Are Titans just mobile starbases, or there is something else to it?

They will let us know when they want to. Honestly Ironclad probably hasn't decided, but one thing they have spoken out about is being able to get all upgrades like they did with capital ships. So my guess is that their abilities will work like capital ships but there will be more abilities than you will be able to purchase, forcing you to specialize like starbases.

Yeah, i am just trying to stir up some conversation about it, but instead of just posting pie-in-the-slky dreams, I would rather get some insight some of the devs' vision, so that we can focus our suggestions more in line with their goals.

https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/405991/page/2/#2900238

That was my own early thinking on the matter.  I really hope the Vasari idea gets implemented in particular.  It would create some great tactical opportunities, and would work quite well with the Kostura Cannon as well. 

Bleh, I must be getting old. Since we have to wait until the end of the year just for the beta, I'm not sure if I even want to get started seriously thinking about it.

And yes, some ideas are clearly over the top, but at this point pretty much anything is a sky high suggestion.

They sould be renamed.Titan sounds lame, BF2142 anyone?

The awesome class name Super Star Destroyers was already taken so they choose Titan instead.

Tib I like the TEC titan and some of the Vasari but the Advent needs a little more love.

I rather like the sound of "Titan". It conveys a sense, of, I don't know, titanic proportions or power.

TBH, I'm certain that you're the only one who's attempted to draw a parallel between Sins Titans and '2142 Titans. They are similar in name alone, really.

I really hate big, beefy ships called "destroyers". It makes no sense from the point-of-view of proper naval nomenclature. This is one thing, IMO, that separates Warhammer 40,000 better than some scifi settings. Destroyers are, properly, the smallest class of interstellar-capable warship.

Further, the "Super Star Destroyers" were actually "Star Dreadnoughts" in type classification, and "SSD" in standard nomenclature.

Also, TEC need some love too. They have a late-game dependant on keeping an advantage during the early game.

@OP:

My personal opinions are that, 1-on-1, standard fight using raw DPS, a Titan should (barely) lose to a Starbase of equal capabilities.

Instead, a Titan should have a long-range standoff ability that can be directed at a Starbase from beyond it's engagement range (barring strikecraft) and do massive damage. This would allow the Titan to basically "alpha-strike" the SB, allowing the Titan to enter into a raw DPS-based slugging match with the SB on a significant advantage (more health).

To balance the ability, it would only be coded to be capable of targeting starbases and other Titans.

Problem is Star Wars has always been horrendous at following Standard naval nomenclature. Star Destroyers are not the only example. Mon Calamari Cruisers, their silly definition of capital ship etc. Maybe I'm just old school, but after learning the old system I'm irritated by their attempts to make it consistent. Star Dreadnought just sounds ridiculous IMO, even the generic Star Battleship would be better.

That said, am I the only one who thought that Star Destroyers were so named to give the impression that they could literally destroy stars, not because they were a mere destroyer?

edit: On topic now, I think Titan is a good name, though I tend to approve of anything with mythological origins.

Super Star Destroyer (SSD) and Super-class Star Destroyer are both military colloquialisms for Star Dreadnoughts and Star Battlecruisers larger than Star Destroyers. I don't have a problem with SSD being an alternative to Star Dreadnought and Star Battlecruiser, but I can't stand its use in the official class name of ships, i.e. the Eclipse-class, the Sovereign-class (both should really be Star Dreadnoughts), and the Imperial-class (a large class that fits best as a Star Battlecruiser, could also be the so far unseen Imperial Star Battlecruiser to go along with the old Imperial Star Destroyer term for the Imperial-class we are all familiar with).

Yeah, I guess I kind of ran out of steam for that one.  It is a bit like the Deliverance Engine, IMO.  Said engine being flexible, but almost never used outside of vs AI games.  So the Advent Titan basically just became a combo of a fully strikecrafted starbase that could move(or 4 Halcyons at level 3), along with some Deliverance culture pushing, making it a heavy support ship. 

Sadly though, the Advent are really known for strikecraft, culture, and shields.  So I'd personally start by looking at those areas.  Since capitalships and frigates focus on great synergy with one another, perhaps those three pillars of the Advent could be represented in another way?  Mass bombers are already crazy powerful, so perhaps the strikecraft count should be a smaller side bonus of sorts.  That leaves culture and shields to be explored.  I do like the idea of the ship generating culture as it travels about, especially since this enhances their shields if the culture tech is researched.  Speaking of shields, maybe it could include a passive bonus like +1.0 shield regeneration?  Then again, that might be too strong.  It is hard (for me at the moment), coming up with an idea for the Advent without making them stupidly strong.  Maybe it should just have some crazy abilities like their starbases?  Call it Psionic Distortions or something, an ability that drops the accuracy of all enemy ships in the gravity well by 10% while increasing friendly firing rate by 5%.  That would likely need to be balanced with a massive cooldown, maybe 10 minutes or so.  Or maybe another one called Enthralling Visions, which would function like an AoE Reverie(great at taking out bunched up formations).

