Idea about Borg shield adaption

[gokuj]

posted on February 29th, 2012, 11:02 am

Last edited by gokuj on February 29th, 2012, 12:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.

In all the Star Trek games I played I never saw the borg adapt to weapons like they did on tv. This is really regrettable because for me this is an important part of who the borg are. I mean it really gives this "borg feeling" when the weapons have no effect anymore because they have adapted to it.

Now I undestand that it is a huge balance issue. So I thought about it and had an idea.
I have read a few hours but coudn't find this idea and hope it is new. If not, I am sorry but there was just too much to read it all.My Idea is quite long so please bear with me.


Idea:
First of all every non-borg ship (or only selected few) get a new button. This Button represent your current weapon configuration. If pressed a menu pops (like with command button)with 4 button(or more). Let's just call them: config1, config2, config3, config4.
Each race starts with an own configuration: 
Federation = config1
Klingons = config2
Romulans = config3
Dominion = config4

Now with a simple click you can change your weapon configuration. This doesn't mean you use another weapon just another frequence or something like that. There could be a small penalty to damage if you  use the configuration of another race but thats not necessary (just to encourage using your own against non-borg).

Now let's take a look at the borg. They also get a new button linking to the 4 configurations just like the other races. The difference is this is not a weapon configuration but a shield configuration. The Borg begin with all 4 configuration greyed out. Once they assimilate a ship with a certain configuration they can research that configuration at some base (doesn't really matter which base). So to have all 4 configurations enabled they have to assimilate 4 ships, with each using another configuration, and research all 4.

Now just like the other races can the borg select one of the configurations. All attacks made with that configuration are blocked by shields. They have adapted

Now the other races have to change their configuration again.

:guns:  ----------------------  


Well that's my Idea. I don't know if this is possible or not and it's probably a lot of work.
BUT this would really give you the feeling like on tv where the borg adapt and the federation need to change their weapons!

I would really want to know what everyone thinks about this.There are also afew questions left that I would hear everyone's opinion about.

1. I think there should be some lag to switching config. This show the work the crew has to do. do you agree and if yes, how long would the races need ? I think borg would be a bit faster.   
2. Should switching cost resources ?
3. The borg get an advantage, so would it be best to reduce their normal resistance against weapons ?

The last part of this post will only be an example how this could work in game, so if you're tired and bored from me going on and on just skip it. 
Well that's it. Thanks for reading all this and being patient with me.

------------------

Example:

2vs1     Federation + Klingon   vs   Borg

Federation: 6 ships called  fed1,fed2,...,fed6   starts with config1
Klingon: 2 ships called  kling1,kling2              starts with config2
Borg: 1 ship called Borg

1st Battle :   fed1(config1)  vs Borg(not available)  
--   no advantage Borg, normal damage.
--   Borg captures fed1(config1).  Borg assimilates fed1(config1).   Borg research config1.  Borg select (config1)
--   fed2(config1) knows fed1(config1) is captured so changed to fed2(config2)

2nd Battle :  fed2(config2)  vs  Borg(config1)
--  no advantage Borg, normal damage
--  Borg captures fed2(config2). Borg assimilated fed2(config2).  Borg research (config2).  Borg select (config2)

3rd Battle :  Kling1(config2) + Kling2(config2)  vs Borg(config2)
--  Klingon not prepared = huge advantage Borg. Borg takes no damage
--  Kling1(config2) changes to (config1),  Kling2(config2) changes to (config3).
--  Borg(config2) takes normal damage. Borg change to (config1) can't change to (config3)
--  Borg(config1) no damage from Kling1(config1), normal damage from Kling2(config3)
--  Borg destroys Kling1 and assimilates Kling2(config3) -- research (config3).

Last Battle :  fed3(config1) + fed4(config2) + fed5(config3) + fed6(config4)    vs  Borg(config1)
--  Borg small adavantage. Only fed3 makes no damage. All other ships make normal damage.
--  Too much damage. Borg destroyed.  End Example.

