Now this'll seem off the wall, but could you make computer viruses a ram only weapon? Or at least a missile? It seems to me that physical
contact of some sort with the enemy computer core should be required... otherwise the enemy would just employ radio silence, and *poof* no programming can hack in (thus the love of intra-nets throughout corporate america). This short range/physical contact requirement will at least buy the poor victim some time to bLast you as you close the distance.
Now I know that some would argue that the weapon could be doing
physical damage to the computer core, but if this were true (i.e. Electromagnetic Pulse Bombs, etc) then surely shields and even armor would help protect the core.
Lastly, if these weapons are really imbalancing, you could incorporate an anti-computer virus type of armor (I think SJ has some in P&N, though I've never been hacked in a game, so I've never gone researching for it)
Edit: missed your Last post. You could also reduce the probability to hit for the weapon, say -35%. This would repressent the difficulty of over-riding the computer core defenses. Doesn't help with the religious talisman effect, but hey, G_d Hackrs RooL
Hope that's of some help,
[ August 28, 2002, 04:46: Message edited by: jimbob ]