Tryptic's Mod: the D'deridex and the Norexan

posted on October 12th, 2016, 5:33 pm
I've been talking to a few people lately about ideas for Tryptic's Mod, and I want to start posting my thoughts here so other people can get involved in the discussion, if you so choose. I'll be posting a number of topics, but as always with this mod, progress is limited by my free time. The first topic I want to cover is the Romulan Warbirds the D'deridex and the Norexan.

Warbirds Past (3.0 - 3.1.5)

For as long as I can remember, all of the Warbird have had low combat abilities compared to the main battleships of other races. However, in Fleet Ops 3.0.x and 3.1.x, they were augmented by two powerful supporting ships: the Generix Spectre and Generix Support. The Spectre came with low cost, high defense, a resistance bonus against torpedoes and shields that remained active while cloaked: basically, everything that was a threat to your Warbirds would auto-target your Spectres first, allowing you to keep the fire off of the bigger ships.

The Generix Support refit carried a powerful single-target shield restore: the same ability I've given to the C-11, but with more special energy. This meant that in the late game when your cloak became useless for escaping from battle, you could instantly react to damage on your Warbirds and keep them alive.

This combination of defensive abilities made the Norexan more attractive than the big D because of its high damage output. The only downside was that awful pulse damage, which leads us to...

Warbirds Present (3.2.0 - 3.2.7)

When the final version of Armada 2 Fleet Ops was released, the Devs were right in the middle of a new idea. They were going to remove the relationship between torpedo and pulse weaponry and large and small ships, and implement a new system of Offense and Defense profiles for ships that would use the weapon types. As a result, torpedo weapons on small ships and pulse weapons on large ships wouldn't be such a restrictive thing. They also took this opportunity to replace the old Generix line with a new one. Unfortunately, when development was discontinued the Romulans were left in a very unfinished state with no late-game support for their Warbirds. As a result, the only viable use for them became the Warbird rush.

The Warbird Rush

The Romulans have the unique ability to build their Warbird yard without getting the Staryard first. This gives them the option to Warbird rush, which gives them a small number of ships that are nearly impossible to kill in the early game. That is why some people consider Warbird rushing to be a cheese strategy.

Cheese (noun) 1. A build order or strategy that requires the opponent to scout it early, recognize the strategy being used, and switch to a specific counter strategy in order to oppose it. 2. A strategy that is considered to be easier to use and requiring less skill than the strategies that counter it.

Now I don't consider Warbird rushing in regular Fleet Ops to be cheese, because there are multiple ways to deal with it. Furthermore, the build order leaves the Romulan player with only 2 ships they can build and no good option to switch. On top of that, the D'deridex seems to be balanced with it in mind: if a player starts out with the Staryard, getting Warbirds as well will cost them as much as 3 Leahvals and the reward just isn't worth it.

Warbirds Present (Tryptic's Mod)

With the inclusion of the Centurion, I've tried to restore the role of a high-defense cruiser that takes hits for your more valuable Warbirds. The Singularity Generix has been buffed through the roof until 3 of them can render a fleet nearly invulnerable for a short period (but you absolutely must use the special on all 3 at once).

I really like the idea of the D'deridex as an iconic warhorse of the Romulan empire. In the shows, it was used almost exclusively (technically this was due to budget constraints on 3D modeling, but we can pretend it was on purpose XD). I like the idea that they were built to be bigger and stronger than any other battleships of their time. If you compare them to the slender profile of the Norexan, however, you get the distinct impression that the empire decided the D'deridex was too expensive to produce and went with a more efficient design for their next generation of Warbirds. I like the idea that originally, a massive cloaking device was needed to cloak a battleship but as technology advanced, they became smaller and the large hull was no longer needed.

My goal is to make it so building at least one D'deridex is a good idea in any game, but building a large number of them is discouraged. To this end, I've increased the supply cost tremendously and adjusted the special ability. Stealth Field has a very powerful effect that does not stack and only needs to be used every 10 seconds.

