Move the "Heavy" multiplier from the Bomber to the Fighter.
7. Chemical Art's alternate suggestion:-Nerf bomber dps by 33%, increase multipliers by 33%
--Makes the bomber hits the very many things it does attack well just as well, but makes it no longer as viable as a standalone ship against other targets...
-Nerf bomber speed to between frigates and fighters
--Reduces bomber's ability to get to destination alone
-Increase fighter dps by 20%, reduce multipliers by between 10 - 20%
--Makes the fighter against a broad spectrum of targets, but does not have it absolutely melt the few targets it already gets a multiplier against
-Increase frigates rate of fire by 20%, reduce frigates damage by 15%
--A greater boost then the ~5% increase in dps would indicate, this makes frigates attack swarmer like ships it gets a bonus against more rapidly, which tend to have lower health but higher caps and thus more decisively handled with higher rate of fire.
