[Cyrien]

For the weapons part. It seems this way. But I have found that it just isn't so. Each weapon can be usefull depending on your strategy. For the most part I use a weapon that most consider worthless. The Meson BLaster. high research cost but the only weapon that has higher comp cost/kt size to damage ratio is the Ripper Beam which has a greatly reduced range. Long Live the Meson BLaster.

From a Stars! standpoint I see this point of view coming about from the limited number of weapon Groups in Stars! Each group had very specific abilities and strengths/weaknesses. But there weren't a whole lot of them. If memory serves you had missiles, torp, and beams as the basic weapons with steady and constant modifiers on each. (I played Stars! before SE4 and really want to see SuperNova come out)

In fact I think the weapons system of Stars! and its lack of diversity is one thing that turned me away from it eventually. There are only so many strategies you can use. If you know the persons weapons you know what strategy they are using. In SE4 you just can't really tell.

Is the person an insane genius using that weapon or just stupid?