TRL Rebalance

[unique summit]

The debuff mechanic on the TRL is genuinely interesting, but the infinite stacking and its nature as a deck-mounted weapon ruin it. Even though it's too late for a full reset, there are still some changes we can make.
Regarding the deck-mounted aspect:
The turret traverse speed was already nerfed in the last patch, I think. Maybe the firing arc could be tightened further? Though that's not the focus of this post.
Regarding infinite stacking:
Make the base TRL itself stronger,and the shield vulnerability debuff can stack. but introduce diminishing returns for the Amplifier Pump and Expansion Pump—the more you stack them, the steeper the penalty becomes. This would push players toward fielding more individual TRL turrets instead. Running more turrets also increases logistical strain and might even force players to manage multiple separate heat networks.

[hazy plover]

i advocate for a total removal of shield heating, but i wouldnt mind the rework to its heating

[unique summit]

I actually think completely removing shield damage would be inappropriate. Things like fans absorbing shield heat also make the design more interesting.

[hazy plover]

my problem with shield heating is the TRL gives a lot more than it takes. deck cannons have a huge variety of downsides for the luxury of being roofmounted, while TRL has, sometimes, 2. TRL needs another weakness, and id like a weakness against shields to encourage better ship design, as you need to create holes in your frontal area to deal with shields, or use emps (risky, but also cool)

an idea i had is making the exchangers suck up the dialation debuff but also completely disable shield heating so they still have some use but not enough to completely nullify the weapon

this is getting slightly off topic though. i do have a problem with multiple TRLs, and its that multiple TRLs are already extremely strong, like some of the highest DPS in the game per cost and crew strong

i think TRL needs more nerfs, excluding the possible shield heating removal, then you can look at rebalancing it

[jovial stag]

I think it could be much more interesting if max heat where things take damage was higher, but fire could have better intensity

or maybe if heat transfer to other parts to other was bigger

also imagine if dialation pump was widening TRL beam width (also no aoe for thermal missiles)

[spare reef]

from what ive looked at i think reworking it to be emp but with heat flavoring would work best

keeps the original idea but removes the infinite stacking

[spare reef]

i disagree but i already yammered about this for a bunch in the other post so im not gonna bother

but bassicaly my opinion summarized is rework to emp and maybe nerf scaling a bit

otherwise its fine

[shrewd trail]

what if trl has a long charge up time before it fires? does that help?

[spare reef]

maybe, if it was too long tho it kinda suck

2-3 seconds maybe?

4?

counting long btw

[shrewd trail]

something like chaingun, scales with pumps but only shoots at full charge

cuz you know "heating up the pumps" ish?

[spare reef]

i like this idea

majes it kinda like a big space bellows

yknow the blacksmith things

[shrewd trail]

idk what that but cool :D

[spare reef]

its an airpump used to make fire hotter, heats up the fire

[shrewd trail]

ohhhh

i see...

[spare reef]

these things

idk its hard to find a good image

[shrewd trail]

oooh, that weird air pump thing from bad peggies, i see...

[spare reef]

ye

[echo canopy]

What would stop people from continuously firing it?

[spare reef]

maybe it could cost more heat the longer you fire it, so youd have to charge it, fire for 10-20 seconds, stop for a bit, repeat

idk

[echo canopy]

Yea

That change wouldnt address the scalability problem though

[spare reef]

fair, ig just scale back the scaling?

[echo canopy]

The scaling is linear, so you would need to make it logarithmic, which I think this post is suggesting

[spare reef]

ok

[carmine gate]

the firing arc of trl should be restricted to like 60-90 degrees forward, it can be a deck weapon but we should still add some functional restriction if it wants to be hitscan

its also kind of stupid how trl can just vaporize smaller flanking ships sometimes

it would serve to actually give a functional safezone against it when playing vs it, where you know u cant get hitscan vaporized if the enemy decides to aim there

rn theres literally only being directly behind the enemy ship

[royal fox]

i don't like this because for one it's not that interesting in the first place(won't argue further because it's subjective but exchanger are the simplest heat part to use and the most forgiving imo) and because it forces all shielded ships to run exchangers else they'll burn up regardless of whether they want overclocks or not they now have to interact with the system which then doesn't line up with heat pipe logistics being used as a balancing tool since they're more complicated

[spare reef]

maybe a bit wider

idk

i think restricting the movement wouldnt solve the problem

[timber kestrel]

imo trl shield heating should be a flat value per turret instead of being dependant on pumps

[echo canopy]

Yea thats probably a good idea

[echo canopy]

I feel like that would lead to trl walls, which I do not think is very interesting?

[placid prism]

Wouldn't that fck over diagonal designs completely?

[echo canopy]

True maybe 120 degrees?

I think thats still plenty

or even 150

[spare reef]

150 seems good enough

[echo pike]

about the issues of being a deck weapon, the debuff could experience reductions based on the distance the beam had to travel over top of allied hull, nerfing it vs beams deep behind armor but keeping it similar with beams near the edge of the ship's side

[carmine gate]

no, even if its 60 degrees trl can still fire directly forward on a diag ship

i mean i suppose 120 degree is what im describing

hm