Re: PPB Balance Issue, Follow-up poll.
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Null-space projector is by no means a "special" weapon. Shield depletors are not bad either.
Then there are weapon-damaging and engine-damagine weapons.

Re: PPB Balance Issue, Follow-up poll.
 

With the enforcement of supply in the gold Version, Engine killers are bit more attractive. Rippers have a nice Damge/KT of Space ratio. Null Space are unstopable. It is hard to survive the first salvo from an equal sized ship that hits most of the time. Null Space with a Talisman is very deadly. There is no defense against a Null Space Talisman. Probably the best you can do is to find a way to fire first (hard to do when attacking out of a worm hole).

Personally, I would like to see Null Space skip armor, but not shields (like the Crystalline weapons). That way, a balanced defense would be required.

Weapon Techs should be 50K research base, not 5K. You spend 155K to get Null Space I and then it costs you only about 35K more to get the level III variety.

Because of the Null Space and Phased Polarian beams, defense modifiers are critical in the game. If you are fighting a Religious race, you better wipe them out before they get the Talisman. I am playing a high defense, religous race in a game right now. It is a very deadly combination.

I am thinking of removing the Talisman in the next game I host, because I will have to pick Deeply Religious otherwise.

Re: PPB Balance Issue, Follow-up poll.
 

I think that's why MM's original design for the Norak used the Meson BLaster instead of the APB or some other longer ranged weapon. The shorter range of the MB reduces the advantage from the Talisman, although the greater size/damage ratio of the MB makes it pretty powerful within its range. But TDM and some other mods have changed them to use PPB instead! Same range but it skips normal shields. Now that's one nasty attack. With the MB Version at least you had shields to protect you from the guaranteed hits for a while.

It sounds like the best counter to a Religious tech race might be a missile strategy right now. Missile dance at max range and the Talisman is useless. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif Unless the Norak use lots of PDC, but then they aren't getting near as much of the advantage from the Talisman. Sure, your PDC hit incoming missiles all the time, but PDC won't do diddly against dreadnoughts. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif I wonder if a combined arms strategy is possible yet? If you could just work out how to get two different fleets, one of missile ships and one of beam ships, to work together in 'strategic' combat mode you could defeat nearly any of the stock AI empires. Heh, but if it worked for you, it would work for them and you'd be back at square one.