Tryptic's Mod: Adapted Photons and the Dodecahedron

posted on October 24th, 2016, 4:23 pm

The dode is a tricky ship to balance. One dode doesn't do very much, but a pure dode rush can be impossible to counter. In Tryptic's Mod 2.4 I tried some changes to the Intercept Dode, but in 2.5 I've changed it back.

The problem seems to be with Adapted Photon torpedoes. Compared to other weapon types which deal extra damage to small or large ships, their damage against small ships is just too extreme. Out of all the races, this presents the biggest problem for the Klingons, whom in the early game can build nothing but small ships. They simply have no option but to send small ships against dodes.

Since I don't see any good way to limit dodes and still have them be viable, I've decided to lower the damage bonus on Adapted Photons to something more manageable:

Old Photons
+70% vs small
-70% vs battleships
-90% vs stations

New Photons (2.5c)
+40% vs small
-40% vs battleships
-70% vs stations
-Kills 1 crew every 3 torpedoes (does not affect stations)

In addition, I will be tweaking the changes to Axial Assault. While it will continue to fire 2 torpedoes at once for a substantial overall damage boost, the speed of the dode will be reduced while it is active.

My hope with this change is to make an early dode rush less extreme, but still usable. Specifically for Borg vs Klingons, this translates straight into less damage being dealt to B'rels, K'beajqs, K'vorts, and Sangs.