3 replies to this topic

[LordSkippy]

"I need something with a little more punch than these medium lasers," I yelled up at the tech.

The tech, half hanging out of the opened left torso of my Thunderbolt, shouted back "Well, ya ain't got the room for larges, and their too dang heavy to boot."

"Well, can we make room and drop some weight else where?"

"Naw, won't do. Don't got another engine for ya, and droppin' heat sinks ain't gonna do ya any favors with them larges."

"I've never really had heat problems, so we can drop a heat sink or..." I started to point out.

"Well, instead of larges, I think I got somethin' else that might do ya," he interupted, as he lower himself back onto the work scaffolding. "Ya got these run-o-the mill Diverse Optics Type 18 mediums. I think we got some Ceres Arms Model A29s. They pack a little more punch, but just don't quite shoot as far. Might have some Kreuss Firesite 22 mediums, they got about the same punch as the A29s and reach as good as the Type 18s, but run a bit hotter. They're all pretty much the same size 'n weight, give or take a few kilos or decimeters. I could swap either in without havin' to remove nothin'. If ya ain't got heat problems, I could go find them 22s for ya."

Two suggestions:

Suggestion one:

Instead of naming the weapon modules along the lines of "Medium Laser Range 2", give them manufacturer and model numbers as if you are swapping to a different model of the same type of weapon. The manufacturer names and model numbers can be pulled from BT lore or just made up, like "Ceres Arms Model A29 Medium Lasers" or "Defiance 1001 PPC" .

The functionality can remain the same, but this gives the modules a little more flavor and immersion.

Suggestion two:

I realize that there are more tiers left to go, but can we get more variety? Instead of just giving us more range for more heat, how about:

• More damage for more heat
  
• More range and damage for even more heat
  
• More damage for less range
  
• More range for less damage
  
• Less damage for less heat
  
• Less range for less heat
  
• Less damage and range for even less heat

[CocoaJin]

I like the idea, but it might be seen as a pain to balance. Though I would suggest that balancing specific variants would be relative to a fixed range of a standard of that class. That way, when it comes time to make balance changes, all changes would be to the standard variant and therefor, all other variants in the class are auto balanced with it.

So current medium lasers would be the standard for the medium laser class, all variants would have buffs in certain aspects to not exceed let's say 10%, but would would have drawbacks as much as 15% as the trade off(1to 1.5 gain to drawback ratio). Examples: 10% boost in damage over standard might come with a 15% increase in heat. 5% increase in range would mean 7.5% decrease in damage. 5% increase in damage and range means 15% more heat and a 2.5% increase in beam duration and cycle rates to fire.

Any balancing of medium lasers would be done to the standard, preserving the variants relative % buffs/drawbacks. Any balancing of variants would be done within its class and solely in relation to the standard variant...so no trying balance medium lasers variant x to large lasers or some ballistics modules.

As you can see, I believe in diminishing return...it's natural law, therefor, auto balancing. Keep in mind, I'm using a linear trade off, which a lot nicer than the typical exponential costs. The goal wouldn't be to make variants better, or certainly not significantly better(id prefer we didn't have upgrade creep), just different.

[Metafox]

Better weapon module variety would be nice. The current modules are barely worth taking, even with the upcoming weapon module slots. Here are some other ideas I had for weapon modules, in case any of them sound interesting:

Spoiler

Note: These modules are meant to apply to weapon types rather than individual weapons. I apologize for any egregious lore violations.

Ballistics
Disable Shock Damping: Increase projectile speed, add cockpit shake on firing.
Shock damping is disabled, projectiles travel faster but cockpit shakes when fired.

Ballistics + Missiles
Accelerated Ammo Feed: Decreased cooldown, reduced accuracy/increased spread.
Ammo feed is sped up, ammo loaded faster but less precisely.

Missiles
Flare Propellant: Missiles burn much brighter (bloom effect obscures both your vision and the target's vision).
A flare compound is mixed into the missile propellant causing the boosters to burn much brighter

Missiles + Energy
Isolated Coolant System: Energy weapon and missile heat generation is delayed instead of instant, increased internal damage on overheat.
Each energy and missile weapon is kept on a small closed coolant circuit. This delays the heat transfer to the main system, but is more susceptible to damage when overheating.

Energy
Superconducting Circuits: Energy weapons have increased damage when at lower heat and reduced damage at higher heat.
Standard energy weapon circuits are replaced with cryogenic superconducting circuits. The superconducting circuits have improved performance at low temperatures but reduced performance at high temperatures.

Energy + Ballistics
Improved Targeting Software: Direct-fire weapons have a chance to bypass armor and damage internals directly. Damage is reduced slightly against both internals and armor.
When converging weapons, targeting computer software is adjusted to seek gaps in armor rather than maximizing impact damage.

[Mitsuragi]

Your RP is great OP and your ideas are solid. ^5