[jaylord]

Plasma Missiles as is in the game are useless. The only improvements they have over CSM Vs is that they have a speed of 6 vs. 5, at higher levels they have a slightly longer range and cause higher damage at short ranges. But these doesn't even begin to counter the fact that the damage dealt out drops of sharply with range. Which is damn silly considering that they're missiles. What, is the anti-matter leaking out while in flight. I think that would be a dangerous missile to deploy (for the firer, not the target!) I modded the Plasma Missiles in the game I'm playing to have the same damage at all ranges. Haven't built any yet, but at least if I feel the need the high research cost would be worth it.

On a side note, doesn't it seem like there is a dearth of good intermediate (8-12) range weapons?? The few that are in this range seem to all have problems. They either fall of sharply with range, have ROF of 3, or are race specials. The WGM III is about the only one availible but is so expensive in research, resources, space, etc. that I'm not as big a fan of it as others are. Additionally, I don't understand why Quantum Torpedoes are restricted to a range of 6. Isn't the idea behind torpedoes (in SF like Star Trek anyway) is to have a longer range than beam weapons at the cost of lower ROF? I guess I'll mod them to step out to a range of 10. A Quantum Torpedo V with a range of 10 would sure help to fill the whole between CSMs and beam weapons.