Saving discord discussion for future reference:
RakaydosToday at 4:44 PM
@Nhaima is it part of the scouts concept to have half even horizon’s beam damage? Or is it just supposed to reflect being a small, efficient chassis?
NhaimaToday at 4:51 PM
A scout in Artemis has “traditionally” been half of a light cruiser’s firepower. I had originally intended for the scout to have two tubes so it could supplement its damage output in the short term with missiles but Xavier removed the second tube in his most recent proposal.
My aim was for it to have enough damage output that it could meaningfully contribute, but not so much that it would be perceived to be as combat capable as the current four ships.
RakaydosToday at 4:57 PM
Would you say Horizon’s “tickle beams” have the same intent, compared to the base Missile Cruiser that lacks any beams at all?
NhaimaToday at 5:02 PM
I’d ignore the base missile cruiser since it isn’t a mod ship and I don’t think would really work well at all within the context of the TSN.I think that Horizon’s beams are supposed to be distinctly weaker than Viper’s or Lancer’s, for example. They should also be weaker than Sabre’s, but that is a different conversation. These are all ships which are designed around and defined by their beams. The problem with Horizon’s beams are that they have been in the past, including recently, so weak that they disincentivize general use unless fleet/battlegroup command orders Horizon in with a Charlie.
RakaydosToday at 5:15 PM
Would you say the same arguments would apply to the energy efficient but not Torp heavy scout?
NhaimaToday at 5:17 PM
I think it would especially apply to a scout which doesn’t have the ability to notably supplement with torps. If you don’t have some kind of offensive ability, then you won’t be inclined to use it.
RakaydosToday at 5:17 PM
Anyone on Horizons regular crew, feel free to chime in, even after this conversation.
I’m not supposed to be pushing the scout until I’m done with the Cataphract, but it sounds like the Scout’s beams should be comparable to Horizons, overall.
Impudence At ArmsToday at 7:03 PM
If the scout were to continue having only a single tube with fairly harshly limited magazine, I could possibly get behind the scout having a pair of Horizon tickle beams (i.e. the recent 2 damage per shot era). In the interests of maintaining a clear delineation of combat efficacy between the albeit fuzzy class designations, I would be extremely cautious about giving them any more than that.
RakaydosToday at 8:46 PM
Or equivilant firepower to two tickle beams.
XavierToday at 8:53 PM
The trick is to make it feel like the current scout, but improve its capabilities to keep pace with the division and be useful/ enjoyable for crews
RakaydosToday at 9:26 PM
The trick is that the TSN equivilant to the basic light cruiser is actually Viper these days. Everything else is fairly well balanced against that happy medium