quote:
Originally posted by suicide_junkie:
By using multiple "attack" abilities, you could have a components that:
- alternate between damage types at different ranges (eg. phased attack at odd range, normal at even ranges)
- charge up to fire (having 5 weapon abilities that have varying reloads from 1 turn to 5 turns)
- have limited ammo (have 3 missile launch abilities with 30 reload)
- "leak" through shields (90% normal damage, plus a second ability that does 10% shield skipping)
- anything else modders come up with 
That's brilliant! I agree completely -- combine that with giving each one a Min Damage and a Max Damage attribute (make 'em the same if you want weapons like they are now), and you've got massive flexibility.
Now, if we could only affect the accuracy as well WITHIN the weapon (say, another attribute called "Weapon Accuracy Mod", that let us specify adjustments to the accuracy at each range), that'd make for some interesting possibilities.
Remember those missiles that do low damage at close range because they're not armed yet? Give them increased accuracy at long range as a result of being ultra-high-velocity (and maybe a penalty at closer ranges because the aren't as accurate when slower?), and that'd be sweet. But you'd better hope your enemies don't close with you...
--Chesh