Jump Drive Debuff

[Dug]

So I'm just wondering how are we all feeling about this tech and to be more specific, the debuff? Should there BE a debuff?

In my experiences the pros of using the tech in comparison to the cons of using the tech are not worth the risk. It's also a dangerous technology which means you can bring forth the Unbidden I presume.

For the record, you obtain a debuff to both your sublight speed and firepower for the duration of the recharge. Which is counterintuitive when we have to consider you are most likely using the jump drives to compensate for mobility in times of war and there for you are looking to engage as fast as possible. I'd be perfectly fine if there was just a timer and nothing else.

I apologize if a thread like this one was opened before and if you think the debuff is fine then perhaps I'm using the jump drives wrong?

 

[HappyLizardMan]

So I'm just wondering how are we all feeling about this tech and to be more specific, the debuff? Should there BE a debuff?

In my experiences the pros of using the tech in comparison to the cons of using the tech are not worth the risk. It's also a dangerous technology which means you can bring forth the Unbidden I presume.

For the record, you obtain a debuff to both your sublight speed and firepower for the duration of the recharge. Which is counterintuitive when we have to consider you are most likely using the jump drives to compensate for mobility in times of war and there for you are looking to engage as fast as possible. I'd be perfectly fine if there was just a timer and nothing else.

I apologize if a thread like this one was opened before and if you think the debuff is fine then perhaps I'm using the jump drives wrong?

It is good if you are certain that after jump your fleet will have enough time for debuff to reset before entering combat. Great if you want cut to some travel distance within your empire or to chase a weak enemy fleet that you know you will defeat even with said debuff. Perfect to make an escape as well, should that be necessary. Greatly reduces travel time for Colossus, civilian ships and armies which dont suffer from jump debuff that much. Overall, it's very useful as long as you dont jump into an enemy fleet with it.

 

[Dug]

I wish I could count the amount of times I've actually used jump drives in that manner, but I cannot. It's zero. Because I usually play tall empires with a relatively small empire size, so speed is not as relevant as it is to be immediately present to defend. So I guess this is a problem related to how I play the game, which admittedly irks me a little bit. Perhaps I should switch to Gateways.

 

[HappyLizardMan]

I wish I could count the amount of times I've actually used jump drives in that manner, but I cannot. It's zero. Because I usually play tall empires with a relatively small empire size, so speed is not as relevant as it is to be immediately present to defend. So I guess this is a problem related to how I play the game, which admittedly irks me a little bit. Perhaps I should switch to Gateways.

Well I play tall most of the time as well but Jump drive for me is an irreplaceable tool. When I've had enough of hoarding technologies and resources, it is time for conquest. And nothing does it's job of getting your fleets through the entangled mess that is hyperlanes than the Jump drive. Especially if AI is still stuck on hyperdrives, gives you enormous mobility advantage.

 

[Mikhail_Mengsk]

The strategic advantage of having it is supreme. You can jump over chokepoints, you can bring in reinforcements from afar, you can jump over eventual areas without hyperlanes, etc. I don't know if you play in multiplayer, but I think if you don't use it and your opponent does, it can wreck you with ease unless you are several times stronger.

There is a debuff because otherwise you would jump your fleets right into combat exploiting your advantage even more, sniping enemy fleets or stabases without your enemy being able to stop you.


tl;dr it's damn good

 

[EvilTom]

I just adapted my game play for it... I don't jump a fleet straight on top of the enemy anymore... I do it in the next system and move them as the debuff is too great. I just have to use it more intelligently.

That's a bit of a pain and a bit pointless really as it's just a bit more management and the AI doesn't really take advantage of it.

 

[glee8e]

I believe the reason there is a debuff is to prevent the jump drive from being too powerful, i.e. prevent jump drive be the "one tech to rule 'em all". It would be highly unreasonable that two empire, comparable on tech level, but one have jump drive while one doesn't, has a 4x performance difference. You probably have already realized how powerful jump drive is: warp your army instantly (I do this all the time), jump science ship into undiscovered systems, capture undefended shipyards, conqure colony without starbases. Now in 2.2, with the addition of trade system, jump drive has just become more powerful than before. All you need is to warp in an unarmed corvette to the enemy capital to ruin half your enemy's economy. You don't even have to attack the starbase, the very presence of hostile make their merchants scared to death, stopping their business. If you can't warp to their capital system, at least, if you warp your corvette to a key trade hub, a significant part of enemy economy will still be ruined. (If your enemy is a human, he may not even notice you have done anything!)

Now with the debuff, at least your foe can defend against you by stationing a large part of their fleet in key locations, instead of getting surprise party everywhere. You still have a significant edge over your enemy though... For single player, AI can't properly build any ship anyway. Jump drive debuff? No harm lol. I normally reach 100k vs 10k around 2340 in single player (If I made it through early game). 1 fleet against 2 fleet is quite common and easy.

 

[Etrutian]

Jump drive is a must for huge galaxy players like myself. For combat, they require a reasonable amount of thinking ahead though.

 

[bobucles]

All you need is to warp in an unarmed corvette to the enemy capital to ruin half your enemy's economy. You don't even have to attack the starbase, the very presence of hostile make their merchants scared to death, stopping their business

A single ship blowing away over a thousand value of trade? This sounds a lot more exploitable than it should be.

I'm pretty sure ships have an anti piracy stat. Just flip it around for enemy ships and add to the piracy value instead. That way you need a reasonably sized fleet to totally demolish trade.

 

[Fjolsvid]

I love that the AI started using it. Best seen in War of Heaven events.

 

[Dug]

Oh that's a lot of replies for after work! Thank you all for pitching in, it was clearly more to do with how I play rather than anything else.

 

[Less2]

Even with the debuff, jumping two fleets ontop of one fleet is a death sentence to the one fleet. This basically trivializes any war since the AI doesn't seem intent on combining fleets much.

IMO the drive is actually still too good for combat and too poor for strategic repositioning. Actually getting fleets to places is all about gateways, which unfortunately are the #1 killer of FPS now.