Altering the stats of different items in the game and making them less deadly is the easiest way to deal with things that spun out of control instead of attacking the main core problem: spam. The spam of different mechanics that’s on their own reasonably powerful but not game-breaking. The spamming is what creates the problems and that’s what DF the last years been reacting to by nerfing the mechanic/effect itself instead of limiting the spamability.
Instead of making mechanics really bad and borderline useable, I suggest DF taking a different route in nerfing different mechanics in this game.
My suggestion is to put serious effort into developing a system of what I will in this text call Limitation and Countermeasures to balance mechanics rather than weaken them.
In the future, I hope they spend time making a new system in place to limit (spam) but also find interesting counterplays instead of nerfing things to oblivion (see below).
What they actually have been doing, for you who don’t know, is basically making mechanics (only strong and powerful when spammed) just simply weaker. For example: White phosphorus (WP), Impact grenades and AP mines got a smaller/shorter AoE - making them basically kinda laughable and pointless. (The only example this AoE nerf was justifiable was regarding explosion packs, making it weak against infantry and thus making normal frags non-redundant). Soldiers almost got fully resistant to flames while the flametrooper only can walk when firing his flamethrower - the list goes longer.
I believe this list covers the most important/impactful nerfs in this game in the last couple of years. Some of them were good. Some of them need tweaks. And some of them were, as described above, very bad.
- Bombing runs
- White phosphorus
- Impact grenades
- Flamethrowers
- Paratroopers
- AP Mines
- Quad barrel AA guns against infantry
- Explosion packs
(It’s also pretty sad that almost all new cool features added to this game are part of the list).
I personally supported a general nerf to all of these things. The game environment also became much healthier after the nerfs than before. The last thing I would want is for them to revert the changes.
There’s no question about it. The nerf has had a positive effect. But what I don’t support is the way how they nerfed it. Flamethrowers and AP mines for example should be deadly and terrifying. WP and impacts have their place in this game as tactical grenades. They’re cool and offer situational powerful alternatives. The mechanics were there. But they decided to make them useless to stop ppl spam.
One single white phosphorus grenade was never the problem, it was the spam of them. It just becomes unfun and unplayable if it gets spammed/abused. That’s why we need limitations and countermeasures in place.
Weapons or items that are too powerful should obviously be nerfed like usual by making them weaker. But the nerf philosophy regarding different features/mechanics should first and foremost focus on two main aspects:
Limitations to prevent mechanics from getting exponentially stronger if spammed
and if possible: Countermeasures to make the mechanics more interesting and dynamic involving both sides.
Remember this is not the solution, just an example of how this nerf strategy would work.
A solution to AP mines
Limitation: Soldier class restrictions for AP mines.
- Restrict so only one or two soldier classes can carry AP mines.
Countermeasure:
- Implement sappers with special abilities to clear mines etc. Or implement a certain perk (0/3) that highlights landmines within 2/5/10m.
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you can also implement some kind of animation for prepping the mines.
A solution to grenades/grenade pouches
Limitation: Quantity and soldier class restrictions for grenades and grenade pouches
- Restrict the number of soldier classes that can have large grenade pouches.
- Force both the small and large grenade pouch to have one locked slot for smoke grenades.
- Prevent the ability to pick more than one grenade of each type.
A solution to paratroopers
The current nerf to paras is kinda silly since it mostly affects your AI but not yourself. Landing 30 sec before the rest of your squad seems like one of the more silly ad-hoc solution to paratroopers.
It’s a very irritating effect that makes this class totally unenjoyable.
Limitation
- Make a 35 m “iron circle” around the objective you can’t jump within OR even better: make every newly opened objective have a small cooldown of 20-30 sec (it’s 1.30 in confrontation).
- Slightly increase the flight time even more but reset the altitude and time AI spent in air to what it was upon release.
Countermeasure
- A red indication marker on the transport plane would be convenient
Appendix
Lastly, let’s have a look of the biggest nerfs in the last 2 years. I added video examples for you who forgot or weren’t around before the nerfs. (I know some things got changed/nerfs in different stages).
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Bombing runs pre-nerf Bombing runs
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WP pre-nerf White phosphorus
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Impacts pre-nerf Impact grenades
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Flamethrowers pre-nerf Flamethrowers
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Paratroopers pre-nerf Partroopers
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AP mines pre-nerf AP Mines
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Quad AA pre-nerf Quad barrel AA guns against infantry
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Explosion packs pre-nerf Explosion packs
