45 replies to this topic

[flukehawkins]

Would there be any way to add a ramming ability/passive as a part of the pinpoint slipspace jump? The video of the Infinity exiting slipspace right into the face of an assault carrier is possibly one of the coolest things I've seen in the Halo universe.

[KhevaKins]

Would there be any way to add a ramming ability/passive as a part of the pinpoint slipspace jump? The video of the Infinity exiting slipspace right into the face of an assault carrier is possibly one of the coolest things I've seen in the Halo universe.

Nope. 'Ramming' can be achieved but it isn't technically 'ramming'. It is more like a ship flying kind of close to another ship then one of them explode. It wouldn't be anywhere near as cool as the video and for that reason won't be used.

[Unikraken]

Nope. 'Ramming' can be achieved but it isn't technically 'ramming'. It is more like a ship flying kind of close to another ship then one of them explode. It wouldn't be anywhere near as cool as the video and for that reason won't be used.

This. No ramming.

[Moustachio86]

On Kheva's advice, I'll re mention here about the Strident ability. The Rankulas battleship (new Vasari one from Rebellion) has a bunch of abilities all very similar to this idea that should probably be made use of. It also means you can avoid having to mess with the research tree (any further than you have to for the Infinity) as the ships can just be added in for just the cost of an ability, be it resources or antimatter. I'd prefer resources. Other advantages are that the ships don't take up fleet supply (maybe neutral rather than an advantage); they will spawn in next to the ship rather than jumping in from outside the gravity well and the ships can be given unique stats (including shields). It can also be given a longish cool down to simulate building new ships. I wouldn't say too long though, at the end of the day two frigates every, say, ten minutes isn't going to be a game-changer. With a bit of fiddling I can't really think why this ability doesn't fit the bill.

[Kevik70]

On Kheva's advice, I'll re mention here about the Strident ability. The Rankulas battleship (new Vasari one from Rebellion) has a bunch of abilities all very similar to this idea that should probably be made use of. It also means you can avoid having to mess with the research tree (any further than you have to for the Infinity) as the ships can just be added in for just the cost of an ability, be it resources or antimatter. I'd prefer resources. Other advantages are that the ships don't take up fleet supply (maybe neutral rather than an advantage); they will spawn in next to the ship rather than jumping in from outside the gravity well and the ships can be given unique stats (including shields). It can also be given a longish cool down to simulate building new ships. I wouldn't say too long though, at the end of the day two frigates every, say, ten minutes isn't going to be a game-changer. With a bit of fiddling I can't really think why this ability doesn't fit the bill.

^ This. And with each level the number of ships launched in increased. I also believe they should have shields and more powerful MACs compared to other frigates.

[m468]

The dev team has there own ideas for Infinity and no doubt they have taken these into consideration. The key issue is balance, as nice as it would be to have Infinity and her frigates be this locomotive of Covenant destruction, it has to be balanced. Right now the balance between the UNSC and Covenant is a delicate thing. The new ships and equipment that the UNSC gets in Halo 4 will no doubt add complexity to that balance. That being said there is a LOT of work to be done between now and when you will actually see the Infinity or any of the Stridents in an ingame screen shot. 

[Kevik70]

Ya, hopefully I/ the rest of the community that has posted here helps the mod team gets some pretty awesome abilities for Infinity. as for the balancing, that is decided on the stats of the abilities as well as the power of the covenant titan can do, whcih I have another tbhread on btw. hopefully with our help the mod team can move a little bit quicker though the ability selection process.

[Deathscythe1992]

i was still thinking on the frigate question.  I have no idea what adding random frigates into play from nowhere would do to balancing, but I would think that even 6 new frigates popping up would do very little in a full scale engagement, especially since by the time the Infinity is on the scene it is probably backed up by a massive fleet.  So would 2/6/10 be better?  10 is the maximum the Infinity could hold in canon anyways, and for such a relatively low-importance ability more would probably be better i would assume.  Unless these Stridents are going to be much more powerful than i envision anyways.  I am putting them on par with Thanatos Destroyers in my head at the moment, counting in Strident's Forerunner Shielding vs. Thanatos having 2 MACs.

[Kevik70]

i was still thinking on the frigate question.  I have no idea what adding random frigates into play from nowhere would do to balancing, but I would think that even 6 new frigates popping up would do very little in a full scale engagement, especially since by the time the Infinity is on the scene it is probably backed up by a massive fleet.  So would 2/6/10 be better?  10 is the maximum the Infinity could hold in canon anyways, and for such a relatively low-importance ability more would probably be better i would assume.  Unless these Stridents are going to be much more powerful than i envision anyways.  I am putting them on par with Thanatos Destroyers in my head at the moment, counting in Strident's Forerunner Shielding vs. Thanatos having 2 MACs.

Well I really think it depends if the mods are implementing a resource cost/ duration or not. (If of course this is even used as a skill for the Infinity) 

 

If the Stridents stay on the map until destroyed then 2-6 at the start won't effect the battle too much, but if they accumulate over time....... then you may have an unbalance issue.

 

However if they are on a cooldown then we can do 2-4-10 with out a problem I would think. 

[KhevaKins]

Well I really think it depends if the mods are implementing a resource cost/ duration or not. (If of course this is even used as a skill for the Infinity) 

 

If the Stridents stay on the map until destroyed then 2-6 at the start won't effect the battle too much, but if they accumulate over time....... then you may have an unbalance issue.

 

However if they are on a cooldown then we can do 2-4-10 with out a problem I would think. 

It would be silly to have a duration.

But why would it creat a balance issue? If they are culminated over time then the only difference between them and, say, building an equivalent number of destroyers is how you got the ships. This ability would only be overpowered during  battle if the ships are overpowered and could be the only time this ability could be considered unfair.

