PPB Balance Issue, Follow-up poll.

[LGM]

I voted for a change, however, if we make PPBs weaker, then some other weapon will emerge as the weapon of choice. Probably Null Space, Rippers, or APBs. At least rippers have shorter range to make up for the rate of fire of 1 and the best Damage per KT rating apart from racial weapons.

A Rate of Fire of 2 will make PPBs obsolete when phased shields come out as Rippers would be vastly better. Higher research will delay their entry, allowing people to get to Phased Shields perhaps before they are deployed. PPBs are decent even against Phased Shields when you look at the Range and Damage per KT ratio.

I would like to see some of the lame weapons improved. Hellbores look at first to do great damage at close range, until you divide by the KTs it takes to mount these. I tend to look at two numbers primarily in analyzing weapons: Damage/KT and Damage/KT/ROF.

The reason I like to look at Damage/KT and Damage/KT/ROF is that once you reach the ship limit, cost of the weapon becomes trivial. If you cannot reach the ship limit with contender resource, then cost is not trival. I tend to play in games with ship limits. Sometimes ROF is not as big a factor as it might seem because first fire is a big deal. I like to look at both numbers and pick a weapon that does well in both categories. Short range can cost you first fire, which lose the battle.

PPBs do well in Damage/KT and Damage/KT/ROF contests. I consider their value to be about 1.5 to 2.0 times their damage ratio while Phased Shields are absent from the battlefield. I consider Null Space to be equal to twice their damage ratio since they skip armor and all shield types.

If your enemy has difficulty hitting you, then first fire becomes less important than average damage per round per kiloton. You are probably using smaller ships and hoping to get several rounds of shots off.