Specialists balance changes the game needs

Strategy, feedback, or anything SUBTERFUGE-related

  • Ok so I've been playing for a while now, around 20 games, and I think I got a pretty good understanding of the game mechanics by now. I wanted to make this thread a while ago but I didn't want to do it while still being a noob so I decided to wait instead. I believe that I can make a pretty solid case now about the things that I'm going to say now. Take into acount that english is not my first language so I might have some grammar mistakes, just ignore those lol.

    I will start by saying that I think there are is no specialist that is completely useless, but some of them are just soo overwhelmingly better than other ones that I feel like some balance changes are necessary. First I will cover the ones I feel that need some kind of buff, starting with what I believe to be hands down the worst spec in the game: Infiltrator.

    Infiltrator

    Current state: Local effect: -20 shield charge from defending outpost. Combat priority: 4

    Picking infiltrator is almost always a mistake, no matter the context. The only context that can justify this pick is if you need to attack some player that has Security Chief and your other 2 spec options are things that you don't need AT ALL. Even in this extremely niche scenario, Infiltrator is nothing more than "just ok" as a pick. Half of the specs are always and in any circumstance going to be a better choice than him, like for instance, you will NEVER pick Infiltrator over Smuggler, no matter how many Security Chiefs the enemy has.

    Proposed change: Local effect: Ignores all shield charge from defending outpost. Combat priority: 4

    Now this may seem like overbuffing it, but it's really not. In fact, it's not THAT much of a difference to what Infiltrator does right now in practice. Most of the time you will be fighting against outposts with 10/20 shield anyway, it which case it makes no difference. If enemy has Security Chief, outposts change to 20/30 shield, in which case this new Infiltrator would give you a slight advantage against the 30 ones. But this alone would still not be enough since Security Chiefs are a rare pick anyway. The real benefit comes for its ability to counter those King+Queen turtles that we all know and love. Even then, it is still just a partial counter and it still may not be worth the spec charge most of the times, but at least now we would have an extra option against turtle, while making an almost worthless specialist into not so worthless. This change wont make it OP at all, it would just make it viable under pretty much the same niche scenarios than the previous Infiltrator was. I believe, you would still want to pick other specs in most situations.


    War Hero

    Current state: Local effect: -20 enemy drillers in combat. Combat priority: 7.

    War Hero is probably the worst promoted spec in the game right now. Just like Infiltrator, creating it is almost always a mistake. His effect is not only extremely weak if you compare it with the effect of other promoted specs like Admiral, Tycoon, General or Engineer, but it suffers from another issue: the fact that you lose a Sentry. Now, the thing with Sentry is that when you get one, you generally start hiring other specs around it. You start hiring stuff that you wouldn't normally hire like Princess and Int Officer, just to empower the Sentry. This ironically decreases the value of War Hero since upgrading a Sentry does not only mean that you lose the Sentry, but that you lose most of the value from these other specs as well.

    Proposed change: Local effect: -20 enemy drillers in combat. War Hero Travels at 200% speed when heading towards an enemy outpost. Combat priority: 7.

    War Hero's primary role is as a deterrant: Sentry is countered by sending many small subs (20 is the ideal number since is the biggest sub that gets hit for 1 damage). However if you attack the Sentry with a bunch of 20-driller subs, you can get destroyed by a last minute War Hero promotion. This is why most experienced players would never attack a Sentry this way, and hence you will never see War Hero in higher rating matches. My change aims to keep that deterrant aspect War Hero already has plus adding an extra use to it, an actual reason to promote it without the need of your enemy making a noob mistake you want to punish. By giving him this extra "Inverse Smuggler" like effect, you now have the option of using it for offence, which I believe is what War Hero is supposed to do. I know the Helmsman speed plus -20 drillers is a powerful effect, but it's not more powerful than what other promoted specs already do, considering it is just a local effect.


    Security Chief

    Current state: Global effect: +10 to max shield charge of your outposts. Local effect: +10 to max shield charge at stationed outpost.

    Now this is the last of the specs that I think need a buff, and to be honest, in Sec Chief's case the buff is not nearly as necessary as with Infiltrator or War Hero. Security Chief is often taken after you got a decent start and taken a lot of outposts, as a way of protecting them. Security Chief is almost never seen at higher rating matches, and I think this is because, unless you find yourself in this niche situation, King is generally a better choice, and since they are not compatible, going King means that you don't go Sec Chief, and vice versa. Yet, I think the buff here should be very slight, just to push him a little more into King's level.

    Proposed change: Global effect: +10 to max shield charge of your outposts. Local effect: +20 to max shield charge at stationed outpost.

    By adding those extra 10 shield to Security Officer's outpost, you enable some nice spec combos like with Tinkerer or Smuggler/Inspector. Other than that, it wouldn't make much of a difference. Also, this change works great with the Infiltrator change I talked about before ;)


    And now we come to our last change, in this case I believe a nerf is needed instead of a buff:

    Smuggler

    Current state: Local effect: 300% speed when traveling to your outposts. Promotes to: Tycoon

    I know I will get a lot of hate because of this one, but yet I believe something should be done about our Smuggler boy. His effect is just too powerful for being a basic specialist. How many times have you launched a triumphant attack only to see a smuggler appear at the last second to scupper your plans? I still believe his essence must remain intact but just limit his power a little bit. So this is the change I propose:

    Proposed change: Local effect: 300% speed when traveling to your outposts. Losses -50% speed for each other specialist Smuggler's sub is carrying. Promotes to: Tycoon

    So if Smuggler's sub was carrying just a bunch of drillers, it would be the same 300% speed Smuggler. If it was carrying 1 other specialist, then his speed would be reduced to 250%. When carrying 2 other specialists, his speed would then be 200%, just as a Helmsman. This way, there would be some added extra strategy when doing Smuggler plays. He would still be a top pick even with this change, just not so goddam OP.


    So there you have, these are the changes I would do to specialists that I think would greatly improve the game. The Smuggler one is more of a personal preference but I don't really think is THAT necessary. The other ones though, I do believe they are quiet indisputably necessary.

    What do you guys think? Is there anything else you would change about specs in their current situation. Let's try to elevate this post to the devs of the game, and see what they think :)
    demian14
     
    Posts: 2
    Joined: Wed Aug 28, 2019 11:49 am


  • Nerf king so it does less damage, no way to counter.
    -sniperdj1234-
     
    Posts: 2
    Joined: Wed Nov 13, 2019 10:21 am



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