Sorry if this is old news, but aside from the fact that orblording just "gives you a bunch of health" and lets you stack parts which work together, there's a very specific issue with repair kits that needs to be fixed. The issue with repair kits is that they're... also extractors.
Let's say you've been given a pie, but you have a coupon that gives you 15% more pie. If you've got 15% more to eat, it should take you 15% more time to eat it assuming your consumption rate is unchanged by the coupon, as each percentage of the pie takes the same amount of time for you to eat so long as you can fit it in your stomach.
That isn't how the repair kit works at all. With the repair kit, you get 15% more pie, but you actually eat it in the exact same amount of time. The time it takes to deplete a repair orb with the repair kit is identical to the time without one. That means you're eating it 15% faster, which is exactly what an extractor already does. Your hp/s while standing on an orb with a repair kit is identical to your hp/s while standing on it with a basic extractor.
Here are the actual average times and healrates, tested with 4 trials each with a stopwatch that read down to the tenths place:
No parts; 170 hp, 4.45 seconds = 38.2022 hp/s
15% extractor; 170 hp, 3.85 seconds = 44.1558 hp/s
15% kit; 195.5 hp, 4.45 seconds (should be ~5.2!) = 43.9326 hp/s (should still be 38.2 without the extractor's speed!)
Both parts; 195.5 hp, 3.85 seconds (should be 4.45!) = 50.7792 hp/s (that's a 30% increase, should only be 15!)
Of course, I doubt this applies to EU stations and things of the like, but the fact of the matter is that the repair kit does exactly what the basic extractor does, only it allows you to do it for a longer period of time. The only advantage extractors really have is that they make the orb dissapear earlier if you want to keep anyone else from using it, but you're getting no more hp/s than you would with the kit.
Just using math instead of timers, let's compare things which require equal slots to use:
15% rep + 15% ex (3 slots); 1.15 orb's worth of hp, at 1.30 times the speed
25% rep (3 slots); 1.25 orb's worth of hp, at 1.25 times the speed
...so by switching from the first to the second setup, you can heal an additional 8.7% more hp and only heal 3.8% more slowly (compared to the former setup, not to the base orb)
15% rep + 30% ex (4 slots); 1.15 orb's worth of hp, at 1.45 times the speed
25% rep + 15% ex (4 slots); 1.25 orb's worth of hp, at 1.40 times the speed
...so by switching from the first to the second setup, you can heal an additional 8.7% more hp and only heal 3.6% more slowly (and again, this on the latter setup compared former, not both to the base)
Bear in mind that this doesn't necessarily mean repair kits are objectively better than extractors. If you're just standing on your own orb by yourself or while you're shooting someone from afar, they almost are just better, but if you're both competing for an orb then the orb is going to last the same amount of time for both players either way. This means if we've got a player with an extractor and a repair kit both standing on an orb, they're both going to heal the same amount since they have the same heal rate and the same amount of time to heal, and in that sense the basic extractor is better since you're using less slots for the same effect. However, that's assuming you're both on it for the whole time which is unlikely.
The real issue is that the existence of this trait in repair kits allows you to basically equip almost four basic extractors at once if you really want, a type of stacking players really shouldn't have access to. With the largest kit and extractor, which is five slots, you almost get the same healing rate as you would with four basic extractors, and on top of that can heal at that rate for a significantly longer period of time, thus compensating for the fifth slot used. To compare, imagine being able to wear four pieces of composite armor at the same time. That's a 60% damage reduction until you get your first kill. With that kind of armor, a scout would effectively have as much lifespan as a predator or raider, as those each have around 60% more hp. You just shouldn't be able to stack parts like that, and the fact that medkits increase your healing rate sounds like a fluke. Your healing rate should remain constant with medkits, what they should do is make your mech remove less of the orb per second. Extractors in general might end up needing a subtle nerf to not outpower medkits after that though.
Edit; I typically refereed to armor as "hp" and in turn refereed to the sum of your defense bonuses as "armor" even though armor is the word for hp in this game. Sorry if that's misleading.
Edited by Acguy, 22 December 2016 - 03:22 PM.
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