Goonhub
05-25-2013, 05:01 PM
So, ordinarily I just hold my tongue on this sort of complaint when it comes to do with anything but short-term disappointment with being dead, but I feel like this one actually merits significant discussion.
In short: The Wizard spell, "Shocking Grasp," works on the A.I. Core, and it seems to me that this is significantly unbalanced. Ordinarily this spell is balanced by both a long cooldown time and needing to incapacitate the target before being able to use it on them.
However, the A.I. is immobile by nature, and it is extremely easy for a Wizard to reach the A.I. core with no hope for defense using only their basic abilities. As it is, a Wizard would be able to beat an A.I. to death with their staff with little to no possibility of repercussion (since the area that the A.I. Core is in is unreachable if the Wizard uses phase shift to get there), barring an uncharacteristically speedy response and quick thinking with game mechanics.
This is bad on two counts.
Firstly, it makes it far too easy for the A.I. to be killed in and of itself.
Secondly, it makes it impossible for most personnel to take timely action against a Wizard. Security is heavily reliant on the A.I. granting them access to areas in particular, and without an A.I., their options are narrowed significantly. They can either get new IDs (which takes time and might not be viable), break in everywhere (takes time and usually isn't viable for counteracting Wizard action), or get help from telescience or the teleporter room which still requires significant external assistance that often will not be provided.
I'm all for antagonists having a hefty edge, but in this particular case, it seems significantly too easy for an antagonist to remove a major obstacle from the board, and hinder the entire station in the process.
In short: The Wizard spell, "Shocking Grasp," works on the A.I. Core, and it seems to me that this is significantly unbalanced. Ordinarily this spell is balanced by both a long cooldown time and needing to incapacitate the target before being able to use it on them.
However, the A.I. is immobile by nature, and it is extremely easy for a Wizard to reach the A.I. core with no hope for defense using only their basic abilities. As it is, a Wizard would be able to beat an A.I. to death with their staff with little to no possibility of repercussion (since the area that the A.I. Core is in is unreachable if the Wizard uses phase shift to get there), barring an uncharacteristically speedy response and quick thinking with game mechanics.
This is bad on two counts.
Firstly, it makes it far too easy for the A.I. to be killed in and of itself.
Secondly, it makes it impossible for most personnel to take timely action against a Wizard. Security is heavily reliant on the A.I. granting them access to areas in particular, and without an A.I., their options are narrowed significantly. They can either get new IDs (which takes time and might not be viable), break in everywhere (takes time and usually isn't viable for counteracting Wizard action), or get help from telescience or the teleporter room which still requires significant external assistance that often will not be provided.
I'm all for antagonists having a hefty edge, but in this particular case, it seems significantly too easy for an antagonist to remove a major obstacle from the board, and hinder the entire station in the process.
