Missiles and point-defense

[sgqwonkian]

Let me preface this by saying "I agree with you." Let that color my next paragraph or two, and it will sound less trollfull.

Originally Posted by ExplorerBob

Beam weapons are essentially unaffected; a Tan Ru formation can resist size 1/4 missiles as well as larger ones.

Is the Tan Ru formation really an issue? I mean, it's not like the player typically has access to 4 micro-meteorite guns and 4 gatling lasers.

Even assuming they do have those weapons, sure that's a win against Tchorak... but they're just one race. That same weapon complement and formation would get ripped up by most carriers or an urluquai ambush. I can't say that I've had much luck using gatling lasers as my main armament.

I'm okay with a rock-paper-scissors relationship where a particular oddball weapon load-out beats some typically potent race(s) but loses to others. Choosing the right weapons for the job (and only picking the rights fights) is part of the game. 4 Tan Ru ships, using a tactic the AI never tries, can beat 1 Tchorak vessel. That doesn't seem like a huge problem to me.

Not that I'm saying your point isn't generally valid, I just don't think it's quite as dire as your initial post reads. I've been using Strange Quark Projectors on anti-missile duty for a long time, and they do it admirably. And yes, in general, this has lead to me feeling the missiles in the main game are all (even the multi-missile) over-priced, because they rarely connect. They are much better on paper than in practice. That's why certain changes were made in Drives'R'Us.

So, really, I agree with your point, and am not sure why I started this post off arguing against it. Oh, well. My next post will be more useful, I hope...