Stacking interdiction effects: working as intended?

[Gerfaut]

Currently, at least some interdiction effects stack additively rather than multiplicatively. Certain combinations of interdiction effects decrease the opponent's movement speed and turn rate to 0 and keep them suspended in space, perfectly immobile, with no way to do anything about it. Is this a bug or is it intended? And which effects produce this outcome?

 

I have run into this issue mostly on my minelayer, because I like to use it offensively as a minesweeper when attempting to retake satellites defended by entrenched enemy bombers. Minelayers are the best ship for this job: they can detonate every enemy mine around the satellite, as well as any replacement mine that gets released by the defending bomber(s) in response to the attack. This opens up a window of opportunity for other ships on my team to come in and kill the bombers without getting blown to bits by mines.

 

In the last week, I have had several instances of finding myself totally unable to move or turn after attacking a satellite defended by enemy bombers. My ship doesn't even keep moving slowly from inertia in the direction it was going. Instead it comes to a complete stop and becomes totally unresponsive (can't move, can't turn). Boosting does absolutely nothing, even though I still have engine power available.

 

I haven't figured out whether all interdiction effects stack that way or only some of them, and whether it can be achieved with a single bomber or requires 2 separate ships. Do identical interdiction effects from a single bomber stack with each other (such as 2 interdiction mines, or 2 interdiction drones from the same ship)? Or does it require different interdiction effects from the same ship (interdiction mine or drone + interdiction drive active ability from the same ship)? Or do only effects from different ships stack, such as one interdiction mine and one interdiction drone? What about identical effects from different ships (2 interdiction mines or 2 interdiction drones coming from 2 different bombers, or 2 bombers using interdiction drive simultaneouly)? If anybody has tested this, I would love to have more information about it.

 

Here are some of the interdiction, slowing, and turn-reducing effects in the game that may or may not stack with each other:

 

Interdiction mine (minelayer): 50% base reduction in speed and turn rate, with an additional 10% possible as a T5 upgrade. A T4 upgrade allows up to 2 of those mines to be up simultaneously. Duration of the effect is 15 seconds (base) with an additional 5 seconds as a T3 upgrade.

 

Interdiction sentry drone (dronecarrier): 40% base reduction in speed and turn rate, with an additional 10% possible as a T4 upgrade. A T5 upgrade allows up to 2 of those drones to be up simultaneously. Duration of the effect: no limit, as long as the target stays within 3000m of an interdiction sentry drone. If the drone isn't shot down and the dronecarrier keeps replacing it before it expires, this effect can last indefinitely.

 

Interdiction drive (both bombers and both gunships): 20% base reduction in speed and turn rate, with an additional 10% possible as a T3 upgrade. Duration of the effect is 6 seconds. The other T3 choice increases the duration of the effect by 3 seconds. Interdiction drive stacking with any other single interdiction effect would not achieve 100% speed reduction, but it would be good to know whether it stacks with other interdiction effects from the same ship, and whether interdiction drives used simultaneously by 2 different ships stack with each other.

 

Seismic mine (minelayer): a T4 upgrade reduces enemy ship speed by 50% for 3 seconds after detonation. The tooltip does not mention any effect on turn rate.

 

Concussion missile (both strike fighters, also dronecarrier): a T5 upgrade reduces enemy speed by 30% for 15 sec. No effect on turn rate. I was not getting any missile locked on me in the scenario described above, but it would be interesting to know if this slow stacks with the others slows and interdiction effects.

 

Ion missile (type 2 strike fighter): a T5 upgrade applies a 40% slow on the target for 12 seconds. This type of missile is not commonly used, I don't think I've ever been hit by one.

 

Ion railgun: a T5 upgrade applies a 40% slow on the target for 6 seconds. I don't know if this applies to secondary targets or only to the primary target. Most gunships prefer the other T5 option, which stops energy regeneration for 6 seconds.

 

Sabotage probe: disables maneuvering thrusters and other ship systems. A T5 upgrade reduces the target's engine speed 35% while sabotage probe is active. Duration of the effect is not mentioned on the tooltip, T3 upgrade increases the duration by 1 second.

 

Servo-jammer (crew ability, available to all ships): enemy target's maneuvering decreased by 20% for 20 seconds. I assume this means a 20% reduction in the target's turn rate.

[Zharik]

Don't forget servo jammers (copilot ability), though it is only a 20% reduction.

 

As far as I can tell (and I have an interdiction drone carrier build) they do not stack... at least from the same player. Maybe you got hit by 2+ players' debuffs' at the same time and they stack that way?

[Gerfaut]

Don't forget servo jammers (copilot ability), though it is only a 20% reduction.

I did include it, at the very end of my post.

 

As far as I can tell (and I have an interdiction drone carrier build) they do not stack... at least from the same player. Maybe you got hit by 2+ players' debuffs' at the same time and they stack that way?

Ya, it is likely that I got hit by more than one player's debuffs. I'm just not 100% sure and I was wondering if anybody had looked into the subject in more detail. All I know is that there is one or more combination of effects that give that result, but I don't know exactly how it is done. I was just hoping to generate some interest in the subject and learn more about it.

[TrinityLyre]

And which effects produce this outcome?

Ion Railgun and Interdiction Sentry Drone definitely produce this. I tried it with a friend one match, it was very amusing.