Ballistas useless?

Why do ballistas shoot you and any of your friends with no settings for only shooting mobs?
even with friendly fire off it will instasnipe any of your friends that take one wrong step.
What could be an interesting base defense and/or random greyling or boar measure is kinda just useless now :(
6:13 am, January 13, 2023
Booba the builder 0 comments 0 likes

Faceplant8 replied to Ballistas useless? January 13, 2023 @ 7:35:10 am PST

Originally posted by grinsekeatzchen:
Originally posted by Faceplant8:

So, it makes more sense to release a defense in mistland that would serve the primary purpose of killing greyling and boar in the meadows?

I don't know why they made it they way they did, but I do find it useful against Gjall, and I can see that it would be abused if it worked the way most seem to want it it to work.

If you want to build a base in ML, your moats aren't going to defend against Gjall. What are you going to do?

It's funny how you talk of abuse but then also talk of moats ...
As if moats aren't the stuff that get's abused the heck out of you peeps. So what would be the difference to have something that defends our base that we can actually integrate needly in our builds vs a bs trench who just looks ugly no matter what you do because the terrain-building is so strange that i don't believe trenches where actually an intended game-design but where in the end just acepted because they had to remove terrain-building to remove these cheese-tactic.

I don't use moats, but I do use walls. Clearly walls were an intended design, and moats serve the same purpose. Neither are an active, automatic defense.

If they considered terrain modification a cheese, they could easily remove half of the problem by making terrain destructible like everything else, especially in boss fights, where terrain walls are a very common tactic for making indestructible protection.
6:13 pm, January 13, 2023
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Vinegaroon replied to Ballistas useless? January 13, 2023 @ 7:39:24 am PST

Originally posted by Booba the builder:
Why do ballistas shoot you and any of your friends with no settings for only shooting mobs?
even with friendly fire off it will instasnipe any of your friends that take one wrong step.
What could be an interesting base defense and/or random greyling or boar measure is kinda just useless now :(

They are not useless they are just a little grumpy.
6:13 pm, January 13, 2023
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Faceplant8 replied to Ballistas useless? January 13, 2023 @ 7:40:10 am PST

Originally posted by Zathabar:
Originally posted by Faceplant8:
It's a mistlands defence, not a meadows defense. Try it against Gjall.
This was my first thought then I realised that Gjall don't appear in the raid and so if one appears near your base your far better off dropping a Work bench enclosed in a shack near the spawn site as per usual.

So yeah Ballistas as they stand serve no purpose except to kill you. Now somebody said if they had a safety so you could arm/disarm at will then just maybe they'd be worth the effort.

I suppose you could do that, but some of us don't like to ring our bases with workbenches, especially in an area that is half water, and most of the other half is cliffs.

I think it's kind of cool watching the ballista in action anyway, even if it is a pretty poor defense overall.
6:13 pm, January 13, 2023
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DarthTanyon replied to Ballistas useless? January 13, 2023 @ 7:46:33 am PST

I can kill a Gjall with 5 arrows.. I do not "need" defense from anything.. the balistas SHOULD be amazing to have as sentries around ANY base regardless of where it is.. why they made them do they attack the player has to be one of the dumbest things I've ever experienced.. I built one.. messed around with it for about 15 minutes and will never make another one.. lol.. they are a joke.
6:13 pm, January 13, 2023
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Gregomoto replied to Ballistas useless? January 13, 2023 @ 8:02:04 am PST

Originally posted by DarthTanyon:
I can kill a Gjall with 5 arrows..
Wow, i need min 8 carapace arrows with draugr bow (skill 100) and bonemass on.
6:13 pm, January 13, 2023
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DarthTanyon replied to Ballistas useless? January 13, 2023 @ 8:09:24 am PST

Originally posted by Gregomoto:
Originally posted by DarthTanyon:
I can kill a Gjall with 5 arrows..
Wow, i need min 8 carapace arrows with draugr bow (skill 100) and bonemass on.

