Ho my, detailed feedback! I thought only Helmut did those. Thanks a lot!
Now before answering on a case by case, I should have a word on the balance of Scy in general:
- The first rule is, since Scy ships are fast, almost all their weapons have a shorter range than vanilla. It's necessary to avoid endless kiting: you have to actually get in range of the enemy weapons to deal damage to them.
- Secondly they generally have lower DPS than vanilla, but also lower fire rate. Because of that each shot deal much damage and the weapons are generally a bit better than the stats could suggest. For example, the Medium Kinetic Accelerator that deal a bit less dps than the vanilla Needler (200 vs 211) but is much more prone to cause overloads because the enemy can't drop shields like during the Needler burst. Also that mean that the KACC is more damaging against armor while the Needler is almost worthless.
- Thirdly they have high flux costs (often twice as much than the dps), but combined with the fast venting and large flux pool on Scy ships, this is not a problem. When they are used on a Vanilla ship however, they are inefficient. Combined with the slow fire-rate, you can often see frigates going close, discharging their weapons, taking some distance, venting and going in again as the weapons just reloaded.
- Lastly, they have higher OP cost than vanilla to avoid weapon spamming: Scy ships have fewer mount, but roughly the same amount of OP available so it's not a problem for them. On Vanilla ships however, they don't exactly cut it until you reach high levels.
Per design choice, Scy is weaker than vanilla, and I won't change that. It is meant to be a faction for advanced player, that seeks ships very fun to fly and crazy weapons satisfying to fire. A high risks, high reward faction. Also, I spent quite some time trying to find a way to avoid making them OP when using vanilla or other mods weapon. That's why most of the ships have few mounts but often built-in main weapon.
But, as always, things can be improved, and the balance is certainly far from perfect now.
So now about your feedback:
Small auto-nailers: same OP than the Vulcan, better range but worst precision, slightly more flux. I think they are in a right spot: better to deal with multiple missiles, but sometimes miss a single one.
Medium Burst-Nailer: Yeah, still not satisfied with this one. I think the simple solution would be to make sure at least one of the shots goes straight and hit the target. Or Maybe use a non linear dispersion, with more shots stacked near the center.
Focus beam: I like it better now!
It feels more punchy, and makes the SCPB feel more unique. It's a good support weapon, and ideal against unshielded target. A Tisiphone frigate with two of those will blaze through a fleeing fleet without even slowing down. The ammo count is a bit low, like a lot of weapons I made (did I said enough I'm very much against the removal of ammo in vanilla?) but with extended magazines it's near 21K of potential damage, two thirds of most vanilla weapons... Okay, I will increase the ammo a bit since it's a beam.
SCPB: As the description says, it really can give all it's measure only when mounted on the Nemean Lion. Though a weapon useful only on one ship is a bad game design decision...
It was more powerful before, and I may have nerfed it too hard. I won't change the clip size though: with ammo magazines, it's an insta-kill weapon for many targets. Mount three of them on the Lion and you can take care of any low-tech/mid-tech destroyer in one volley and there is nothing it can do to defend itself. It would be very frustrating if it was your destroyer instead. I could simply reduce the flux usage.
Energy Blaster: Agreed, strangely one of the first weapon I made, and I never changed it since. I guess I got lucky.
Mortars: Really? The small Mortar is almost exactly a half size Mauler, with the same damage per round... That thing eats armor for breakfast! Of course the slow projectile makes it hard to aim, but when it hit it's a carnage. And the large one is almost equivalent to a twin Hellbore, with a much slower fire-rate granted but it strip even an Onslaught from it's armor in one shot. I think I
could maybe increase a bit the flight speed of the projectiles for the smaller ones, to make hitting something a bit easier, but I have to tread carefully because these things pack a punch.
Vibrating beam: Yeah... It looks cool, but don't really cut it in combat. I'm not sure about what to do with it. I think it could be good if it was firing continuously, but the way it is scripted prevent tracking the target while firing. And there isn't many workaround in the API to do so. Will need to rework it, or remove it.
