On 12/20/2018 at 10:12 PM, Makaze said:Because, in extended at least, I6s are significantly less efficient for the points than I5s such as Redline, Whisper, and Boba which is very much born out in tournament results...? Just maybe
Exactly, I5s are not paying a huge premium over I4, they just have generally better abilities. But I6 pay a lot more for just the exceptional Initiative.
9 hours ago, ForceM said:Exactly, I5s are not paying a huge premium over I4, they just have generally better abilities. But I6 pay a lot more for just the exceptional Initiative.
They also have exceptional abilities. And usually abilities that are improved by perfect board-state knowledge.
3 hours ago, Jeff Wilder said:They also have exceptional abilities. And usually abilities that are improved by perfect board-state knowledge.
Yeah, but the question is if they are worth that much points more.
We see a lot of I5 played after all. So they are clearly worth the few points (usually 1-3)over I4.
But are the 10+ more points for I6 over I5 worth it?
2 hours ago, ForceM said:But are the 10+ more points for I6 over I5 worth it?
Obviously it depends on the pilot right now. But the problem isn't that I6 is too expensive over I5, the problem is that I5 is too cheap over I4. That may well change, come the Promised Day.
IMO, speaking very generally , I3 and I4 pilots should be your baseline unique pilots, with costs distinguished by abilities. I2 and I1 should be only slightly cheaper, again with cost distinguished by abilities. (For example, a repositioning I1 should be no cheaper than a non-repositioning I2, due to blocking value.) I5 pilots should be noticeably more expensive than I4, with costs going up according to ability to reposition, natively or with available upgrades, and also with abilities that benefit from board-state knowledge, again natively or with upgrades. And I6 should be another significant jump.
The other way to do it would be to price upgrades on a sliding scale based on how valuable they are as board-state knowledge increases (i.e., on higher Init pilots). I think this is the harder way to do it, but I think it's the best way to do it. Then you can actually balance ships , no upgrades, based on Init and native abilities alone, and ultimately I think being able to do that is healthy for the game. Just for example, an I6 Vader, no upgrades at all, ought to be a ship worth taking. If Vader is balanced according to what upgrades he can take -- as opposed to the upgrades being balanced based on how valuable they are at I6 -- that will pretty much never happen.