2 things - first off, I love this mod! The changes are subtle but effective at getting the under-used capitals back in the game. (Especially with the Vasari - gives us a reason to build anything other than the egg haha.)

The one problem I noticed is a persistent minidump from using the Antorak's new subversion ability - in case it matters, the ability was level 2 and was used on a dead asteroid. Maybe it has something to do with low values of population/planet damage?

Well, we currently have a few option for how to fix the Kortul.  The problem is, we each have our own idea on how to do it.

N3rull:

Shield Mitigation: increase mitigation during PS by 3.3/6.7/10.%.  This would yield a maximum mitigation of  76.7%.  While it is no AF, it is still a nice buff.  This may go along with some other smaller buff.

Damage Reflection: Uses damage taken and redirects it towards the Kortul's primary target.  Redirects 15/30/45% of incoming damage.  This would definitely fit the bill of "No you don't!" as it makes FFing the Kortul a very unwise decision.  In a battle of two opposing fleets, it makes FFing the Kortul an unwise decision to say the least.  I think this would be better if Jam Weapons was buffed in some way, but as it stands, they could just FF the Kortul last.  Usage with the SM idea above would make for one nasty ship.  Still though, there is no incentive to fire on it in the first place...

Volt:

Direct DPS Boost: Enables user to not OP DS while still getting that offensive boost.  While it does provide a HUGE damage boost, +200% damage and the 75% cooldown buffs end in a 350% boost to damage while only buffing DS by 75%.  Another thing to note, while it does deal massive damage, that is also over 30 seconds (567 DPS).  The enemy does have time to leave while this is happening.  This would also indirectly buff VN as it would allow you to deal more damage, thus increasing the the likelihood of setting of a chain reaction.  Very powerful buff.

Jule:

Shield Regen Boost: By making it a hard amount (40/80/120), you can make it far more effective and easy to understand this ability.  This would, over the course of the attack, regenerate 3600 shields.  In other words, this makes you able to bring yourself back to full shield health in 30 seconds.  While it does heal more to a single target, it only heals one target.  For this reason, it is not SR all over again.  If it healed something like 120/240/360, then that would be like SR on one ship, but this is not.  This would greatly improve survivability.

 

In short...

N3rull: Great ideas that make it survive enemy FFing well and to discourage FFing, but doesn't really provide any incentive to FF you in the first place.

Jule: Good idea that improves survivability.  Only works if your shields are low though...

Volt: Provides a very strong incentive to FF the Kortul so it doesn't kill half your fleet.

 

I propose all of the above, just in different forms...

Buffs for Power Surge:

Cooldown Redux: 25/50/75%

Damage Buff: 67/138/200%

Damage Redirection: 15/30/45%

Shield Restoration: 40/80/120 SPS

 

perhaps that would work better...  That way, you still discourage FFing it, but you'll have to at some point.  Otherwise it'll slaughter your caps and a good number of frigates.  This would fit the No-you-don't as well.

There is - Weapon Jam makes all strike craft obsolete in the area and DS makes caps obsolete. If you want to use any cap ship ability or strike craft, you will want to kill the Kortul.
Still, you're somewhat right. The majority of fleets are HC/LRF spams, which don't really care about this ship. Moreover, with VN being non-channeled, there is no really good way to stop it from happening (not that it does too much as it is now), so yah... Kortul is still an ignorable ship for the most part.

If I could throw my hat into the ring one more time, maybe this could be a comprimise for the moment. I've read down the list of what you guys have proposed, and I think there may be a simpler answer.

Giving this cap a radical overhaul probably isn't going to happen, just like every other cap out there. I'm looking purely at the programming vs. effort logic of changing this game. 

The two simple fixes are, imo, to:

1. Fix the bug on disruptive strikes. This is a no brainer.

2. Fix power surge so it ACTUALLY is cutting the firing rate so that the ability scales from 1.33X/2X/4X the damage. I mean, that's what cutting the firing rate by 25%/50%/75% implies.

Really, I don't think we can argue too much about the current state of the Kortul because it has 1, possibly 2, bugs, depending on how you view the in-game description on power surge.