Slasher Beam: Yep, and it's terrific when used in pair as the first will strip the armor, and the second chew the hull. If I change anything on these, it won't be their damage but maybe their range to be near the all-1000-range vanilla weapons that are coming in SS 0.65.2
Small KACC: Now I realize it is worthless. I balanced it against the light dual autocannon, but I didn't saw the Railgun was a straight upgrade on it. Will rework it.
Medium KACC: Mmh, I'm having a hard time finding it a nice spot because of it's overlapping function with the Penetrator Railgun. I might simply gives it perfect accuracy and almost the same range as the Large KACC? It should be almost the same as the Penetrator Railgun, only cheaper, with half damage per shot and not the ability to pierce stuff (I don't know if anyone noticed but if that weapon overload it's target, it usually also deal some damage to the hull with the same shot.)
Penetrator Railgun: Agreed, will do.
Heavy KACC: It can overload small targets in one shot, so I don't think it need any buff. The short range is somewhat an advantage btw: when an enemy overload, it's deep into the firing range of other weapons and will take a pounding before managing to retreat. And as I said in the beginning, if it's "Ok-ish", it's where it should ^^
ORION Artillery: It's maybe the only long range weapon in the Scy arsenal, with it you can easily kite and win while never entering the enemy weapons range. That's why it has such low ammo count. And even then, load three of them on a Nemean Lion and it can beat a Paragon in AI control without any level skill. If you use it on a Scy Manticore as a support weapon, the flux isn't much an issue since they can stay out of trouble and vent whenever. I might nudge the flux down a but, but don't expect it to become a front-line weapon.
Small Flak: Great!
Light Minigun: That's why there is the Small Flak! They are terrific in tandem.
Ricochet Gun: Same here, I'm rather pleased how it turned out. That weapon was the bane of the Templar Frigates in my last playthrough.
Area Scorcher: Mmh, well, this weapon isn't really a point defense, if I add the PD flag, it would loose too much time tracking missiles instead of firing on the main source of danger. It's much more adapted to damage whole fighter wings on approach and dealing with their missiles and bombs as they fire them. It also is very efficient against carrier and missiles ships as you can damage fighters when they dock or take off or kill the missiles before they accelerate. With one of these, you can take on a Onslaught without receiving a continuous stream of rockets, or remove all the Astral drones in a few seconds. It's a bit situational, but having one in the fleet can really make you day easier. Also, it is VERY efficient at taking out armor-less ships! I will probably include a proximity detonation since I reduced it's precision in the last patch. Right now it detonate only if it hit something or reach it's max range.
Singularity Torpedo: The pulling effect is only significant if you hit the hull of a large target. Try to hit an Astral and suddenly the sky is cleared from drones, missiles... And Astral ><! (my favorite is to shoot the back of a Dominator has it launch 3 volley of Pilums) It also have the distinct advantage to flame-out nearby fighters and missiles, that can give you a short break. Unlike the Cyclone, they are guided so I balanced them against the Huricane instead, and that one only hold 10 ammo... I significantly nerfed it in the last patch because it was way too powerful against shield-less factions: only two of those could kill an Archbishop! I will playtest them further.
Heavy Swarmer: Also perfect to spread chaos in PD and land a Singularity torpedo hit. Why do you think I placed two large launchers on the front of the Erymanthian Boar?
Laser Torpedoes: Same here, but I'm not sure about raising their ammo: they are almost free hits already, given how hard it is to intercept them before the attack range. If the launcher holds more, I'd have to reduce the range of the splitting to make it somewhat balanced... But then they will be less fun.
Rockets: Will do.
Coasting Missiles: My only complain is how the AI shoot all of them right from the start instead of keeping some for the retreating ships.
I see you missed the Hacking Commlink. I don't blame you, the weapon don't look like much on paper, but strangely it might be one of the most powerful ones... If you use enough of them! No really, point 6 of them to a single cruiser and it won't be able to defend itself. Of course that also mean 6 sub-par PD weapon instead of Miniguns or Flaks.
Well, that was more than I expected to write! Thank you for taking the time to write all of this down, I very much appreciate. As you can guess, I preferred starting low, and progressively raise the balance to the right spot. That way you have to learn how to use the weapons efficiently, instead of having an efficient weapon that you learn to make OP ><.