Reactions to Ancient Shadows and Suggestions

[Cinth]

After 9 scenarios, I'm around lvl 45.
The better you perform, the more XP you earn really.
I still think 2v2 2v3 and 4v5 have the XP reward is a little low right now compared to the rest.

[chemical_art]

How so? I think if anything it is the opposite, the more you struggle the more xp you get.

From what I understood of the xp model, you get a set amount of xp from completing the nebula, and you get additionally slaying of things in.

Maybe because I am very aggressive and slay most missions quickly, I don't the full xp.

I admit I'm not sure what to do. I thought I was doing my best in accomplishing the mission quickly, but I guess that is shooting myself in the foot, and I should try to instead drag out the nebulas as long as I can.

[Cinth]

The XP model changed early in September. Someone forgot to put the changes in the patch notes 

So unless it changed again, there are 3 factors in calculating XP.

The Base, Champ level multiplier, and a Performance multiplier (time based).

The XP gains from inside the nebula mainly come from bases (in base vs base). The enemy ships give a negligible amount of XP now.

So faster completion will net you better XP rewards.

[keith.lamothe]

The base-vs-base rewards are based on how fast you win, the others generally use some other metric.

[chemical_art]

*shrug*

Oh well.

I feel sorry for those who only update on official patches then. They'll be having around lvl 25 when they hit max hull then, for I tailored my ship to doing the missions really fast and having been playing on and off throughout the beta.

Still,  does having a 50% difference in lvl (which equates to a godly amount of xp difference) seems a bit much between an ok and almost perfect run of the nebulas? Especially since the nebula order and rewards is tied to maps and not constant, and if you fall behind you don't just struggle to finish nebulas but since you are getting less xp it is harder to catch up?

[Cinth]

Well... I dunno :p

But before I came up with really good strategies, I would go out and get 5 levels in AI space so I could have MK II shields, missiles, and lasers.

That alone is a good launching point to getting faster in the first nebula, and saves you some points so you have extra when you upgrade hulls.

[chemical_art]

Wraith lance guardposts hurt.

I'm glad I can savescum, for they are definitely the most micro intensive heavy guardpost there is.

[keith.lamothe]

The xp rewards are higher if you finish faster so that there's no motive to intentionally drag things out.  I can tighten up the min/max range a bit (not lowering the max, probably), if it's an issue but in general the usefulness of the champion will be proportionate to how well you do with it.  A lvl 45 battleship is not just a gimme, you have to work for it.

Though the last version did make it easier, in terms of making the scenarios easier.

Also, gaining some early levels off the AI is definitely not a bad thing to do; the scenario XP rewards scale up as you're higher in level but the normal-space rewards don't (so there's not much motive to kill guard posts with them past the very early part).

As far as those only updating on official versions, we are hoping to do 6.1 a month or two after 6.0, so we can update to the newer unity version, so the wait won't be so long as this time.  But yea, there's tradeoffs both ways to playing betas vs only the releases.

[chemical_art]

I'm certainly not wanting to lower the max, I'm asking for a small boost for the min.

It's more to ensure that if a player ever gets a lost or struggles in a nebula they aren't in a huge hole for the rest of the game. It can quickly snowball in its current form, and some of it I like but not too much. I'm looking for around a min of ~33 levels. This would enable a frugal person to get 3 module lines to V with a few points to get some IIs.

[orzelek]

3 module lines to V... so basically any kind of champion switching is out of the window - I think it may not be enough.
And knowing the rng... players will get hit by it at least few times in nebulas
You can get 1-2 specialized modules and one general for example to V. This means that after you finish that nebulas you need to chose one setup and stick with it - and then spend all the points. But that would actually mean you have less to win the nebulas which leads to a circle. So you will probably end up with modules that are considered best for nebulas and then simply use champion with what you have.

[chemical_art]

That's true, but remember with the current mechanics I had a lvl 27 despite not losing a single nebula after 9 nebulas. So for someone who may lose one nebula they could be lvl 25 or worst. So a lvl 33 minimal is kinda a big jump.

I don't want to completely gimp the higher rewards, but I find an higher "bottom" would help.

[Dichotomy]

Could the new modules automatically come with the mkII version unlocked? I think this would give a slight boost (effectively) to the champion level, and encourage experimentation/varied loadouts.

[KDR_11k]

Gah, the three way scenario as your first one is brutal. Your champion is so damn weak at that point that it has almost zero effect on the battle and no chance at assassinating any bases. Doesn't help that your champ is the slowest unit on the whole battlefield when it's supposed to be the one that runs around and does all the odd jobs.

[TechSY730]

Doesn't help that your champ is the slowest unit on the whole battlefield when it's supposed to be the one that runs around and does all the odd jobs.

This is actually a pretty good point. The champ does feel too slow in nebulas to really support its role. Usually it can overcome this limitation with crazy power, but for the first nebula, you rarely get that kind of power.

Any chance of champs only going 3/4 or 2/3 or something like that of their base speed in nebulas, and let everything else get the normal 1/2 speed?

[Toranth]

Doesn't help that your champ is the slowest unit on the whole battlefield when it's supposed to be the one that runs around and does all the odd jobs.

This is actually a pretty good point. The champ does feel too slow in nebulas to really support its role. Usually it can overcome this limitation with crazy power, but for the first nebula, you rarely get that kind of power.

Any chance of champs only going 3/4 or 2/3 or something like that of their base speed in nebulas, and let everything else get the normal 1/2 speed?

I think the idea is to prevent the Champion from being able to kite the enemy starships.

Though, I'm not sure that's a concern anymore, what with the scenarios XP rewards being time based, and the ships now more likely to attack starbases than ships.