Should the EM Scout Cube also negate ablative armor?

posted on January 5th, 2011, 5:43 am

So I've been thinking it should, since you pay quite a lot for it to not get owned by the chargh and bomber, but it would be nice to have them be good vs vorcha and T-15s as well.  That way we don't always have to rely on the sphere.

Oh, and some ranged based damage/disable specials would be nice for certain borg vessels.

posted on January 5th, 2011, 8:58 am

Why not make the Adaptor better so one can use this ship instead of making the already spammable Scube better?

posted on January 5th, 2011, 9:55 am

And people just spam those "cheap" EM scubes all the time, don't they!   It's an epidemic!   We just go into full time EM scube production, don't we!!!!

The point of making the post short was so you'd actually read it.

Actually, making it so that the adaptor has:

some ranged based damage/disable specials would be nice

as well.  But that was only an aside.

posted on January 5th, 2011, 11:17 am

The point is that the Scube is already useful in most games...and the EM cube is useful as a cloak detect support, just like the Talon refit or Venture.

Instead it would be better to make the Dode and the Adaptor suitable to more situations...e.g. adaption modules for certain passives...

posted on January 5th, 2011, 11:35 am

No, the point is whether or not the EM scube should also negate defensive short ranged passives.  It's in the title of the thread if you weren't sure.   If you wish to post on other things related to the Borg, feel free to make your own thread and stop derailing others!

Since you were unable to find the original post, I was able to do a search and found it.  I've pasted a copy right here so you won't miss it.

So I've been thinking it should, since you pay quite a lot for it to not get owned by the chargh and bomber, but it would be nice to have them be good vs vorcha and T-15s as well.  That way we don't always have to rely on the sphere.

Oh, and some ranged based damage/disable specials would be nice for certain borg vessels.

Again, please make a thread of your own ideas if you are unable to stay on topic...

posted on January 5th, 2011, 12:02 pm

If you come this way...we can make this short...

NO, the EM Scube should not get any improvement.

posted on January 5th, 2011, 1:00 pm

i like the idea of the em scube negating those passives, but how can an em field around the scube justify ablative armour no longer working? since the effect of the armour happens wholly at the armour itself.

maybe if adding the em module added a second passive which had these effects. just with a different name. i do like it. the em scube already costs more and takes longer to build so it wouldnt be the best scube by far. not to mention its not brilliant at regen or intercept jobs.

posted on January 5th, 2011, 2:35 pm

As I understand it, the Borg will be getting more useful cloak detect in the next version. So add a mode like the Galaxy's Type-3 torpedoes:

Ablative Adaption: When activated, power from this vessel's EM system is transferred to the weapons array, extending the range to long and adding a X% increase in damage to all ablative armor-equipped targets. Cannot detect cloaked ships while active, lasts X seconds.*

Alternatively:

Advanced EM Adaption Refit: This vessel is upgraded with a much more powerful EM system; the stronger EM field is capable of disrupting the relatively fragile systems responsible for maintaining ablative armor, thereby negating the effects of all ablative armor systems in range of the field.

* For those who like to geek it out over exactly HOW something works, because we all do at one time or another: Ablative armor essentially acts as a heat shield, dissipating the heat from weapons hits; the increased weapons power would allow more heat generation, thereby overcoming the dissipation ability of the armor. Optimally, this would be visualized as a pulsing beam, the quicker pulses being weaker per shot, but the speed of the strikes not giving the armor time to cool down.**

**Not like a silly pulse phaser. If you've played Mechwarrior, you're likely imagining the "tseew tseew tseew" sound and giggling at the thought of such a weapon without the constraints of self-destructive heat generation. I don't blame you, but I'm thinking of the more relaistic (albeit less fun and flashy) form of a beam that basically looks like a phaser firing a 10x the normal rate of fire.

Just some thoughts. Hast thou read thus far, thou art patient and wise. Thus endeth the dissertation.

posted on January 17th, 2011, 4:33 pm

If the EM field disrupted ablatave armor, it'd just disolve the hull of other ships.

Ablative armor is just armor that is designed to negate damage at the cost of breaking down quicker.

no field would negate that, and anything that could negate it would do mass damage to non ablatave armored ships.

posted on January 17th, 2011, 5:04 pm

hey tokra, thats why in my last post in this thread i suggested a separate passive granted by the module with the effect of negating the armour, just with a different name. There is plenty of technobabbly ways to explain it away

[Tyler]

posted on January 21st, 2011, 9:59 am

Last edited by Tyler on January 21st, 2011, 10:12 am, edited 1 time in total.

Ablative armor isn't like other hull armor and is designed to disintegrate anyway. EM SCubes 'negating' it wouldn't necessarily effect other ships.

It's pretty much a 24th century heat shield that disintegrates to dissipate energy away from the ship, so if the Borg could emit a field designed to disintergrate it before firing, it woyld negate the effect.

[Tok`ra]

posted on January 25th, 2011, 11:57 pm

Last edited by Tok`ra on January 26th, 2011, 12:01 am, edited 1 time in total.

Execpt how do you disintegrate it without the weapon being equally effective against other ships.

Far better to just give them EM SCube a torpedo that does minimal damage execpt to ablatave armored vessels but is designed to pierce ablative armor (since in DS9 we see the Defiants armor can be pierced by a Torpedo, IE: that gas giant episode) and technobabble it away as it's less effective against non armored vessels as the non-armored hulls dont focus the blast inwards, and result in minor exterior damage rather than the blast penetrating and doing higher internal damage. Basicly, it'd be the differnce between hitting a tank with an explosive round and a HEAT round. The explosive explodes on impact with the hull, the HEAT pierces the armor, and the armor helps focus the blast inwards.

posted on January 26th, 2011, 1:04 am

Execpt how do you disintegrate it without the weapon being equally effective against other ships.

Quite easily; only things that react to that field are effected, just like any other field effect things that are effected by them.

Your suggestion can work the same way; a weapon with a warhead that reacts better to the components in ablative armor.

posted on January 26th, 2011, 1:59 am

Not to try to nuke your thread, but when they fix the passives doubling this'll get a bit easier to deal with

Currently scubes deal proper damage to rank 1 T-15's, but when they get a silver bar or more the passive is applied a second time, down to 25% damage.

I still think it's a good idea, but we should wait to see if it's still needed after they fix passives