The Norexan, on the other hand, should have as much fleet synergy as possible. It has high offense, so you should be using Generix Centurion refits to tank for it. Its special ability deals extra damage using special energy, which works perfectly with singularity gens. This ship is designed to be built in the late game in large numbers. Unfortunately, it just hasn't caught on yet, which finally leads us to my point...

The Future

Now I am considering a final round of changes that I think will put the Norexan right where I want it to be. They are as follows:

1. Norexan weaponry changed to Beam/Torpedo This will result in several things. The Norexan will become more able to deal with the same enemy ships that the D'deridex was facing, which should make it easier to transition between the two. Also, there are a number of ships that the Norexan should counter with its TWA, but doesn't. With this change it should be able to properly counter ships like diamonds, phalanx, and dreadnoughts. Finally, this change will result in the Warbird yard having very little pulse damage, which means they may wish to switch to advanced small ships in some cases.

2. Generix refit tweaks The generix Spectre will probably get a damage boost during its dome shield, and the Centurion may have its weapons changed to beam/pulse, making it almost identical to the old Spectre. This is to make sure the Romulans aren't left without any late-game answers to small ship spam.

3. D'deridex build limit Don't make me do it, guys :lol: I'm not seriously considering this yet, but it worked for the phalanx and the S7. I'll use it if I have to.

The more I think about change #1, the more I like it. The Norexan may go back to being a pulse ship when the devs release NX, but for right now it is a late game ship and needs to be effective against other late game ships. But I am only one man, and I don't want to design this mod in a bubble. Let me know what you guys think about all this, if you would like.

tl;dr
I want to make the Norexan shoot torpedoes instead of pulses so it can kill other battleships.
posted on October 14th, 2016, 2:35 pm
I'd say make the Norexan Pulse / Torpedo armed. That keeps it close to canon* while allowing for anti-battleship work. It seems to work OK for officer Defiants.

There's another conversation to be had about the relationship between early / middle / late tier units, their research costs, opportunity costs, and so on within Fleet Ops (in short: I think it's jacked in 3.2.7 ), but that's for another thread, another time, especially as I need to think through it more.

* I know there have been arguments about gameplay trumping canon, but the lore should at set the basic characteristics of the ships, and gameplay is easier to tweak than trying to justify why this ship did that on screen but something completely different in game.
posted on October 14th, 2016, 2:52 pm
Lol I don't mind having the whole early game/late game discussion here, after all I get paid by the word around here :lol:

My personal impression was that in the old days people liked rushing to big ships so much that the devs had to nerf them until small ships started to be used again. I'm trying to build a new balance where large ships are stronger but can be countered by special abilities. It's just a shame that our player base is so small and I can't get large quantities of feedback.

The new Disruptive Strikes passive, for example, is specifically meant as a counter to large ships. I want to see a Warbird start going against the new bug/breen cruiser build that I like to use. I suspect they wouldn't stand a chance.

But in those cases, I've done various things to make the yards cheaper so it is easier to switch out of a build that the enemy has countered.
posted on October 21st, 2016, 5:02 pm
The Future mk2

After having a very good conversation with some players, I've come to understand more about the Romulan early game. They were able to demonstrate to me that the problem with the D'deridex is its build time. Like the Borg assimilator, one big D isn't a problem, but 2 or 3 of them are a very big problem, and it is possible to produce them without delay on a single moon pair.

In response, I have an idea that will completely revolutionize Romulan gameplay. It may take a while to get used to, but I believe the final result is well worth it:

2.5b
-Warbird Yard tech requirement changed to Staryard
-D'deridex build time increased
-D'deridex tech requirement changed to Research Institute


For Staryard strategies, this means the D'deridex is slightly easier to get. For a Warbird start, however, it will mean that the Romulan player always has the option to produce small ships as well, or even to switch to them entirely if Warbirds are being countered. The yards will provide ship variety, while the Romulan research facilities will be their tech-up option.

Finally, the build time increase should be the final nail in the coffin for
the D'deridex-only build. Even if it is only a few rhienns for tanking, or shrikes for raiding, you will have to build SOMETHING besides that one ship XD People might even find that they enjoy the new fleet compositions :thumbsup:
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