FAF Balance Patch Test Mod v2 (now with gunship nerf!)

[FunkOff]

Okay, here's the summary of all changes:

The gunship nerf is a change-up of the targeting priorities for t1 interceptors so they target other interceptors first. So, now interceptors + interceptors should easily beat interceptors + gunships.

Also, this mod will work for people who, for some reason, it did not work previously.

Also, imma bold this 'cause it's important:
--New mechanic, shield interference
--Now, whenever a shield is downed and is recharging, it will calculate the number of allied shields units, mobile and structures, that are within its shield radius
--The shield recharge time will be modified, adding a 20% penalty for every shield unit that was under the shield (except itself) when shield recharging began
--This penalty maxes out at 200% normal recharge time (recharge time will never be more than 3x as long as normal)
--Units with personal shields, such as harbingers and Titans are excluded from this calculation, both in their own recharge times and in affecting other units' recharge times
--All other shield recharge time nerfs recanted/removed/undone

For FAF 3610 patch? mod:
1. Quantum Gate teleportation (completed) (tested and passed)
2. SMS and Carrier TML adjustment, now effective against T3 ships (completed) (tested and passed)
3. Corsair fix (completed) (tested and passed)
4. Mercy Adjustment (completed)
5. No radar on T1 bombers (completed)
6. Radar on air scouts (completed) (tested and passed)
7. Serpahim destroyer slight buff (completed) (tested and passed)
8. Seraphim T1 sub anti torp slight buff (completed) (tested and passed)
9. Serpahim Yenzyne range 18-23 (completed) (tested and passed)
10. Seraphim T3 mobile Shield energy cost from -300 to -200 (completed)
11. Seraphim T1 Selen turret yaw up (completed)
12. Tempest hp: 60,000, from 35,000 (completed and tested)
13. UEF Torpedo Bomber drop like normal + vulnerable to anti torp, all torp bombers lower build time (completed) (tested and passed)
14. Carrier AA range up, TMD range/damage up (completed) (tested and passed)
15. T1 frigate AA up (completed) (tested and passed... still die to bombers fairly easily.)
16. 15 build power for T2 engies and 45 build power for T3 engies (from 10 and 15/20) (completed) (tested and passed)
17. Medusa cost/time decrease (completed) (tested and passed)
18. Serpahim acu regen (make it not suck) (completed) (tested and passed)
-19. T2 mass fabs hp up to 500 (completed) (tested and passed)

for mod version 2:
20. More range on sield disruptor (maxradius from 60 to 80) (completed)
21. All tech 1 interceptor target priorities changed (completed)
22. script to replace shield nerf (Completed)
23. Change tech 3 gunships (wailer + boradsworD)
24. All tech 1 air scouts energy cost lowered from 1300 to 1000
25. Seraphim Carrier now has 100 vision, water vision, and sonar radii (from 85, 36, and 40).

Below is the completed list:

