Subset Games Forum

Hey all.

So I've been working on a boarding ship (because everyone makes a boarding ship eventually). I've got a spiffy hull image for it, but recently I've been feeling very burnt out on it. I don't know why; I guess I just don't really want to work on it...like I just don't feel the drive or passion to see the idea through.


The hull image

In this case, there's actually several ideas at work on this ship.

The first is "flying blind", in a sense. Boarding operations are greatly helped by sensors, which most of the boarding ships start without. I wanted to do a variation on this, where sensors are unpurchaseable, and you're stuck with 'faulty sensors' instead--an artillery system that fires 3 0-damage bombs with long fuse times, giving vision of the enemy ship (but nothing else). But I'm not sure having faulty sensors is a setback at all. Maybe the useless system is a hindrance, but I'm not sure how much of a hindrance it could be.

(I'm choosing to disregard slugs in this equation, and attaching a small note to immediately dismiss any slugs, since that would break the point of the flying-blind challenge.)

The second is having a level four teleporter. I've always liked the level 4 teleporter in CE Infinite and its 0-second cooldown for teleportation. This, obviously, is a very strong upgrade, but I'm not sure how to nerf the ship accordingly to balance this upgrade out.

The third is a lightning gun of sorts. To be specific, a focus beam with 5 shield pierce that only stuns crew. Again, it would be a great compliment to boarding strategies. But I'm not really sure whether to even include it on this ship or not...it kind of imbalances an already very tricky balance, and I'm not sure if it fits the theme, either.

Really, I'm just not really sure how to make a boarding ship interesting. I've got too many ideas for this thing and they're not really getting along with each other, but none of them are really good enough to build an entire separate ship around.

I think having it start with no sensors and a mind control can work.

MC can't work on an enemy ship unless you got visuals... meeeeaaaning to MC an enemy you need to board it and see them in that room.

R4V3-0N wrote:I think having it start with no sensors and a mind control can work.

MC can't work on an enemy ship unless you got visuals... meeeeaaaning to MC an enemy you need to board it and see them in that room.

Ah, kind of like the Lanius B.

I think it could work too, but I'm not quite sure, for two reasons:

1) Lanius B is regarded as one of the best ships in the game. It has decently strong starting systems, but it also has the insanely strong Advanced Flak--so I'm not sure if its strength comes from its systems or its great weapon.

2) With level four teleporter and a four-man teleporter, people can be tele'd in and out at will, effectively granting vision of the entire ship by teleporting in people for split seconds before teleporting them back out.

Again, I'm not sure if the "permanent blindness" is enough to balance out the insane strength of the rest of the ship.

NarnKar wrote:

R4V3-0N wrote:I think having it start with no sensors and a mind control can work.

MC can't work on an enemy ship unless you got visuals... meeeeaaaning to MC an enemy you need to board it and see them in that room.

Ah, kind of like the Lanius B.

I think it could work too, but I'm not quite sure, for two reasons:

1) Lanius B is regarded as one of the best ships in the game. It has decently strong starting systems, but it also has the insanely strong Advanced Flak--so I'm not sure if its strength comes from its systems or its great weapon.

2) With level four teleporter and a four-man teleporter, people can be tele'd in and out at will, effectively granting vision of the entire ship by teleporting in people for split seconds before teleporting them back out.

Again, I'm not sure if the "permanent blindness" is enough to balance out the insane strength of the rest of the ship.

maybe make it a 2 man tele for level 4? it just means you have to drop 2 by 2. Kinda can also give the idea of a "raining effect" instead of just dumping a bucket of water if you know what I mean.

2/2/+2/+2

Versus

4/+4

(+ = extra people if you want to over-board (Badum tish) the enemy instead of having people man some stations)


Also is this ship themed on mantis and such? maybe give it only 1-2 mantis to start with and no door system at the start. weak weapons, poor evasion, etc.+

Why not go further and make it a 1-man teleporter? So you have to order your Mantis warriors in 1 at a time, perhaps spreading them all around the enemy ship?

Or replace the Mantis with Zoltans for a literal Zoltan Bombing. (Although that could be a Type B variant with a Zoltan-designed hull)

stylesrj wrote:Why not go further and make it a 1-man teleporter? So you have to order your Mantis warriors in 1 at a time, perhaps spreading them all around the enemy ship?

Or replace the Mantis with Zoltans for a literal Zoltan Bombing. (Although that could be a Type B variant with a Zoltan-designed hull)

Because 1 x 1 isn't a vanilla room size.

stylesrj wrote:Why not go further and make it a 1-man teleporter? So you have to order your Mantis warriors in 1 at a time, perhaps spreading them all around the enemy ship?

Because that would make the earlygame too hard.

stylesrj wrote:Or replace the Mantis with Zoltans for a literal Zoltan Bombing. (Although that could be a Type B variant with a Zoltan-designed hull)

A neat idea! I probably won't resplice the hull though D:

EDIT: I said "resplice". I don't want to add new parts to this ship.

But recolor, now that's a different story entirely.