[Feedback] Should Flagships do more stuff?

I finally got around to playing around with the flagship victory condition, and I can't help but feel that after the early game there's no reason to do anything offensive with your flagship: You just want to hide it in the deepest darkest most heavily defended hole you can find.

If the flagship gave some passive buffs to other ships in the same gravwell players might consider taking risks with it. Not sure what they should be though.

 

I think this victory condition has a lot of potential for risk taking if some extra oomph is put behind the flagship.

12,861 views 20 replies
Reply #1 Top

I think you should be able to change your flagship, like a "Reflag" ability

Reply #2 Top

Quoting ImperatorPavel, reply 1
I think you should be able to change your flagship, like a "Reflag" ability

Then people will always move it right before it dies, making the whole game mode pointless.

Reply #3 Top

True

Reply #4 Top

Reflag freezes the current flagship for ~30sec-minute. Or can only be done with no enemies present.

Otherwise, I agree- the only benefit the flagship has over other capships is a pile of health. I suppose it's a bit of a "king" piece, I think it'd work better as a "queen" piece. 

Reply #5 Top

its another free capital ship at the start.  You use it to attack and run away, get some more hard to kill bombing damage on an enemy world...i think its a great way to mix up multiplayer games.

 

Reply #6 Top

"If the flagship gave some passive buffs to other ships in the same gravwell players might consider taking risks with it. Not sure what they should be though."

 

Although I haven´t played with a Flagship yet, I understand the problem you describe. Adding one or two AoE Buffs to the Flagship would indeed be awesome and would make the game more interesting, like you already described.

Reply #7 Top

maybe let the flagship "absorb" 1% of hull of all ships destroyed in the gravity well it is currently in.

And maybe add a stacking "frenzied crew" passive ability that boosts firing rates for the flagship for each ship destroyed in the gravity well. Shouldnt be permanent ofcourse, maybe 15-20 seconds or something.

Actually now that I think about it, I would like these abilities on the titans :)

Reply #8 Top

Quoting spacezke, reply 7
And maybe add a stacking "frenzied crew" passive ability that boosts firing rates for the flagship for each ship destroyed in the gravity well. Shouldnt be permanent ofcourse, maybe 15-20 seconds or something.

Actually now that I think about it, I would like these abilities on the titans

Early screenshots of the Eradica (Advent Rebel Titan) showed it getting a 8% boost to it's attack whenever a nearby allied ship was destroyed (stacking.)

Reply #9 Top

I'd say the flagship still gives advantages in lategame, you can lure the enemy's fleet towards one side of a solar system/gravity well

Reply #10 Top

I think of flagships as being awesome commander units. Passive effects like + speed, turning, faster weapon  cooldown / am regen /shield regen are all fitting to encourage taking them to the battle.

Reply #11 Top

The flagship should provide an XP boost (15%?) for combat experience gained when it is in the same system.

That'll have people sticking it's neck out or at least wishing it were out there with them.

Reply #12 Top

Give the fleet it's in a move bonus. Something like what that raider vasari capital ship does. That would be fitting a flagship with officers coordinating the fleet and stuff.

Reply #14 Top

Leveling up the flagship sounds like a good idea. Currently, it's very useful early game- almost doubles effective fleet. Midgame, it's a slightly beefy but VERY risky capship, and after a while, I just stick it in some backwater with as many starbases as I can.

Reply #15 Top

I think flagships are perfect exactly how they were originally concieved.

Reply #16 Top

i think they should create a different unit to be a flag ship( something new and unique) and a different icon (not the scout) in the info card....

Reply #17 Top

I think people here are getting mixed up as to what the OP meant by 'flagship'. It is possible I am mistaken, but I see some posts that seem to think he's talking about Titans, others that seem to think it's the 'Fleet leader', and then a few that seem to have it right. To clarify, there is a 'last flagship standing' win condition in Rebellion, in which you start the game with a capital ship that must survive the whole game. 

I like the flagship game mode... alot. Though I do think the game modes should have more options to them. For example, maybe losing the flagship doesnt lose you the game, but severely handicaps (ie you loose half your fleet supply , permanently, and can no longer upgrade your supply). In general, I'd like to see the game modes much more tweakable. Think of the multiplayer options for halo, and you get an idea of what I'm shooting for.

That being said, I could see flagships getting Auras that affect how you would want position them, but nothing drastic. Some possibities (obviously not suggesting all get implemented):

  • 5% damage boost to nearby ships
  • -5% income rate to nearby planet
  • frigate capturing (long cooldown)
  • +5% regen and healing rate to nearby ships
  • +1 armor to nearby ships
  • -10% turning rate to nearby enemy ships

On another note, I suggested a long time ago that I think "fleet leaders" (aka thing-formerly-known-as-flagships that are created when a fleet is formed) should give bonuses as well,

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Reply #18 Top

It'd be neat if there was a separate level system just for fleets, the longer a fleet stays together the more effective it becomes. For example a portion of all xp gained by the fleet could give passive bonuses described above that would be given to the empires flagship. Then also have the fleet flagship boost those bonuses if it's also in the fleet (not just the gravity well).

Reply #19 Top

Yeah.  Logic says that fleet cohesion will improve if a fleet is kept together.  My only problem is that it would create problems because players wouldn't commit their better fleet to a battle.

This is because a conservative player will try to keep his fleet cohesive.

I will note I also think we should a negative experience. 

 

 

For the Unity!

Reply #20 Top

I'll leave the specifics to more experienced people, but I wholeheartedly agree that the flagship should give some form of combat bonus in the gravity well. Right now I also hide it like a... uh, <insert clever metaphor> when the game progresses beyond a certain point.