Understanding the weapons and balance
 

Could someone verify how the code works for weapons?

Meson Blaster:

(15 + (([%Level%] - 1) * 5)) - (([%Range%] / 10) * 0.00) - iif([%Range%] > Min(90, (([%Level%] - 1) * 10) + 30), 10000, 0)

So, 15 damage plus 5 damage per level after 1st.

Range is.. what? 90? But the manual says the Meson Blaster is supposed to be a range of 30. Is this a bug? I hope so.

Also, what is the % to hit chance for Direct Fire weapons?

Overall, I'm trying to understand weapons balance in the game as a whole. So far it appears to be:

Use the Meson Blaster.

I'm working on a spreadsheet that lists all the weapons by damage, range, cost (research and m/r/o). How do I attach it here?

Has anyone had success going with all Missle weapons?

Re: Understanding the weapons and balance
 

Aaron's formula templates are indeed horribly complicated.

To-hit modifier is on the next field in the component.
You have to add the 100% base to-hit, and add/subtract ECM, Sensors, hull bonuses, racial bonuses and the kitchen sink.

Re: Understanding the weapons and balance
 

Weapon Space To Hit Modifier Formula := 0 - [%Range%]

Ahhh. But what does it mean? - %Range% ? So, 10 % per LS?

Re: Understanding the weapons and balance
 

No, 1% per LS.

Re: Understanding the weapons and balance
 

No. It's actually equivalent to 1% per km or ls, because the range increases in increments of 10. So at range 10, the modifier is 0 - 10 = -10 and so on.

The last part of the Meson Blaster can be seen as adding 10 range to 30 for each tech level until a maximum range of 90.

Re: Understanding the weapons and balance
 

Whoa. So, why use anything but the Meson Blaster?

Even the Wave Motion gun. The WAVE MOTION GUN can't hold a candle to the Meson Blaster!??!

That aint right http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Is there any hope of weapons balance, even a modicum of weapons balance, coming to Stock?

Re: Understanding the weapons and balance
 

KwokStock is what you want.

Aaron's files are a bad translation of SE4's files, which were a bad translation of SE3's.

Re: Understanding the weapons and balance
 

Personally I find myself just using the Anti-Proton Beam. Instant impact counts for alot too, and it's got nice damage, range and accuracy. Suppose Kwok might have tweaked the weapons a little in Balance 0.93, can't remember how they were in stock.

Re: Understanding the weapons and balance
 

Ok, I'm tired of reinventing the wheel http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

I'm attempting to write a script that will

1. Pull out the data from the weapon fields in Components.txt
2. Insert the data into an Excel Spreadsheet
3. Convert the SE5 formulas into Excel formulas
4. Allow the user to plug in a level for the weapons for comparison.

Any scripters out there want to show me how its done? I'm not a scripter, I just took a class for work on basic scripting.

If I could get this done, not only would we be able to get this data after each patch release, but everytime someone made a mod, they could check for weapons balance as well.

I realize that I will likely just be playing KwokStock and other mods, but if I make that jump, I won't go back to Stock and then I won't be motivated to do things like this or care about stock at all.. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Understanding the weapons and balance
 

Hopefully, Kwokstock will *be* stock in a future patch.