Fewer ship types + more customization

posted on May 6th, 2009, 8:25 pm

Right now we have a situation where every race has an abundance of ship types.
Most notable of this is for the Klingons.

Even though there is an abundance in types, there are only a few types which are actually used frequently.

I propose a different setup where there is only a single type in each class.
1 destroyer type, 1 light cruiser, 1 heavy/battle cruiser.

Instead of having each ship type always have the same special, why not add a customization yard where different modifications in the form of an extra special can be made to a single ship.

E.g. A saber can get a shield enhancement, but since a shield take power the range of the weapons is reduced.
A sovereign will get an open slot for  another special which can be used for e.g. an extra weapons pod, jamming pod etc.

I realize that this is a rough sketch and that many rather see more ships than less ships, but this would make ships less predictable and stimulate the use of all available ship types.

What do you folks think.

posted on May 6th, 2009, 8:29 pm

I like that idea alot, the only problem I see is that it wouldn't work for the borg, sence th already have something, and it isn't very Fedration like.

posted on May 6th, 2009, 8:38 pm

Hmmm, I tend to disagree...

For the Federation, Dominion, Borg, and Romulan I use most if not all the ships at one point or another. Sure, some units are not useful against certain races, but most if not all have their use (my useless units thread is out of date by the way). The only units I still see problems with are described much more in depth in the guides I have posted now, not to mention other forum member's suggestions. The one major exception to this is I think the Klingons. I still have trouble finding a use for a great deal of their ships....

posted on May 6th, 2009, 8:41 pm

I had suggested something like this for the dominion or cardassians. but the mods say that they are pretty content wth the ship classes atm. maybe for the 3rd avatars of certain races we may see this (once the 3rd avatar is included).

posted on May 6th, 2009, 8:48 pm

@ Dominus Noctis

It should definitally be so with the klingons, either way. so how about like this.

select bird of pray, then under that Brel or kvort

You could do the same with the ktinga, kbeajq, luspet, and vutpa in that order.  

then veqlaragh, vorcha, qawduj, chonaq

the others would be harder, sence they don,t look alike but you get the jist

posted on May 7th, 2009, 2:25 am

i for one, am greatly aginst this.

posted on May 7th, 2009, 2:29 am

Definatly against. The more Classes and the more of each type, the more variety. You aren't forced to use the same ship of each type as everyone else.

posted on May 7th, 2009, 2:44 am

I suppose that is true...

posted on May 7th, 2009, 7:15 am

also it would save me a lot of modeling work, I'm against that too. No vessel should be clearly unneeded in Fleet Operations, as each fullfills its role.
As the different roles do not seem to be that obvious for the Klingons, a redo for them is on todo

posted on May 7th, 2009, 10:21 am

Indeed, the Klingons are a bit confusing.

And doing what I do often is no solution... I tend to build more of the canon ships and less of the others. But that way I loose some specialization in certain areas.

But nothing beats the atmosphere of looking at a fleet of B'Rels, K'Vorts, Vor'cha and Negh'vars! Instantly reminds you of DS9 and such episodes as Way of the Warrior.

posted on May 7th, 2009, 10:23 am

Who needs a purpose? Just select the 'Duras-wannabe' avatar, build a massive number of B'rel Class with the special and maximised weapons. Win through numbers and making it hard to escape.

posted on May 7th, 2009, 12:30 pm

Indeed, the Klingons are a bit confusing.

And doing what I do often is no solution... I tend to build more of the canon ships and less of the others. But that way I loose some specialization in certain areas.

But nothing beats the atmosphere of looking at a fleet of B'Rels, K'Vorts, Vor'cha and Negh'vars! Instantly reminds you of DS9 and such episodes as Way of the Warrior.

I think that is the problem.  How many other klingon ship names do you and others on this site know?  It is kind of sad that those ships make up the majority of the ships in a standard klingon fleet

posted on May 7th, 2009, 12:34 pm

Every race has well-known and not-so-well-known ships. The more well-known ones are very likely to be used more than ones that are not so-well-known.

posted on May 7th, 2009, 10:32 pm

What i noticed in various comments about strategy/balance is that people tend to spam 1-3 ship types.

Sure perhaps every type has a purpose, but there are light cruisers, medium cruisers, heavy cruisers, battle cruisers, destroyers and so on.

Many of these ship types are very similar though. Sure more choice in types gives the appearance of more variety, but does it really give that variety?

With the reduction of the number of ship types, slots for special weapons can be freed. With a choice in specials the variety in game play in increased.

The ship types which have been dropped can in turn be used as ship types for new avatars.

Personally i see no downside.

posted on May 8th, 2009, 10:19 am

ships are quite different in Fleet Operations, most cruisers from different races can not even be compared in their lineup and fleet role, although you sometimes only notice the "true" character of a vessel when playing multiplayer games or forging more detial tactics. We have absolutely no intention to change that, as thats the very heart of Fleet Operations