Space Clouds

Base Rebalance

Hi everyone, it’s a surprise post from Yclepticon which means that something, somewhere, is about to get balanced!  As I hinted a few times on the forum, I have been working on a plan to rebalance user bases with the goal of bringing them up to par with all the new tech 21-22 gear that has come out over the years.  Bases are one of the most distinctive and complex features of Star Sonata, so I want to make sure to get this right.  So first, let’s hammer out what the current problems are.

Bases

Most players will agree that bases don’t feel powerful enough compared to players.  Even though their weapons are enormous, they don’t seem to pack much of a punch when up against a squad of endgame ships.  And despite special dampeners and augmenters they don’t tend to survive very long when a group of ships open fire on them.  On the other hand, an otherwise weak galaxy can become very strong if a few players show up to defend.  This is because defending players are pretty tough to kill when backed up with healing from their bases, and they can focus their damage on support classes instead of mindlessly going for the tank like bases do.

So what we have is a situation where the presence of active defenders is one of the most important aspects of galaxy defense. This is not necessarily a bad thing.  PvB and galaxy defense can be really exciting.  However, we would like to make base building more accessible to players who don’t necessarily spend 8+ hours a day online, and would be unlikely to take off work or wake up in the middle of the night to defend their bases.  The struggle for territory is an amazing part of Star Sonata and we want to bring it to a wider audience.  This means making bases stronger so that casual and less experienced players have a chance to keep their galaxies safe from PvB.

I know some of you have just put a head shaped hole in your desk after reading that paragraph.  Let me save you the breath and ask the obvious question: How are we supposed to struggle for territory if you make PvB harder?

The answer is almost too simple: we are bringing BvB to center stage.  That’s right,  BASES with frickin’ LASER BEAMS attached to their heads.

sharks_with_frickin_laser_beams_attached_postcard-p239174773458964175baanr_400

Here are the main points of the plan.

  1. Base gear will have most stats increased by a factor of 2.

  2. You will now be able to BvB from any galaxy you own, not just from HQ-connected galaxies (must still own the galaxy for 24 hours first).

  3. The number of kits you can deploy for BvB is being raised from 2 to unlimited.

With these changes, a good PvB squad will still have no problem against weaker galaxies, or even medium-strength galaxies if the owners don’t take defense seriously.  However, if your enemies put a lot of effort into defense, BvB may be the better choice for you.  In that case, you’d better go get your Ada kits ready because you are going to need some spares pretty soon!

I look forward to reading everyone’s feedback on this project.  To get the conversation going, here are a some points I won’t cover in detail right now but which are definitely not being overlooked.

  • These changes are tentatively scheduled to go live for next universe, subject to dev availability.

  • Everything will be tested extensively before going live.  I will make an announcement as soon we can arrange for players to try out the new system on the test server.

  • There will be cheaper, disposable alternatives to endgame base gear (which I announced informally a few weeks ago).  I will elaborate on these in a later post.

  • There will be temporary outpost drones that will help you hold territory you have “liberated” with BvB.  More on these later, as well.

Discuss in the Forum