Distension discussion

[Ivan]

I got Lanc because I was a very very good spider.

Lol.

[getting pwned]

I got Lanc because I was a very very good spider, and you would basically be penalizing me and Shock for being good.

If by good you mean you camp, then sure. You're good.

[jngy slate]

Imagine a woman, the most beautiful woman you've ever seen. Then imagine her naked, and coming towards you. Her lips are full and she wants you, she wants you bad. Her smooth skin is flawless down to every last curve. She grabs your member and examines it. Then she takes a single piece of white paper. She aligns the paper perfectly with the slit on the tip of your member. It is aligned perfectly, and the thin side of the paper is gently rested on the slit. Then she gives the paper a quick swipe, like a credit card swipe only quicker and with less strength.

[Trunks_rage]

So I heard Stabwound saying he was gonna get the leeching upgrade for lanc reduced. Which would be retarded since it's the only good upgrade on the lanc. Plus Shock and I are already practically maxed out on it anyway. You are 5/6 at rank 50. The Firebloom is useless, and the bomb has marginal value, and I'm also maxed out completely on speed and rotation. The ship isn't going to get any better, so at least let us have leeching, it only works about every 4th kill or so anyway. You take away leeching and there is nothing to look forward to, at this point you need 10 more ranks to move up a tiny fraction in energy or recharge. 10 more ranks is a ridiculous amount of points so by the time I get it every other ship will have closed the gap considerably. At the higher levels the lanc really doesn't get any better past rank 50. And recharge is actually really bad on the lanc. If people could aim it isn't that hard to kill me, I'm usually on very low energy.

I got Lanc because I was a very very good spider, and you would basically be penalizing me and Shock for being good. But recharge is crap on it, so if two good spiders rush lanc you are fucked. Thing is, not enough people spider, everyone wants to wb, jav or levi which are easier ships for lanc to dominate. None of the other ships have been downgraded, so don't be a dick and take away the one good feature for lanc. You want to debate making that change after the next reset that is fine but don't take away from what took me and shock a long time to earn.

[getting pwned]

I'll tell you what. It's annoying as hell, when you're a 40+ to be sniped by a level 10 or lower, and have them say 'ez' when you've just gone and shot someone else and have 500 or less energy. It's probably equally as annoying for those 10 or lower ships to be constantly run over by higher level ships. I see where you're coming from Captain, seeing as I'm leveling my lev, and I die more then I actually kill. Its not about leveling to me though, it's about the game, and how fun it could be if you overlook the fact that you have a weak ship or not.

That, too, is just my $0.02.

[CaptainPoopface]

It seems like weasel and lanc reward play that is cheap and contrary to the spirit of the game.

That and the lack of periodic ship resets will keep me from trying Distension again. Who wants to play level 7 spider against level 63 whatevers? Just my $0.02. I think you're creating barriers to entry, which means the population will probably stagnate.

[getting pwned]

4. Without weasel, you better be a really lucky high ranked terr, a really lucky spider, or lizard fuel.

I lol'd

[dako]

How to get lanc (for dummies)

1. Wait for the player limit to go back to 20v20 (if ever). This is a HUGE part of being able to get many kills, and is why very few people get lanc anymore. those extra 6 enemies mean a lot for kill density.

2. Have weasel. This really isn't that hard, melanoma's been trying for a couple days to get it, and has gotten really close apparently. The key to getting weasel now, is in those mid round soccer games. You can stay at about base level (make sure sketch / epic li / cloak stealth weasel isnt playing) and snipe up / down toward the goal area. I found this racked up a decent amount of kills, between 8-10 per soccer game, with fairly little retaliation from preoccupied soccer players.

3. Don't expect to ratio. I got lanc with a level 23 weasel, not exactly high ranked, even for a couple months ago. The key is attach rocket suicide and get as many bullets out as you can. FR battles are your friend, you can either rush their spiders / wbs / javs, or be like me and just spray from the ear. I ended up going about 165-120 in a 30 minute game, with quite a bit of luck. This is how 80% of lancs got their lanc.

4. Without weasel, you better be a really lucky high ranked terr, a really lucky spider, or lizard fuel.

5. Try to pick a round with few / not many sharks in play, or a single base game that stacks up to 14v14. The latter makes lanc a lot more doable.


