Questions about torpedoes

[Emperor Zodd]

Being that they are fast like direct fire weapons means they use their fuel very quick and limit their range.

As they are now they need something a little extra to use them. Either keep their range short and make them more accurate, if we conclude they are fast seekers. Or extend their range out to a maximum of 8 like alot of other weapons and keep their accuracy at 0.
Remember, all weapon systems I believe, lose accuracy for every square on the map that they travel. So using them at a range of 8 would make them less accurate and you would have to wait 2 turns to get another shot off. While Wave motion guns have a 30 weapon modifier.
If they were both at 8, I would choose the torp over the Wave motion.
I think it would be better to not have to choose between the two of them for the best range 8 weapon.
So I think keeping them at their range now,or extending the range a little on the early models only,and increasing their accuracy is the way to go.
This way we can have a long range beam weapon(which can target fighters) and a shorter range torpedo system(which is a little more accurate and powerful against ships)both on your ship for variety(which is fun and gives us a reason to use our multiplex tracking).
Maybe 50 is too high,only point defense are that high. But CSM's seem very high even though their rating is zero.
I will change the weapon modifier for ant-matter torps to 20 and Quantums to 30.

Do you think that sounds fair? And would that make them a more viable weapon choice?
The early models are very short in range,do you guys think they should be increased by one?



[This message has been edited by Emperor Zodd (edited 08 January 2001).]

[Daynarr]

I think you should first go with the increased range (not damage) and then after playtesting add a little bonus (10 for start) and see how they do. Use simulator for that and see how AI handles the modification. In short, you should test all the things you modify to those torpedoes, and combat simulator is perfect for that.

[Emperor Zodd]

I decided not to increase the accuracy for Anti-matters and only a 10% increase for Quantums,and to extend all their ranges by one, which will bring the group to a maximum range of 7 which is 1 short of many popular weapons.

The early models were very short range(starting at two)now they look more appealing when I decide early on the game which weapon family to research. Thanks for your imput guys.



[This message has been edited by Emperor Zodd (edited 08 January 2001).]

[Sinapus]

Er, torpedos are too wimpy?

Odd, I tend to use them along with DU cannons and missiles. They don't do as much damage as a Wave Motion Gun, but they fire more often. Though if I had WMGs, I'd probably still use DU cannons as backup weapons. I can still fire at ships while the WMGs reload.

Interesting idea, torps as very fast seekers. The game SE4 has some inspiration from has a missile weapon that uses this concept. Sprint-mode missiles in Starfire are less accurate than standard-launched missiles, but can't be tracked by point defense.