Looking over the details in the Wiki, I'm curious about some things that came up:
1. Scout Wings show up on the Weapon Components page as the first type of SC, but they don't show up anywhere in the Engineering, Physics, or Society tech lists. Are they at all valid weapons, or are they just kind of a placeholder?
2. Basic Strike Craft are Tier-1, Improved SC are Tier-2, and Advanced SC are Tier-3, but Flak Batteries are Tier-0, Flak Cannons are Tier-3, and Flak Artillery are Tier-4 (PD are T0, T2, T4 for comparison, and FC are only 6000 Cost, so that may be errant). Anyway, the other part of this is that Missiles, Lasers, and Mass Drivers are all 5-tier weapons (T0-T4), but SC are currently only 3 (maybe 4 if Scout Wings are legit) and certainly stopping at Tier-3 seems sketchy. Should there be a Tier-4 SC tech?
3. With the other 5-tier weapons, advancing by one tier normally increases average damage per day (same with damage per hit, assuming no change to Accuracy or Cooldown) by around 30% - currently, Basic SC to Imp SC is ~29%, and Imp SC to Adv SC is ~28%, which is probably close enough (with such small base numbers). However, building costs (Alloys and special materials) are usually ~30% increase per until Tier-3 (which is only the addition of a special material) and Tier-4 (which is an increase for both). With Basic SC to Imp SC, it's a 70% increase in Alloys (40 to 68), followed by ~29% increase from Imp SC to Adv SC (68 to 88), and no special materials. If they should be more in line with 5-tier progression, would it make more sense to go 40 to 52 (~30%) and then add 1 each of some material from Imp SC to Adv SC? Or, if they would stay with just Alloy increases, 52 to 68 (~31%)? Power is already around 31-32% increase per.
4. I'm not going to worry about SC Shields or Hull, even though Basic SC to Imp SC is high from 45 to 60, as the total increase from Basic SC to Adv SC is about right. But Flak only increases by 25% from T0 to (corrected) T2, and then 60% from T2 to T4 (compares to 69% or compound 30% over 2 tiers). A damage progression closer to the others would be 1-3/1-6/2-10 (a touch high at 75% and 71%). GW Hull increases are weak, between ~11% and ~17% per Tier; comparing them to the 2-tier jumps in damage for Point-Defense, it's 33% missiles vs. 40% PD from T0-T2 and 25% vs. 43% from T2-T4. Probably more appropriate would be SC increasing to a 6/8/10/13/17 Hull progression (25-33% increase per Tier) and PD changing to 1-4/2-6/3-10 for damage progression (60% and 63% increases per 2-tiers, which is a little low).
5. Tracking and Evasion are very tricky - never mind the fact that the continuum for T/E is completely different for at least warships compared to both SC/Flak and Guided Weapons/PD (if not whether they SHOULD also be different for SC/Flak and GW/PD from each other). Because Tracking and Evasion don't increase for SC and GW (but DO for Tracking at least for Flak and PD) according to improvements in their launching warship's Sensors/Thrusters, Computers, or Aux Slots (I'm fairly certain of this - please correct me if I'm wrong here), SC and GW see increases in their values (GW is Evasion-only) as they improve by Tier. But why do Flak and PD also see their Tracking base values increase?
