quote:
Originally posted by rdouglass:
Once the AI gets Phased Shields, they (PPB's) drop drastically in their effectiveness.
Yes and no. Certainly PPBs stop being the best weapon by an order of magnitude, but they're so far in the lead early that they can lose a lot and still be one of the best weapons in the game.
I decide how good a weapon is by damage divided by rate-of-fire divided by size--"Damage per turn per kiloton". Even ignoring its special ability, the score of 1.6 (50/1/30) for a normal-mount PPB 5 is the best score for a non-racial-tech direct-fire weapon, and it even beats most of the racial-tech weapons. (I don't remember the score of a normal-mount enveloping acid globule, and I'm at work--anyone care to tell me?)
[This message has been edited by UmberGryphon (edited 26 January 2001).]