[Kevik70]

It would be silly to have a duration.

But why would it creat a balance issue? If they are culminated over time then the only difference between them and, say, building an equivalent number of destroyers is how you got the ships. This ability would only be overpowered during  battle if the ships are overpowered and could be the only time this ability could be considered unfair.

True enough, I think someone before siad they shouldn't have a fleet supply but that would be kinda unbalanced then

 

However if they got a supply then I could see the balance easy.

[Deathscythe1992]

It would be silly to have a duration.

But why would it creat a balance issue? If they are culminated over time then the only difference between them and, say, building an equivalent number of destroyers is how you got the ships. This ability would only be overpowered during  battle if the ships are overpowered and could be the only time this ability could be considered unfair.

This is pretty much my thoughts.  I also wouldnt like the idea of a duration.  Maybe a fairly long cooldown on the ability though.  I still don't think 10 Stridents every 4-5 minutes would be all that broken, especially since fully upgraded shipyards can pump out that many Thanatos in 1/4th of that time.

[KhevaKins]

This is pretty much my thoughts.  I also wouldnt like the idea of a duration.  Maybe a fairly long cooldown on the ability though.  I still don't think 10 Stridents every 4-5 minutes would be all that broken, especially since fully upgraded shipyards can pump out that many Thanatos in 1/4th of that time.

That is pretty much my reasoning. If the ships are costing resources (about 2 to 3 times more then a Paris per ship) then it wouldn't be creating a unbalance resource wise. If they don't add to the supply count it also wouldn't be that big of a difference if the cool down is something like 5 minutes, in that time the entire battlefield of a SotP can change. If a player sits back trying to use the Infinity to get extra ships then they are probably going to get attacked and defeated before it can make a significant difference anyway.

However it is implemented you can be sure this will be implemented in someway. My suggestion is 2 to 3 times the credit cost of a Paris, long cooldown (3 - 5 minutes), and doesn't add to fleet supply.

 

Also have it start with 2 - 4 ships , then level 2 is 5-8, then level 3 is the maximum 10 ships.

[Moustachio86]

Kheva is right, just treat the infinity as a mobile ship yard. The Stridents would be more expensive and probably take longer to field than a Paris to compensate for the fact you get so many at a time, and whenever you want. Fielding 10 a time is nice but that's getting very very expensive in terms of resources; 10 Charon's costs over 3000 credits, imagine what 10 Stridents, all costed proportionally is going to do. Though, admittedly it would be at a time when economy was of less importance.

I think we all have to accept the Infinity is a little way off so while it's nice to compile ideas, don't expect any practical results for quite some time. Small steps, guys.

[Kevik70]

Kheva is right, just treat the infinity as a mobile ship yard. The Stridents would be more expensive and probably take longer to field than a Paris to compensate for the fact you get so many at a time, and whenever you want. Fielding 10 a time is nice but that's getting very very expensive in terms of resources; 10 Charon's costs over 3000 credits, imagine what 10 Stridents, all costed proportionally is going to do. Though, admittedly it would be at a time when economy was of less importance.

I think we all have to accept the Infinity is a little way off so while it's nice to compile ideas, don't expect any practical results for quite some time. Small steps, guys.

True true, but hey the addition of 10 ships in the mist of a battle may very well change its course.

 

Either way I hope the thought and idea we create here help the mods get through the ability selection process just a little bit quicker, and in turn get the mod out publicly just a little bit quicker. Of course we also may come up with more ideas and cause them to spend longer deciding but hey, lol 

[KhevaKins]

True true, but hey the addition of 10 ships in the mist of a battle may very well change its course.

 

Either way I hope the thought and idea we create here help the mods get through the ability selection process just a little bit quicker, and in turn get the mod out publicly just a little bit quicker. Of course we also may come up with more ideas and cause them to spend longer deciding but hey, lol 

At the end it would make a difference but in the initial volley it wouldn't change much. But historically that is what the underslung ships are for, mopping up after the initial volley.

[Kevik70]

At the end it would make a difference but in the initial volley it wouldn't change much. But historically that is what the underslung ships are for, mopping up after the initial volley.

True, but this is not historical combat, MAC cannons have similar ranges if I am not mistaken, on a destroyer or on a cruiser. They are not the battleships and destroyers of the past where the big guns could hit at much larger distances than smaller ships. It is in a way like modern day, yes a cruiser has more missiles than a destroyer but the destroyer still has the same missiles.

 

In Sins the more guns you can bring in the start of the fight the better, especially since frigates are almost always targeted first . In halo the initial volley meant everything, one missed shot meant the UNSC took an unnecessary loss, and add them up you may have lost that battle because you didn't have those extra strident class frigates at the start.

 

10 stridents at the start means 2-4 more dead covie ships in the first volley alone, which in turn saves 2-4 more UNSC ships. Next volly you now have 12-14 ships you wouldn't have had before killing 3-6 more covie ships than before saving an additional 3-6 UNSC ships, and it continues. That's the difference this ability could make to the battle. 

[KhevaKins]

I was just going by the Halo 4 visual guide.
"After an initial assault they are deployed en masse to mop up."
I was thinking they'd be useful at the end, when all the ships are waiting for their second or third volley and are pretty heavily damaged. Having fresh ships instantly come in and help would be more useful. Plus with the targeting problems of SotP (most ships will target one ship,unleashing more firepower then is needed) their shots would probably be wasted in the initial volley anyway.

[spartan-G257]

depends on your particular tactics. one thing to go for is to shoot for the Infinity and start with the Stridents while still shooting out Charons. (and maybe a few other things)

 

(also needs at least two planets which means that you do need a few ships to get your first non-homeworld planet)

[m468]

Kheva think the first scene of spartan ops. It's kind of up to Lasky when to use them in canon.