I would reduce all weapon dmgs by one. For instance combi rifle 13 To 12. Will make arm more serious thing.
Scylla is a "they" as are Combined Army. /parochial Serious question: why does CA Hacking need it? It doesn't seem - to me - to be in a bad place.
Because part of the balance of factions was being able to go head to head with Nomads in the hacking game. Now that's not true, and there's not anything given back to compensate.
But you can go head to head with Nomads in the Hacking game? Jazz doesn't get Maestro anymore either, and no Nomad H+ gets a Sucker-punch equivalent (Jazz is the closest with Trinity (+1 DAM)). Interventor KHDs went from having Lightning to an upgraded Trinity that leaves them much more exposed in their Reactive. Most of CA' s top tier Hackers take 2Ws to put down - which makes Trinity far less effective at removing them form the game. The point is that Hacking has fundamentally changed and the balance is different: is CA's Hacking game fundamentally unbalanced? I'd argue not. Could some specific profiles get some love? Probably. I'd be sympathetic to the Nexus Hacker getting say Oblivion or even Spotlight (-3) as a survival buff. But if anyone deserves a Sucker-punch equivalent it's Custodier HD+'s because - given the limited Lt options - they need to be somewhat survivable (and even then I'd advocate Oblivion(+3) on the HD+ profile and the HD profile being removed).
Well, Nomads can put hackers behind -6 firewalls. Problems also has AP on her Trinity, which is pretty important when dealing with BTS6-9 hackers. Interventors can just laugh at Trinity most of the time. Interventors also have BTS 9 in a field that's not full of DAM 16 Double Trouble like in N3, and themselves have Trinity -3. They're not more exposed in their reactive, they're much, much more durable because the meta's shifted. Maybe they lost a bit of lethality, but everyone lost far more, especially against high-BTS targets like Interventors. Well, maybe. BTS 9 with a -3 Trinity is pretty damn durable. More durable than BTS 6 2w sometimes. In order to say that you'd have to make the argument it was overpowered before. And then you've got Nomads who've got crazy attack pieces like the Kriza *along with* high-tier hacking and I'm left scratching my head as to how other sectorials are supposed to feel like they're getting a fair fight.
Yeah... Have you seen Vanilla CA? Hahahahaha You're making a "I want that green Grass!" argument with no meat behind it. And yes, I used to argue that Maestro was stupidly over-powered and needed to be removed from the game.
And I used to argue that it was stupid :p Seriously, it's primary claim to fame was that it caused the game did a hard CTD if the target suffered damage other than Maestro in the same order and CB never clarified how to handle it. Also, it's main benefit of being the only hacking program with both +3 and -3 was mitigated by being dedicated to hunt for targets that basically wasn't used in all of that edition (heavy infantry hackers) and having a much milder effect and lower damage than regular KHD programs against everyone else. Now, seriously, can we try and keep this specific faction balance complaint concentrated to like one thread? @psychoticstorm hasn't this particular thread served its purpose now that N4 is released and there are threads dedicated to error reporting elsewhere?
What's your point, smart guy? If I were that I would have been asking for smoke grenades. I just want the feeling of, you know, actually being a technologically advanced faction again, instead of running and hiding from the space hobos and their superior hacking game. Plus, I mean... your wish list about the space nun hacker Lt is even more blatantly envious than mine is, since I'm arguing for a competency that used to exist to be returned, and you're arguing for a competency that Bakunin never had to be added.
On hacking - I like drinking just as much as the next guy. Probably more than the next guy, to be quite honest. And I would absolutely love a taste of whatever got CB blackout drunk when they decided to make Spotlight an ARO. Not a request for a fix but more of a suggestion...Guided is hands-down the most boring, unengaging mechanic in Infinity, right next to the old Speculative Fire spamming grenades all over the table. Supporting that mechanic with ARO Spotlight, in a way that requires no effort on the part of the user, is a terrible design decision.
Agreed with @TriggerPuller9000 : something really needs to be done about Guided units. Not a tripple nerf something like what happened to Jammers, but still something. Like having Guided cancel the Main Target's the Marked state.
Has anyone pointed out that a significant amount of CA's pieces are immune to the effects of the most effective hacking program thanks to them all having veteran? The issue goes beyond just Maestro, bringing that program back would just replace nomads with CA at the top of the pile. They just need to fix the KHD so that everyone has a half decent chance at taking down apex hackers, so it isn't a case of trying to fight a tag with a pistol. Unfortunately I doubt we will see any changes as there are not really many tournaments happening so CB isn't getting the information they need to make adjustments.
That's why I said "something like Maestro or Sucker Punch" and not literally just Maestro or Sucker Punch, which wouldn't exactly work right in N4. Do you think that N3 Redrum instead of Trinity would still be too powerful?
Most apex Hackers are very squishy, inept in Combat or very expensive (some are 2/3). Making them vulnerable to cheap tools just ends up with where we were in N3. The best tool to kill an apex Hacker is not another Hacker. It's a guy with a gun. The way this had been described to me is that "if Hacking is dominating your games, perhaps your tables are too cramped and if TAGs are dominating your games perhaps your tables are too open". Honestly, vs an opponent with Midfield Repeaters, Decent Hackers and a Guided Missilebot you shouldn't be getting important pieces Spotlit in ARO: Targetted is an existential threat in that situation. That set up is designed to force you to spend orders to deal with it in the same way Total Control threatens TAGs. I think Spotlight as an ARO has opened up the scope of "soft AROs" which is extremely interesting. I absolutely understand why CB went that route. I am, however, sympathetic to the argument that Guided is dominant. Honestly, reinstating U-Turn as a (stackable) Controlled Jump like ARO would probably do it (ie may be declared anytime BS Attack (Guided) is declared imposing a -Supportware-based penalty). Or simply increase their costs: Guided Missile Bots are amongst the cheapest BS12 MLs in the game. Guided is still relatively inefficient, part of its attractiveness is that the quality of FTF threats has increased: so there is less opportunity cost in setting it up.
Redrum was the problem when it came to N3 KHDs, it invalidated the other options. A B2 program with AP or ignores BTS half of firewall at around dam 15ish that is KHD only (also increase the KHD cost a little) and doesnt get better versions handed out like candy as an upgrade to standard HDs, would help to both balance things out and give a KHD a clear reason exist.
Oblivion does a pretty good job at it. not really, it just closes the gap a little between the haves and the have nots. The first half really only applies to hacking in ARO, being able to hide on a roof or on your side of the table and throw repeaters down field due to pitchers and brick or spotlight stuff with impunity in active, because you don't care about some scrub with trinity as they are not a threat worth worrying about. while inefficient it does allow you to attack a piece at little to no threat to you while being an existential threat to your opponent, which is a trade off a lot of people I've found are okay with making, especially in objective room missions. If I can drop missiles on the Avatar, linked Karhu, or something else simmilar without needing to actually go toe to toe with it I will happily spend a few more orders for it to disappear.
No, Redrum wasn't a problem just because it invalidated other programs: it was a problem because it was so strong that a myriad of Hacking gameplay styles were niche or completely underpowered. I had many conversations regarding how an Interventor Lt was not worth taking because of how vulnerable it was to Redrum. There are very few Hackers that are actually all that difficult to kill. Some are now just difficult to kill with Hacking through their own Repeaters. This is necessary for Hacking to be a viable gameplay feature. Also, do remember that Oblivion is DAM 16 AP, so a B2 AP program to neutralise a Hacking threat already exists. KHDs as point and click Hacker removal tools results in Rock/Paper/Scissor Hacking gameplay. It's both boring and dull.
