Plasma Torps

[Suicide Junkie]

I think that the problem of range lies in the conVersion of all these weapons from SE3 to SE4.

In SE3, 8 was the max range. Missiles and WMGs went to 8. Missiles, however could fly out past the launch range and would continue to seek until their damage dropped to zero, or they were shot down.

With SE4, the beam weapons & special techs have expanded range (antiproton beams go 8 instead of 5[in SE3])

The problem is that some weapons, such as WMGs haven't been given the extra range they deserve. WMGs went 8 in SE3, and they go 8 in SE4.

While most weapon's ranges have increased by 40%-50%, the WMGs are exactly the same. If WMGs were converted to SE4, they would have a range of 13 or 14 for WMGIII. It's a 10 pixel wide siege weapon, not a bitty APB!!! Think of a small Version of the DeathStar beam.

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I'm gonna have to go through the components file & see which weapons have bad range conVersions from SE3.

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capnq: The plasma missile would also have to use some of it's antimatter/plasma warhead to thrust & change course to seek. The CSM's apparently use a chemical drive to manouever, since they can't use up part of their warhead without detonating the whole thing.

[This message has been edited by suicide_junkie (edited 09 March 2001).]

[KiloOhm]

quote:

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Originally posted by DirectorTsaarx:
KO: You found the "Plasma Charge" weapon from the Organic Weapons area, not the Plasma Missile (aka Plasma Torpedo) weapon from the Missile area (tech levels 3-8, IIRC).

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Hmm...Your probably right (I took the organic tech tree for the first time). The picture of the tech is definately a missle though. I'll double check tonight. Thanks guys.



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Regards,
KiloOhm

[vostok]

Im new to the game so keep that in mind;
I agree that plasma torps are rather ineffective vs. CSMs; maybe they need a second ability, say 2x to shields (or maybe armor), or perhaps be a 'phased' torpedo.

[Possum]

Seems to me that the obvious solution would be to make them cheaper

[DirectorTsaarx]

The "real-world" explanation for why plasma torps lose energy during transit, and missiles don't, is probably that MM was following the precedent set by Star Fleet Battles.

The only reason I've ever used plasma torps is the extra speed. If you do it right, the enemy has fewer chances to fire Point-Defense at the plasma torp than they would a missile.

Another way to improve Plasma Torps would be giving them better damage resistance, so that PDC have less effect. Or give them a defensive bonus, so PDC don't always hit...

[Suicide Junkie]

Cheaper missiles would not be an incentive to use plasma missiles.

When was the Last lime you considered cost when adding weapons to your ship???

The three things that determine battle power are:
-Size
-Damage
-Fire rate

Take damage divided by size divided by fire rate, and you get the strength of a weapon. The higher the better.

Smaller considerations include:
-Range
-Inherent accuracy bonus/penalties
-Cost

For the most powerful warship, maximize the value of (Hitpoints X AttackPower) where hitpoints includes armor and shields, and attackpower is the damage per turn you can maintain during battle.


Now, all you have to do is balance your "face-to-face" slugging power with your underhanded sneaky weapons & defences such as engine disruptors & such.


Anyways, weapons should have a strength (as calculated above) close to that of other weapons, unless they have a specific advantage/disadvantage to counter the altered power.

eg. Long range beams like WMGs have poor attack strength, but have long range.
Ripper beams have higher-than-average attack strength, but are limited to very short range.

[Pulaski]

Sorry if this is a newbie question, but: is it possible to have a weapon that does no damage at close range then damage at a specific range, or increasing damage as range increases?
Might make for more intersting use of things like the plasma torpedo