We need experience w/ the non-bugged kortul to really get a feel on how good the ship is at the "antimatter sucker" role we've labelled it as.

I think my point is fixing the bugs is already a radical change. There's no sense arguing about where to go with the radical change when the radical fix is an incredibable damage boost.

@N3rull:

Yeah...  Pretty much what I was going for.  If there were more caps or carriers, then it would be valuable, but as it stands, no...  I mean, unless you gave a HUGE buff to Jam Weapons (like 5000/10000/15000 range, duration of 20/30/40, and AM cost of 100/75/50), they would just use something else.  If you did superbuff JW, thus negating all SC in the gravity well, then you would give them a reason to fire on it.  Currently, SC can just be used as a way to drain the Kortul's AM.  That put's the Kortul on the wrong end of the deal.  So, I do think JW should get some sort of buff to go along with the PS buff, but only a small one.

@Amish:

1.  We all agree there.

2. That is exactly what my idea would do...  Actually, it would increase it by more than 4x..  By having the buff as +200% and -75%, you end up with a damage buff of 350%.  When calculating, that is like multiplying everything by 4.5...

 

But yes, we do need a better view of it with fixed DS.  Even so...  Only a few of the weapons fire forwards, while the rest are random so if your side beams hit say a Kodiak, it won't do anything for AM.  I still think the combo in my previous post is what we want (or some variation of that...)

And you people wanted to be sure I didn't make GRG OP?

How about something like:

Change shield recharge bonus from 75/150/225% to 300/500/700%, add 100/200/300% Wave damage bonus, add 50/100/150% Pulse Beam damage bonus. (Leave weapon cooldown bonus unchanged.)

Don't have numbers available, so I'm just guessing at the moment. Not that I do a lot of calculating on any of the other things.

 

Well, about a 33% of the Kortul's DPS is WC's, 50% would be PB's, and about 17% is PM's...  Just VERY rough estimations, but ehh... close enough...

Alright, I hate to ask this, but how exactly does the game calculate the ship's DPS when you add in the leveling-up cooldown and damage buffs?

I'm getting small but noticable differences between what I calculate and the infocard in-game. Such as 16 instead of 14 for Kortul's Wave DPS at level 3. I get farther off as the ship's level goes up.

 

There are three numbers:

DamageperBank: how much damage a single volley does

PrebuffCooldown: how long it takes before the firing sequence.  You need this number.

Duration: how long the burst of fire is.

 

Just divide DpB by PbCd and there you go....

Right, I got that. It's when the ship starts leveling up that I get lost.

weaponCooldownDecreasePerc
    StartValue 0.000000
    ValueIncreasePerLevel 0.060000
weaponDamageIncreasePerc
    StartValue 0.000000
    ValueIncreasePerLevel 0.100000

 

I recommend lining up a row of shot glasses and filling them with tequila. Proceed to take a shot, then re-evaluate the numbers. Repeat this simple process until the numbers look right.

Amazingly, that works for just about everything else, too.

 

in that case, only the damage goes up by 10% each time...

The damage doesn't go up by straight 10%. It's less.

Question (here, cause it is closely related to the Marauder):

What would you say if the Vasari Homeworld was "Phase Stabilizer Node" by default?
I mean, from the first minute of the game, just like that.

It wouldn't be much of a bonus before the player gets phase stabilizers, kosturas... or a Marauder to level 6. I believe it wouldn't screw anything but would make a Marauder so much more useful, because it wouldn't require a level-8 military tech or a level-5 civilian tech (plus structures built for 8000/1800 scredits respectively) to have any use.

If a player chose another cap, the stabilizer wouldn't have any impact on his game whatsoever. Not until he built stabilizers/kosturas on his own. The one who chooses the Marauder get's to jump ships from his homeworld once the antorak gets to level 6.

I believe it would be fair.

I only wonder if it would mean that two allied Vasari players could jump to one another's homeworld from the first minute, which would be kinda screwed.

are allied vasari players allowed to share phase stabilizers? i didnt think so, but one of you probably has direct knowledge of this