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For FAF 3610 patch? mod:
1. Quantum Gate teleportation (completed) (tested and passed)
--Quauntum Gates now teleport non-XP land units units, either to other gates or to open space via a beacon
2. SMS and Carrier TML adjustment, now effective against T3 ships (completed) (tested and passed)
--Seraphim Carrier TML range from 150 to 175, TML damage radius to 0.5, from 3
--SIFLaanseTacticalMissile03_proj.bp health increased from 1 to 2, max speed from 12 to 24, tracking, turn rate from 0 to 0.5, new movement script
--Aeon SMS energy cost from 800,000 to 80,000, Damage radius 0.5 from 2 (range was already 175)
--AIFMissileSerpentine02_proj.bp max speed 24 from 12 (health was already 2), tracks target, turn rate from 0 to 0.75, new movement script
--Cybran SMS, energy cost from 800,000 to 80,000 range from 150 to 175, damage radius from 4 to 0.5,
--CIFMissileTactical02_proj.bp max speed 24 from 12 (health was already 2), tracks target, turn rate from 0 to 0.5, new movement script
--UEF SMS energy cost from 800,000 to 80,000 range already 175, damage radius from 3 to 0.5
--TIFMissileCruise02_proj.bp speed 24 from 12 (health was already 2), tracks target, turn rate from 0 to 0.5, new movement script
3. Corsair fix (completed) (tested and passed)
--Corsair anti-ground weapon range from 45 to 35 (mobile flak range is 40, for reference)
4. Mercy Adjustment (completed)
--Max Radius from 25, to 15, fuel recharge rate to 3, from 0
5. No radar on T1 bombers (completed)
--Aeon Bomber RadarRadius = 0, #from 65
--UEF bomber  RadarRadius = 0, #from 65
--Cybran bomber RadarRadius = 0, #from 65
--Seraphim bomber  RadarRadius = 0, #from 65
6. Radar on air scouts (completed) (tested and passed)
--Aeon RadarRadius = 65, #from 0
--Cybran RadarRadius = 65, #from 0
--UEF RadarRadius = 65, #from 0
--Seraphim RadarRadius = 65, #from 0
7. Serpahim destroyer slight buff (completed) (tested and passed)
--Second beam weapon damage from 42 to 47 (first one also has 47)
8. Seraphim T1 sub anti torp slight buff (completed) (tested and passed)
--Anti-torp RateOfFire = 0.2, #from 0.05
9. Serpahim Yenzyne range 18-23 (completed) (tested and passed)
10. Seraphim T3 mobile Shield energy cost from -300 to -200 (completed)
11. Seraphim T1 Selen turrent yaw up (completed)
--From 30 to 120 (still cannot shoot behind itself, but can shoot to the sides)
12. Tempest hp: 60,000, from 35,000 (completed and tested)
--With micro, cybran bship was able to get it down to 17k health remaining before death... this can't be OP
13. UEF Torpedo Bomber drop like normal + vulnerable to anti torp, all torp bombers lower build time (completed) (tested and passed)
--UEF Torp Bomber Build time to 1200 from 1600
--TANAnglerTorpedo06_proj.bp (muzzle vel 14), now enters water to engage target, (was already vulnerable to anti-torps)
--Aeon Torp Bomber build time to 1200 from 1600
--Cybran torp bomber build time to 1200 from 1600
--Seraphim torp bomber build time to 1200 from 1600
14. Carrier AA range up, TMD range/damage up (completed) (tested and passed)
--Seraphim Carrier AA range from 75 to 110
--Aeon Carrier AA range from 75 to 110
--Cybran Carrer AA range from 75 to 110, TMD range from 50 to 70
15. T1 frigate AA up (completed) (tested and passed... still die to bombers fairly easily.)
--UEF frigate AA from 7 to 10 damage
--Cybran frigate AA from 3 to 5 damage
--Seraphim Frigate AA from 2 to 4 damage
16. 15 build power for T2 engies and 45 build power for T3 engies (from 10 and 15/20) (completed) (tested and passed)
--Aeon T2 from 10 to 15
--Aeon T3 from 20 to 45
--UEF T2 from 10 to 15
--UEF T3 from 15 to 45
--Cybran T2 from 10 to 15
--Cybran T3 from 25 to 45
--Seraphim T2 from 10 to 15
--Seraphim T3 from 20 to 45
17. Medusa cost/time decrease (completed) (tested and passed)
--BuildCostMass = 42, #from 48
--BuildTime = 180, #from 240
18. Serpahim acu regen (make it not suck)   (completed) (tested and passed)
--RegenAura now has radius 26 (from 15), regens 2% (from 0.55%)
--RegenCeiling reduced to 30, from 75 (This means the regen aura will never give more than 30 regen to any unit.)
--Test case: Thaam:  Will recieve +6 regen
--Test case 2:  Illshova:  Will recieve +30 regen
--AdvancedAura now has radius 26 (from 25), regens 4% (from 1.1%)
--RegenCeiling reduced to 100, from 200
--MaxHealthBuff increased to 10%, from 1%.  Minimum buff increased to 50 hp, from 0.
--Test case:  Illshovah:  Will recieve +250 max health, +100 regen
--If a unit is buffed with advanced regen field and leave the aura, it will retain it's +10% health.  However, one shot from any weapon will return it's health to it's normal max health.  (A kill shot will still be a skill shot, however.)
-19. T2 mass fabs hp up to 500 (completed) (tested and passed)
--Aeon/uef/cyb/sera

