SAME SHIPS, NEW POSSIBILITIES, ALL BALANCED

Hello everybody! It has been a while since the Bay saw major changings. The last one was the introduction of the third new ship Guardian, togheter with TEAL items. Ok, we had more items in the meanwhile, Standard Torp, Big Bandage and Repair Plasma, but nothing 'captivating', so to speak.
I would now propose something that can really make the day at the Bay, solving 2 issues at once AND enhancing ships customization. Intriguing?

1)-A big problem (never solved) rose years ago: it was a display issue that force 6-In-Battle-Items ships (from now on "6-IBIS" ships) to have very small buttons on smartphones, even at maximum width. Ships with just 5-IBIS (Shooter, Interceptor, Guardian and Speeder) or less (just Defender) are immune to this trouble, making them actually easier to manuever. Even if many solutions have been given, none of them was put to use...

2)-Another unbalancing between ships is...the Shooter. Yeah, not only it is broken with all the firepower it has, it has also 1 EXTRA POINT in slots (12 total). You do know it, right? Considering Slot Points are crucial in customization, giving an extra point to only 1 ship with nothing justifing it is just, personally, unacceptable.

3)-As said, I wanted to propose more customization to ships. And solve the 2 afore mentioned issues. How? Well, the introduction of the TEAL items came with a second extraordinary change: the Defender got a HYBRID slot. Yeah, one slot can be used for 2 different kind of items, but it was the only ship gifted with that.

Are you getting where i am pointing? 1 HYBRID SLOT FOR EVERYONE! With these simple adjustments, not only every ship can be reduced to 5-IBIS, they will have the same slot points (12) and become open to dozens new unexplored combinations. See the pictures, comment, and tell developers you wants them too! (Interceptor and Reaper are OP in item slots, just add 1 point)


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I proposed flex slots quite a long time ago, I'm glad the concept has finally taken some roots in Defender. Specifically I prosed to make a single 1-point flex slot for Red items, so players can choose to forego a weapon for a yellow for example. Interceptor, for example, is a shooter that has this tradeoff (introduced later). I pointed out some constraints may likely need to be put into place to avoid OP configurations without identifying what. I'm actually not terribly excited to swap for a blue item though... they are largely over-rated in this game (For example GS is too high relative to it's value), as I'd lean toward swapping an active item for an active item (those with a button).

I also disagree about Shooter being broken. The concern IMO has always been in the empty space between a 3-weapon and a 5-weapon ship.. The Interceptor may finally fill that gap in 12 months when we can finally level it up to match the other level 50 ships in our inventory... but that's a long, long way off. I think flex slots are a far better idea than an endless stream of new ships. We need more diversity on the bay, and progression in this game is obscenely long without having to massively upgrade each new ship to what we already have. Boats should be the loss leader and items should be the primary progression governor.

 

Well, that would not solve the problem of 6-IBIS being difficult to handle in some devices, that is why I proposed passive blue items. Also, the only kind of items not available to all ships are YELLOW (dodge) and GREEN (repair), and teal but is quite exclusive to Guardian, it will lose any sense if TEAL usage spread in various ships...

It is obvious that making an Enforcer or Speeder self-repairing with Duct Tape would be OP, so no green, and they already have enough RED/YELLOW (also because giving 3rd RED to speeder would turn into faster-ever Enfo, and a 4th RED to Enfo would be too much). So Speeder and Enfo can only have 1 more blue, useful to become more bulky.

Shooter cannot be enthrust with a yellow anymore, and a green is nonesense. Defender already got her, so never mentioned. And a 3 weapon Fixer is exaggerated, and a 2 YELLOW fixer...well, is the Reaper. So basically BLUE items are the only solution.
This would be great, if not OP:

And surely gives a sense to the Guardian.

Woa, totally agree. And nice choice of words.

 

Yea that kinda blew my mind

 

Sort of sounds like the only reason you are proposing the active->passive flex slot is to remove the 6th button from the Reaper. That would seem to be better addressed with UI redesign.

If you are asserting a Shooter with a yellow in place of Red would be OP I'm confused why are you not asserting Interceptor is OP?

 

truly not, in fact

that is yes, I had exactly asserted Interceptor is OP: large firepower and elusive items are extremely dangerous. Also, it has enhanced speed and agility.
Fortunately, Interceptor usually are not lv50 so they go down faster than a shooter...
i am just proponing a fair and useful way to solve the screen problems for the too-small IBIS allowing every ship (Except Reaper) to be reduced to 5-IBIS being still fully equipped. This would also allow every ship to load at least the Turbo, togheter with a Shield and a Bandage (Standard/Big may depend).

Additionally, it the flex slot TEAL/GREEN on the guardian is approved, it would turn into a highly competitive ship.

 

There is actually another option, but is most probably broken...
A 1-POINT RAINBOW (W) slot reducing by 1 point the substitued colour-total, that means:

7RRRR 1W 4BBB Shooter
5RRR 1W 6BBBB Defender
3RR 3YY 1W 5BBB Speed
4RRR 4YY 1W 3BB Enfo
3RR 1Y 1W 4GG 3BB Fix
3RR 4TT 1W 4BBB Guard
5RRR 1Y 1W 5BBB Inter
4RR 2YY 1W 2G 3BB Reap

This way any ship could wear whatever single point item (so a defender could Overboost...what a joke)
Every ship maintain at least a unique combination of item points, retaining its "flavour" (even if Enfo and Speeder can both get RRR YY BBB their slot POINTS would be different, as if Fixer gets the RR YY GG BB asset would still have different options from Reaper, as the Reaper would differ from Enfo in case of RRR YY G BB).

This would make a REVOLUTION of the bay, but is the "everyone happy" solution, as you can really do whatever with any ship and find your best custom way to fight. Also, would disappear the need of new ships, but makes WHATEVER new KIND and COLOR of item potentially amazing.

Broken or Want-to-be?

 

This implies that if in the future appears new colors, like the ORANGE or GREY items, it is ok a new ship that MASTER the new type with 2points slots, but every 1-point item may be considered on any other ship. That is wonderful, to me...

 

https://forum.battlebay.net/threads/hybrid-slots.22990/

 

I’m in love with idea of an enforcer I could fit my speeders frost torp kit to and still have room for my 2nd Grenade
Lol frost torp then grenade, grenade will mean pretty much sunk anything

Lol if I can manage a follow up grenade shot after frost torp I can already do 8.5k damage and my torps frost capacity isn’t even maxed yet lol
My leggy Grenade will do less only around 2.2k damage but that’ll make nearly 11k from 3 shots

I want one! Now!

 

Sorry didn't noticed, anyway here it's a more comprehensive change, pointed to balance and better custom every ship, think is kinda different, if you agree

 

While we are at it, all ships should have a single slot for turbo which is NOT included in the 8 item slots.

 

I created this topic even before the defender appeared with a hybrid slot, I don’t know if the developers saw my idea or not, but if during that time they didn’t change the slots for other ships. It is unlikely that they will change in the future!

 

What's this nonsense about an orange item?

 

but today there is a precedent. If done one time, it can be done multiple times!

other ideas about new items from other posts...

 

Could you give a link?

 

sure
https://forum.battlebay.net/threads/new-ship-and-new-item-type-my-idea.24495/
https://forum.battlebay.net/threads/emergency-ship-items-and-the-new-purple-slot.19132/