quote:
Originally posted by Baron Munchausen:
I don't see how requiring level TWO in physics, and then costing twice as much per level as the anti-proton beam, makes the Phased-Polaron Beam "too easy to research". It looks to me like you'd be taking quite a risk if you were to rely on getting that before you got into conflict another empire. Especially if you want to have a good selection of other technologies before then. If you make it more difficult to research, btw, you make things more difficult for the Sergetti, who use this as their main weapon. A slight adjustment to the damage might not hurt, but the change to phased shields neutralizes their main advantage so the 'special ability' is only a temporary, unlike other weapons like the shard cannon or the time distortion burst.
The main problem with the PPB is that it is an ULTIMATE weapon.
You say it cost twice as much per level as the A-P? Well, look at what you get for that:
A-P IV: 20,20,15,15
PPV IV: 60,55,55,50,50
So, for *just* twice as many points, you are getting THREE times the damage. Plus, it has a longer range. And... AND... at the beginning of the game and against dumb empires who don't research Phased Shields, you are actually doing SIX times the damage.
Compare the damage of the PPB to the A-P and then the small PPB to the small A-P. Small A-P starts out doing 10 pts of damage whereas the small PPB does 2,2. IMHO, the small weapons are reasonably play balanced.
Can you think of another race-generic weapon which does as much damage as the PPB V? I don't know of one. The Wave Motion Gun and Graviton Hellbore fire just once every three turns. So, the PPB still does more damage. In fact, there just isn't a weapon worth researching above the Phased Polaron Beam. So, once you research it, you can stop spending points on weapons research. That makes the PPB DIRT CHEAP!!!
So far, I haven't had any trouble staying alive long enough to research PPB V before I even start building capital ships instead of fighters.
Once again, even if the enemy has Phased Shields, the PPB still does more damage than any other weapon in the game. (excluding race-specific weapons once again)