for mod version 2:
20. More range on sield disruptor (maxradius from 60 to 80) (completed)
21. All tech 1 interceptor target priorities changed (completed)
--UEF/Aeon/Cyb used to treat all air units the same, Seraphim would shoot mercies first, bombers second, gunships third, transports fourth, all others last
--All interceptors now shoot mercies first, interceptors second, bombers third, gunships fourth, transports fifth, and all others last
22. script to replace shield nerf (Completed)
--New mechanic, shield interference
--Now, whenever a shield is downed and is recharging, it will calculate the number of allied shields units, mobile and structures, that are within its shield radius
--The shield recharge time will be modified, adding a 20% penalty for every shield unit that was under the shield (except itself) when shield recharging began
--This penalty maxes out at 200% normal recharge time (recharge time will never be more than 3x as long as normal)
--Units with personal shields, such as harbingers and Titans are excluded from this calculation, both in their own recharge times and in affecting other units' recharge times
--All other shield recharge time nerfs recanted/removed/undone
23. Change tech 3 gunships (wailer + boradsworD)
--Wailer = AA gun damage to 10, from 6
--Wailer max speed from to 7, from 8
--Wailer main gun radius increased, accuracy slightly decreased, damage per second slightly decreased
--Broadsword AA gun damage from to 10 from 2 (same DPS as 2 tech 1 mobile AA)
--Broadsword HP increased to 7000, from 6000, main gun accuracy decreased slightly
24. All tech 1 air scouts energy cost lowered from 1300 to 1000
25. Seraphim Carrier now has 100 vision, water vision, and sonar radii (from 85, 36, and 40). 
--This is because UEF has the atlantis (100 water vision), aeon has the tempest (100 water vision) and cybran is the faction that has stealth to begin with   
   

[Mr Pinguin]

Wow, I'm impressed that you got the shield interference thing to work. (And hopefully it's not a weird cpu-cycle hog or something crazy.)

If it works without complications, that opens up a great route for balancing the shield stacking problem (good idea V). I'm actually excited enough by this mod that I want to put aside my current backlog of Steam games so I can try it.

I'm curious about your Wailer/Broadsword changes too.

I'm not sure if your T2 gunship nerf will prove to be ideal though. It's a good idea to try it, but I'm pretty sure that the priorities were set to target gunships and bombers first for a reason.. (the reason being that you want your Ints to eliminate air-to-ground threats instead of getting distracted and chasing after a few Ints the enemy throws in as bait).

Anyway, I like it. Thanks again for putting this together Funk.

PS: Since you seem to be feeling ambitious, do you want to try to fix it so Usha-Ahs can be amphibious (not hover)? I'm sure it must be easy enough to do, since I just want them to move like engineers. I just don't know how to get them working properly..

[Mr Pinguin]

Ha! It works!

Of course I'm sure you tested it before posting, but yeah, I'm still impressed.
I just tested Asylums alone, in pairs, or in threes. I didn't count the seconds so I don't know if it was exactly 20%, but the tripled shields took the longest to regen.

I substituted one SD-pulse in for one of the Asylums, and that also seemed to work. I also tried it with the extra shields turned off, and that still adds to the penalty. I don't know if that was your intended behavior or not, but it seems fine to me.

Neat.

PS: The 80 range on the Aeon shield-breaker is nice, although that adds a double-nerf to shields with this mod.. On the other hand, a 20% rebuild-rate penalty isn't that bad. This has interesting consequences since the Bulwarks are the easiest to stack but now they'll also be the most prone for incurring the rebuild penalty. Hmm..

[Mr Pinguin]

FYI Funk:

I just compared your Wailer's .bp to my own, and I have some suggestions for you.

[edit: nevermind this first part..]
First of all, you nerfed it down to only 95 DPS. (190 dmg every 2 seconds). Was that intentional? My .bp used 190 damage per shot in a triple-shot burst every 2 seconds, so it's actually 285 DPS. The triple-shot is also nice because it helps spread out the Wailer's damage a bit more (which partially compensates for its firing randomness and small damage radius).

