So, MkII transports

[keith.lamothe]

They did pretty well over here.  We've buffed them in the past, but I do see the concern over costing 4000K.  Anyway, to my knowledge the base transport unit is in a good place, so here I'm only addressing "why on earth would I spend that much knowledge for the mkII upgrade?"

Currently their difference from normal transports is:
- Can go 1 extra hop out from supply before dying (they lose 26% health per hop-outside supply instead of 35%)
- Can unload 20 ships per second instead of 10
- 2x health
- cost 2x the m+c, and take 2x as long to build
- cost 5x the energy

We could just reduce the K cost and make them more durable or something like that, but I think something more interesting could be done, along the "Assault Transport" lines someone mentioned recently (I forget who, a reminder would be appreciated) :

1) Give it cloaking (yea, I know I do that a lot, but it's a very helpful way of making a utility unit more useful to human players)
2) Go from 2x mkI health to 8x mkI health
3) Capacity from 200 => 40
4) But can unload all 40 at once
5) Make cost the same energy as a mkI
6) K cost from 4000 => 3000.

Thoughts?

[Faulty Logic]

1) Give it cloaking (yea, I know I do that a lot, but it's a very helpful way of making a utility unit more useful to human players)
2) Go from 2x mkI health to 8x mkI health
3) Capacity from 200 => 40
4) But can unload all 40 at once
5) Make cost the same energy as a mkI
6) K cost from 4000 => 3000.

Thoughts?

Cloaking would actually decrease their utility. I am a big fan of sending transports to soak enemy alpha strikes.

They can already unload 40 ships in 2 seconds, so the capacity decrease would be a nerf.

Energy and health changes are good.

K shouldn't be any more than a mkII fleetship.

So my suggestion:

k to 2500 or 2000.
Health to x8.
Energy to 2,000.
Unload rate kept at 20, but with the need-to-reload-upon-exit thing waived.

[keith.lamothe]

Cloaking would actually decrease their utility. I am a big fan of sending transports to soak enemy alpha strikes.

But you'd still have the mkI transports to do that with.  Cloaking on these would give you other tactics that normally require a combination of cloaker starships and transports

They can already unload 40 ships in 2 seconds, so the capacity decrease would be a nerf.

Ok, how about 60, 80, or 100?  All with unload-all-at-once.

K shouldn't be any more than a mkII fleetship.

I'd rather make it worth 3000 than reduce it to 2500.  Is there anything that would make it worth that to you?

Unload rate kept at 20, but with the need-to-reload-upon-exit thing waived.

Sorry, the reload-upon-exit thing is needed to avoid some really stinky cheese we've run into in the past.  Though perhaps it could only cause 1/2 the reload time (rounded down, in seconds), if that would help?

[Faulty Logic]

I'd rather make it worth 3000 than reduce it to 2500.  Is there anything that would make it worth that to you?

Give it, instead of 8x normal transport health, absolutely ridiculous health (with cloaking, so hard to absorb alphas). So it's basically guaranteed to reach its destination.

Then take its unload-at once capacity to at least 80.

And then

Though perhaps it could only cause 1/2 the reload time (rounded down, in seconds), if that would help?

because that would help.

[TechSY730]

Good night people!

If you want something that strong compared to the Mk. I transport, shouldn't that be a Mk. III transport instead?
Then have the Mk. II be the "middle of the line" in terms of stats and perks it gets?

Knowledge costs would have to be adjusted of course (and Mk. II transport would be near to "candy tech" levels, so like 250 or 500, but only somewhat better than the Mk. I with only some special stuff, sort of like how it is now. Mk. III would pick up the "remaining" knowledge costs)

[chemical_art]

make the mk ii go 6 jumps  and give it 8x the health at 2x the resource cost, and i would have it great for 3k. no need for cloaking with that much health.

-it can get those engineers/fragiles deep into enemy territory if needed
-it can tank absolute amounts of damage for a modest cost

[contingencyplan]

Would giving it Carrier-style firepower based on the ships it contains be too OP?

[chemical_art]

Would giving it Carrier-style firepower based on the ships it contains be too OP?

...that...

would certainly be worth 4k on its own.

[Vyndicu]

Would giving it Carrier-style firepower based on the ships it contains be too OP?

You do realize that transport can ferry a full 5 city hub fallen spire fleet inside right, especially considering they don't have transport immune? 48 million per shot  from a transport + LOT of firepower. Heck I might as well call it John-Conner-mobile! 

[Faulty Logic]

good night people!

If you want something that strong compared to the Mk. I transport, shouldn't that be a Mk. III transport instead?

Transport IIs need to be pretty awesome in some way for me to unlock, because transport Is almost always have my transport needs covered.

[keith.lamothe]

Would giving it Carrier-style firepower based on the ships it contains be too OP?

You do realize that transport can ferry a full 5 city hub fallen spire fleet inside right, especially considering they don't have transport immune? 48 million per shot  from a transport + LOT of firepower. Heck I might as well call it John-Conner-mobile! 

Yea, I did think of doing something carrier-like in that regard but I don't think it would be a good idea for a few reasons.  I could consider it as a mkIII version but even then...

And if the firepower really were based on what's inside (instead of the super-rough approximation the carriers get) then if you stuck a full FS fleet inside it could only fire by blowing itself around like a balloon with a hole poked in it

[Marmu23]

 I would largely prefer if they could be changed to cost 2k or even 1k. Presently base transports do such a fine job I don't think you can buff mk2 enough to convince me to use them at 4k or even 3k since that knowledge allows me to unlock fun stuff. I would never pay 3k for a transport mk2 that would travel 4 systems while cloaked with 100M hp.

 So whatever minor buff like creating transport mk2 for 1k that goes 1 system farther with 1.5times the hp, and also a mk3 that also goes another system farther with 2times the hp for 1k. Maybe even an mk4 that goes another system farther with 2.5times the hp for another 1k!

 If you want to keep it at just a transport mk2 for 3k they need to go like 6 systems out.

edit: a though happened! for 3k, stay the same as now and also get 1 fast healing beam! I might maybe perhaps sometimes use that instead of mobile repairs. Possibly!

[Winge]

*snipped*

60 - 80 capacity with quick unload seems quite...strong.  With 20 Transports, that's 1,200 - 1,600 ships dropping of at once (right now, Mk I's can unload up to 200 at once, and Mk IIs can unload 400 at once).  Then again, that could bump them up to "worth 3000-4000 K."  Half-reload sounds good as well.  Cloaking would work for me--as you said, Mk I transports can still damage soak for me (on the other side of the system, of course  >D).  Radar Dampening would be the other possibility in my eyes.

Would giving it Carrier-style firepower based on the ships it contains be too OP?

How about by quantity of combat ships within (to prevent the Ultra Spire Dreadnaught of Doom Transport when playing FS).  All of a sudden, people will want swarmer ships!

[chemical_art]

Since whenever I need to use transports that deploy in enemy territory it is always for ultra deep strikes, and since on destruction transports instantly deploy their contents, I don't worry about deployment speeds very much.

[LaughingThesaurus]

Aren't the spire ships also really massive? Fallen Spire ships probably shouldn't even fit inside of transports in the first place.