Tested on PTE We've been testing the stingray this afternoon and are quite disappointed with it. It's no wonder you don't see them in game and shooting the orbital layer isn't going to help. Vs orca, it trades 1:1. It is one shotted by hornets. It's "long range artillery" is a bit pointless given it seems to have the same range as an orca and trades equally with them. Its only use seems to be shredding t1 air, but at its price it's too expensive. Make it a bit cheaper. At 3200 metal it is worth 7.1 Narwhals. 10 Bombers (2400 metal) trade 1 Narwhal 10:1. 10 bombers to 7.1 Narwhals trade at 10:1 (1 Narwhal destroyed for 10 bombers). The anti orbital buff is useful, but the stingray gets 1 shotted by the SXX while only getting 1 shot off (doing 42% damage). It took out 25% of an Anchor and then died. Further shame to the stingray: the bluehawk (1200 metal) has 250DPS and the Stingray has 100. It (bluehawk) trades 1:1 with an SXX. Frankly I'd just carry a bluehawk on deck of a aircraft carrier. It takes 4 bluehawks (4800) to trade an anchor which is about 1.25 stingrays. It takes 3 stingrays (9600 metal) to kill an anchor with only 1 stingray surviving. Moral of the story, stingrays are useful against t1 air (mixed in) but you might as well get 7 Narwhals instead. It's pretty useless against orbital unless you have 3-4 of them and they're just too expensive. Thanks to @ebea51 for helping me test.
My suggestions are the "long-range" should be much longer, and for the rate of fire that it has it should have a much much higher DPS. I'm not sure what balance the two should have though but keep in mind that it should be useful against orbital (which it is not).
+1, the question is though what is the best option to buff the stingray? Maybe increasing it's range is a good option? That way it may still be weak- but it can outrage an anchor or an orca...
Well if it out ranges orbital however, that wouldn't be an issue surely (as with anchors for example it will just sit out or range and kill it... similarly the SXX has to get above it to shoot back I thought?). I might be wrong of course, and I guess it does depend on how much extra range it's given. It's just if both are significantly buffed it will go from being a UP to being the only T2 naval unit that matters...
They have a much smaller anti-orbital range than their land range, which I think is a good, they just need better missiles.
Ah ok, I hadn't got round to testing the 'vs orbital' stuff yet. In which case they do need a buff to make them worthwhile (at least to bring them in line with bluehawks).
T2 sea need in more radical changes for me, cuz i completely don't like current t2 sea balance and how t2 ships work.. 1. Battleship. Really why Battleship is artillery unit with insane range? I prefer see middle range(same with orca)big heavy T2 ship with some strong lasers and guns. 2 Stingray.My suggestion increase range for their Tactical Missiles to 260-300 and REMOVE their AA. We have Narwhals and i don't think that we are need in more AA.
I´d suggest keeping their short-range AA (good at killing fighters and bombers!) but agree on enhancing their tactical missile range! Concerning Leviathans: I´d suggest just giving them better aiming, as their Aim-AI is even worse (read as: self-murderish & overkilling) than Hornet AI , as they are quite well-done "Coverage Killers" in theory! If their turrets would choose their targets in an intelligent way they´d be proberbly even really stong!
Keep the cost but increase range, Rate of Fire and (small) damage increase. It's a missile ship, it should be a floating weapons platform without comparison
The stingray used to be a floating catapult. NEWS FLASH: It still is, and everyone hates it. It needs to be completely altered, to be honest. The vessel needs purpose, and right now it's just sailing around without one.
I think that was my point. I didn't test how it compares to catapults but it is a joke how it compares to bluehawks.
I think the problem with the catapult (and thus the stingray) is that they have one rocket killing one unit at a time. Aside from the fact that its easily counterable with sniperbots they will never be really useful unless you build a lot of them in a small space. PA is about spamming units so a single rocket killing a single unit will (in my opinion) never be useful. They need to do more damage. I've been thinking about increasing the AOE but that would make it the same as a pelter or holkins. How about we let these units shoot a salvo of rockets to multiple units and then It'll reload the rockets. I think that would make the catapult a more interesting unit. Good at damaging or killing lots of units in a salvo. The stingray should do more damage then a bluehawk. I'm certain about that. Maybe even increase the range of the rocket. Went a bit offtopic here....
Increase their range its solution but i don't want see two long range units in one t2 naval factory. Its a reason why i think that Battleship need in big changes too.
So, a series of burst damage, but high recharge time? Where as a pelter or holkin is consistent? Sounds fair to me actually. Holkins/Pelters=Anti Tank (Or high health target) Catapult=Anti Bot (Or spammable, cheap unit)
They really need to do more damage than bluehawks given their expense. I still say buff the range and damage, decrease the battleship range.