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Weapon = {
        {
            AboveWaterTargetsOnly = true,
            Audio = {
                Fire = Sound {
                    Bank = 'XRA_Weapon',
                    Cue = 'XRA0305_Disintegrator',
                    LodCutoff = 'Weapon_LodCutoff',
                },
            },
            AutoInitiateAttackCommand = true,
            BallisticArc = 'RULEUBA_LowArc',
            ChargeDelay = 0.5, #causing no fire at spawn?
            CollideFriendly = false,
            Damage = 190, #285dps; was 150dmg and 300dps
     DamageFriendly = true, #This is fun, but unusual.. too punitive?
     DamageRadius = 0.3, #new #0.5
            DamageType = 'Normal',
            DisplayName = 'Disintegrator Pulse Laser',
            FireTargetLayerCapsTable = {
                Air = 'Air|Land|Water|Seabed',
                Land = 'Air|Land|Water|Seabed',
            },
   FiringRandomness = 0.5, #new
            FiringTolerance = 2, #0.5
            Label = 'Disintegrator01',
            MaxRadius = 34, #25
            MinRadius = 3,
            MuzzleSalvoDelay = 0.3, #0
            MuzzleSalvoSize = 3, #0
            MuzzleVelocity = 35, #38
            ProjectileId = '/projectiles/CDFLaserDisintegrator04/CDFLaserDisintegrator04_proj.bp',
            ProjectileLifetimeUsesMultiplier = 1.15,
            ProjectilesPerOnFire = 3, #1
            RackBones = {
                {
                    MuzzleBones = {
                        'Turret_Down_Muzzle_01',
                    },
                    RackBone = 'Turret_Down_Barrel_01',
                },
                {
                    MuzzleBones = {
                        'Turret_Down_Muzzle_02',
                    },
                    RackBone = 'Turret_Down_Barrel_02',
                },
            },
            RackFireTogether = false,
            RackRecoilDistance = 0, #-0.1
            RackReloadTimeout = 10,
            RackSalvoChargeTime = 0,
            RackSalvoReloadTime = 0,
            RackSalvoSize = 1,
            RackSlavedToTurret = false,
            RangeCategory = 'UWRC_DirectFire',
            RateOfFire = 0.5, #2 #0.8
            TargetCheckInterval = 0.5,
            TargetPriorities = {
                'SPECIALHIGHPRI',
                'SPECIALLOWPRI',
                'ALLUNITS',
            },
            TargetRestrictDisallow = 'HIGHALTAIR, UNTARGETABLE',
            TurretBoneDualMuzzle = 'Turret_Down_Muzzle_02',
            TurretBoneDualPitch = 'Turret_Down_Barrel_02',
            TurretBoneMuzzle = 'Turret_Down_Muzzle_01',
            TurretBonePitch = 'Turret_Down_Barrel_01',
            TurretBoneYaw = 'Turret_Down_01',
            TurretDualManipulators = true,
            TurretPitch = -20,
            TurretPitchRange = 80,
            TurretPitchSpeed = 180,
            TurretYaw = 0,
            TurretYawRange = 180,
            TurretYawSpeed = 180,
            Turreted = true,
            UseFiringSolutionInsteadOfAimBone = true,
            WeaponCategory = 'Direct Fire',
        },

Also, you'll probably want to change the flight behaviors somehow or the Wailer will automatically close in to its targets and negate the outside-visual-range advantage. I just set it to circle at near-max range, but that still requires some micro (since it will circle at max range and the circling may eventually lead it into enemy territory).

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Air = {
        AutoLandTime = 1,
        BankFactor = 0.1,
        BankForward = false,
        CanFly = true,
        CirclingDirChangeFrequencySec = 1,
        CirclingElevationChangeRatio = 0.25,
        CirclingRadiusChangeMaxRatio = 0.95,
        CirclingRadiusChangeMinRatio = 0.85, #tried 0.75--seems too close--should stay at 28.9--well outside the mobile flak vis range of 20
        CirclingTurnMult = 3,
        KLift = 3,
        KLiftDamping = 2.5,
        KMove = 1,
        KMoveDamping = 2,
        KTurn = 1,
        KTurnDamping = 2.3,
        LiftFactor = 7,
        MaxAirspeed = 7,#8
        MinAirspeed = 3,
        StartTurnDistance = 5,
    },

I was thinking that it might work to make the Wailer completely stationary when it hovers (like a CZAR..?), but that doesn't look as cool and the movement does help the Wailer avoid a few flak shots.

[pip]

Nicely done Funk, the mod launches properly now (no more invisible ACU).
I love the shield mechanics.

However, I don't agree at all about "gunship nerf". Only changing target priority for ints will probably make ACU sniping even easier than before. The other changes are globally good, it's time to test them out, now that it actually works

[FunkOff]

First of all, you nerfed it down to only 95 DPS.

Are you sure? In my tests, it fired with three-shot bursts... muzzlesalvosize = 3.

[ZLO_RD]

"1. Quantum Gate teleportation" - looks like a change for fun... like you think it should be in game...i don't like this, it is adding new possibilities for com droppers
"5. No radar on T1 bombers
6. Radar on air scouts" - looks like it will be almost like in vanilla... i like that, but i don't like big changes =\ (when looking at air scout cost i would make land scouts for radar and send forward to aim bombers LOL )
"15. T1 frigate AA up" - frigetes already kill bombers in 3603, frigates are very fast and can dodge t1 bombers forever, and they should never be good enought to kill t2 air

[noobymcnoobcake]

"1. Quantum Gate teleportation" - looks like a change for fun... like you think it should be in game...i don't like this, it is adding new possibilities for com droppers

Hardly. 10hp beacon needed and takes 60 sec for unit to teleport. If beacon is killed so is gate and teleporting units. only work vs AFK moron.

