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    The Problems With The UEF - Part 2 (ACU Billy Nuke Upgrade)

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Balance Discussion
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    • BrannouB Offline
      Brannou
      last edited by

      Maybe vs a monkey or if you get in range of a fatboy but no, a sera commander still get destryed by experimentals

      ComradeStrykerC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • ComradeStrykerC Offline
        ComradeStryker @Brannou
        last edited by

        @brannou

        Of course - experimentals are experimentals. You'd be out of your mind if you try to take one head-on, But it really does depend on the situation, too. A weakened Ythotha or GC would be a good target.

        Though I think This is where Billy does Shine - The range is quite useful.
        Fire from afar without risking your Commander.

        ~ Stryker

        ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

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        • GrimplexG Offline
          Grimplex
          last edited by

          I agree with Stryker, billy lame many times 🙂

          The embodiment of depression...

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
          • MazorNoobM Offline
            MazorNoob @Brannou
            last edited by

            @brannou said in The Problems With The UEF - Part 2 (ACU Billy Nuke Upgrade):

            I feel like when i asked to buff gun spash for seraphim.

            Too expensive for early game, too weak for late game

            IMHO that's just balance for these things. Look at Cybran: mazer is expensive enough for your opponent to have T3 air by the time you're done. If it wasn't, it'd be OP. Same with cloak+mazer versus omni. If splash was viable before T3 land, it'd be unstoppable.

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            • Barry_WhiterB Offline
              Barry_Whiter
              last edited by

              Here's a Billy Buff suggestion; increase the maximum speed of the projectile. Maybe quite significantly.

              The increase in usefulness is two-fold:

              1. targeting will be easier. Instead of reducing the damage fall-off, or increasing the max-damage radius, just make it a bit easier to put a missile where you want it.

              2. a quicker projectile will spend less time within the firing radius of TMD. If not passing directly through the centre, a faster projectile might have a better chance of passing two TMD's with some health remaining.

              ComradeStrykerC 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 4
              • ComradeStrykerC Offline
                ComradeStryker @Barry_Whiter
                last edited by

                @barry_whiter

                increase the maximum speed of the projectile.

                I honestly didn't think of that. That is actually quite smart.

                Though, I believe we would still have issues with the damage AoE.
                The fall-off damage is still quite high, in my opinion.

                Originally, I had it at 10,000 but after seeing some tests, I think this could be toned down to 5,000 or less. This way, it would still damage units on the outside ring.

                Still need to conduct more tests to have a more balanced option.

                But, yeah, An increase in speed would be quite useful actually.
                Thanks for the feedback. I really do like that idea.

                ~ Stryker

                ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

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                • ComradeStrykerC Offline
                  ComradeStryker
                  last edited by ComradeStryker

                  Alright. I gotta point this out as it's been happening quite often when I use this upgrade...

                  The projectile HP of the Billy, since it has such low HP, (literally 4 HP), there is a chance that random fire will destroy it before it hits its target. I've seen a PD randomly shoot and accidentally destroy it, I've seen ASF randomly shoot and destroy it, I've seen the beam of a Monkeylord and GC kill it, and I've seen Harbs' & Brick fire kill it. Heck, I've even seen a torpedo kill it, too!

                  Wouldn't it be of benefit to increase the HP of the projectile drastically and increase the damage of the TMD to match?

                  Example:
                  TMD would deal 50 damage and standard missiles would have 50 hp, the damage from the TMD kills the missile in one shot - no change here.
                  If the Billy has 151 HP, it would still tank 3 shots with the 4th killing it.

                  This change would mirror the Nuke Missile HP change that was made a while back - to prevent it from being shot down by random fire as it is fired or as it is landing.


                  ~ Stryker

                  ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

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                  • JipJ Offline
                    Jip
                    last edited by

                    The projectile HP of the Billy, since it has such low HP, (literally 4 HP), there is a chance that random fire will destroy it before it hits its target. I've seen a PD randomly shoot and accidentally destroy it, I've seen ASF randomly shoot and destroy it, I've seen the beam of a Monkeylord and GC kill it, and I've seen Harbs' & Brick fire kill it. Heck, I've even seen a torpedo kill it, too!

                    This is happening because of an issue with patch 3741.

                    A work of art is never finished, merely abandoned

                    ComradeStrykerC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • ComradeStrykerC Offline
                      ComradeStryker @Jip
                      last edited by ComradeStryker

                      @jip

                      This is happening because of an issue with patch 3741.

                      Ah, I was not aware that it is an issue.
                      But, could've sworn it has been happening to me since the beginning of time. Hmm.


                      ~ Stryker

                      ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

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                      • JipJ Offline
                        Jip
                        last edited by

                        Yes, it can happen if it hits a unit somehow. But not arbitrary projectiles.

