Borg ECM

posted on December 11th, 2010, 9:09 pm

Motivation:
At present a common strat vs borg is to pick something with lots of torps and spam it. it works well in general against the borg.

Suggestion:
so i suggest a new module that allows the borg to disrupt the torpedo's onboard guidance/detonator to cause the torp to miss more. so the ship doesnt move to dodge, but the borg use some technobbably trickery to fool the torps and make them miss.

Justification:
right now torp spamming works rather well against most borg strats, the supply cost of spamming early borg ships can make it hard to keep up production for long, so the torps end up being ok-ish. the new module will give the borg a way to counter these torps.

How to Implement:

the scube is a possible candidate for this since it is not a large ship. maybe a separate module to give it torpedo dodging. but no boosts otherwise.

maybe the dodecahedron could get the module, since it can carry two modules, maybe the first gives a small bonus, then the second gives a bigger dodge chance. so double dodge modules will do great vs torp spammers but wont have much else to offer.

anything bigger than a dodeca is hard to justify, plus they can use torpedo compensation to reduce damage from torps.

posted on December 11th, 2010, 9:19 pm

Should be useful on the Dodec (ECM Turret?). Bigger ships are likely to just ignore torpedoes, it's not like Borg Cubes care about being hit.

posted on December 11th, 2010, 9:22 pm

true. one point on my chopping block for the Borg Redo is to make both the modules a bit more diverse and the counter-strategies agains the Borg more interesting.

A new scoutcube modul sounds fun But i do also feel that the Beam-module is a bit outdated. point-defense might be fun too

posted on December 11th, 2010, 9:27 pm

Hey could you also make the modules on the interface say what they are? i know they have the symbols and description but could you add the actual name of what they are?  Would help w/commentating

posted on December 11th, 2010, 10:00 pm

A new scoutcube modul sounds fun But i do also feel that the Beam-module is a bit outdated. point-defense might be fun too

pd sounds interesting for a scube. if anyone could dedicate enough computer resources to target and whack little torps it would be the borg. then the pd scube would stay useful later to tank some torp fire.

Hey could you also make the modules on the interface say what they are? i know they have the symbols and description but could you add the actual name of what they are?  Would help w/commentating

could get cluttered if each module gets an icon. also i dont want it so that every player can see their enemy's modules. maybe if observers and allies get this:

on the tooltip for a borg ship with modules at the bottom appears letters for the modules. so a 3 regen 1 holding sphere will be RRRH at the bottom of the tooltip.

posted on December 11th, 2010, 11:16 pm

I like the idea, but why on the Scube? The Scube(and Probe) is the only Borg ship that already evades torpedoes. In my eyes a useful answer to torp spam is Scube spam now. Point defense was the first thing coming to my mind too when reading Myles' post . Or just some kind of adaption... perhaps increasing the "torp modules torp adaption" could help a bit, or combine it also with the small torps?

posted on December 11th, 2010, 11:23 pm

Maybe PD module on Scube, torp evasion module on Sphere? So that not just one unit has all the torp-defying goodness.

posted on December 11th, 2010, 11:27 pm

I would have thought it exactly the other way round  . How could a torp evade a sphere? On the other hand a sphere is huge enough to install many low energy beams against torps.

posted on December 12th, 2010, 12:31 am

But i do also feel that the Beam-module is a bit outdated. point-defense might be fun too

how about make it so beam module kills 3 crew per hit? and then name something else and in description it could say "Borg technology has advanced so much that these newly equipped borg beams will instantly kill the crew of the ship targeted by them..."

posted on December 12th, 2010, 10:52 am

I like the idea, but why on the Scube? The Scube(and Probe) is the only Borg ship that already evades torpedoes. In my eyes a useful answer to torp spam is Scube spam now.

scube/probe/dodeca spam will munch through your supply so fast. thats why i suggested something else to help.

anything large sized wouldnt be a good choice for ecm, maybe pd for larger ships.

the adaptor is only medium sized, maybe it could adapt to become great at dodging torps. the module would give it faster speed and better dodge chance. maybe give it a pulse weapon. that way people would make adaptors more often.

posted on December 12th, 2010, 11:58 am

Reminds me of the ECM tank on CNC Zero Hour, the Chinese had basically an unarmed support tank which made a high percentage of missiles miss the tank itself or any tanks and targets in close proximity to the ECM tank. I'd propose giving the Dodec a module as it it the support ship.

http://cnc.wikia.com/wiki/ECM_tank

posted on December 12th, 2010, 6:14 pm

Yeah I know that one Ducky.
I'd like to see an ECM ability on the adatpor! That way people would build it even if they have no race to adapt against. And in Borg vs Borg games it would become even better against Assims or Pyramides. I'm not really sure about pulses, though. But perhaps it could be made that way, that an adaptor has nothing installed without modules and in order to adapt you just build the fast combat ship ship you want, beam module, regen, torp, pulse, evade module as possibile choices.

posted on December 12th, 2010, 6:59 pm

I only skimmed this, but my thinking would be that the Borg would rather adapt to a torpedo than try and make it miss.  If there was a cool way to make it clear that certain torpedo hits were meaningless because of adaption, I would like to see that instead.

posted on December 12th, 2010, 7:01 pm

i suggested pulses simply because borg have no pulses yet.

they used to have something similar a long time ago in fleetops, the scube used to have the shield drainer from BoBW, that would make a good pulse.

posted on December 12th, 2010, 9:17 pm

For the Scout Cube, why not have the EM Module cause torpedoes to miss more often?  It already lights-up cloak fields and slightly reduces damage received by weapons.  That would make the EM Module a bit more useful.  As for the Beam module, maybe it should be replaced with a transport assault module.  So that when the shields of the enemy vessel drops, the transporter on the Borg ship is activated.  Makes for a nice way to capture enemy ships.