As you can see is the advantage the Borg have not so big if you play smart. From all 6 Federation ship only 1 made no damage and that ship could change (config). But if you're unprepared or make mistakes you will have problems. 2 Klingon ships made almost no damage. Also good idea to attack with ships with different configuration.
The real Borg-feeling : you have to think fast and be one step ahead of the Borg to survive.   

posted on February 29th, 2012, 12:08 pm

We also have seen, that the ships are able to counter the adaption by permanently rotating the weapon frequencies.
I think, there would be a kind of equilibrium of adapting and countering it and in short, this simple system will come down to a certain fixed damage value. As for the morg, you might introduce some "fast tracking scanning abilities" that may be able to vastly reconfigure your ships defense capabilities for a short amount of time, but this will only work for beam and pulse weapons. You cant adapt to torpedos, because they are explosives and dont have an electromagnetic characteristic you might adapt to. Torps are brute force and cant be adapted to. You may alter your armor to a reactive one, but we already have this --> Tactical armor.

BUT, you idea brings in a neat design that could be used for other purposes - I'm thinking on mixed tech here.

posted on February 29th, 2012, 2:19 pm

I had an idea for an auto activating replace weapon that changed the borg ship odf (same model though) so that randomly the ship would adapt to certain weapons but be damaged by others.  for example, a fleet composed of a defiant class, Galaxy, Sov and Norway all attack a Borg cube. They do some damage, but at some random point during the battle, the borg ship adapts (auto-replace weapon) and now the Galaxy and Defiant do no damage, while the Borgs weapons increase damage rate to the Sovvy and Norway. And then it changes again and none of the ships do any damage. and etc., etc., etc. I started working on it but real life got in the way soo..yeah... Just my idea on Borg adaptation

posted on February 29th, 2012, 2:54 pm

Getting the Borg adaption right and still maintaining balance in the game is one of the great quests in any star trek game.

I like the ideas you bring, but there is something that worries me.
One of the main goals of the developers is to keep the game accessible for both novice and veteran players. The whole "simplification" in the offensive/defensive profiles is aimed at achieving that.

While your proposal could bring Borg adaption closer to the series, it would add a significant difficulty which in turn would make it pretty hard for new players to get a grasp of the gameplay.

So i applaud the idea, but i fear the consequences for new players.

[Anonymous]

posted on February 29th, 2012, 3:01 pm

Last edited by Anonymous on February 29th, 2012, 3:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I definitly think Adaptation and assimilation should play a bigger role in the Borg, however I think this may be a bit to complicated for an RTS game.  If the Devs could simply make it so that borg ships rank up every time they assimilate a ship and take less and less damage every time, that would be cool. 

I believe, however, that the borg will have this option.  With the new "and/or" techtree, you will be able to have a "level 1 fed adaptation" research pod that you could research that would require any of the 1st chasis fed ships.  The pod would make all borg ships take less damage from fed ships.  The "level 2 Fed Adaptation" could require a higher chassis level ship, and the first level, and so on.  You could have two avatars, one that gains defensive buffs from assimilation, and one that gains offensive abilities and modules from assimilating other cultures.

It could make being borg pretty fun as your goal would actually be total assimilation rather than destruction.

posted on February 29th, 2012, 3:50 pm

@ Lt.Cmdr Worf
Your Idea is good and it would certainly brings us close to the serie, however I think it would be unbalanced. After the Borg ship adapts the Federation ships don't stand a chance. There should be some way for the Federation ships to make their weapons effective again, so they only lose a few shots that make no damage.

@Andre27
You have a good point there. Maybe it is possible to put an extra button (next to the 4 config buttons) which activates an automated cycle. IF pressed the ship will change configuration every X seconds.
If this could be modded the novice could simply click that button and don't care anymore. Experienced player could enjoy new tactics with this ability. What do you think?

@Adm. Zaxxon
There are many ideas like yours, but that would not really be borg-adaption. If you fight the Borg your weapons kill them (normal damage) or have absolutely no effect. That makes this the unique Borg-adaption ability. I think all those " X% less damage" ideas are not like the Borg I know from the series.