The Marza doesn't need nerfed!!!

Know why because...

THE TEC SUCK AT NEARLY EVERY FORM OF COMBAT!

There I said it, and it's true. All we REALLY Have are Marza's, Kodiak's and Hoshiko's.  Other than that, we essentially get pwnd in all aspects of combat... the TEC's power is essentially concentrated in these units, with others there just to soak damage and kill of a few enemy ships.

Koda0 (^)

Those units also cost less fleet supply and less money/credits.  They are weaker but as TEC you are supposed to have more of them.  TEC was intended to have a kick-ass economy able to spam out swarms of units, unlike, say, Vasari.  A whole bunch of Kodiaks backed up with Hoshikos and some carriers with fighters (for anti-bomber) and some flaks can be a formidable force.

I agree with the calls to nerf the Marza's Missile Barrage.  Perhaps it should only affect a certain number of ships but be allowed to preferentially (and automatically) choose its targets based on some sort of order (LRMs first, then LFs, etc.).  I also like the idea of making the missile barrage more visible on the game screen.

The Akkan doesn't really need base firepower upped - it's fairly reasonable if you get both broadsides working.

What it needs is a less-completely-useless Colonise special (Even 1/2/4 would be an improvement over the current 0/1/2 extractors), and a slightly less situational Targeting Uplink - my own tweakings suggest a +5/10/15% damage to go with the accuracy and range make a very solid buff.

As for the others... Eh. Kol, in my opinion, would stand to be shifted in role to an AoE specialist (Gods know the TEC needs one), turning the Marza into a single-target nutcracker, with Missile Barrage being an AoE weapon mostly to demolish hordes of structures or light units.

But then, I also realise these changes are way too much for vanilla... I'll just mod it all instead.

Nerf the Marza??? Are you nuts? I love that ship better than the Kol!

the "Destroy a fleet with the push of a button view" isnt exreme nor is it a stance. its a reality.

I'm gonna come here to brag and vent.

First the vent:

BUNCH OF NOOBS CAN'T COME WITH ONE SHIP GO READ WHAT I WROTE AND DO IT.

Then the brag.

HAHA! I TOLD YOU SO. BUT YET PEOPLE DON'T LISTEN. LISTEN AND HAVE A BETTER TIME.

I feel better! Don't you?

Gets better

Take time to read the 4 first page until I say I'm done here. I quoted my self and IC for a reason. Witch elads me to belive your like those people. Don't read or pretend to understand.

The pic is really what did it. Yeah, you came up with a suggestion that IC ended up using (approximately; the exact numbers were not the same it should be noted)... but, y'know, there was massive feedback from folks other than you about the graphic thing, and the reduced DPS, keep-the-total is a pretty simple 'softly, softly' solution anyway.

While I favor the idea of the weapon having an actual directional component (Be that an arc or a circle AoE range), as minimalist changes go, it's pretty straightforward.

5 x 1.25 = 6.25

Not to mention that mitigation will have a bigger incidence on MB.

A Vasari carrier can mitigate alot of the damage caused by an MB so that frigates will not be lost during the barrage.  The ai does it all the time.  If the mb doesn't actually destroy any ships, the marza will have been sitting still and taking a pounding for a long time.  You can replace frigates a lot easier than having to re experience a cap ship to level 6.

And better than the Skirantra, the Progen can also tank MB with Shield Restore. That's not the point.

The point is that no other lvl 6 cap ability comes close to competing with the power of a Missile Barrage. It is about the burden of countering a single ability and keeping that counter alive and ready. No other lvl 6 ability in Sins makes you unable to engage a fleet if you do not have an exact counter.

Its hilarious how much this is like a Warcraft 3 Starfall topic. Its pretty obvious the designers are huge War3 fans (or gamers in general).

I think one problem with SoaSE compared to War3 is that its not as easy to instantly identify units, ships and abilities. Its pretty obvious when there is a level 6 PotM nearby. I remember hating Starfall for quite a while, but eventually I got used to the fact that Night Elf = Starfall, so have an interrupt to counter. Its pretty darn satisfying to cast Sleep on a PotM almost as soon as she casts it. The thing is, no matter how insane the ability is, its not that bad if it has a counter. One RTS ability I have never been able to agree with is Psi Storm in Starcraft. There is an ability that does not have a counter. There is no unit that I can build that will avoid the damage, there is no way to prevent it from being cast. The best thing you can do is try to avoid it, and try not to lose too many units to it.

I only recently had a level 6 Marza, and thought it said that it would do 150 damage once to its AoE. Never got a chance to use it. I think I have a way to go before being able to comment on this properly, as I have only played 5 and a half maps so far. But in the end it kind of comes down to what the designers want. They must be aware that the ability can do what it does, they came up with the idea. There are lots of ways to tone it down:

• It could shoot a single (or 2 or 3 or 4...) missile per second at a random inrange target, instead of a potentially unlimited number of them.
• It could deal a % (1, 2, ...) of max HP damage, instead of an absolute amount. This would prevent it from anihilating smaller ships.
• It could have its cost significantly increased, say reducing shields to zero, or antimatter and shields.
• It could also be a non-IFF ability, IE one that does not descriminate between friend or foe, damaging everything in its range including allies, or even just enemies and itself.

While I'm not yet in a position to decide whether I think it is overpowered or not, I am very curious to see what would happen if someone tried to spam the Marza, The fact that any TEC player can have up to 16 of these is pretty scary.