I thought this was probably worth its own topic so that people pay it (me) some attention.

Make drones take damage, just as everything else does...

If a drone is destroyed a damaged version will spawn in your ship again (just as in the Colosseum), this damaged version will have a % reduction in stats that increases each time the dron
e is damaged.
'Damaged' drones are initially identical to the previously existing drone in every way (hotkey slots, energy/shieldbank) at the moment of destruction, but these stats increase/decrease to their reduced capacity as with normal drones after scooping.

Additional thoughts: instead of changing how all drones work perhaps make this the function of an item.

Alternatively one could implement this along with drone generators, except instead of generating drones these slowly repair drones (for a small fee) as opposed to the instant repair of AI bases (etc).

Either way drones should require time to repair and should not be spammed during combat. With a system like this people would still want to protect their drones.
(A) because of eventual repair costs and
(B) because they are rendered weaker and thus less useful after each successive death in combat.

Why not make it undeployable once it's damaged? Engineers are already supposed to carry spares and this way they'll be able to repair the drones when docked (or maybe with spare parts in flight?).

Because weapons don't blow up after you have died once. At least with this kind of system less affluent players/those with limited hullspace won't be useless after an unfortunate death. (which limits pvp anyway).

/deca signed

Its the single most logical step, how has it been missed...
Kudos.

Still don't like this. Think about it. An engineer who has six 75% durability Armada Drones has 6 drones that have 25% less stats than a 100% drone.

A Berserker who have five 75% durability Kikale Mzungu Warfares, on the other hand, have 5 weapons that haven't changed in stats.

When the KMW's reach 50%, their stats are 50% weaker. But if a single
drone is at 95%, it is weaker.

What is needed, to make engineer not cost crazy amounts of money to upkeep the class at midgame-endgame, not make catastrophic loss possible, and to make sure an engineer is as handicapped as any other class at stat change at 50% and 5% durability, is a physical item in the ship for when the ship dies, all drones die/are disabled, and the engineer is as much penalized as a SD or Gunner.

And the code is already in place!

Even if your concerns are legitimate the % stat reduction can simply be applied every X%...

Let it not change until 50%, didn't read the final paragraph.

So that would be a beef to DMs.

Why should an engineer take a stat reduction each death when all 7 other classes can go 10 deaths before a stat reduction is applied?

Why should Engineers receive a beef when their class is already widely acknowledged as overpowered? If you want to beef one aspect you've got to balance.

I think I'l take the classic response here, leave us alone, anyone who loses drones at endgame is useless and deserves it.

Enkelin, it is widely acknowledged that SD is OP, because you, wex, and spacely are SD's. And it is widely acknowledged that engineer is OP, because there are a few good engineers.

Seer is OP, because Toth, Klestiko, Fear, and BaG broke it. Gunner is OP because Stooch and Hooch both made SD's(the dominant pvp class at time) run like pussies whenever they figured out either was nearby. Without missiles. Fatalis was unable to be killed for a long time because of how noone seemed to counter missiles and slaves.

Sniper is OP, nuff said. V, utu, and Titan made ShM OP. Tallon and Barry made(until Titan whalloped them) made people widely acknowledge that zerk is OP. GQ88 confirmed it when he took a Rosy at level 800 and beat the crap out of a high end pvp lion zerk.

Thermal and Jey both showed that FC is dreadfully OP.


But, in the end, the people who make others believe that their class is OP are the best players, in experience, gear, and SS skills. You face Olus as an engineer, and "your" misconception of Engineer being OP will be gone in a flash. He's ancient, been here in ss for quite a while as engineer.

He's not even close to thermal, and won't be considered OP, simply because he lacks Thermal's experience. Olus may use the same gear and drones are Thermal, but he's no where near what Thermal is. I fact, 95% of any particular class aren't as OP as people make them out to be. It is only the select few that break a class, even if the class is underpowered.

Toth, for example broke seer BEFORE it got beefed with the new content. The difference is that toth is a cowardly douche-bag pirate, and nothing good would be said about him. He made Helro look like a noble gentleman. But Toth was an OP seer, nonetheless. Klestiko and Fear used Toth's tactics and setups and THEN, people noticed how OP seer was. Turned out those two are very nice people, unlike Toth.

Kles and Fear were just unnaturally good. Toth was unnaturally good. You're just unnaturally good. Does this mean every one who plays a class will break it?

Its as he says. Perception is everything.

Like I perceive this as a bunch of fucked up sissies who died a few times in the past and received maybe at max 500k of repairable gear damage against a DM who could loose several bil in a single drone since he cannot take advantage of the new GGless system as effectively as the other classes.

Add suggestions that improve the game instead of bitch about supposedly "OP" classes. Most people cannot duplicate what some people manage to do simply because they lack the skill. This doesn't make it broken, it makes those players brilliant.