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Dev Post: Force Auxiliary Balance Proposal

July 19, 2018

Hello pilots!

Today we’re going to talk about Force Auxiliaries (FAX). The big space healers are due for some changes and we want to hear from you!

The CSM has been very outspoken about the unhealthy state of FAXs and most of their feedback is centered in two major areas:

– FAX repair numbers are just too high. The amount of DPS that can be neutralized by one FAX (either locally or remotely) is simply too much, especially considering the relatively low cost of a FAX after insurance.

– Counterplay options are too limited. Their cap stability, immunity to ewar, and lack of anti-logi options leave few strategies to opponents outside of bringing more numbers

We agree on both counts, but in this proposal we will be focusing on the first point. We hope to bring the raw numbers down to a place that feels healthier, then explore counterplay options in the future.

Our specific goals here are:

– Reduce remote rep/s from triage substantially
– Increase duration for remote reps (to create larger time windows for target switching)
– Reduce local rep/s from triage substantially

Proposed Changes (all changes are listed based on tech II module variations and will be extended at same % values to other meta variations where appropriate):

Triage:

Remote Rep Duration (all) reduced to 65% (was 75%)
Remote Rep Amount (all) increased to 500% (was 450%)
Local Rep Amount (armor/shield) reduced to 75% (was 120%)

Capital Remote Armor Repairer:

Duration increased to 15s (was 12s)
Capacitor Need increased to 2440 (was 1950)

Capital Remote Shield Booster:

Duration increased to 20s (was 16s)
Capacitor Need increased to 3300 (was 2640)
note: Capacitor need increase is to keep cap cost per second consistent with current values

Overall, these changes would result in roughly 37% reduction in both remote and local rep output for FAX with almost double the cycle time for remote reps in triage. This is a very large change, but internal investigation and CSM input indicate it is warranted.

Now, we want to hear from you. This is not set in stone and before we move forward we want to validate the need for such a large change with the community as a whole. Let us know how this would affect you and whether or not it would be positive.

Thanks for reading!