For those of you that think lanc is a god ship, how wrong you are. Lanc is practically an aircraft carrier, has shoddy recharge (made up for by leech), and never really gets a whole lot after its burst, which sucks. It sure does pack a punch in those mid levels though.

[Trunks_rage]

Yeah it's impossible to get lanc by camping. Most of the people that unlocked it did it one of three ways. An overpowered terr, an overpowered spider, or an overpowered weasel. I can only think of maybe 3 people that unlocked it with spider, including myself. A lot of the others did it with weasel. Now it's just really hard to get it no matter what ship you are because people can tank. And since nobody has unlocked lanc in a long time, you get new people unlocking the weasel who aren't going to be able to use it to unlock the lanc, that is why so many more people have weasel now. You might have a shot at unlocking it when you get lvl 2s and super at the same time. You'll need to get some good machine gun action going. I pretty much was mowing everyone down when I earned lanc.

[roxxkatt]

lol, try getting lanc by camping.
i dare you.

[Viruk]

Most weasels already have lanc anyway. But I want to encourage people to touch the flag because there are way too many cowards that hang back. Ultimately whatever combination people can agree on is fine as long as it increases competitiveness and not camping.

Total # of Weasels: 41
Total # of Lancasters: 16
The lanc is clearly much harder to unlock and most weasels don't have it.

I suspect that many who unlocked the lanc earlier did it mainly through camping just as many have done for weasel. Streak bonuses already promote camping so this certainly is not the sort of skill that needs further encouragement. I would argue for ignoring campers' streak kills and tapering their kill RP but I doubt the server could ever reliably detect repeat kills from the same position.

It certainly seems good sense to include useful basing feats such as holds, breaks and FR terrier kills in unlock conditions. It also makes sense to unlock a ship using skills you will need to play that ship usefully and effectively.

A useful weasel ought to be good at flag grabbing and terrier killing whereas camping is often unwise as it reveals their position and invites bombing. Having it unlocked by camping makes no sense.

A useful lanc should mainly be killing a lot and moving forward to take and hold the flag when needed. They should also be good at dealing with invading cloakers. (Perhaps another possible skill feat would involve killing weasels in FR and holding the flag.) I believe that repeated straying across the FR using multifire and leeching can often be useful too. However having lanc unlocked by camping through holes or from outside base still makes little sense.

[Trunks_rage]

Most weasels already have lanc anyway. But I want to encourage people to touch the flag because there are way too many cowards that hang back. Ultimately whatever combination people can agree on is fine as long as it increases competitiveness and not camping.

[KuNi]

Also, as nobbi would have already noticed, starting a new ship now is actually easier to rank than before. You get so much more RP for kills. The only problem is getting over the hurdle of about rank 0-10 when your ship is just speedbump for everyone else. :P

17 ranks in 1 and a half days is pretty good I guess. ^-^

I think breaks and holds should be worth 3 kills each, terr kills 2. I think this would encourage competitiveness and help make the unlock easier.

I think it should be the other way round. worth 3 kills for tek, 2 for hold/break. A tek is much harder to get than a hold/break, but I suppose making it easier for shark would be good, But If a hold/break would equal 3 kills than weasel would get lanc way too easily.

[Trunks_rage]

The Lanc

Even though I already have the lanc and it was extremely hard to get, I wouldn't mind if there was an easier way to unlock it. However, it must require some type of skill. It is the most powerful ship in the game, and therefore should not be an automatic unlock at a certain rank.

It could be different depending on the ship, but some combination of terr kills, holds, breaks and actual kills might make it easier. Say a terr kill counts as multiple kills towards the overall kill count and breaks and holds do as well.

I think breaks and holds should be worth 3 kills each, terr kills 2. I think this would encourage competitiveness and help make the unlock easier.

[Stabwound]

Yeah... if anyone (for some weird reason) wants a ship wiped on their account, just message me in game. I don't know why anyone would want to do that, though, because nothing a player can do to their ship in Distension is permanent. Wiping a ship is permanent, though.

I would be totally against a complete player wipe, and I think qan is too. I don't think that will ever happen unless he totally overhauls the upgrade/ranking system to the point where a wipe is necessary.

Also, as nobbi would have already noticed, starting a new ship now is actually easier to rank than before. You get so much more RP for kills. The only problem is getting over the hurdle of about rank 0-10 when your ship is just speedbump for everyone else. :P