Viral shredders number limiting mechanic broke?

[Mayjori]

I had 178 in a system when i started taking them over, after a couple of waves and then a half ass strike on a bordering plant (in which 258 of them were sent and 400'ish came back), I have 1342, I'm not sure the mechanic to limit their number is working .

[keith.lamothe]

It's not a hard cap, it just takes more and more damage-done-by-shredder to replicate the more shredders are on that planet.

[BobTheJanitor]

The real cap on shredders is when you realize that you've build 6 reactors on each of your worlds to support them all, and you're still getting brownouts.

[keith.lamothe]

The real cap on shredders is when you realize that you've build 6 reactors on each of your worlds to support them all, and you're still getting brownouts.

Shredder still hungry!

Perhaps if hungry swarms had a chance to go hostile-minor-faction...

[chmjs]

I like that idea. It would have to be quite rare though.

[keith.lamothe]

I like that idea. It would have to be quite rare though.

That would just contribute to the feel that some players get of "The RNG has declared war on you!"

[Mayjori]

i knew there wasnt a hard cap for their spawning more, just seemed excessive, but hey, if you said its ok, I'm ok with it too, cause they are very handy , even if they seem a little op, lol.

[Ranakastrasz]

I personally think it should take into account Shreaders on all planets instead of just the one they are on, because If I manage to aquire any of them, I split groups to all of my planets, and let them thrive, fending off many types of waves on thier own, and sometimes having more ships afterwards than when they start. if it was global, this would probably be more balanced.

[BobTheJanitor]

Shredders, I've always felt, are a little overpowered. Even if they can't kill everything the simple fact that you can use them to beef up firepower ratings for a planet and scare off the AI from invading makes them an effective cheap deterrent and allows you to use the rest of your fleet more completely. One of these days I'm going to have to learn how to play without an army of shredders or botnet zombies to guard my worlds. I'm not sure how I would handle that.

[Nalgas]

Shredders, I've always felt, are a little overpowered. Even if they can't kill everything the simple fact that you can use them to beef up firepower ratings for a planet and scare off the AI from invading makes them an effective cheap deterrent and allows you to use the rest of your fleet more completely. One of these days I'm going to have to learn how to play without an army of shredders or botnet zombies to guard my worlds. I'm not sure how I would handle that.

Yeah, even with the energy cost to maintain them, they give you so much extra power on your side.  Just popping a Zenith Reserve and getting a dozen of them quickly turns into a thousand, which is a pretty formidable defense, while your fleet goes and does something useful instead.  They're not quite on the same level as a couple other things, but they're nearly universally useful in any game, far beyond what a single cap of a single mark of almost any other ship would be.

I think at the moment I'd have to vote for Martyrs as the most overpowered/hardest to live without once you've gotten used to having them around, though.  Those things are pretty much the "no wave/CPA/build up of threat/clump of ships of any kind will ever be a problem for any reason ever again" button.  Heh.

[keith.lamothe]

Ok, I can probably make the viral shredder "scaling cap" go by galaxy-wide numbers for that player, and perhaps have the scaling much harsher if the player doesn't actually have the bonus ship type for shredders (i.e. they got them from a reserve).  And probably have the scaling be harsher in the normal case too.

As for the martyrs, what can be done?  Increase the asteroid cost?  Lower the damage?  Lower the area of impact?  Make it some kind of not-infinite-number-of-targets aoe?

[Mayjori]

Ok, I can probably make the viral shredder "scaling cap" go by galaxy-wide numbers for that player, and perhaps have the scaling much harsher if the player doesn't actually have the bonus ship type for shredders (i.e. they got them from a reserve).  And probably have the scaling be harsher in the normal case too.

As for the martyrs, what can be done?  Increase the asteroid cost?  Lower the damage?  Lower the area of impact?  Make it some kind of not-infinite-number-of-targets aoe?

martyrs aren't an I win button, I still get some nasty waves, plus they help me keep performance from being an issues when a wave of 3-4k attacks a planet, it lags the CRAP out of my computer, which seems odd......

[Hearteater]

As for the martyrs, what can be done?  Increase the asteroid cost?  Lower the damage?  Lower the area of impact?  Make it some kind of not-infinite-number-of-targets aoe?

Every time the player uses a martyr, the AI gets two Matyrs.  With Stealth.  And Teleport.

[TechSY730]

In any case, the scaling of viral shredders is way too shallow right now. Even at 3x the ship cap, they still reproduce like mad.

BTW, I am fully in favor of making the scaling count all viral shredders of that mk. for that player, not just a planet by planet basis like now.

[Commiesalami]

As for the martyrs, what can be done?  Increase the asteroid cost?  Lower the damage?  Lower the area of impact?  Make it some kind of not-infinite-number-of-targets aoe?

Make them not two per asteroid would do a good amount.  Also make it so that ships immune to area damage are immune to the Martyr blast, it seems a little off that missile frigates can shove off lightning warheads but get wiped by martyrs.