6. Additionally, Tracking and Evasion for both SC and GW don't seem to start or progress right. That GW have such low base Tracking is hilarious, but not progressing at all is highly annoying (and probably an artifact of them IIRC starting with 100% Tracking, followed by getting nerfed to 25%, and then forgetting they should probably increase by Tier). Based on the current formula for Tracking cancelling 90-capped Evasion, there's effectively no difference between the Imp SC (90%) and Adv SC (100%). Evasion for SC/GW, when compared to the expected Tracking increases for Flak/PD, is also comical, with a researched T1 Basic SC having 65% Evasion but a T0 Flak Battery having 50% base Tracking plus either +10 for Picket or +5 (Accuracy) for Line computers, and possibly +5 (Acc) from Aux Fire Control. And T2 Imp SC having 80% Evasion against (corrected T2) Flack Cannon with 60% base Tracking plus the same computer and Aux Slot bonuses - this is actually relatively benign on a Tier bump, as you end up with almost the same E/T gap. Then we get to Tier-3 and -4, where there's no increase in Evasion for Adv SC (still 80%), but Flak Artillery jump to 70% base Tracking and can gain +20/+30 for Advanced (Tier-3) or Sapient/Autonomous (both are Tier-4) Picket or +10/+20 (Acc) for Adv or Sap/Auto Line computers, with the same Aux slot bonus available. On the GW side, it's similar with base values of 0% (T0 Nuclear) and 10% (T1 Fusion) missiles going against 10% (T0 Sentinel) PD (i.e., doesn't even need bonuses to overcome Evasion), then 20% (T2 Antimatter) and 30% (T3 Quantum) missiles versus 20% (T2 Barrier) PD (i.e., only minimal and almost-assured bonus to counter), and finally 40% (T4 Marauder) missiles vs. 30% (T4 Guardian) PD (i.e., again, a given that bonus Tracking will swamp Evasion). Should these weapons all have their Evasion (SC/GW) and Tracking (Flak/PD) numbers revisited?
7. Going back to several threads I've been involved in lately: there are no advanced weapons for SC or GW in the same vein as Kinetic Batteries/Artillery over Gauss Cannons or Proton/Neutron Launchers over Gamma Lasers. Torpedoes are probably the closest, especially when compared to PL/NL, as they have even more ridiculously high Cooldown rates, but their slower speed, shorter range, and only-parallel 3-tier progression (rather than T3+ and T4+ technologies) makes them closer to Plasma weapons or Autocannons instead. (Their lack of Evasion isn't really even that much of a hindrance, as PD was going to hit the missiles anyway.) SC don't even have that, with only salvage techs. Again, a T4 regular SC would be needed first, but then (as I discussed here) you could add cruise missiles and bombers into the game.
I'm sure I'll have more things to bring up, but that's what I have for now.
1. Scout Wings show up on the Weapon Components page as the first type of SC, but they don't show up anywhere in the Engineering, Physics, or Society tech lists. Are they at all valid weapons, or are they just kind of a placeholder?
2. Basic Strike Craft are Tier-1, Improved SC are Tier-2, and Advanced SC are Tier-3, but Flak Batteries are Tier-0, Flak Cannons are Tier-3, and Flak Artillery are Tier-4 (PD are T0, T2, T4 for comparison, and FC are only 6000 Cost, so that may be errant). Anyway, the other part of this is that Missiles, Lasers, and Mass Drivers are all 5-tier weapons (T0-T4), but SC are currently only 3 (maybe 4 if Scout Wings are legit) and certainly stopping at Tier-3 seems sketchy. Should there be a Tier-4 SC tech?
3. With the other 5-tier weapons, advancing by one tier normally increases average damage per day (same with damage per hit, assuming no change to Accuracy or Cooldown) by around 30% - currently, Basic SC to Imp SC is ~29%, and Imp SC to Adv SC is ~28%, which is probably close enough (with such small base numbers). However, building costs (Alloys and special materials) are usually ~30% increase per until Tier-3 (which is only the addition of a special material) and Tier-4 (which is an increase for both). With Basic SC to Imp SC, it's a 70% increase in Alloys (40 to 68), followed by ~29% increase from Imp SC to Adv SC (68 to 88), and no special materials. If they should be more in line with 5-tier progression, would it make more sense to go 40 to 52 (~30%) and then add 1 each of some material from Imp SC to Adv SC? Or, if they would stay with just Alloy increases, 52 to 68 (~31%)? Power is already around 31-32% increase per.
