This may be a terrible idea, but what if defense was percentage based?

So, I THINK we can all agree that the current flat number defense is only marginally useful, that HP is by far the way to go as far as perks (although those hybrid event perks are nice). So, what if defense was changed into percentage based effect? Both perks and the built in defense of each ship. This would, assuming my thinking is straight, actually flip the way defense currently works, making multi-shot weapons better while being more effective against the single big shots like mines, torps, railguns, etc. You could also justify making defense work against all damage types, since 2 percent of a 70 damage flare tick is a lot less severe than 55 flat damage knocked off the same flare gun tick.

Anyways, just a thought, curious what people think. Alternatively, you could do a hybrid system where the built in defense of a ship is flat, but defense perks are percentage-based. Or vice versa.

EDIT: Welp. Posted in the wrong forum.

 

Huh. 32 views and no response positive or negative. Well alright.

 

I think it's a good idea, defence is pretty much a useless stat atm considering 50-90 damage off a 1000+ BC shot is no help at all. (Don't know the actual defence ratings off the top of my head)

 

I think a hybrid model would be best.

 

What would be the best way to work the hybrid model. I'm assuming you mean flat defence stat for each ship with perks being a percentage. But would the percentage be a reflection of incoming damage or a percentage added to the flat defence.
Using simple numbers because ugh math...
Base defence 100 + perk at 10% = 110 defence, so incoming damage of 500= 390 damage to ship.
Or
Base defence 100, incoming damage of 500 - 10% = 350 damage to ship.

 

Well, just for reference' sake, my Mk 6 Defender has 60 defense with no defense perks at all.

My intent in the first post was percentage would be applied to each instance of damage taken. So, say, 5 percent off of any damage, from a tick of burn from a flare to a mine blast. Like, entirely replacing the flat number shaved off incoming damage (60 in my Defender's case) to a percentage.

So, in a hybrid model, under what I intended, each instance of damage would have both flat reduction and percentage reduction calculated. Although which is calculated first matters, too. If the flat reduction is taken off first, that makes the percentage reduction notably less efficient (ten percent off 940 vs ten percent off 1000). Calculating the percentage first, then deducting the flat defense points off would be overall more efficient defense-wise and would make the flat reduction notably more useful (note that I'm saying "notably" and not "significantly" or "greatly").

 

I think that since every weapon has a ±10% fluctuation base on its stats, so why not making % defence link to it?

For example, if a ship has 60% defence, it means that every shot the ship takes, it would have 60% chance to receive 10% less dmg from that shot. As a result, for Defenders that have 100% defence, they would receive 10% less dmg in every shot.

 

No, please, not MORE RNG in the game. Literally anything but that.

 

+1 to that lol. I'm a little confused by what you're saying, replace base defence with a percentage but then where does the flat reduction come from? Perks?

 

Yup, come from perks and talent.

For example:
Common/Rare/Epic perk: +5/+10/+15% defence

 

That's still a percentage *face palm* lol

 

As of now the damage reduction from defense is the same as its value. Max defense (100) reduces damage by 100 (before applying crit and burn bonuses).

I think a good way to make it hybrid would be to give each defense point 0.1% damage reduction as well. This gives max defense a damage reduction value of 100 + 10%, meaning a raw blast cannon dealing 1000 damage will deal 800 damage instead if 900, a railgun dealing 2000 will deal 1700.

This shouldn't harm carronades much because one dealing 150 per projectile will only deal 50 per projectile with standard defense. Implementing this hybrid version would only reduce this to 35 (yes it's weak but 50 isn't that much better, let's be real).
Edit: Actually this harms carronades by the same % as everything else because it's % based lmao. Ignore the crossed out text. Keeping the flat value is supposed to make it better against low damage weapons anyway.

This should give defense a bit more value without making it completely overpowered. It should be enough to make it more globally viable vs hp perks.

 

Wait, so you think just switching over to pure percentage-based would be overpowered?

 

No, it just wouldn't have the same dynamic effect with low damage vs high damage weapons. Making it purely % based would make it equally powerful against all weapons, which is also fine imho.