Science Vanguard for 1.4.0
Opened this issue · 6 comments
Copying and slightly refining some of my old ABEM ideas:
Name: Nejjul'har
Description: The scientists of the Vanguard, adept at using exotic weapons and gadgets to defeat their enemies.
Focus: Gravity Manipulation, Science, Damage Avoidance
Strengths:
- Exotic particle and gravitic weapons are extremely effective against the heavily-armored ships seen in the early game
- Starts with Graviton Condenser and Stellar Shielding researched at the beginning of the game
- Can heal stars/planets with a special subsystem (not sure if it should be researchable or a starting unlock)
- Superior Tractor Beam technology allows movement of allied planets
- Portal Stabilizers and megaconstructions require less Labor to construct, reflecting their mastery of exotic particle manipulation
- Certain gravitic weapons can make it difficult for enemy ships to close to firing range
- Metallurgy equivalent improves Energy output of Factories
Weaknesses:
- Gravitic weapons require a dense target to deal maximum damage, so light armor or good shielding will render them fairly ineffective
- Cannot improve Factory Labor output; starship Labor costs can be moderately reduced by using Energy, but this becomes inefficient as the game progresses due to the limits of Energy storage
- Due to low Labor output, ships are either fragile or impractical to construct
Subsystem Name: Graviton Pulse Condenser
Replaces: Railgun, Railgun Battery
Role: Mid-range weapon
Characteristics:
- Very low damage output
- Deals more damage to dense objects
- Depending on firing mode, has a chance to either pull or push the target on impact (this will make heavy use of Darloth's effector-switching trick, as well as an ability toggle)
Subsystem Name: Gravitic Enhancer
Replaces: Laser
Role: Short-range weapon
Characteristics:
- Low damage output
- Deals more damage to dense objects
- Deals damage from all directions simultaneously - 'crushing the opponent under their own weight'
- Significantly more effective than the Graviton Pulse Condenser, but has a dangerously short range and cannot affect the enemy's position
Subsystem Name: Singularity Torpedo
Replaces: Torpedo Launcher
Role: Extremely long-range weapon, AoE weapon
Characteristics:
- Massive damage output, not affected by enemy's mass
- Rapid damage dropoff from epicenter; may want to investigate DOF nukes
- Pulls affected targets inward like the Ancient Gravitational Collapser
- Extreme damage and slow cooldown make it ideal against individual Destroyers and other lone flagships, but decoys or swarms of support ships may render it ineffective
- Does not target support ships or civilians by default.
Subsystem Name: Transphasic Missile
Replaces: Missile Launcher
Role: Long-range weapon
Characteristics:
- Moderate damage output (a conventional missile would qualify as 'high' damage)
- Bypasses most shields, and has 50% bleedthrough against forcefields
- Can be completely negated by damage resistance
Subsystem Name: Gravitic Induction Drone
Replaces: Drone Launcher
Role: Short-range, quasi-AoE weapon
Characteristics:
- Low damage output
- Deals more damage to dense objects
- Each impact damages a randomly selected circular patch of 7 hexes (blank spaces are not damaged, the center of the patch takes the most damage). Damage is severely reduced by shields.
Subsystem Name: Repulsive Plasma Thrower
Replaces: Plasma Thrower
Role: Mid-range weapon, crowd control device
Characteristics:
- Very low damage output, dealt over a period of 10-20 seconds
- Each tick of the DoT pushes the target in the same direction the projectile was moving in, relative to the ship. (For instance, a ship that takes a frontal hit will keep being pushed backwards until the DoT expires.)