Nominations for target of the Nerfbat of Damocles (II)

[Wingflier]

Personally I think the entire list of Spirecraft could use a rework or a looking at.

Half of them seem unbelievably good while the other have either extremely situational or just useless.

I'd like to see interesting ways of dealing damage (I think the Attritioner and Martyrs are hilarious design), and less, but more individually effective "support" ships.

[Draco18s]

Indeed.  Most spirecraft I don't even bother with.

Siege tower?  To weak (HP) to use on defense, except under force fields.  Too slow to use on offense.
Attritioner?  Hilarious in numbers.  But only in vast quantity.  Individually they're almost worthless.
Scout?  Only need mark 1s (and even then only two of them), and I can scout the universe.
Shield Bearers?  Only if I can't make attritioners.
Implosion?  Maybe a few.  If I have golems/spirecraft exowaves.  And even then, generally only on defense.
Penetrator?  Rarely worth it, as they will never survive to hit a second target.
Jumpship?  Never used it.  The low capacity and limited distance means I haven't figured out how to use it yet.

[LordSloth]

If gravity units come up for a vote, can someone confirm this for me: EMPs do not turn off gravity. I might have encountered this with Zenith Paralyzers and a Gravity Drain patrol recently, but I do know EMPs do not disrupt Gravity Drills.

It would be an interesting tradeoff to hit a gravity drill with an EMP, or take it out of supply to circumvent an annoying system.

That said, I seem to vaguely remember some old patch note giving a good reason why gravity doesn't just turn off... it would have been an old one, though.

Really, I should just get a good night's sleep and actually test this out to see if i'm not being confused by fatigue.

If I am actually remembering how things work vesrus how I expected them to work, hitting a system with starships and an emp might let you slip by a gravity guardian and take out a key target in an interesting tradeoff. Something you could achieve other ways, of course (cloaker?) but it would be nice to have that.

[Kahuna]

Tackle Drone Launcher (Still retardedly OP)
All gravity things
Special Forces and Core Reserve respawn rate
Spire Railcluster
Spire Blade
Zombard
Heavy Beam Cannon
Spire Maw
Spirecraft Martyr
Spirecraft Scout
Spirecraft Jumpship

[rabican]

Tackle Drone Launcher (Still retardedly OP)
All gravity things. Especially when used by the AIs player
Special Forces and Core Reserve respawn rate
Spire Railcluster
Spire Blade
Zombard
Heavy Beam Cannon
Spire Maw
Spirecraft Martyr
Spirecraft Scout
Spirecraft Jumpship

fixed

[Lancefighter]

*Nomination: AI Zenith bombards

Seriously. The AI uses them far too well.

[Coppermantis]

Yes, AI Bombards. Also the Hive Golem; a full one can take out thousands of ships singlehandedly.

[TechSY730]

*Nomination: AI Zenith bombards

Seriously. The AI uses them far too well.

Although I do think they could use a nerf overall (for both human and AI hand), their extreme usefulness in AI waves due to absurdly strong alpha strike means that they may be a good candidate for a <1 multiplier in count for AI waves. (called the UsefulnessInAIWaves multiplier)

Not sure if there is a similar mechanic for defenses, or of it is even needed for zombards.
There may be a need for some type of per ship-type multiplier for special forces as well, as many ships can get disproportionately useful when used for dynamic defense. Though I do think the special forces accumulation rate needs a nerf too.

[Toranth]

Also the Hive Golem; a full one can take out thousands of ships singlehandedly.

Or be wiped out without killing a single ship, if there is Gravity involved.

And on the Homeworlds these days, the place where you'd really want to use the Hive Golem, there's the Core Gravity Reactor Post and the Wrath Lance - both of which make short work of your wasps.
Seriously.  I tried a Hive Bomb on a HW (Diff 7) and it killed NOTHING.  Not even 1 ship.  The Grav and the Lance wiped them out in seconds.

[KDR_11k]

I guess this is intended but when the Camouflager AI parks a cloaked gravity drain on your planets it's NASTY.

[Atomikkrab]

  I see people trying to nerf the heavy bro turret. WHAT HAS IT EVER DONE TO YOU OTHER THAN SLAUGHTER WAVES OF THE ENEMY ON ITS OWN?

[chemical_art]

I do think the ai bombards could use a nerf, but not in stats but in their "ai cost".

On offense, their alpha is fiercesome. If you survived it, you would think they would be easy to counterattack but...

their real annoyance is that the ai on average is much better at auto kiting (maybe with intense player micro players can do better manual kiting, but the ai is pretty darn good at kiting many units at once), and with bombards it results in frequent bouts where
dozens of bombards are separating making any pursuit an annoying and timely process.

[Lancefighter]

Really weird thing I noticed - Military command stations do an excellent job at pushing bombards out to their optimal range.

I mean its a really odd edge case that I dont really expect any change is required for, its just something I noticed in my last game

[keith.lamothe]

Polls are up now

Player-side

AI-side