Do you usually get the jump on them? I generally snipe them and they are dead well before they get anywhere near me. I am using a T4 drauger bow and obsidian arrows.. can't tell you the last time one actually got close enough to attack me or drop ticks on me. They are so loud and easy to seek out.
6:13 pm, January 13, 2023
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RequiemsRose replied to Ballistas useless? January 13, 2023 @ 8:22:32 am PST

As things are now, i do kind of see them as useless, but I also kind of figured they weren't entirely finished either. the devs have a tendency of introducing new stuff for later but not actually fully polishing or revealing it until a bit later to. I could see a lot of potential use for that ballista though, that just isn't realized fully yet. Just as an example, imagine they do rework oceans and make that it's own biome challenge, potentially with it's own boss, I could totally see the potential of a new boat, that also allows ballista placement for ocean related challenges like that (presumably a war ship would be a later game thing). No idea if that is a potential future, but it's the kind of potential I can see for ballista if it is one of those "well, we havent actually finished working on this but its still fun to tinker with" additions the devs do.

As it is right this moment though, i just don't see much point to it. It's resource intensive to possibly quite literally shoot myself in the foot with. (Okay not "resource intensive" by the standards of resources you have at the time, but i usually dont spend resources like black metal on hurting myself either). Maybe I'm just not giving it a fair chance, but unless it is mistlands where the ballista might "see" something in the mist before i do I haven't found a lot of use for them that I don't prefer to just handle personally.
6:13 pm, January 13, 2023
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kampfer91 replied to Ballistas useless? January 13, 2023 @ 8:23:53 am PST

Balista change is coming .

Also nerfed Gjal is not a threat , i just whip out my xbow and blast it to bug hell and it still can't kill me .
6:13 pm, January 13, 2023
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Faceplant8 replied to Ballistas useless? January 12, 2023 @ 10:20:41 pm PST

It's a mistlands defence, not a meadows defense. Try it against Gjall.
9:13 am, January 13, 2023
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Paddy replied to Ballistas useless? January 12, 2023 @ 10:57:07 pm PST

they also only have a 90 degree angle they can see in front and i think its 36 meter range with a max up and down angle. and if your can make them greyling and boars are just pests not even a threat. just tame some wolves and let them roam around.
9:13 am, January 13, 2023
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Jaasrg replied to Ballistas useless? January 12, 2023 @ 11:34:44 pm PST

Mental gymnastics certain individuals use to justify ballista behavior is quite wild indeed.
9:13 am, January 13, 2023
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Faceplant8 replied to Ballistas useless? January 13, 2023 @ 12:07:25 am PST

Originally posted by Jaasrg:
Mental gymnastics certain individuals use to justify ballista behavior is quite wild indeed.

So, it makes more sense to release a defense in mistland that would serve the primary purpose of killing greyling and boar in the meadows?

I don't know why they made it they way they did, but I do find it useful against Gjall, and I can see that it would be abused if it worked the way most seem to want it it to work.

If you want to build a base in ML, your moats aren't going to defend against Gjall. What are you going to do?
9:13 am, January 13, 2023
0 comments 0 likes

grinsekeatzchen replied to Ballistas useless? January 13, 2023 @ 12:24:04 am PST

Originally posted by Faceplant8:
Originally posted by Jaasrg:
Mental gymnastics certain individuals use to justify ballista behavior is quite wild indeed.

So, it makes more sense to release a defense in mistland that would serve the primary purpose of killing greyling and boar in the meadows?

I don't know why they made it they way they did, but I do find it useful against Gjall, and I can see that it would be abused if it worked the way most seem to want it it to work.

If you want to build a base in ML, your moats aren't going to defend against Gjall. What are you going to do?

It's funny how you talk of abuse but then also talk of moats ...
As if moats aren't the stuff that get's abused the heck out of you peeps. So what would be the difference to have something that defends our base that we can actually integrate needly in our builds vs a bs trench who just looks ugly no matter what you do because the terrain-building is so strange that i don't believe trenches where actually an intended game-design but where in the end just acepted because they had to remove terrain-building to remove these cheese-tactic.
9:13 am, January 13, 2023
0 comments 0 likes

retsam1 replied to Ballistas useless? January 13, 2023 @ 12:40:24 am PST

On twitter one of the devs was showing off their testing out target settings for turrets so adjustments are probably coming...
9:13 am, January 13, 2023
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Zathabar replied to Ballistas useless? January 13, 2023 @ 12:42:35 am PST

Originally posted by Faceplant8:
It's a mistlands defence, not a meadows defense. Try it against Gjall.
This was my first thought then I realised that Gjall don't appear in the raid and so if one appears near your base your far better off dropping a Work bench enclosed in a shack near the spawn site as per usual.

So yeah Ballistas as they stand serve no purpose except to kill you. Now somebody said if they had a safety so you could arm/disarm at will then just maybe they'd be worth the effort.
9:13 am, January 13, 2023
0 comments 0 likes