I think t2 gunships still need - 30% E cost increase so it gives more time to get flack as you need a betetr power production to start gunship spam and 10-20% hp nerf. They still survive to long vs int fire and T1 mobile aa is next to useless against them as if there is too many they can avoid or come back later with more numbers but if there is small amounts they smash it and get veterancy for it.

Have you buffed engineering stations and the UEF sparky T2 engineer or they now useless? I also got idea. Give sparky much more build radius so it can reclaim better. Never seen it built in competitive play as T1 engininers outclass it with reclaim by so muh and it does same job as T2 ones. Also the ACU T3 upgrade is near useless and the T2 upgrade is not quite as good as it should be die to the cost effectivness increase in engineers.

I have noticed the qunatum gate beacon is always the cybran one not bug thing but if it could be changed would be great.

[Mr Pinguin]

I have to admit, I actually really like your changes to the SMS and Sera carrier. TMLs as Anti-Ship-Missiles make for some fun gameplay between the battleships and the missile ships. The Anti Ship missiles are slow enough that smaller/faster ships can just dodge them (since you have predictive aiming but not true tracking), but the UEF Summit is big enough and slow enough that it's very hard to dodge.

I was originally pretty skeptical when you (or.. somebody else?) suggested the idea in the other thread because I felt like it was just opening up a new balance problem without resolving the role of subs.

And I still kind of think this is true, since I'm not sure what to make of the SMS/Iavish balance yet, and I still think that Subs could use some tweaks to give them a better role vs surface ships..

About the Missile-Carriers and SMS:

-The Sera carrier has solid HP and it costs only 4400 Mass, and in some quick tests it seemed like two carriers were a decent (if not perfect) counter for a battleship. On the other hand, that's one more surface target for the UEF Neptune and other T2 ships, so I kind of wish that the Sera had an SMS for this role.. (Even though the Sera carrier is clearly more cost effective than an SMS)

OTOH, I still think the SMS cost has to come down a bit. Imo, they should probably be cost-balanced on their primary role (like the Sera Bship), and the SM production should just be a 'bonus'. They loosely counter Bships and they offer similar DPS for land bombardment, so I think their cost should be similar to the Bships as well. (Maybe 8-9k Mass, but still 80-100k Energy?)

SMS HP is very low, and may need a slight buff, but with the 3603 patch their speed (3.5) is a real advantage. I also think we should nerf the SMS nukes (plus the Sera Bship's) to make them more of a 'tactical' tool. They still have to cost more and build slower than SMD, but if they had a smaller radius and only 20-25k damage, then there'd still be a very good reason to build the land-based SML.

Lastly, your 2hp anti-ship-missiles make me wonder if we should reevaluate the role of ship-borne TMD. It seems like the Bships, Neptunes, and Carriers should be able to counter incoming missiles to some extent, but they each get only a single 1 dmg shot vs 2hp missiles, so they fail every time (if they're alone). We obviously don't want the TMD to be too good, so maybe we could increase damage but decrease RoF? If their TMD fired once every 4-5 seconds but it did 2 dmg, then a ship could at least take out 1 incoming missile. If you clustered several Neptunes and Summits together, they might be able to defeat a whole barrage of missiles if they didn't overkill. I'm not sure if that's good or bad for balance though..
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I also want to see Vespers, Barracudas, and Yathsous as effective counters for battleships and Neptunes (and Bulwarks), but this is hard to do because the subs can't dodge and focus-fire at the same time, and if they stop to focus fire you can annihilate them pretty quickly/easily with ground fire from the Summit.

I'm going to experiment with the subs' elevation variable to see if I can get them to operate at a safer depth without running into the ground.

First of all, you nerfed it down to only 95 DPS.

Are you sure? In my tests, it fired with three-shot bursts... muzzlesalvosize = 3.

You're right.
I was sifting through your .bps and my .bps at the same time, so I must've gotten lost and compared the wrong files somehow.. Sorry.

[FunkOff]

I think it's necessary that bships can kill subs, particularly now that there's a sub that out-ranges and kills bships safely (the SMS).... else you really have to just spam T2/T3 subs to get anywhere in naval battles.