They have nerfed it, and a single cadet station isn't a big deal to handle usually, but a fully loaded one, and worse with overhealing, and then extremely nasty when you add in 3 shields on top of that! The main weakness of a station is how huge it is, and the more cadets on it, the more it draws fire as it is nice to get 4 vanquishes with 1 station, but this is why they generally don't use the ability unless there's cover or are close to an objective so they can't be sniped. One of the rare times in BfN you don't want to attack at max range is when on a station.
Crater Maker used to be insanely good. I know some will point out ways to avoid it, and that's true, but also very dependent on the terrain in the area you're fighting them at. Thankfully they made it so you can't get use it immediately upon entering the station mode (at least the first time in a battle), but when combined Space Force, it can be a frustrating experience to battle with. If you use it while already in a good spot, it can be very hard for plants to get out of the way. It can be dealt with by being under cover or higher than the station to not be under that beam, but when you can't do that, it can melt you in a hurry.
Space Force is too good considering what a station can do. Getting crater maker, shields, and the torpedo back faster is extremely powerful and this is magnified when the station is occupied by more cadets. On a full station that means all 3 shields and torpedoes come back faster, as well as the crater maker on the station itself! I'm not saying an ability like this can't work, but it's far too good for the station considering what it can do.
Escape Pod of course is just to get out, but getting in and out of the station is too fast. Acorn got that timer to change to Oak which is good, but the station needs that too.
The shields can be stacked up and that means that before the nerf, you could have 1170 health on a single facing and then you'd have to take out the station behind! It's still solid; giving 375 health on one facing, but that's reasonable in comparison. The main issue here is that each cadet adds health already, and now they also add a shield that can be moved to face the enemy as needed to boot, making each extra cadet just that much more powerful.
I like the Hands On Torpedo, but you gotta watch your launch angle! If you have an erratic driver it can ruin your launch! It's a decent weapon, I believe they nerfed it before? It's kind of slow, so plants can often avoid it. The camera for it isn't the best, but that's normal in BfN.
I know some love the station, and I love Space Cadet, but this thing needs a major rework if they keep it, especially when compared to the Imp/Mech and Acorn/Oak. Just getting rid of the station and giving the cadet the ability to call on an actual space station in orbit to fire a laser, or drop debris, or something like that would make her easier to balance and remove the issues with the station, which are many.
In this discussion, I will only cover the Space Station and Space Cadet Passenger abilities. The regular Space Cadet abilities are in the other discussion post!
Now, the abilities:
Space Force: Only the Space Station has this ability. Guess what? You can use the force from space to recharge the abilites of you and any connected Space Cadets much more quickly than normal, as well as giving you and connected Space Cadets a movement and attack speed boost for a short time. This effect will apply even if you are a Space Station without Space Cadet Passengers. Now is that cool or what? If you can communicate with your squad and determine when your squad will get the most use out of this ability, this ability can be much more effective. Who knew space could be so useful, cool and powerful? I'm going to use my abilities, then use my abilities again!
Crater Maker: Only the Space Station has this ability. Do you ever wish that you had a laser that will exterminate any enemies that dare get close to it? Well, unfortunately for the enemies, you do indeed have a laser that is so powerful, it even makes craters as you go, wow! When you use this ability, you will hover in the air and summon a huge laser that fires below you and deals very significant damage to all enemies that are hit by this laser. The only issue is that enemies can generally escape this ability quite easily as you are fairly slow, so activate it when you are close to enemies. You cannot attack during it, but connected Space Cadets can, and you cannot cancel this ability, so be mindful of when you activate this ability and you can start exterminating.
Asteroid Shield: Only a Space Cadet Passenger will have this ability. Shielding is caring, right? Absolutely correct there! Using this ability will deploy a shield which will cover part of the Space Station squad that you can use to block attacks. You can turn the shield around to block attacks from a particular direction, so you can turn it to protect the station from places where it is taking significant damage. The shield has 125 health and you can attack with the shield deployed. This ability cannot be cancelled and will not start a cooldown until destroyed, so if you want to cancel it, jump off the Space Station and then get straight back on again. Block those attacks like never before and be the hero of the station while providing cover fire!
Hands-On Torpedo: Only a Space Cadet Passenger will have this ability. Have you ever wanted to control a torpedo? I bet you have not, but it does not matter as you can now. When you use this ability, you will be able to control your own torpedo, which you can use to chase down enemies on low health or to pursuit groups of enemies. It will do up to about 100 damage for a direct hit. While you are controlling the torpedo, the Space Station can still move and you can still have your shield deployed, however you will not really be able to control the shield and you cannot use your primary weapons. Careful of the health of the Space Station when you use this as the ability will be immediately cancelled if the Space Station is vanquished. Torpedo ahoy!
That is all!
