But I'm seriously puzzled as to why Seleuceia thinks its such a big deal it needs to go on a capitalships (not that its necessarily a bad idea, but I don't think the Advent need a lot of nerfs right now
It's complicated, but here is my thinking so far...first, let's get the no-brainers out of the way:
- Revelation must have a normal ability that helps damage planets...
- Reverie is fine and does not need to be changed (at least not conceptually)
So, in order to meet goal 1 while keeping reverie, we have 3 possibilities:
- Buff Clairvoyance to help bomb planets...this could be done by:
- Planet under affect of clairvoyance is more susceptible to bombing damage
- Mines at planet are revealed...multiple ways to implement this (random chance, target cap, etc.) but in concept minefields become less of an issue...
- Increased bombing damage is a must if clairvoyance becomes the "bombing" ability"...revealing mines is a possibility...
- Change Guidance to help bomb planets...this could be done by making it an AoE (preferably passive, but possibly active) that reduces the bombing weapon cooldown of nearby ships or all ships at gravity well...
- Make Provoke Hysteria a normal ability and nerf it...
Option 3 is my least favorite option because provoke hysteria by its nature is an ultimate ability....think of it's effect (more dramatic than drain planet, comparable to wail, strip, awe and inspire), the fact that it scales so extremely well (no other bombing ability does, and with good reason)...it is meant to be an ultimate...
That leaves buffing clairvoyance or changing guidance....let us take some other things into consideration:
- Clairvoyance needs a buff independent of what else is done to the revelation...the concept of this ability is inflexible i.e. it can't be put on a cruiser or "changed" completely and basically is stuck targetting planets...
- Guidance needs to be buffed or reworked independent of what else is done to the revelation...unlike clairvoyance, guidance is flexible i.e. you could provide "guidance" to do anything (use abilities, fire weapons, bomb planets, regen, etc)...this ability also could be moved to a cruiser...
If you accept that a normal ability must make the revelation better at bombing, provoke hysteria needs to stay as an ultimate, and guidance is much more flexible for "reworking" than clairvoyance (which basically has to be a cap ability that targets planets), I think it becomes apparent that clairvoyance is the better pick for reworking as a planet bombing ability...
For now, let's say that clairvoyance makes the target planet more susceptible to bombing and maybe makes revealing mines somehow easier...let us not concern ourselves with the numbers, but just know that this makes any planet in the system easier to bomb even if the revelation is not there (something that siege platforms and raze planet cannot do)...I am confident that numbers could be selected to make this ability very useful for bombing...
That still leaves guidance (which needs to be reworked somehow)...what to do what to do....well, you could swap guidance and repulsion...early game that could be brutal, cause if it wasn't channeling then you could bomb a planet and keep pesky units off of it...personally though, I'd rather keep guidance on the revelation...
I see three broad possibilities with guidance:
- Buff ability usage - this could be an AoE (either passive or active, depending on specific buff and stats) that reduces AM cost, reduces ability cooldown, regenerates AM...
- Buff weapon usage - again, AoE (either passive or active, depending again on the specific stats)...we are talking reduced weapon cooldown, increased weapon cooldown, increased accuracy, increased range, etc.
- Buff regen - also AoE, increased passive regen rates for hull and/or shields...most important probably would be a buff to AM regen rate...
A final possiblity is to make this a single target ability similar to elite crews...you buff a single target (hell, maybe even let it affect titans), allowing it to spam abilities better or whatever....
Personally? I am a fan of the single target idea, with massive stat improvements to that target...furthermore, I'd even consider allowing it to target itself...basically, we are talking about a normal ability similar to elite crews in concept, an ability that may even affect SBs and/or titans, and may even affect self...I was against this in diplomacy but titans change things, and I think this ability could be really useful throughout all stages of the game...
So...to summarize:
- Reverie and provoke hysteria left alone
- Clairvoyance makes target planet more susceptible to bombing and may also help reveal mines
- Guidance is like a "normal ability" version of elite crews...maybe not same exact buffs, but basically you are helping a single target become better/stronger/beastlier
I still may move repulsion to a cap ship, but it almost certainly won't be the revelation...but that's a whole different story....