SE V: Unique Abilities And Ideas

[Suicide Junkie]

How about a simple idea:
Leaky point defense.

Since SE5 dosen't have any concept of multiplex tracking or autofire, we need a new way to make PD leaky.

1) Make each PD shot capable of taking out a missile in one hit, maybe 2 for a heavy missile.
2) Make the PD refire rate 50ms.
3) Give the PD -999% chance to hit.
4) PD shots should be very fast. Beams are good too. There should only be one or two shots from each gun on screen at any one time.
5) For varing PD resistance on your missiles, use *speed* rather than hitpoints or ECM.
6) For varying PD techs, reduce size and cost, increase range.

This gives you a poisson distribution of PD hits...
One missile can get lucky and penetrate 5 PD guns, or one PD gun could get lucky and shoot down 3 missiles at once.

For example, if PD guns have a range, fire rate and incoming missile speed such that they can each fire 50 times, then:
- One PD gun has a 40% chance of shooting down at least one missile. A 9% chance of shooting down two or more missiles, and 1.5% chance of shooting down three missiles.
- Two PD guns have a 63% chance of shooting down at least one missile. 26% chance of shooting down two or more, 8% chance of shooting down three or more, and 2% chance of shooting down 4+
- Four PD guns have a 87% chance of shooting down at least one missile. 59% chance of shooting down at least 2, 32% of shooting down 3 or more, 14% for 4 or more, 5% of 5 or more, etc.

Longer range gives more shots before the missile hits, until the point where the second wave starts coming into PD range before the first wave of missiles has hit.
Smaller PD guns, lets you fit more guns to increase your fire rate for more shots total again.

Key features of this system:
- One missile CAN sneak in occasionally. (13% chance vs 200 enemy PD shots)
- Graceful degradation of PD as the number of missiles increases (unlike stock where the first X missiles are shot down, and the rest all hit)

Downsides:
- Lots of shots make the CPU work a little harder
- ECM and combat sensors do not affect PD. (But there are other ways to do it; speed, range, etc)