"Cheap" Turrets

posted on September 11th, 2011, 2:48 pm

I have an idea on how to balance a game using "cheap" turrets.  These turrets would be easy to build, have a slightly reduces offensive value from the original, but a greatly reduced defensive value.  They would be easy to build because the reduced defensive value would mean the turret wouldn't cost nearly as much as the original, but they must constantly be maintained even if they are backed up by a fleet.

It would basically be a copy of the original, but maybe 2/3 the original offensive value and 1/4 the original defensive value.  They can back up a fleet being rebuilt, but they would be no replacement for a fleet and when a field of these is tested against a fleet of opposing ships, the turrets would easily loose the battle.  Although the opposing team would still suffer heavy casualties.

Here's the basic idea, each faction would have 1, maybe 2 versions of these cheap turrets from the ones that are built by the constructor ships.  None of these turrets would be torpedo-based.  And basically, a last resort as they will divert your focus to building these things, which means, you probably don't have much of a fleet left anyways.

Borg:
I'm not sure how this would work out for the Borg.  They already have 2 turret or turret like stations with the only difference being that one is avatar-specific.

Dominion:
They would have a weaker version of their phaser turret with the specified value ratio and could easily be put up in an economic crisis so that they wouldn't interrupt ship production very much.

Federation:
They would either have a weaker version of their phaser turret or their pulse turret.  Again, easy to put up that would give only minimal interruptions on ship production.

Klingon:
They would probably get a pulse-based version of their heavy weapons platform.

Romulan:
They can already do research to remove a portion of the resource cost from their turrets, but maybe a version that would have to decloak to recharge it's special energy after firing a volley of those pulses.

posted on September 11th, 2011, 3:30 pm

Sounds like a good idea, as long as you can also get the other ones. Turrets are already a small part of the game, and if you change that they probably wont be used at all. If your turret cant even protect your mining installations what would be the point of building one? Especially for those players that make extensive use of turrets, this would be a killer to them. Yes, the game is called Fleet Operations, but the turrets can still be a major part of strategy.

posted on September 11th, 2011, 3:41 pm

I don't really see the advantage of these cheap turrets, but that is a discussion for a later date.

Borg: A weaker, single purpose turret for the Borg IMO does not agree with the way the borg play. the borg are all about multi functionality and from the Borg perspective such a weak, single purpose turret would be a waste of resources.

The Dominion already has a cheap turret and a mini star base for their base defense. Adding another defensive structure for them would be overkill.

Federation has 4 types of turrets already: sensor, pulse, phaser and torpedo. I'm not sure how another weaker version of the pulse turret would add to the gameplay of the Feds.

Klingons: A pulse based turret would be interesting, but the klingon style is to attack and they have a cheap turret already: B'rel.
If anything i'd go the opposite direction for the klingons with this: Daystrom Institute Technical Library a Star Trek website

Romulans already have a discount for their turrets and a possibility to cloak them. I would consider a non cloaking turret with plasma torpedoes, but an even cheaper turret? Don't see the added value of another Romulan turret.

posted on September 11th, 2011, 3:52 pm

Interesting article, but I think that would make Klingon turrets a BIT overpowered I get that the number of weapons would be WAY cut down to balance it out, but Klingon play relies much more on fleets than any other races (since they need to keep refilling their supply stash and all) and this would probably make them virtually never built. And the Klingons already have a 2nd turret, the Attack Probe. Maybe as an upgrade for it?

posted on September 11th, 2011, 3:57 pm

The klingon station would be a counterpart to the dominion high end defense and the sheer resources needed would make it a rare sight. It is seen in the series however and therefor a possible klingon defense.