Romulan Minefields, Cheap Tactic?

posted on April 18th, 2009, 1:26 pm

So I was playing this game the other day with some friends, one was playing federation and the other klingon. I was playing the romulans and of course I got some generix class ships and started laying a minefield early on. The federation guy manged to get an advantage in map control and of course had a big fleet. Then he sent that fleet against my base and it met the minefield and a few lines of serkas. It got blown to little bits which prompted him to freak out and accuse me of abusing an unbalanced feature in the game. Then the Kilingon player walked by his line of phaser sentries and blew his base apart.

I don't consider this feature unbalanced but I agree that the mines may need to be easier to destroy or harder to lay.

posted on April 18th, 2009, 2:51 pm

Hi and welcome to the forums

Yep we have some plans in mind for the Romulan minefields to be more unique and a bit harder to control. should be included in one of the future patches

posted on April 22nd, 2009, 3:20 pm

Yep we have some plans in mind for the Romulan minefields to be more unique and a bit harder to control. should be included in one of the future patches

And an awesome feature was ruined.

The end.

posted on April 22nd, 2009, 3:40 pm

And an awesome feature was ruined.

The end.

oh no! we are all doomed, the end is coming! optec set us up the bomb .. erm mine! 
hehe don't worry man, it's just some balancing, it's not like mines will be useless. you don't even know yet what will be changed

thread moved

[Anonymous]

posted on April 22nd, 2009, 3:58 pm

Last edited by Anonymous on April 22nd, 2009, 4:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Minefeild trap = unexpected, indirect attack = sneaky trick = Romulan! I say hats off to you for playing the part mate!

Cheap? Nah, some people are just sore losers (frustration at lost of huge fleet understood though). One word for your Federation player; scouts. Ventures are there for a reason ya know.

Still, always worth giving things a look over just in case.

posted on April 22nd, 2009, 4:32 pm

Minefields are just classic, one of Fleet Ops best features. If the enemy won't defend and prepare for classic romulan tactics, they gotta expect largescale failures.

posted on April 22nd, 2009, 5:00 pm

Just sounds like a sore loser. If simple Minefields are unbalanced, then most things in game are.

posted on April 22nd, 2009, 7:59 pm

In my opinion minefields are really easy to destroy and aren't even that hugely effective, except against the Borg. All mines in the area will follow the same target until it actually blows up in the fireball (meaning that a scout can attract 10X times as much damage as it would actually require to blow up). Likewise, anything fast can scoot through the minefield and wipe it clean in no time.

posted on April 22nd, 2009, 8:19 pm

the same principle works against the fed: mayson turrets, or any star base.

posted on April 22nd, 2009, 8:26 pm

Indeed, the mines are quite easy to get rid of. IMO there shall be an upgrade like "intelligent mines", at balanced very high costs (dil/tri instead of energy), which could form a new characteristic backbone of romulan defense. In this context I understand the term intelligent in the way, that mines are only heading for the target, as long as it exists. Maybe they will not lock ono targets with less than 25 attack plus defense

Cloaked mines (as mentioned so often) shall be a different, even more expensive upgrade, which allows you to set up traps for the enemy.

Another idea are neutron-mines which are deadly for the crew, and should kill a ratio + a constant number of members within an area of effect, which also includes losses on allied ships, to make it more realistic.

As for any technologie, there should be also a good counter-measure for each race. As stated somwhere else I's suggest:

Klingons use a bulldozer-ship, or the artifivial ion-storm.
Dominion use their bugs.
Federation uses a point defense fregate with precision scanner.
Romulan use their mine-layers to recollect them with a
    tractor beam, which shall return the costs, even of enemies mines.
Borg may send in a gravity probe, which attrackts any mine within range.

posted on April 22nd, 2009, 8:51 pm

You know this gives me another idea. Maybe it would be possible to implement "grey mode" on federation and maybe other starships, as seen a couple of times on VOY.

The idea would be it's a low power mode that doesn't emit engine emissions, so ships could fly right past the mines.
The disadvantage would be drastically lowered weapons, shields, sensors, and crippled movement speed. Maybe weapons and shields could be disabled, but I don't want it just to be a copy of cloaking. If possible I think it should also blank the ship off the mini-map.

Sorry I'm just rambling, this is just another idea to counter mines I thought of on-the spot but it could have other applications too.

posted on April 22nd, 2009, 8:58 pm

more likly you could select shut down power and drift to the other side of the mine field.

posted on April 22nd, 2009, 8:59 pm

Nice idea! You mentioned one of the only realistic features of VOY here. A ship with engines and most high-energy containments offline would be nearly invisible at long range (more than that long of FO though).

Why should movement speed reduce, when you turn off the engines? With engines off it's just not possible
to accelerate (also break and turn).

posted on April 22nd, 2009, 9:28 pm

@ Mimesot: probably for the same reason that you see "drag" effects on FO ships when their engines are damaged, yet they are still moving. Unrealistic I know, but it would be weird seeing your ships continue flying off the map (or drift into the nearest gravity well)

posted on April 22nd, 2009, 9:40 pm

Yeah true, but in the strange world of star trek, ships seem to slow down without engines. I mean, honestly, I think this is one of the weakest scientific lines of TNG: "Sir, the gravitational attraction of the various masses has reduced our velocity by eight percent. By my calculations, we no longer have sufficient momentum to clear the debris field."

I mean, it's rewriting mechanics as it goes...it literally makes no sense to a physicist/mechanist. But it seems to show that it doesn't take much to slow down a starship without engines, especially since they didnt think to use their aft thrusters to push forwards as well.

Anyway, maybe it shouldn't have a movement speed decrease, I just want to have it balanced and sufficiently different from cloak, if it's in at all. Maybe a Risner-only ability for some ships. I haven't though it through enough. If enough people approve I'll make a thread about it.

But Romulan mines are Romulan enough as they are, and not OP, they are just cool.