Combat Special Ability Use

[ptarth]

Currently, special abilities have a number of charges. You can use them every turn, until they run out, and then they are replaced from your stock with new abilities after some number of turns.

Should this system be replaced with one where, instead of having charges, they have a recharge rate? For example, Gigacannon might have a recharge rate of 10. After firing, you have to wait 10 turns to fire it again. This would allow you to always have the ability to continue using special abilities, it just would take time for them to come online. You would also be less likely to fire off multiple special abilities in sequence, although you would still be able to, just not able to sustain it for very long.

Other thoughts?

[x4000]

Generally speaking, things where players can trade realtime (which is what you're proposing works out to in effect) in exchange for a tactical advantage is something that will lead players to doing that and then complaining about it.

[PokerChen]

 The gigacannon is not powerful enough to warrant that kind of cool-down, but it is an option.   In particular intensive play, I think players would want to have a stock of 5 bursts to provide immediate immunity. Recharge is an option, although I'm not particularly for it. Cloak, for example has a 30 second cooldown which translates to about 12 turns or so. This number is a little bit larger than I would prefer, and I'll never finish the whole stack in a battle.

 However, sometimes I would actually like the ability to cycle in a new skill that I would typically only use halfway through a big battle. Signal jamming, for example. I don't really need things like gravity jamming in the current state of balance. The operations don't seem to refresh (which is a good thing since it's the main deal with piloting Skylaxian Battle Carriers). On that note, constant recharge skills make ships like these slightly less viable since you lose out on sustain. On the opposite end, it might make a 4-offense ships practically invulnerable if you stock 4 6-turn cooldown weapons and a short recharge skill.

 Many battles won't last more than 15~20 turns, so I'm not certain as to the impact of cool-down numbers above 10 turns. Granted, the current reinforcement model in fleet combat means you might never need them anyway, but still.

[Misery]

The gigacannon is not powerful enough to warrant that kind of cool-down, but it is an option.   In particular intensive play, I think players would want to have a stock of 5 bursts to provide immediate immunity. Recharge is an option, although I'm not particularly for it. Cloak, for example has a 30 second cooldown which translates to about 12 turns or so. This number is a little bit larger than I would prefer, and I'll never finish the whole stack in a battle.

 However, sometimes I would actually like the ability to cycle in a new skill that I would typically only use halfway through a big battle. Signal jamming, for example. I don't really need things like gravity jamming in the current state of balance. The operations don't seem to refresh (which is a good thing since it's the main deal with piloting Skylaxian Battle Carriers). On that note, constant recharge skills make ships like these slightly less viable since you lose out on sustain. On the opposite end, it might make a 4-offense ships practically invulnerable if you stock 4 6-turn cooldown weapons and a short recharge skill.

 Many battles won't last more than 15~20 turns, so I'm not certain as to the impact of cool-down numbers above 10 turns. Granted, the current reinforcement model in fleet combat means you might never need them anyway, but still.

That number of turns for cooldown would at least have an effect on higher difficulties though.  70-turn fights are pretty common.  Sometimes much higher.

[ptarth]

There is a huge discrepancy in turn length between normal and the harder levels. The recharge system would benefit the harder difficulties, because then you have options. Harder combat difficulty in general needs to be looked at, as Misery is fond of reminding us. As to x4000's comment on player's disliking systems, I'm of mixed thoughts. Sure, players like to do everything as many times as they want, but they also respect costs to a certain extent. Having an ability be able to "store" X charges and recharge every Y  turns seems like an intuitive system. It's the same as weapons have a reloading speed instead of continuous stream fire. Or any game that has a mana system for skills, abilities or spells. Certainly it would be "nice" to infinitely spam, but it is understandable if you can't.

As for particular abilities. I think there is a lot of rebalancing to be done, but only after the events are proceeding. The cloaking and healing abilities are near useless, except for rare missions. The gigacannon is severely underpowered. Etc. I also would like the ability to produce more squadrons (~50 turns to recharge doesn't seem unreasonable). I'd imagine Misery has a lot more to say about it.

[Misery]

My stance on the abilities as they are now is that they dont actually need too much changing.... at least in terms of charge count and such.  The idea of spamming them, since they have no recharge time, is generally not a good idea on higher difficulties.  It'll just increase your chances of being space garbage.  Some abilities do need changing just so that they're more useful, but that's a whole other topic.  Some are more subjective than anything else.  Gigacannon for instance I use frequently, but I've heard that some really dont like it much.

As for squadrons, ehhh... I personally think they're fine.  It's often mostly a matter of knowing when and where they can make a difference.   Interceptors are best thrown out immediately, to cause chaos and get many enemies firing at them instead of at you.  Lancers are good for dropping near major targets that you need taken out, as their constant pummeling wears ships down quickly.   Stuff like that.  If used right they can provide a very long-term benefit.  If used wrong they'll just go boom really fast.  Currently, I dont think they need a change.

Healing abilities and cloaking though.... maybe that one's due to player style?  You say they're useless, but I consider the cloak to be the strongest thing in the game.  And shield-recharge abilities are life-savers, often being the difference between victory and defeat.  Particularly for the cloak though it's dependant on your playstyle and just how you use it.  It suits my extreme aggression quite well. 

[Drak]

Generally speaking, things where players can trade realtime (which is what you're proposing works out to in effect) in exchange for a tactical advantage is something that will lead players to doing that and then complaining about it.

Wow, that's uncanny, it's like you've done this rodeo a time or two before...

[contingencyplan]

I can see the posts now about the time spent refleeting Wolves and
Interceptors... Ah, good times.

In seriousness, though, I think TLF has a benefit over AIW in that time is a
bit more of a forefront primary resource (albeit it more at the strategic
view-level), because you explicitly choose how much time you spend and where.
In the tactical view, you generally aren't having to wait on things to
replenish before you can continue towards your objective (vs. waiting for a
refleet in AIW) --- you can always be taking action towards your objective. So
I can understand wanting to keep it this way.

However, I think you already have the tool to satisfy both "recharging
ammo" and "OMG REFLEET TIEMZ TO LONGS" --- the power distro bar:
 *  Keep the current "reload" timer (and ammo) for the current ammo store to
    curtail ability spamming.

 *  On a per-ability basis, have a secondary "recharge" timer that is some
    multiplier (e.g., 5x - 10x) of the reload timer. As long as
    `current_ammo < max_ammo`, this timer ticks down till another "round" is
    added to the ability.

 *  Here's where the power distro comes into play: add a new column for
    "ability recharger." Putting power to this system lets your abilities
    recharge faster (e.g., by increasing how quickly it ticks down). This
    should generally avoid the "OMG TO LONGS"s by putting that choice in the
    player's hands.
     *  To avoid throwing off the balance, maybe only add one or two power
        bars to what the player can assign.

 *  Because abilities no longer run out, either leave them as "all you have is
    what you take with you" (like weapons), or permit switching out abilities;
    the switched-in ability must cycle through a reload (not recharge) timer
    before it can be used.
     *  I'm of both minds on whether abilities recharge while unequipped, but
        I think letting them recharge is probably better to minimize the
        "maximizing results" tedium, and it shouldn't break balance too badly.

I think this will help make the one-shot items (especially the little ships)
much cooler, because there's less of a "do I use it now or later...
geez I only get one, so I'd better make it REALLY count" decision to make
without turning it into a "SPAM SPAM SPAM"-fest.

Thoughts?