Character Class Balance Thread

[WaveLightGames]

Hey everyone,

One of the main areas I really want to improve during the early access period is balance between the various player classes. This time around, each class has a male / female variant which are quite different from each in many cases. The male / female variants have entirely different abilities and nuances and stats so I'm hoping to make each quite unique.

Please throw down any ideas you have on any of the classes and what you think should be done. I'm open to redesigns at this point so please feel free to share your thoughts.

[Captain_Guile]

Wow !
I'd never thoughts male and female was that different (only cosmetic and such).

So you mean it's not 22 characters but 44 in the end ?
That's really a lot.

Sorry if I can't help much for now (didn't played a long time your game for now).
Only started with common basics of 6, but I'm still a bit confused on how to play them.

[enlil5]

So, early game, the technomancer seems quite weak, especially the female variant who can use almost none of her skills. I swapped out at 3 for the male technomancer, and he is a bit better, but still feels like he is mostly taking up space and useful for feeding AP to more useful characters.

[enlil5]

I think the shotgun guy needs more movement - he is a bit hard to get to where he is useful, even if he uses the bonus movement skill

[WaveLightGames]

Appreciate the feedback.

[mike.xulima]

A lot of the female characters seem to be much better than their male counterparts IMO. The female Sniper has double the attacks of the male for example. In most every case, the female has a better movement rate as well, which seems strange because men are physically faster and stronger than women are. The male Devastator is slower than molasses.

With all the enemies that explode in to acid blood when they die, I am afraid to melee at all, so any class that needs to be up close is at a disadvantage. I am trying to keep my distance and outrange the enemies - which makes the Sniper very powerful.

There are classes that start with very few abilities because they need 100 or even 125 AP to open them up. I haven't played past the second screen of missions yet, but so far in the early going, some of the classes are very limited because they can't use most of their abilities.

In the early game I think both of the Recon characters are very powerful, just because they can both summon gun drones right from level 1. A party with two of those on their side gets a huge boost early on.

The Shop doesn't have certain items at all, like the sniper rifles for example.

I am still enjoying the game so far, and it is growing on me the more I play it. Will be interesting to see how the characters compare once they are higher level and have a large pool of AP. And also to see how well the drones scale compared to high level characters.

[WaveLightGames]

Thanks for the feedback ... that's very helpful. I'll be focusing a fair bit on character and campaign level balance over the next week or so. I also be doing some heavy redesign for the technomancer class and possibly others too. Overall, I'd prefer to make all classes equally viable instead of nerfing anything unless they are super powerful.

[enlil5]

Female sniper seems better than male sniper at the moment. Both very good characters, though. Female sniper has 2 attacks, and the ability that gives her a third for a bit of most fights. Also, holographic field (?) is much better than personal cloak (though even better because personal cloak only seems to last one turn). Will need to see if opinion changes as characters get more attacks. One attack characters are hard in all your games, unless they are autohit (the devastator feels fine, lol)

[enlil5]

Male shotgun and shield guys seems pretty decent with the improved movement. I think his damage could stand to be a little higher, or he could have an extra attack - he has trouble actually seriously damaging anything tough in my run. Could be he is undergeared for extra damage, though

[enlil5]

Technomancers were both pretty bad early game, but might become decent once they have more ap for skills. Pistol should maybe get an extra attack? The male was somewhat more useful, but still rather underwhelming

[enlil5]

The female nanodoc (which I eventually switched to) was much better. Oddly, she is not that good at healing so far, but her range and damage is decent, and her support skills are pretty good. I would tweak her healing to be a bit better, and maybe make it remove status effects, but she is fairly solid.

[enlil5]

Female Recon is pretty good, long sight distance and fast is definitely good. First aid seems a bit weak (often barely moving the bar), but a solid character otherwise

[enlil5]

Male Chem Trooper seems a little underwhelming. I haven't had much luck with their spray attack hurting anything too much. They are on the slow side, and their attack is short ranged. While autohit is great, only one attack and one target makes the damage a bit lackluster unless you are using iridium fuel. I would suggest either adding an attack or giving the basic attack an area of effect. Maybe full damage to adjacent enemies to make it slightly different from the rocket launcher

[WaveLightGames]

Thanks ... extremely helpful.

[mike.xulima]

Originally posted by enlil5:

The female nanodoc (which I eventually switched to) was much better. Oddly, she is not that good at healing so far, but her range and damage is decent, and her support skills are pretty good. I would tweak her healing to be a bit better, and maybe make it remove status effects, but she is fairly solid.

I have mine close to 125AP so we'll see how she turns out once she can summon the medic bot.

[FaintPulse]

How does the skill "Spider Drone" work?

"Deploys a spider drone on target, empty tile. The drone can move independently and detonate in subsequent turns, inflicting damage to all adjacent units."

The unit itself has no skills/actions available. Is it missing "Detonate" or am I misunderstanding the description?

EDIT: Second weird skill thing on allied Soldier Scout: its "First Aid" skill does not heal (others?). I spent 70 AP, used the skill twice a neighboring unit, received no healing.