#Pole nerf
42 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)
- They have a RNG element that is really not great for game balance.
- I do not like them being plastered everywhere as a replacement for blocks that should be being used. It's not even an option, it is someone shouting loud or someone on youtube saying its good when its not. Literal noob trap.
3) They will not be getting the hp nerfs but will lose their RNG. - I don't see how anyone can say a pole has a place in a (non-smol) armour scheme, the same people that shout about accurate physics simulation and bla bla. Well you don't see ships going about with interior pole armour do you?
- Those campaign ships should never had had poles. People involved were specifically told not to. That's on them. Diddums.
- Please don't be quoting me as I am leaving this to luxon to deal with really.
(can we at least forward this message whenever someone asks the same FAQ?)
I've seen other people mention that irl armor doesn't use poles, and I don't have a side on the pole debate, but I'd like to point out that irl composite tank armor does have ceramic spheres embedded in it that act similarly to poles
we need the people who do those bullet simulation videos to do bullet penetration tests on 1m slopes vs 1m beams

so not much but theyre no longer air gaps
I believe they're still air gaps, they just won't provide any kinetic damage reduction
there's not supposed to be a reason to use them after the change
composite armors that use ceramics in a nutshell use various layers of different properties to make projectiles shred apart on impact
the balls are just part of that process of breaking the projectile through several different things piercing it at once
since the balls shatter
iirc, this is referred to as NERA(non explosive reactive armor)
the M1 Abrams uses this if I'm not mistaken
though the closest equivalent to this in FTD would be using ERA, not really poles
well, more like ERA if it worked on kinetics
properly
then wats the point of having them?
aesthetics and backwards compatibility
The real use was airgapping thin armor without totally trashing density.
But if you put flat blocks over it so it looks normal HESH bypasses it sometimes.
So I avoid it anyways because I don't want a Michelin Man-looking build.
what the fuck??? poles aren't airgaps anymore???
how does one defend against heat then
aside from beam slopes
what reason was there for this nerf?????
they still are
they just don't provide an angle for kinetic damage
and yes, you should be using beam slopes
It seems extremely weird that nerfing a niche alternative armor scheme is getting hit with this kind of nerf bat. Most games would prefer to have any kind of variety in construction of armor. Choosing a "right" way and making that the only way kills variety and experimentation, something that should be cultivated.
1: RNG at the cost of reliability seems like a pretty normal trade.
2: A dev personally not liking something or the people doing something is a poor reason for a balance change. Unless we're going to start finding ways to nerf every piece of reddit armor, this reeks.
The rest isn't my ken.
Pole vs cube.
cube = 8 verts x 10000 blocks = 80,000 verts
pole = 32 verts x 10000 blocks = 320,000 verts
You can see why this quickly runs away and should absolutely not be encouraged as part of a regular scheme.
"A dev personally not liking something" - Dev develops game and makes decisions based on the overall health of the game and its performance... imagine.
Luxon has found a reasonable middle ground which makes it fine for a small build but not as part of a larger armour scheme.
Wait now before throwing in any more half arsed comments thanks.
are internal components just cubes from a physical or hitbox perspective? People bring up things like plasma pieces having super high vert counts often, I'm just curious if they're mostly not a problem because of hitbox optimizations or what
It's probably more just a case of volume of them
You use a lot less weapon pieces like plasma or rail then you do poles in armour
They need changing but it'll be a while as Linky is busy.
But generally armour is the bulk of your vehicle.
I'm going to look into other optimisations for this kind of thing where possible but need to start somewhere.
thanks for the reply, been hearing lots of speculation so it's good to just have a solid answer to refer to 👍
oh ok good