spam

posted on October 9th, 2010, 3:20 pm

What would people generally consider spam online?  Is it just building one ship in big numbers, like say more than 8?  Or maybe I'm getting confused with 'critical mass' of what you're left with if you're ships aren't killed off.  Hmm.  I was looking in the guide for a list of spammable units, but nothing listed as yet.  Is there a general consensus?  Anyways, just curious about that.  No doubt this has been debated ad infinitum, but any pointers at all would be greatly appreciated 

posted on October 9th, 2010, 3:25 pm

A generalized description:

Spamming, in the context of video games, refers to the rapid, repeated use of the same item or action. For example, "grenade spamming" is the act of a player throwing a large amount of grenades in succession into an area. In fighting games, one form of spamming would be to execute the same offensive maneuver so many times in succession that one's opponent does not receive a chance to escape the series of blows.

[Optec]

posted on October 9th, 2010, 3:30 pm

Last edited by Optec on October 9th, 2010, 3:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Spam does always carry a negative touch, while it is a valid strategy. For example consider playing an opponent who utilizes three relatively similar starship classes, which share a vulnerability. If you 'spam' a vessel thats good at vaporizing your opponent, you can't be blamed. After all that's what strategy is all about.
"Spam" in the terms o real time strategy games does usually imply using exploits, like only building a unit class which is too powerful due to balancing flaws.

//edit: The guide also includes a chapter about it: Etiquette - The Hitchhiker's Guide to Fleet Operations

posted on October 9th, 2010, 3:45 pm

Cool, thanks for that!

posted on October 9th, 2010, 4:33 pm

I've played REALLY fun games where my opponent spammed 108 intrepids..  It was a blast.

posted on October 9th, 2010, 5:06 pm

Indeed - I can only echo what others have said  . If spam is from an overpowered unit, than yup, there will need to be discussion of avoidance/limitation. However, spam in general is a valid tactic - especially if your opponent has failed to account for that type of unit being produced

posted on October 9th, 2010, 6:12 pm

Yes @ what Dom and Optec said.


  "Spam" got a bad reputation when we had somewhat unbalanced ships in previous patches.  The biggest problem was that these ships were a bit too "all-around good" and could simply be spammed mindlessly without having an effective counter to stop them.  That's what made "spam" a dirty word .


  Only a few ships ever really still carry that stigma like the Romulan Spectre en masse and sometimes the 3+ Sphere mass in games with only a few players.  In theory though, there are ways to counter everything now .

posted on October 9th, 2010, 6:42 pm

sphere spam isnt really an issue i dont think as there are plenty of ships with torps and plenty with medium range counters.

posted on October 9th, 2010, 7:10 pm

sphere spam isnt really an issue i dont think as there are plenty of ships with torps and plenty with medium range counters.

I didn't say it was actually a problem.  I'm saying that people will see it that way when 5 Spheres are dancing their way around your ships.

posted on October 9th, 2010, 7:19 pm

What about a single ship with several multi-targeting scanners and extremely redundant systems in every area?  Allowing for ships operation to be uninterrupted if several systems go down at once.  Would that be considered a spam even though it's only one ship?

posted on October 9th, 2010, 7:44 pm

I don't even know what that means.

posted on October 9th, 2010, 7:49 pm

If one very powerful ship came through, but nothing else, would that be a spam because of it's power?

posted on October 9th, 2010, 7:52 pm

Obviously not, that doesn't even resemble the definition of spam...

posted on October 9th, 2010, 10:30 pm

sphere spam isnt really an issue i dont think as there are plenty of ships with torps and plenty with medium range counters.

I was in a 3v3 where one teem was all borg and thay got like 15 spheres but consetrated fire from me and my alies made them go BOOM . All of a sudden no spheres.

posted on October 9th, 2010, 11:16 pm

No TCR you can't build your Dread!