Starsector’s weapon balance is generally very good, but after playing for an uncountable number of hours, I have found several nits to pick. I intend this mod to smooth out what I perceive as rough spots in vanilla weapon balance as unobtrusively and as compatibly as possible. This means: 1. Not altering OP costs at all. Altering OP costs means altering all the default variants that mount those weapons so they’re neither under or over their OP limit, and as mod ship variants may use vanilla weapons this would be practically impossible. 2. No radical weapon redesigns; weapons should remain within the same roles, so as not to break any variants that use the changed weapons. I also will include an explanation of the reasoning behind each change, so if you disagree with something I’ve done feel free to politely tell me where I’ve gone wrong, or call me a dumb idiot butthead instead.
Download:
https://mega.nz/#!H8JCASwB!Sy_RcXkdIh_CZSVu1qmM56YBM0XTxRtOWCIAaZcJxuQWeapon Balance ChangesLight Needler: 800 range -> 700 range, burst size 10 -> 15 shots, chargedown 2.5 -> 3.75, spread/shot 1 -> 0.66
My problem with the original Light Needler is that it’s effectively a medium ballistic wearing clothing one size too small, and this is primarily because it has the range of a medium ballistic. The first step to making it a
de facto small ballistic is to chop off some of that range. However, this alone would make it far too similar to the Railgun; increasing the burst size solidifies the Light Needler’s role as a heavy-alpha weapon, and I think makes up for the loss of range. Similarly increasing the chargedown keeps the DPS the same despite the increased burst size, and reducing the spread/shot is necessary to maintain the burst's shot distribution profile; each burst will still generate the same amount of recoil, so the distribution of shots remains the same over the whole burst.
Heavy Needler: Burst size 15 -> 30 shots, chargedown 2.5 -> to 5, spread/shot 1 -> 0.5
The Heavy Needler isn’t good enough to be worth 15 OP and it’s not distinct enough from the other medium kinetics. Changing it into the same kind of heavy-alpha weapon as the Light Needler fixes both those issues; high-alpha flux-efficient kinetics are very effective at flux warring, making the Heavy Needler actually worth the price tag.
Arbalest Autocannon: 170 flux/shot -> 125 flux/shot.
The Arbalest is strictly inferior to the Railgun, a weapon 1 OP cheaper and 1 size-class smaller. So, like the Heavy Mortar, it now has the lone saving grace of flux efficiency.
Haephestus Assault Gun: 120 -> 180 dam/flux/shot, 240 shots/min -> 160 shots/min (chargedown from 0.25 -> 0.375), spread/shot 2 -> 3
Having almost the same armor penetration as the Heavy Mortar is pitiful for a large HE weapon. The Haephestus deserves better; it should at least have higher per-shot damage than the Devastator Cannon. 180 damage per shot is just lower than the Heavy Mauler, which I think is a better spot for a large HE assault weapon to be. DPS remains unchanged. Recoil per shot has been increased to maintain the shot distribution and the ratio of recoil to damage; the HAG has the same amount of spread after the same amount of firing time, rather than the same number of shots.
Antimatter Blaster: Removed ammunition.
Limited ammunition for ballistic and energy weaponry was deprecated for a reason; it’s a redundant mechanic, as CR does essentially the same thing. I’m not even sure why the AM blaster continues to have limited ammunition, as it’ll almost never run out of charges before you run out of either CR or enemy ships. Nonetheless, I believe that non-recharging ammunition on guns is neither fun nor necessary for balance purposes, and thus I banish its last vanilla occurrence.
Hurricane MIRV Launcher: Chargedown from 5 to 15, projectile HP 350 -> 250. Identical to SWP values; thank you DR.
I’ve played with Ship & Weapon Pack and its predecessor Starsector Plus for so long that I almost forgot that this thing is ridiculous in vanilla. It’s silly, overpowered, and needs to stop. It does enough DPS and burst damage to overwhelm most shields by itself even with the High Explosive damage type, it fires so fast that there’s no opportunity to close in between shots, and it has enough ammo to fire continuously for almost a minute without EMR. If an enemy ship has one, the only thing you can do is keep out of range of its guns and stall out its ammunition. In player hands, it’s a death cannon. The solution is, as SWP and SSP have successfully implemented, to significantly reduce the fire rate and make the projectile easier to shoot down.
Changelog
Spoiler
0.2a
Added utility flag to mod_info.json.
0.2
Haephestus Assault Gun: 2 -> 3 spread/shot.
Light Needler: burst size 20 -> 15, chargedown 5 -> 3.75, spread/shot 0.5 -> 0.66
0.1
Light Needler: 800 range -> 700 range, burst size 10 -> 20, chargedown 2.5 -> to 5, spread/shot 1 -> 0.5
Heavy Needler: Burst size 15 -> 30 damage, chargedown 2.5 -> to 5, spread/shot 1 -> 0.5
Arbalest Autocannon: 170 flux/shot -> 125 flux/shot.
Haephestus Assault Gun: 120 -> 180 dam/flux/shot, 240 shots/min -> 160 shots/min (chargedown from 0.25 -> 0.375).
Antimatter Blaster: Removed ammunition.
Hurricane MIRV Launcher: Chargedown from 5 to 15, projectile HP 350 -> 250. Identical to SWP values; thank you DR.