Re: Weapons
The attached Excel file is a work-inp-progress, but it does begin to answer some of your questions. Sort it by selecting a calculation row, then sort through the Data -> Sort -> Expand method (this keeps the data from various rows together.)
The file lists the first and the final Versions, only, of all the ship-to-ship weapons. Small Weapons need to be on their own scale. Weapons that do not normal damage are not in it (no shield destroyers etc.) Weapons only available if you have a racial trait are in Blue. Column M lists special stuff - SW (#) = Seeking Weapon (speed); SP = shield piercing; AP = armor piercing; 4x SDam = Does quad damage to shields.
The things that need discussion are *how* to analyze the weapons. I use two formulae in this. First is column I:
Max Damage / Rate of Fire / Space
This figures the best possible case at close range: damage dealt per turn per unit of space.
However, calculation #1 fails to take into account the impact of a weapon's range. So the next calculation tries a different formula, column J:
(Min Damage / Rate of Fire / Space ) X (Range/3)
I divide the range by 3 because this is the base movement rate of most ship (yes, you get more with higher techs, but it's a good baseline. If you disagree, well, make your case. 8)
This yields a different set of Favorites. Notably, it places the Capital Ship Missile back nearer where it belongs in the early game - given room to run, cap ship missiles slaughter ships armed with DU cannons (until the PD cannon negates the missiles).
In both calculations, the Phased Polaron Beam comes off very well, even without trying to take its shield-piercing ability into account. I'm moderately convinced that the PBB is potentially one of the best toys in the game; it has a much better throw-weight than the WMG. [I'd like to see counter-arguments in favor of the WMG!]
The next calculation along, column K, shows efficiency if the weapon is in a Massive Mount, according to the range-adjusted formula (in column J).
Finally, column L is porked, as is the listing of total RP cost. I'd thought that the RP cost at medium followed the formula:
Cost of Level N = N * (Cost in File)
and thus the total cost to finish a given level =
Total cost = (cost in file) X ((Level^2)) + Level)/2
Unfortunately, it doesn't. My tech costs are off, and thus so is column L, which attempts to calculate the range-modified throw weight as adjusted by units of 10K Research Points. Even with porked costs, the Phased-Polaron Beam, the DU Cannon, the Cap Ship Missile, and the Anti-Proton Beam are stars - especially the AP and DU. The PBB has a better range-adjusted throw-weight, however.
I'd be very interested to see other formulae for calculating effectiveness, especially ones that take shield and armor piercing weapons into account well. (Very tricky, since you have to deal with their worth both when the enemy does and does not use the protection you have rendered useless.)
[This message has been edited by James Sterrett (edited 20 November 2000).]
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