Spirecraft Attritioner usefulness-increase possibilities

[Nice Save]

Proposal

When leaving a wormhole (i.e. similar to an EMP guardian), the attritioner damages all engines on the planet by a set percentage based on mark.

[zoutzakje]

Proposal

When leaving a wormhole (i.e. similar to an EMP guardian), the attritioner damages all engines on the planet by a set percentage based on mark.

this would only work if the attritioner would be paralyzed for a while after entering a hostile wormhole, otherwise it could just pop in and out all the time to completely destroy engines. a bit overpowered.

[Kittens]

I would honestly just leave it as it is. I wager they are an effective support unit, especially in multiples, if there are sufficient enemy ships present. Aside from that, they are obviously good at pulling aggro, and sometimes you want that. The unit is boring because the attrition mechanic is boring. I don't think you can make it exciting or fun to use without making it horrendously overpowered.

I like the idea of an on-death effect though, since everything wants to attack it anyway. Explode with damage and range proportional to the total amount of attrition dealt? Might coax me into using it, at least. Though this might just turn them into Martyrs if you're not careful. Grav effect that Keith suggested might also work.

In any case, don't put engine damage on it. I'm not exactly looking forward to waiting for repairs on every single ship in my fleet to get their speed back.

[bongotron2000]

PROPOSAL

Attrition pulses are trigger only when an enemy mobile unit dies, and deal x% of dying unit's health (with x being something like 1-5% for Attritioner Marks I-V).  Death caused by an attrition pulse does not trigger an additional pulse.

NOTES

This favors focusing down larger targets first to trigger attrition pulses to heavily damage weaker targets.

This still allows system aggro, but you need to kill something first to get the ball rolling.

Seconded. Though the percentages may need to be reduced, maybe 0.25%, 0.5%, 1%, 2%, 4% or even less; just worried that targeting a reasonably small number of high-health fleet units could wipe out entire planets/waves worth of ships too easily. Maybe attritioners should be made uncloakable so they can always get targeted and not sit safely in a distant corner with a cloaker starship.

Of course, we're only really going to see how any of these turn out with some serious testing.

[zebramatt]

Grav effect that Keith suggested might also work.

I'll third that.

[Huaojozu]

Grav effect that Keith suggested might also work.

I'll third that.

I also support this idea.

[superking]

Suggestion: speed up their attrition rate a bunch, and make them self damage equal to the damage they are dealing

[TechSY730]

Suggestion: speed up their attrition rate a bunch, and make them self damage equal to the damage they are dealing

That would make them really stupidly not useful on Spirecraft medium, where none of the spirecraft are repairable.

In fact, I think Spirecraft medium needs to be rethought.

[snelg]

I kind of like them the way they are. As something to stick under shields to do a little extra damage to attacking enemies. Though I haven't really checked how much of a difference they actually do. But if they need a boost, I'd rather see them improved in that area than another suicide unit that you spend precious asteroids on. 

Proposal:
Perhaps giving them a small percentage (of entering units health) attrition damage to units entering their system could work. It would have an effect on both player and ai planets. They still wouldn't survive on their own. But really, If they did you wouldn't really need a fleet.


And another proposal:
Having them dish out normal damage, armor damage, engine damage and stun (and reclamation?) more or less at random might be interesting.

[zoutzakje]

Suggestion: speed up their attrition rate a bunch, and make them self damage equal to the damage they are dealing

That would make them really stupidly not useful on Spirecraft medium, where none of the spirecraft are repairable.

In fact, I think Spirecraft medium needs to be rethought.

I agree, I actually really like the AIP progress of the golems medium... I'd like to see the same for spirecraft medium, just a lot less AIP cost.

[Cyborg]

I agree, I actually really like the AIP progress of the golems medium... I'd like to see the same for spirecraft medium, just a lot less AIP cost.

No.

[Kittens]

Also no. AIP for spirecraft has never been a thing and there's no reason for it to be a thing.

So far I only like grav effect and on-death stuff.

[zebramatt]

Suggestion: speed up their attrition rate a bunch, and make them self damage equal to the damage they are dealing

I actually second that, also. Maybe crank their health up a bit too?

That would make them really stupidly not useful on Spirecraft medium, where none of the spirecraft are repairable.

In fact, I think Spirecraft medium needs to be rethought.

I mostly play with medium and I'm in favour of the above.

I actually quite like the idea of an overpowered unit whose balance is derived from its short-lived nature.

Indeed, I think the real problem with the suggestion above is not that they might be useless on Spirecraft medium, but that they might be overpowered on easy and hard - since you'd be able to repair them after each round of attritioning.

[superking]

Yeah, when I suggested that I had a HP buff and non-repairable on any difficulty in mind

[chemical_art]

I use attritioners in their current form because I can use them for dozens of hours at a time with very little micro. So although the damage they deal is low it is not difficult to make whole caps of tech I and tech II and by that point the damage starts to add up.

By not allowing them to repaired I think you defeat a large part of their appeal: They can dish damage while not dying in return. That makes them appealing compared to siege towers.