Hello Commander!
Today, we're here to discuss the design and development of Destroyer-type vessels.
[The Challenge]
Ships in Second Galaxy are classified according to their tonnage as follows, in ascending order: Frigate, Destroyer, Cruiser, Battlecruiser, Battleship and Capital Ship.
Bigger isn't necessarily better, and we want each ship type to differentiate themselves from each other, to have their own unique roles and 'feel'.
It's easy to differentiate frigates and battleships, which are very different in terms of size, weapon power and stats. Differentiating frigates and destroyers, however, is a different matter, because they are similar in size and mobility, have similar weapon power, use the same device and component sizes, and have the same number of weapon and device slots.
What kind of role should the destroyer play, and what design decisions should be made to facilitate that role?
[Frigate Killer]
In our previous article about frigates we talked about how frigate are able to use their small size and high speed to avoid heavy weapons. Despite their weak shields and low health, they are able to survive large engagements much better than bigger ships.
We conducted an experiment on our test servers pitting a single frigate against a single battleship, both controlled by players. What we found was that the frigate and battleship had difficulty destroying each other, because the frigate did not have enough firepower to penetrate the battleship's shields, while the battleship had difficulty hitting the small and agile frigate, which meant that the frigate had plenty of time to recharge its shields.
We then added frigate and battleship bots to the fray on an equal basis, which followed the orders of the respective players. What we found was that the frigates' small-caliber weapons were almost guaranteed to hit the larger battleships, and as the number of frigates increased, their focused fire began to overwhelm the battleships' shields. On the other hand, while each battleship was not any better at hitting individual frigates, the sheer volume of fire from the increased number of ships increased the chance that one of them would hit the frigates, with devastating results when they connect. The end result was that we saw roughly the same number of ships destroyed on both the frigate and the battleship side.
From a balance perspective, this was exactly what we wanted, because we want players to have the choice of choosing between larger and smaller ships, rather than having the larger ships simpler roll over smaller ones. On the other hand, the fact that frigates were going toe-to-toe against battleships a hundred times more expensive was a problem in itself. We needed a way for fleets to deal with frigates, and the answer was the destroyer.
[Dual Weapons]
We mentioned before that we ran into an issue when designing destroyers. The limitations of the mobile UI meant each ship was limited to 3 weapons slots. If the destroyer was intended to be the frigate-killer, how do we give it better firepower with the same number of slots?
There are several ways to increase the firepower of a ship. The easiest way is to increase the number of gunnery units, but this was impractical from a UI perspective.
The second way is to increase the caliber of their weapons, for example by giving destroyers medium weapons. But our previous experiment had already told us that size isn't everything - weapon damage is affected by a variety of factors, such as weapon parameters, target parameters, and the current situation. In short, simply giving destroyers bigger weapons did not achieve the goal of countering frigates.
The answer we came up with was to increase the number of "barrels" on a single gunnery unit, increasing firepower without increasing the actual number of gunnery units. This is why you will see weapons with the "Dual" designation in the game, such as:
Small Twin Laser (Dual version of Small Single Laser)
Small Twin Railgun (Dual version of Small Single Railgun)
Small Quad Blaster (Dual version of Small Twin Blaster)
Small Quad *** Launcher (Dual version of Small Twin *** Launcher)
Compared to the "Single" versions, "Dual" versions have the following characteristics:
- They use the same ammo as the "Single" versions;
- They have the same range as the "Single" versions;
- They have the same firing speed as the "Single" versions;
- They have higher firepower than the "Single" versions;
- They have higher activation costs than the "Single" versions;
- They have higher ammo capacity than the "Single" versions;
- They have higher cost than the "Single" versions;
- They have higher power and processor requirements than the "Single" versions.In short, "Dual" weapons have the same range, firing speed, tracking and ammo as "Single" weapons. They cost more, have a higher ammo capacity, higher firepower, higher activation cost, and higher power and processor requirements. This is how we give destroyers greater firepower than frigates, without having to add more weapon slots.
Of course, a player can equip frigates with dual weapons if they so choose to. However, because of the higher power and processor requirements of dual weapons, frigates will have to use their component slots for additional reactors and processors, slots that could otherwise be used for other tactical equipment. We believe this sufficiently balances and differentiates frigates and destroyers, by forcing frigates to make more sacrifices if they choose to do so.Destroyers have higher base power and more powerful processors than frigates to support the requirements of dual weapons, and also have more component slots to further assert themselves over frigates.
[Interception Specialty]
Dual weapons are at the heart of the destroyer's role.
Our expectation was that fleets would have recon frigates dedicated to scouting the enemy, and ECM frigates dedicated to running interference and support. The destroyer would then find its niche as a dedicated counter to these frigates.
Another issue that we ran into during the development of the destroyer was the convergence of ship roles. In our previous article on frigates we discussed the 9 major "tags" that we identified, by which we defined and differentiated different ship types and their roles:[Assault]: Ships with high speed or acceleration, good for aggressive attacks;
[Heavy]: Ships that have better shields or defensive abilities than other ships in their class;
[Electronics]: Ships that have high processing power or related abilities;
[Firepower]: Ships with powerful weapons or specialized offensive abilities;
[Recon]: Ships with special abilities that help with survival or escaping enemies;
[Interference]: Ships that have powerful electronic support or interference abilities;
[Interceptor]: Ships that have enhanced movement interference or anti-warp abilities;
[Command]: Ships with special self- or fleet-boosting abilities;
[Logistics]: Ships with good self-repair or repair-other abilities;We mixed and matched these tags while designing frigates, creating a versatile family of ships useful for a variety of situations and purposes, and there are more frigates in the game than any other ship type. The question is - do we do this again for destroyers, especially after already designating them the role of frigate-killer?
It soon became apparent that if we repeated the same process for destroyers, we risk making frigates irrelevant compared to destroyers of a similar type, while at the same time causing the design of the destroyer to lose focus.One of the axioms of game design is that you should not undermine an established design philosophy just to solve a problem, and you should not create new problems when trying to solve a problem..
We decided to give the destroyer the specialized tag of [Interceptor]. Having the same small size and high speed as the frigate, but strong shields and higher firepower, the destroyer was more suited to the job of catching the enemy and also surviving the encounter.
While there are fewer destroyers than any other ship type in the game, their specialized [Interceptor] role makes them the deadliest predators in the galaxy.