Excel II Special Problem

posted on July 17th, 2010, 1:04 pm

We all know the Excel II had to be toned down a bit. So i thought the changes to the guided Torpedeos are ok, at the first place. But now after a few tests i found a serios flaw in it:

As you can see: The ship cant turn when the Guided Torpedoes are on, but on the other hands the Torpedoes have a limited firing arc. As result of this: If the ship is directed wrong, it cant use the Torpedeos, resulting in enemy ships simply outmanuvering the ship, which cant turn.

posted on July 17th, 2010, 2:45 pm

Micro them in better! E2s are best used to support the rest of your fleet of intrepids, monsoons and akiras. Keep them back a little bit, facing the battle, while your other ships distract your enemy 

posted on July 17th, 2010, 2:48 pm

yep thats intended

[Brother Gabriel]

posted on July 17th, 2010, 3:00 pm

Last edited by Brother Gabriel on July 17th, 2010, 3:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.

ouch
well, note to self: dont build this ship any longer
sorry if i say that: with the actual movement speed of some ships, its the probaly worsest thing to be done

posted on July 17th, 2010, 3:11 pm

I make a habit of not building them anymore. They are too slow to retreat (:wheelchair:), have such a limited firing arc, their special prevents them from retreating at all for a while and makes their limited firing arc worse, and the ACS torpedoes need the ability activated to be used. Quite simply this means that if you want the torpedoes (and a lot of the firepower is in the torpedoes) to be effective against small ships you need to make the ship immobile, and if you want the torpedoes to be effective against large ships you need to make the ship immobile.
Powerful torpedo boat, but tends to be the most expendable ship in my fleet, which will mean less of a fleet the next battle, Remore is much better due to its ability to take out shields with ease. Excel-IIs are great if you spam spam spam them, but other than that they just die.

posted on July 17th, 2010, 3:36 pm

And yet I still see people complaining about Excel II spam. Online gameplay never ceases to amaze me  . If people are saying it's overpowered, and others are saying it is underpowered - well, must mean it's balanced 

posted on July 17th, 2010, 3:37 pm

Damned id you win, damned if you lose... some ships just can't catch a break.

posted on July 17th, 2010, 3:52 pm

excel 2 isnt op or up.

its a nice ship, u can build several of them and they wont be a liability. they do nice damage, and are long ranged and they wont cost u a huge amount nor do u even need chassis 2 to build them and they arent weak, just slow.

i love the e2 i build them most games as they are generally useful, just like the akira. neither are op or up.

but of course if u make a fleet of ONLY e2 then u are making a mistake. as the feds have other useful ships.

posted on July 17th, 2010, 4:24 pm

And yet I still see people complaining about Excel II spam. Online gameplay never ceases to amaze me  . If people are saying it's overpowered, and others are saying it is underpowered - well, must mean it's balanced 

Excel-IIs are great if you spam spam spam them, but other than that they just die.

People complain because spam makes them a worthwhile ship and people tend to forget about countering long-range stuff vs. feds (due to Sabers and Canaverals lacking in firepower and the Excel 1 being a slow destroyer.) Also people forget to run circles around them once guided quantums goes off.
If you put a only few of them in a fleet you have to make damn sure you don't try to retreat them and a smart opponent will target them to get easy kills. Intrepids and Akiras are better in non-critical mass engagements because they can get away pretty easily.

posted on July 21st, 2010, 1:47 pm

I usually don't use the guided-torpedoes. I just research it to help keep my Dil/Tri ratio in place.

posted on July 21st, 2010, 1:51 pm

I usually don't use the guided-torpedoes. I just research it to help keep my Dil/Tri ratio in place.

u research it just to balance your res?

its actually a very useful special. if u happen to be mayson its good vs battleships too, even though it would have hit them anyway, mayson's e2 activates ACS torps when the special is used. doing more damage to battleships.

posted on July 22nd, 2010, 4:36 pm

I think it's an awesome idea for a special. A huge part of FO is knowing when to put your cards on the table and when to fold and GTFO.

And the Feds' sub-strategy in this is they are stronger when they stay and fight, and have a harder time cutting and running.  Guided quantum torps are the perfect example of this: you don't use them until you're CERTAIN you can win the fight, and then you decimate the enemy.  Naturally feds do better when paired with a cloaky race who can help harass the enemy and make sure the federation fleet grows faster than its opposition.

It's just too bad the Excel II doesn't have a combo ship to fly ahead of it, some kind of super-tanky medium ranged battleship with an AOE special to disable enemy engines and keep them in the killzone...oh wait IT DOES!

Seriously, I've watched a lot of replays recently where a single Sovereign would have completely changed the battle.  Like a veteran Kvort that keeps getting away or a fed fleet having trouble chasing/running.

posted on July 22nd, 2010, 4:47 pm

The Sovereign special isn't targeted and only affects three (or is it four?) units, so it's actually not something that will turn the tide of battle unless the enemy fleet is rather small or you have multiple Sovereigns. The engines also come back online after some seconds. It is indeed good for stopping a few ships from retreating or helping out your Excel-2s if they are being chased.
The problem tho is that Mayson's Excel-2s are the only ones you should even really bother with, as Risner has no ACS and her Akiras are almost better in every area (at least last time I read the guide it said so, I'm pretty sure the stats back it up.) Mayson tends to have trouble getting to chassis 3 because of the higher res costs. It would be an interesting strategy to try out, but it would be well into late-game for Mayson, and not as effective for Risner.

posted on July 22nd, 2010, 4:57 pm

The Sov's special is THAT limited?  Back in the day it was ALL ships inside the special's range!  I think it should be at least 5-6 ships to be balanced: I used to hate that ability but it wasn't overpowered considering how long feds have to tech and build to get Sovereigns.

posted on July 22nd, 2010, 5:00 pm

its 5 ships for 6 seconds.

i think its fine.