4. I'm not going to worry about SC Shields or Hull, even though Basic SC to Imp SC is high from 45 to 60, as the total increase from Basic SC to Adv SC is about right. But Flak only increases by 25% from T0 to (corrected) T2, and then 60% from T2 to T4 (compares to 69% or compound 30% over 2 tiers). A damage progression closer to the others would be 1-3/1-6/2-10 (a touch high at 75% and 71%). GW Hull increases are weak, between ~11% and ~17% per Tier; comparing them to the 2-tier jumps in damage for Point-Defense, it's 33% missiles vs. 40% PD from T0-T2 and 25% vs. 43% from T2-T4. Probably more appropriate would be SC increasing to a 6/8/10/13/17 Hull progression (25-33% increase per Tier) and PD changing to 1-4/2-6/3-10 for damage progression (60% and 63% increases per 2-tiers, which is a little low).
5. Tracking and Evasion are very tricky - never mind the fact that the continuum for T/E is completely different for at least warships compared to both SC/Flak and Guided Weapons/PD (if not whether they SHOULD also be different for SC/Flak and GW/PD from each other). Because Tracking and Evasion don't increase for SC and GW (but DO for Tracking at least for Flak and PD) according to improvements in their launching warship's Sensors/Thrusters, Computers, or Aux Slots (I'm fairly certain of this - please correct me if I'm wrong here), SC and GW see increases in their values (GW is Evasion-only) as they improve by Tier. But why do Flak and PD also see their Tracking base values increase?
6. Additionally, Tracking and Evasion for both SC and GW don't seem to start or progress right. That GW have such low base Tracking is hilarious, but not progressing at all is highly annoying (and probably an artifact of them IIRC starting with 100% Tracking, followed by getting nerfed to 25%, and then forgetting they should probably increase by Tier). Based on the current formula for Tracking cancelling 90-capped Evasion, there's effectively no difference between the Imp SC (90%) and Adv SC (100%). Evasion for SC/GW, when compared to the expected Tracking increases for Flak/PD, is also comical, with a researched T1 Basic SC having 65% Evasion but a T0 Flak Battery having 50% base Tracking plus either +10 for Picket or +5 (Accuracy) for Line computers, and possibly +5 (Acc) from Aux Fire Control. And T2 Imp SC having 80% Evasion against (corrected T2) Flack Cannon with 60% base Tracking plus the same computer and Aux Slot bonuses - this is actually relatively benign on a Tier bump, as you end up with almost the same E/T gap. Then we get to Tier-3 and -4, where there's no increase in Evasion for Adv SC (still 80%), but Flak Artillery jump to 70% base Tracking and can gain +20/+30 for Advanced (Tier-3) or Sapient/Autonomous (both are Tier-4) Picket or +10/+20 (Acc) for Adv or Sap/Auto Line computers, with the same Aux slot bonus available. On the GW side, it's similar with base values of 0% (T0 Nuclear) and 10% (T1 Fusion) missiles going against 10% (T0 Sentinel) PD (i.e., doesn't even need bonuses to overcome Evasion), then 20% (T2 Antimatter) and 30% (T3 Quantum) missiles versus 20% (T2 Barrier) PD (i.e., only minimal and almost-assured bonus to counter), and finally 40% (T4 Marauder) missiles vs. 30% (T4 Guardian) PD (i.e., again, a given that bonus Tracking will swamp Evasion). Should these weapons all have their Evasion (SC/GW) and Tracking (Flak/PD) numbers revisited?
7. Going back to several threads I've been involved in lately: there are no advanced weapons for SC or GW in the same vein as Kinetic Batteries/Artillery over Gauss Cannons or Proton/Neutron Launchers over Gamma Lasers. Torpedoes are probably the closest, especially when compared to PL/NL, as they have even more ridiculously high Cooldown rates, but their slower speed, shorter range, and only-parallel 3-tier progression (rather than T3+ and T4+ technologies) makes them closer to Plasma weapons or Autocannons instead. (Their lack of Evasion isn't really even that much of a hindrance, as PD was going to hit the missiles anyway.) SC don't even have that, with only salvage techs. Again, a T4 regular SC would be needed first, but then (as I discussed here) you could add cruise missiles and bombers into the game.
I'm sure I'll have more things to bring up, but that's what I have for now.
- 2