                        A work of art is never finished, merely abandoned

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                        • ComradeStrykerC Offline
                          ComradeStryker @Barry_Whiter
                          last edited by

                          @barry_whiter said in The Problems With The UEF - Part 2 (ACU Billy Nuke Upgrade):

                          Here's a Billy Buff suggestion; increase the maximum speed of the projectile. Maybe quite significantly.

                          The increase in usefulness is two-fold:

                          1. targeting will be easier. Instead of reducing the damage fall-off, or increasing the max-damage radius, just make it a bit easier to put a missile where you want it.

                          2. a quicker projectile will spend less time within the firing radius of TMD. If not passing directly through the centre, a faster projectile might have a better chance of passing two TMD's with some health remaining.


                          I was rereading some posts and recalled this one, so, I wanted to bring more attention to this post and this specific suggestion, as this could be a meaningful change without making the projectile too strong.

                          At the moment, the Billy's main strength comes from the First projectile the ACU fires, as that's when the enemy doesn't expect it. Any projectiles after that have diminishing returns as the opponent has already started building more counters.
                          With increased speed, subsequent projectiles would be a little more viable, especially the projectiles fired from a longer range.

                          Though, I still want to point out some other issues, as well. Specifically the missile HP in terms of random projectiles hitting it and destroying it, fall off damage in terms of minimal damage, and the projectile cost/upgrade cost.

                          Any thoughts on this?


                          ~Stryker

                          ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                          • T Offline
                            Tagada Balance Team
                            last edited by

                            I will look into changing the billy for the next balance patch (not the one coming soon tm) so probably in ~3 weeks

                            FtXCommandoF 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                            • FtXCommandoF Offline
                              FtXCommando @Tagada
                              last edited by

                              @tagada said in The Problems With The UEF - Part 2 (ACU Billy Nuke Upgrade):

                              I will look into changing the billy for the next balance patch (not the one coming soon tm) so probably in ~3 weeks

                              Do you actually think billy is bad or is this more of a fine tuning than a buff?

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                              • ZeldafanboyZ Offline
                                Zeldafanboy
                                last edited by

                                Buffing the missile speed is barely more than a qol change imo

                                put the xbox units in the game pls u_u

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                                • TheWeakieT Offline
                                  TheWeakie Balance Team
                                  last edited by

                                  It's not a qol since it does nothing but buff it against tmd, which are you know, the units that are supposed to counter it and buff it against big t3 armies against which it already is more than strong enough. Buffing missile speed would probably make billy OP if you ask me.

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                                  • T Offline
                                    Tagada Balance Team
                                    last edited by

                                    Mostly fine tuning, maybe small buffs. My initial idea is to decrease the inner dmg while making the outer stronger but probably less AoE. Make it more reliable. Would be nice if you could change the icon to actually see it (that would be an obvious nerf and would need other adjustments ofc)

                                    ComradeStrykerC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                    • veteranasheV Offline
                                      veteranashe
                                      last edited by

                                      Probably should keep the inner ring dmg high enough to snipe acus, or a loya would make you snipe yourself.

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                                      • N Offline
                                        Nooby
                                        last edited by

                                        https://replay.faforever.com/18054669

                                        488K mass killed in a setons game average rating 1744

                                        Billy is very good at taking opertunistic shots at high value targets (structures, armies, Also very good against landed clouds of ASF) in teamgames. On large teamgame maps there is almost always a target that is worth it to hit.

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                                        • T Offline
                                          TaxesAreTheft
                                          last edited by

                                          Just want to bumb this thread.

                                          May we get a billy change regarding buffing the inner circle radius to 20. Don't care if this needs some compensation in dmg and increase the outer circle damage in some form. It bothers me that u see a nuke and the outer damage is neglectable.

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                                          • ComradeStrykerC Offline
                                            ComradeStryker @Tagada
                                            last edited by ComradeStryker

                                            @TaxesAreTheft

                                            Tagada also mentioned something like this.
                                            I'm interested to see where that goes.

                                            @tagada said in The Problems With The UEF - Part 2 (ACU Billy Nuke Upgrade):

                                            My initial idea is to decrease the inner dmg while making the outer stronger but probably less AoE. Make it more reliable.


                                            Though, preferably, I would like to see a projectile speed increase as some others have mentioned before, or a projectile cost decrease.


                                            Another point I forgot to mention in this post, is that there is a 30-second global cooldown per projectile fired.
                                            You can load a Billy, but you can't fire it if you fired one in the previous 30 seconds.
                                            I can understand why the cooldown is there, but does it have to be enforced at 30 seconds?
                                            It makes assisting the construction of a missile nearly pointless.


                                            ~ Stryker

                                            ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

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