Patch: Mar 31st, biplane/bomber balance adjustments, bug fixes

[combat]

Originally Posted by Beagle

Biplane was always useful in TBD, it's just the mob got a whiff of a good player's opinion that Biplane wasn't as good as the other planes and suddenly it became gospel that the plane was useless.

If you'd like to argue it needs more buffs, though, I won't mind :3

I'm not a biplane user, but I really don't see any reason why it couldn't be used in TBD. You're right Beagle, I can't see why everyone avoids it.. Such a cool plane

[DiogenesDog]

Well, the main reason I don't use it much anymore is because recoilless/dogfighter are really lag-unfriendly. When your damage is delayed by 0.15 seconds at point blank range, it's very often the difference between destroying people and getting killed.

That said, the current backlash against biplane in TBD is more about people noticing actual results in competitive games than some kind of follow-the-leader fad. The key here though is that it's only really a problem in ladder/league games where tiny edges matter and your contribution as a team member is more important than your ability to kill random dudes.

[nobodyhome]

It's not that the biplane is bad at killing planes or anything. It's just that biplanes have very little "presence" on the battlefield. Other planes can stay in the battlefield and constantly contribute (bombers and explos by sheer hp, loopies with emp spam, mirandas with constant sniping), but biplanes have to be played with a get-in-get-out mentality. Which basically means that your team is playing 5v4.5 all the time. It makes it crucial that you have to kill a plane every time you swoop in, in order to make it 4v4.

This kinda of role-underpoweredness is what makes biplane's underpoweredness hard to notice when playing pub--you have to play league or ladder to be able to see it.

[Beagle]

No no no no no no no no we're not getting into this discussion again >:|

[A Nipple]

i concur with beagle, ditto!

[Vania]

Ultracap gives you that extra damage you need to get one-hit kills.

I've always wanted to be able to play biplane with ultracapacitor, but I just cant do it. It's very hard because you cant use your afterburner as much. Very few players master it (not me), and yet when they play in league they dont stand out.

[Vania]

For me, the Biplane change was what I'd call an ideal buff - a tiny modification that looks miniscule on paper but is just enough to make a real difference in practice. That's what I call carefully considered balance.

How about raising biplane's speed a bit? Instead of raising damage or lowering energy use.

-Biplanes have problems chasing planes, cause of the energy wasted afterburning. A slight speed increase would make a big difference.

-In league TA mirandas dominate bombing nowadays. Maybe the extra speed would bring biplane back into the picture.

I'm just saying... it would be a subtle buff.