balance in rebellion

[Jahled]

I've always thought that damage control worked the other way round, with a higher value taking more time to repair

OK, I have the answer to the question via some testing. In the Gaming Stories forums, in one of my posts (last paragraph), a Victory Star Destroyer got its clock cleaned: Hyperdrive, shield & weapon recharge are all 0.

Normal damage control for a Vic SD is 20, so I set the game to FAST and let it run for 100 days; results = no change.

I set damage control to 1, reloaded the game, set the game to FAST and let it run for 100 days; results = no change.

I set damage control to 100, reloaded the game, set the game to FAST and let it run for 100 days; results = Shields are halfway repaired.

I set damage control to 500, reloaded the game, set the game to FAST and let it run for 100 days; results = the entire ship is 100% operational.

 

Conclusion: the higher the damage control value the better.

 

I hope that this will settle that question for now on

 

Cool post Tex, but to add some (Thrawn to Pelleaon: ego isn't at stake here) context here, Your findings go against everything I have experienced since about day one of playing the game just after it was released fella!

 

Whist the game manual is admittedly pretty vague on the finer points of what the values mean, it does lend some some pretty hefty clues with it's crap ship descriptions, such as the Mon Cal being hard to repair, the Bulwark being plagued with rumors of faulty systems, the Bulk Cruiser being reliable and rugged, and the strike Cruiser being modeler etc, which do reflect on their game damage control ratings, I am left with almost ten years worth of game experience supporting my theory; half of which has been without the option of the Editor.

 

Conclusion: I don't doubt your findings dude for a sec, but ship repair, despite values is still open to a 'random' quantity, based on factors elsewhere, not least present maintenance levels etc, so I would except a more concrete answer based on mind-numbingly boring research based upon the ships I have mentioned, which suit extremes.

[DarthTex]

Yay Tex! I feel all better now. (As I imagine your Vic does too.)

Well, as for my Vic, to keep the game on the straight and narrow, I didn't save any changes. It was for experimental testing purposes only. I just wish I knew exactly which day it was fixed. Then I could extrapolate the real fix date (which is probably hundreds of days away). More than likely I'm going to scrap it as soon as I get another ship in that sector. It's basically an unarmed Golan platform blockading a rebel system (I'm surprised the AI has sent its mass rebel fleet to break the blockade?).

 

 

Cool post Tex, but to add some (Thrawn to Pelleaon: ego isn't at stake here) context here, Your findings go against everything I have experienced since about day one of playing the game just after it was released fella!

 

Whist the game manual is admittedly pretty vague on the finer points of what the values mean, it does lend some some pretty hefty clues with it's crap ship descriptions, such as the Mon Cal being hard to repair, the Bulwark being plagued with rumors of faulty systems, the Bulk Cruiser being reliable and rugged, and the strike Cruiser being modeler etc, which do reflect on their game damage control ratings, I am left with almost ten years worth of game experience supporting my theory; half of which has been without the option of the Editor.

 

Conclusion: I don't doubt your findings dude for a sec, but ship repair, despite values is still open to a 'random' quantity, based on factors elsewhere, not least present maintenance levels etc, so I would except a more concrete answer based on mind-numbingly boring research based upon the ships I have mentioned, which suit extremes.

It's just a raw number from some impromptu testing. Maybe if there was an admiral on board things would be different (do repairs go better when an admiral is barking orders at officers about their repair crews?). Although I doubt this "old dog" of a program can take too many other factors into account when determining things, I know my imagination definitely fills in lots of gaps in the programming (or lack thereof)

[Mitth_raw_nuruodo]

I know my imagination definitely fills in lots of gaps in the programming (or lack thereof)

I love that line, Tex. Did you save after each hundred days, or just at the beginning so as to go back to the same day for each test? To clarify: did each test start on, say, Day 40? Or was the first on 40, second on 140, etc.?

[DarthTex]

I know my imagination definitely fills in lots of gaps in the programming (or lack thereof)

I love that line, Tex. Did you save after each hundred days, or just at the beginning so as to go back to the same day for each test? To clarify: did each test start on, say, Day 40? Or was the first on 40, second on 140, etc.?

Each version I tested started on the same day. After the 100 days, I did NOT save the game, just reloaded the same game aft running RebEd. After all of this testing, I reloaded the game and went back to my usual pummeling of rebel scum

[Mitth_raw_nuruodo]

I was pretty sure that would be the case. I just wanted to be certain.

[AshPlissken]

Personally I think that the Empire really gets the short end of the stick in Rebellion.

Thank you, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks they get the shaft. Frankly, damage control ratings are the least of their problems.

 

Sure, their capital ships are better, but so what? On Expert difficulty, their enemies will start out with hordes of X-wings and Y-wings, which can more than cost-effectively take out those capital ships. And until you get two steps into your Ship Research line, there's very little you can do about those fighters! Short of dedicating most of your resources to defending Coruscant, it seems like the only way you can hold onto it in the beginning is for the Alliance to be generous enough to let you hold onto it.

 

And then there's the covert-ops side of things. It's to be expected that the Alliance has an advantage there--after all, that was kinda their "thing". But not only can the Alliance get their minor characters into play twice as rapidly (on account of having four major characters, rather than two), but Sullustan Regiments obviously give them a huge advantage when it comes to foiling enemy missions.

 

To be fair, the Empire does get some "advantages" of their own in this department, but when you get right down to it, the actual benefit is negligible:

a) The ability to assassinate enemy characters is convenient, as it saves you the trouble of securing captives against rescue attempts, but on the other hand, sometimes those rescue attempts have the pleasant side-effect of tying up more enemy resources, so assassination isn't that much better.

b) Being a Jedi Master, Darth Vader can conduct Jedi Training missions from the beginning. However, this is generally not the most effective use of his time, so once again, the "advantage" doesn't really matter.

[DarthTofu]

I think the Imperial characters are actually more apt toward covert mission than the Rebels. While the Rebels hold a fair number of diplomats and ship captains and such, the Imps are in command of more saboteurs- that's usually my strategy when playing expert; I set down a couple of good espionage characters, crank out a ton of commandos in my training facilities, and sabotage their ships rather than facing them with my own fleet.

[AshPlissken]

I think the Imperial characters are actually more apt toward covert mission than the Rebels. While the Rebels hold a fair number of diplomats and ship captains and such, the Imps are in command of more saboteurs-

Actually, from what I've seen, both sides have six of the non-diplomat, non-officer types, which is who I tend to think of when you mention saboteurs. The Alliance has Chewbacca, Mazer Rackus, Maw'lwi'she, Orrimarrko, Page, and Tura Raftican; the Empire has Garindan, Labansat, Menndo, Niles Ferrier, Noval Garaint, and Shenir Rix.

 

Of course, plenty of the other characters have decent Espionage and Combat skills, too. I'm not 100% sure, but I think the Alliance still tends to have a leg up in that department; off the top of my head, Lando and Talon Karrde (in addition to being facility researchers!) seem to be pretty good all-around, and Borsk Fey'lya is almost as good of a saboteur as he is a diplomat. Even Adar Tallon (the Alliance's research triple-threat) can hold all three command ranks, whereas Bevel Lemelisk is utterly useless after the research is done.

 

Once, I had Bevel Lemelisk as one of my Force-sensitive characters. You can imagine my disappointment.