Borg Holding Beam maybe useless?

posted on October 8th, 2009, 12:01 pm

In a few games i have tried to go for a holding beam on some ships, but in all those games i came to the same conclussion. The holding beam is pretty useless compared to the other special weapons, cant see any reason why anyone would want it on their ships. And its really weak compared to the auto assimilation beam

What doo u guys think?

posted on October 8th, 2009, 12:10 pm

I think the thing works quite well on pyramids and when combined with assimilators.
Though only using 1 holding beam module on a ship is pretty useless, yep

[Tyler]

posted on October 8th, 2009, 12:11 pm

Last edited by Tyler on October 8th, 2009, 12:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

It's mostly useless because it was butchered in the same way as the conventional Transporter, with a very low number of crew for most. Only the heaviest ones send a worthwhile number of people over.

Speaking of 'useless Holding beams', is there any way to make the Borg actually use the bloody things?

posted on October 8th, 2009, 12:18 pm

I belive that holding beam needs a little buff, beacuse no one would ever pick it on their ship since the other modules are far more effective. A pyramid with 3 holding modules and a factory kills 10 crew pr sec, while auto assimilator kills 16.

posted on October 8th, 2009, 1:59 pm

I have to agree. Even maxed out, the holding beam is not a good upgrade choice for any Borg vessel, even Cubes with tens of thousands of drones aboard. Considering that the auto-assimilator actually replenishes lost drones as opposed to "spending" them whilst at the same time robbing the target ship of more of it's crew per second, it makes the Holding Beam look silly by comparison. I don't know if it's just me, but the AA also seems to have much longer range?

posted on October 8th, 2009, 2:03 pm

I don't know if it's just me, but the AA also seems to have much longer range?

It's not just you; the Auto-Assimilator is Long-range, the Holding Beam is only Medium.

posted on October 8th, 2009, 2:06 pm

I would like to recommend the following rebalance... since I have been a fan of the holding beam.

1 module = 5  drones per second
2 modules = 10 drones per second
3 modules = 15 drones per second
4 modules = 25 drones per second

Now, maybe also adjust the Auto Assim beam

1 module = 5
2 modules (Optimize) = 10
2 modules (Assimilate) = 15
3 modules (optimize) = 15

Plus I think the Auto Assim beam should have a range reduced to medium...

posted on October 8th, 2009, 4:09 pm

BTW - the Holding Beam burns special energy so fast that even a 4-holding module pyramid, or the special energy cube will fail to assimilate ships with around 250 or so crew, unless they have help.

Entirely because they run out of energy well before they finish.  So the beam becomes a liability against anything except destroyers, or maybe construction ships, because your ships don't shoot at ships in a Holding Beam.

The only Holding Beams I use anymore are the ones that Unicomplex puts on my Assimilation Matrix, Conduction Matrix, and Transmission Matrix.

posted on October 8th, 2009, 4:32 pm

Maybe we can increase the drone rate and decrease the energy drain slightly. Just enough to where I have good chances for constructor capturing.

posted on October 8th, 2009, 4:37 pm

You could make ones with a higher number of modules hold multiple ships? No increased energy drain.

posted on October 8th, 2009, 4:45 pm

It feels like such a borg core technology but then again how many crew/ships would one expect it to assimilate on a particular pass?

[Tyler]

posted on October 8th, 2009, 4:49 pm

Last edited by Tyler on October 8th, 2009, 4:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

As much as they need at the time... take ships to scrap for resources or to increase their own numbers.

FO removed one of the major reasons for Borg Assimilation; Stealing their tech.

posted on October 9th, 2009, 7:43 am

And it doesn't have to be useful tech either.  If the Collective doesn't have it, it wants it.

Theoretically, a race could achieve near-Borg technology without ever ending up on the Collective's radar for more than making a small sampling of their species into drones, so long as they 'reinvented the wheel' for everything they have.  Odds are, though, they'd achieve 'threat to the Collective' and get Tac-Cubes sent to visit them, instead of being ignored or assimilated.

Developed a technology for using Aardvarks as computer interfaces?  Well, it's crappy and near-worthless, but the Borg don't know that trick, so your race is fucked if they find out.

posted on October 9th, 2009, 8:18 am

I will take an additional look at the auto-assimilator and the holding beam

Modules like the Holding Beam Module will get additional passive effects, by the way

posted on October 9th, 2009, 2:50 pm

Very nice Optec, it really need some ajustments btw... will the next patch make some ships that curretly are crap more usefull, like the scoutcube and probe?