What to do with Dom prototypes?

[Zebh]

posted on June 29th, 2009, 3:02 pm

Last edited by Zebh on June 29th, 2009, 3:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Good points about the spacedock idea.

If it would be like the station that Zaxxon suggested, then there could be increased repair speed when docked. But that kind of structure wouldn't be really any safer.

posted on June 29th, 2009, 3:09 pm

I never use them in front line attacks for the sole reason that they disrupt my ship building if/when they are destroyed.

I'd be more inclined to use them for something if they had some kind of added incentive. If, say, they provided a very mild area bonus to ships of the same class in the nearby vicinity, then I might be inclined to use them more.

I still wouldn't use them in front line missions but I'd be tempted to use them in "last stand" defensive roles if I knew they were going to have an effect.

posted on June 29th, 2009, 3:16 pm

That has to be the best idea yet... have them refitted and off the batt have them have the "research" completed. You have to get some bang for your buck...

posted on June 29th, 2009, 3:29 pm

I still don't get what the complaints are. This is the only faction that essentially allows the research to defend itself 

Does the Federation Starfleet Engineering get a weapon when you upgrade to chassis level 2? Do you hear people complaining that you spent 400 dilithium and 200 tritanium that doesn't do anything other than let you build Monsoons and Intrepids? I mean, that 400/200 could have bought you another Saber or 2. The Dominion gets a defense fleet made up of the research it does at its own base. It is the only faction that has defense on demand like this and it obviously comes at a price: you don't want your prototypes to die. This discussion reminds me so much of the other "give mining/research buildings weapons arrays". You have got to protect your research for every other faction (that's what harassment can be about)--what downside are you going to give the Dominion if they don't have to?

posted on June 29th, 2009, 3:40 pm

lol Dom, You know...I have no use for Monsoons, or intrepids.   Any way, I know you wern't talking to me, but I do think all stations should have limited use point defense lazers.  However, I agree we shouldn't mess with the way Dominion reaserch, You shouldn't complain that something is broken just because you lose.

posted on June 29th, 2009, 8:41 pm

Use them to 'Escort' Ferengi Marauders out of your space...

posted on June 29th, 2009, 10:04 pm

I'm sorry to hear you don't like the Dominion system, Loki
The beauty of it is you don't have to jump through hoops to get the ships you want.  Once you build a Large Construction Yard, you can instantly research the V-13 or Breen Battleship, if you like and have the resources.  You need you build shipyards and the technology lab, that's it to get any vessel you want.  And some of the larger ships like the v-13 and C-17 can accompany your fleet, if you are extra careful with them.  And even if they get destroyed, you can queue up your shipyards full of that design before they get destroyed and still come away with a full fleet of ships, depending on how many shipyards you have.  It gives the Dominion a lot of flexibility on what ships you want to build, especially if you have a plan ahead of time. 

posted on June 29th, 2009, 11:01 pm

The prototypes are a waste of time and a waste of resources. They have no special weapons and are costly to build. they are also slow to construct.

And that is the beauty about them, which fits in well with dominion play.

They are the starting builds to any line of ships (except of course the A-20 and the leftmost ship from the big yard). Once we waste the initial time and resources on the worthless prototype we then unlock mainstay ships which like the V-13 for example bring 47-47-43 stats to the game for only 563 dilithium and a construction time much less than the standard warbird or sov.

The prototype also presents a ship which if destroyed can shut down the line of production on these cheap champ ships.


So while the prototype in of itself is useless, it is supposed to be so. It represents the achilles heel of an otherwise formidable construction lineup.

One point i dont like about them is that you can still line up a full fleet of coming ships, which persist even after the prototype is gone - delaying the effect of a carefully planned sniper attack on the prototype itself.

But other than that one logical glitch in-game the prototypes really make game style more Dominion.

posted on June 29th, 2009, 11:07 pm

I agree with Dominus; they're the only research that defends itself. I don't really think wee have much room to complain in that respect. It would be nice to see dominion prototypes become higher power ships with more features and a chance to catastrophically fail though.

posted on June 30th, 2009, 7:34 am

i really like shevas idea, i think people should be rewarded if they are good enough to let the protos fight, but not die. in this way it would be more realistic, like they see in the of the fight, what works good at a ship and what not. i think it would be ok if all ships get +1 in all stats per level of the proto, and when it reaches veteran, it doesn't matter anymore if destroyed. this way player who just hide their prototypes in nebulas or their own base would have a disadvaantage against the more active player.

so, wal-o-text is over, what do you think?

posted on August 13th, 2009, 4:04 pm

I agree that using prototypes  ties up resourses  for ships for a small gain. That is why when I play Dominion I usally build two small yards right off  the start. The first for  Prototypes  which I set to dump the ships in a area  right on top of the Starbase. The Second yard or even third, I set to crank out ships. Then when  all the prototypes are built the  first yard rally point is qued up with the second yard.I only use the prototype If ABSOLUTELY NESSARY to defend the starbase.I feel this does not unbalance the Dominion by useing prototype ships. It only makes sense as If the  Jemhadair had "free access "to their  ship plans. BYE BYE Vorta and Founders.