The TEC and Vasari ideas were definitely easier to come up with.  TEC are essentially the epitome of an industrial manufacturing juggernaut.  The Vasari are supposed to be masters at all types of phase technology.  So in that sense their Titan ideas reflect those traits.  The TEC Titan is like a combination of super weapon, mobile starbase, and frigate factory.  The Vasari Titan allows for unprecedented lightning strikes, especially if you have other Phase Stabilizers or facsimile abilities in play.  If it flings out massive volleys of phase missiles then anything in striking distance should fear for its life.  While the TEC Titan is a monster warship for breaking straight through the defense line, the Vasari Titan would be the surprise blitzkrieg ship that assaults you from a different direction even as the Vasari fleet engages in other areas.  It would force you to decide on which areas can be defended on short notice, and realize that some unprotected areas might fall.  In all, Titans should, at least in my opinion, shake up the basic 'build up smaller blobs of ships throughout game and amass them together into one big blob when going for the killing blow' gameflow.  The metagame should shift a bit when these monsters take the field.  Like capital ships, they wouldn't be super combat units on their own.  But with the right support, they could easily swing a map. 

Whisky144:  That was something I thought about when looking at the TEC Titan picture released.  Many speculated that it looked like a portable Novalith Cannon.  But I thought there was another possibility that it was a specialized anti-starbase/anti-'any structure' cannon instead.  Such a beast would make a good counter to basic starbases, especially if it could reinforce on the spot.  E.g. after firing it might spit out a few Ogrovs, or if strikecraft were still left to harass the Titan it could pump out Garda flak frigates, etc.  Such a ship would demand the attention of the majority of the opponent's fleet. 

/WARNING: INCOMING UBER-NERD INFODUMP/

Well, I always considered it to be a case of it's a "starship", that destroys things. However, I'm sure they could really mess up a star, because a lone ISD has been canonically calculated as being capable of doing enough damage to literally melt the upper crust of a planet.

@Tiberius-

IMO, a TEC Titan shouldn't have the ability to produce frigates and cruisers, per se. Give it hangar bays for fighters and bombers, and a corvette production facility.

Then, give it a giant AoE heal. Not more powerful than the Hoshiko's, mind you, just an AoE. Perhaps even give some kind of passive that grants an antimatter-regen buff or a hull repair buff to the surrounding ships (this would be a much smaller AoE than the active heal).

Yeah, and that is just one ISD, a group of them could really do something sinister if they conduct a Base Delta Zero.

Actually, what I described is a Base Delta Zero. Canonically in Star Wars, it requires a minimum of one, and only one, ISD to do so. Further, it leaves no witnesses, and no survivors.

Of course, ideally, it is conducted by around two or three, as this allows them to cover the planet and prevent any escaping ships, as well as accomplish it much faster.

Ya know, looking at the high resolution pics of the titan, it looks almost like parts of it are articulated or mobile in some way.

http://images.phxxgaming.com/images/129907603287_ca_Sins_Rebellion.jpg

Perhaps it can bring all of its weapons on those arm-things to bear on one target. Or perhaps it just transforms into Megatron.

Actually, nowhere on Wookieepedia, the source for canon, does it say that one ISD can do a Base Delta Zero or that it can't.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Operation_Emperor%27s_Hammer

This is the case where ONE SSD did a BDZ.

I have it on very good authority that, while occasionally not outright said as "BDZ", it describes effects congruent to a BDZ that are performed by a lone ISD.

Further, Wookieepedia is not the most reliable of canon sources for Star Wars. Numerous EU books describe BDZ operations, without outright calling them BDZ. And, said EU novels are part of Star Wars canon and continuity.

Note that there's two ways to interpret the article:

1) It offers nothing on ISD Base Delta Zero capabilities.
2) Since an SSD could pull off a BDZ in four minutes, it's likely that an ISD could do the same thing, just in more time.

Well, of course an Executor-class Star Dreadnought could conduct a Base Delta Zero, that was one of their main functions under the Galactic Empire. Yeah, the terms Base Delta Zero and orbital bombardment could probably be used interchangeably, and it is not like I said one ISD couldn't. I share that sentiment, all Wookieepedia cares about is appearances and sources, with no regard for what those things do to canon. Several posts in this thread describe my feelings on the subject.

I'm not sure a starbase style upgrade system would be appropriate here;  Starbases were designed to be available early on, but can be enhanced as resources allow.

The Titans on the other hand strike me as more an end-game thing; more along the lines of a mobile super-weapon you build when you want the game to end.  It wouldn't really make sense if you could build them for cheap, but then pour upgrades into them to actually make them the super units they were supposed to be in the first place.

That said, I wouldn't mind seeing some customization options for them; however this should be more along the lines of, "Do I want the super death laser, the planetary mind control ray or the invulnerability module?"

Smells like EVE to me. Not more hotdrops!

And here I was thinking Greek Mythology. Silly me.

Well for one, the Vasari are the only ones who can do anything close to a hotdrop. For two, it's nothing like EVE, as other than the fact that "Titans are big, and can take on fleets", we know nothing about them.

We don't know if they have lots of little guns, or a few big guns, or a really big gun, or lots of big guns, or were rolled in liquid guns and then baked to a tender-brown color, or dunked in molten guns and then dried out in the sun for three days.

I wasn't thinking Greek Mythology. But then again, I was thinking more "Titan=usually a word used to described really big&powerful&deadly ships in numerous scifi franchises".

But the Greek Titans were big and powerful and deadly, so I suppose that they would fit the bill.

Which brings up an interesting question. Will there be a Space Pony Titan?

There ya go.

Doesn't look quite right. I envision a space pony titan to be, well, a giant spess poneh. That then brings poneh fureh bah steel rehn.

But it's coloration and insignia is pretty spot on.

You just... have that lying around?