@chemical_art: Good point on the list.
For light hardpoints:
Needler
Laser
MLRS
Flak
Acid
Impulse Reaction
Polarizer
Paralyzer
Nanosubverter (reclamation
Insanity Inducer (zombie reclamation)
Doom Accelerator (youngling vulture ability)
Translocator
Rail Cannon
For heavy hardpoints:
Shield
Missile
Heavy Beam (HBC Turret weapon)
Bomber Bay
Slicer Bay
Interceptor Bay
Heat Beam (zenith beam frigate weapon)
Photon Lance (spire beam weapon)
Rail Cluster
Plasma Siege Cannon
I think Daizo said it best. This unit needs to be worth the 20%+ difficulty increase it causes.
It may be there.
It may be, or beyond, as I have gotten some feedback that the larger hulls are simply OP outside the nebulas (and the BB even inside).
If it is not, "difficult" play will necessarily involve eliminating the champion unit as the return is not enough to justify the cost.
Not really; people play Golems - Hard instead of Golems - Easy, or turn on hybrids, or whatever even on 10/10 games. Not that they necessarily win. Those options make the game harder, but they also make it different in an interesting way. I imagine many players would sometimes use champions just for that reason.
That said, yes, it's supposed to be balanced such that what you get is not way more or less powerful than what the AI gets in return.
This is a VERY fine knife edge to balance on, but in my mind, the entire value of the expansion rests on this unit and the nebulas it enables.
I think 9 bonus unit types (which are actually more "new ground" than I thought they would be, and some of which are pretty hilarious like the tackle drone launcher), the modular fortress, 2 AI types, 2 map types, 3 new core guard posts, the dark spire minor faction, and the new music is well worth $5
I'd say that's worth $10, even without the champion stuff. But historical data from us and other sources indicates we'll make more money at the $5 unit price, and it does help make it really unlikely that anyone will feel they didn't get their money's worth
Some modules, doom i think? Don't translate well.
I've heard from some players getting really good mileage (no pun intended) out of the doom accelerator, actually.
Parasites really don't translate well.
They're balanced against the parasite fleet ship (but with a cap of 18 instead of 46 or whatever it is) instead of the leech starship, and the leech starship was way higher but was brought back down to a reasonable level in 5.074.
Anyway, I've heard good things about the Insanity Inducer, but it may be that the normal parasite one needs a buff.
I think the largest "big picture" problem for modules is that some are lack luster in fleet combat but devastating in nebulas, and vice versa. You HAVE to be good at nebulas, so the first test every module goes through must pass that test, which is why parasites are a non starter.
I totally disagree that every module has to be useful in a nebula, the two roles are separate and you get enough unlock points over time (from the feedback I've seen, since unlock costs were made more generous) to put into both. Some modules are good at both, and I think all of them are at least decent outside nebulas, but for them all to be good in nebulas would exclude any mechanic that isn't allowable against large ships.
Though the no-transport nerf takes away a lot of its use. Is it possible to have them work with normal transports but not jumpships?
It would be a major pain in the code to differentiate the two. And how much slower is the champion than the transport, actually?
I find myself unlocking the basic four modules (priority: shield, mlrs, laser, needler) and the plasma siege if available. The others just don't seem to add to the enemy ship/starbase death rate.
You might find the polarizer/IRE useful as a light-module augment to starbase destruction. Other than that, yea, it's a matter of what mechanics you want to bolt onto the thing. If all you care about is dps, the original set (+missiles) will certainly do ok.
I also think that the zenith champion needs something to set it apart: I use human for killing fleets, spire for killing structures, and neinzul for odd jobs, but the zenith just does not have an apparent use to me.
Their main gun is pretty different and they get more heavy hardpoints than a human; less than a spire, but they can use drone bays where the spire cannot. The zenith and human also get different modules; the heat beam and the heavy beam are rather different, etc.
Drone bays: all of them seem inconsequential compared to the firepower or durability of the other heavy modules.
You might be surprised what a bunch of bomber bays can generate if you keep the drones protected (or they otherwise aren't dying early). I've seen a significant amount of feedback indicating that bomber and/or slicer bays could actually be OP. Providing extra targets is also important in some cases.
Paralyzers: don't work in nebulae, ships paralyzed would be dead had you used a different module; more shots, less damage, and consistent spread logic.
I had heard they weren't spreading out the shots properly, which seems odd. I think if they do they'll be pretty effective. But yea, maybe more shots to compensate for the fact that the champion could just be killing the things instead, most of the time.
Nano-subverters: again, other light modules are far more effective; perhaps make these like 4.0 leeches.
It depends on whether you want to reclaim or not, but yea, possibly needs a buff.
Doom accelerators: yet again, by the time their effect is noticeable, they would be dead from basic light modules; simple damage buff, or a more pronounced bonus at lower target health.
These are mainly for the really high-hp stuff, where they outstrip basically everything else on the latter phase. But I could look at the math again.
Could the new modules come unlocked at mkII? I think that would improve the champion experience system, for the same reason ARSs give mks I and II: to let you try it out without investing.
I'm not sure that would be good in that it would make players reach the point earlier that they don't have anything they really want to spend the points on, but I'll think about it.
Most of the normal modules I have a bit different problem with. They come with many shots which leads to very spread out damage. And they don't seem to respect focus fire in any way so you end up with them scratching paint and main gun actually killing things. At least until you have really many of them.
When I right click a target, all modules (in range) fire on it. If you have a save where they're not doing that please send it my way.
Anyway, thanks all for the feedback
