Weapon Balance?

[terrycloth]

I did some testing with the simulator in a full tech game (using baseships with approximately 670kt of armor, shields, electronics and point-defense), and came up with

Antiproton beams -> Phased Photon or Null Space (a tie) -> Pretty much all specialty tech (although I didn't get around to testing psychic or shard cannon) -> Antimatter Torps -> Meson Beams -> WMG -> DUC -> Graviton Hellbores -> Any missiles

The Antimatter Torps were basically tied with Meson Beams despite having a *much* longer development cycle (10 turns). I was thinking of increasing their range or their hit rate or both to give them a reason to exist.

Graviton Hellbores were just pathetic. Decreasing their reload time to 1 made them approximately as efficient as Meson BLasters, when by all rights they should be about as powerful as PPB or Null Space (I think you get them at the same time you get null-space weapons).

WMGs are also really wimpy for their cost (10 levels). But it sounds like people actually use them? Why?

Total research costs also make using *any* of the intermediate weaponry (except maybe meson bLasters) a waste of time (compared to picking up PPBs).

Ah, well. That's what mods are for, right?

[Instar]

WMGs are very powerful long range bLasts (but shoot slowly)
So if you manage the battle yourself, you can do a WMG dance of sorts if you would call it that.

[raynor]

I designed my APB XII baseship with a Computer III, 2 Quantum Engines, a Solar Sail, 28 armor III, one Stealth Armor III, ECM III, Sensors III, 12 Phased Shield V's and 7 Massive APB XII. The Null Space Projector III ship has 7 massive NSP III's.
When I tested this combination, I found that the NSP III ship ALWAYS won because it did so much damage in the very first round. Maybe you put less shields and armour on your baseships. But I think the Null Space weapons are far and away the best weapons for taking out baseships and starbases.

In tests with baseships equipped with the Phased Polaron Beam V, the APB XII ship and the PPB V ships were pretty much even.

If you check the research costs, you will find that it costs approx. 1/10th the research points to get the PPB V. In my games, I stop researching weapons after I get this weapon unless I have disabled the entire line of Phased weapons at game start to insure better play balance.

[Suicide Junkie]

With WMGs, the general idea is to hit 'em all at once in the first turn.

If you have a Pile of WMGs, & no defence, you hope to destroy most of the enemy forces on the first turn.

If not, you have to use tight-in warships with small beam weapons & heavy shields to hold 'em off until the WMGs are recharged.

Basically, they're support weapons, "artillery" if you will, to be fired by weak ships behind your main lines.

[Taqwus]

Also keep in mind that baseships are SLOW and rather fat targets, and that affects what tactics work; for instance, WMGs have a nice 30% +hit bonus, which is useful for shooting ships that are smaller than bases at range 8...

Null-space weapons are a wash when you're up against *fast* opponents with good-range guns and a tweaked maximum-range strategy; you just won't get in range. APBs and other low-damage weapons also suffer against large amounts of crystalline armor...

Besides, you need a balanced fleet. For instance, in my current low-tech game (nearly over), my Grand Fleet consists of 54 BBs including both combat ships (plasma missiles, beamer [ shield accelerator / tachyon cannon / PPB ], bomber, biowarfare, point-defense) and non-combat (warp create/close, nebula destroyer, black hole destroyer, minesweeper, shipyard, sensor/scanner). It's well-suited for engaging an enemy regardless of whether they have fighters, beamers, or missile boats...

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-- The thing that goes bump in the night