Spirecraft Attritioner usefulness-increase possibilities

[KDR_11k]

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.

Add reinforced or otherwise spawned enemies to the list and I think that'd be good. Stack a bunch of attritioners and all arriving enemies will be severely damaged, giving you a major advantage.

I also like armor damage.

[KDR_11k]

Proposal: Flaying attritioner

Instead of dealing attrition damage to all enemies it deals all of the attrition it would do to a random single target (i.e. the damage scales with the number of enemies in the system), most likely killing fleet ships instantly. This way attrition would result in an instant decrease in the enemy's numbers without making it too good against small numbers. No idea how freeing should be handled with that though.

[KDR_11k]

Proposal: Pain broadcaster

Instead of regular attrition damage it attritions enemies according to the damage the rest of your fleet has dealt in this interval. All damage you deal is summed up and then dealt again distributed over all enemies (i.e. the damage to each enemy is divided by the total number of enemies). This would be a very useful assistance for fleet battles.

[TechSY730]

Well, there have been several new ideas proposed. Maybe its time to create a new spirecraft, which implements the most popular "new mechanic\re-imagined" spirecraft proposed here, and the old attritioner could be rebalanced (and maybe an simple extra mechanic or damage type tacked on), but remain an attritioner.

Like for instance, the AOE spircraft mirror type thing described in several posts seems to be gathering some popularity. Say that is the most popular "reimagining" idea (I have not tracked the thread thoroughly enough to say it is, someone will have to find the idea that is gathering the most support). This could be moved to a new spirecraft.

This is probably the best of both worlds for players. But of course, it is the worst of both worlds for the devs, as now they have two things to balance, a new thing to make graphics for, a new thing to write a description for, etc.

[keith.lamothe]

Ok, it's been enough days for suggestions now, I think.  Would have done this earlier, actually, but AVWW work is pretty intense right now

So the ones I'm seeing as having multi-person support:



1) Make attrition pulse total damage equal to a percentage of the health of all the enemy units that have died on the planet since the last pulse.  Percentage goes up by mark level.  Death by attrition doesn't add to the next pulse.

@Hearteater: adjusted that one to be something that fits easier into the way things are processed, but I think it's essentially the same as what you suggested.



2) Add normal guns and an aoe on-death effect that varies by mark level.  Specifically mkI: tachyon burst, mkII: armor damage, mkIII: engine damage, mkIV: paralysis damage, mkV: (if balanceable) reclamation damage.

@Cyborg: No one seconded this, so I did   At least I think that's what you meant by the on-death effects.  Changed the modular guns to normal guns because modular stuff isn't really on the table for the spirecraft implementation right now.  I'd like it, and maybe later if it does get guns, but not for now.



3) No Change.

Several people suggesting that one.



4) Majorly buff attrition damage, make it self-damage too, majorly buff hp, make non-repairable on all spirecraft-minor-faction variants.

@superking: I think that's what you were suggesting.



5) Make attrition pulse only affect units that just came to the planet (by wormhole or newly spawning), but do a percentage of target health in damage (percentage increasing with mark level).

@snelg: I think that's what you were suggesting.


Anyway, I'll post the poll tomorrow, 5 seems like a decent number of options.  If I've overly mangled a suggestion please let me know so I can correct it.


Thanks

[keith.lamothe]

Oh, forgot one that some people brought back up:

6) Add Grav-turret-like-effect with a moderate range and mild (severe for high mark level attritioners) speed cap.

[TechSY730]

What about the no change in mechanics, but increase the attrition rate?

[keith.lamothe]

What about the no change in mechanics, but increase the attrition rate?

I don't see at the moment that people were suggesting that in the latter part of the thread, but sure, it's a reasonable vanilla option:

7) Buff the damage, nothing else.

[TechSY730]

For all those who haven't noticed, a poll for all these ideas has been created.

http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,9116.0.html