Very very nice ideas!
I support all of them. It seems some of this may be approached on a modding basis, but certainly not all of it.
1) stop starbase autopin
I think we have to manually unpin at the moment -
2) pirate flak ability is too strong, biased against people using fighters/advent
This could be modded, by altering the entity file of the pirate ships ability in question -
3) pirate reapers too effective against fighters, same issue as #2
This could be modded by adjusting the reaper weapons or their abilities, or even their starting hull strength ? -
4) Advent cannon should have some effect on pirate base to make it a bit more equal to vasari and tec - perhaps double culture effect on ships in that particular gravity well if culture already present, or stop pirate regen, etc.
This is a doozy, i am thinking perhaps something along the lines of altering not only the strength of the advent cannon ability, but perhaps linking it with a secondary effect. That and perhaps lowering the pirate regen by a small amount as well -
5) income effects from starbases not clearly listed around stars
This is something i think the devs have to do -
6) "repair" autocast ability does not consistently fire in all cases. It should fire at cap ships first, then starbase (unless directed), then defense guns, then defense structures, then other. It should fire immediately on cooldown, which (often) does not happen, but always should because if the structure is destroyed then it would have wasted resetting a repair timer for very little cost.
This is also something for the devs - Hmmm, just a thought, but i believe there is a threshold value for the damage percent when repairing friendly craft. This could be lowered. Or the cost or cooldown adjusted so it fires more often? -
7) Add ability to stop ALL mine-dropper autocasting in ALL systems to temporarily preserve resources
although even manual cast is auto when the ai does it, this might be adjusted by increasing the cooldown or the cost of the pirate ability that does this -
8) Separate scouts from other ships when clicking around planet bars, as well as mine layers
For the devs -
9) on lower planet bar display add rightmost separate bar/symbol for starbase to replace autopinning, perhaps color by upgrade level (fully upgraded or not)
For the devs -
10) Vasari marauder ability to stop jump interference effects does not consistently last through the horrible pathfinding and strange ship gyrations of a fleet trying to jump out. Even if the ability is actually available at the time of the jump and should have created protection it will not fire but IF AVAILABLE IT ALWAYS SHOULD - otherwise the horrible pathfinding (repeated "resetting" of ship positions even if already in position) unfairly hurts the Vasari player who cannot properly time this ability. (and needs to jump as fleet for the ability to take effect properly) (alternately triple the length of this ability with respect to jumping)
Jump interference of the Marauder ability can be done by adjust it in the entity file for the ability, perhaps as you suggest increasing the cooldown time, or the cost, or both to give the ships more time. Or you could possibly add a modifier in the ability to temporarily disable the weapons/abilities of the attacking ships, much like "ceasefire" does, when your fleet is retreating. Just an idea -
11) Add easier option to freeze fleet movement temporarily when jumping into systems with minefields, and easy method of having fighters and bombers target nearby mines first. (or primarily autotarget mines within x distance of host ship)
Just a thought, but i believe the phase lane speed is adjustable, but im not sure if it is adjustable for each ship type, if so, then perhaps increasing the speed for the Scouts would have them hit the well first. And if that is true, but not sure it is, but if so, then perhaps you could adjust the cap ships you want to hit the well first with a higher phase lane speed, say 10 seconds faster for a Battleship to hit the well first, than say a Colony Cap coming in second. or your Carrier third. Support ships fourth? -
12) RE: pirates staying grav wells with mines - Give all pirate ships a slow autocasting ability that allows them to detect mines in a gravity well, but that requires full antimatter. After a jump they will never have full antimatter and won't recover it until they have cleared a system, so mines will be targeted last. Ability should also have long cooldown, so people who want to fight pirate using mines can potentially do so even after the ability is initially used. ex. lasts 20 seconds with staggered cooldowns for different pirate ship types, in the 4+ minute range
It would be possible to adjust the mine deactivating ability from one of the other races (as a copy) which is modified just for the Pirates, in that way, you could set the cost and cooldown times to be appropriate to what you feel is best -
13) Add fleet formation options, especially when jumping, so lead scouts can enter first into minefield, certain cap ships can be in the fleet lead, etc.
Right now i think ships follow the "Leader" ship, but this is only a partial fix and only for some situations, as i can see that in different circumstances even a few minutes apart, you might want to lead with a Battleship in one, and scouts, or a support ship or carrier first in the second situation, so this is not easy with a mod. Perhaps this is for the devs again -
Just some ideas, hope this helps, or gives you an idea of how some of this might be done.
Take care,
-Teal
