Wow, after giving the planned changes a good read-over for the first time, I have to say I'm pretty apprehensive about this update. I don't really care to read through 17 pages of prior discussion, so at the risk of repeating things that have already been said, I'll give some of my thoughts on the matter.
Almost everything in the combat balance pass borderline offends me, and changes the whole character of combat in the game, so I suppose I'll have to address each thing one at a time.
Energy weapon bonus from flux level. Here's something that was never really stood out on it's own, it wasn't an aspect of energy weapons that was terribly distinct, but after giving more thought to it I can honestly say it added an element of character to energy weapons that they desperately need to prevent them from being (less) boring. As it is, energy weapons deal a kind of middling, jack-of-all-trades master-of-none damage. They require no ammunition and affect shields armor and hull mostly the same so they don't require the same type of management as other weapons. Now, maybe this is directly connected to the way I play the game, but my use of energy weapons always somewhat relied on the high flux bonus. The flux generation of my weapons loadout on energy-weapon based ships was always DPS dependent and outmatched my venting capability significantly. I would always vent my flux to zero before starting an attack, then I would hit with everything I had to drive their own flux up, hoping to force them to drop their shields before I cap out on flux, at this point I have damage bonuses coming in, which help my energy weapons to cut through the armor, allowing me to deal some permanent damage before I have to drop back and vent either passively or actively. Without this, all energy weapons become pressure weapons and lose one of the only edges they have.
Let's look at energy vs ballistic before and after. Ballistic weapons; multiple damage types with varying effectiveness vs multiple defense types encouraging varied load outs, ammo limitations encouraging management during long engagements, slight flux use advantage. Energy weapons; generic damage type with equal effectiveness against all defenses, no ammo limitations besides a couple balance situations, higher flux use but good dps, encouraging flux management over ammo management, and high flux damage bonuses adding a distinct consideration for fighting with energy weapons.
Now? What's the honest difference? Damage types? Different skins? I've said enough on this, and there are a good number more issues to address.
Now, the beam changes. For the most part, I suppose this is ok, but the range standardization? You're removing MORE character from a type of weapon that already threatened to be boring at best. One of the real advantages of the HIL was the great range it offered over other options, now all beams will be stand-off weapons.
Missiles having unlimited ammo and ammo regeneration? I disagree with every part of this, I don't even know where to begin. Missiles were a very powerful finishing weapon for high threat or annoying targets that could be used 1-3 times in a battle to great tactical effect. Now they become pressure weapons like anything else. It makes sense in a lore perspective, too. You've got this launcher that is probably externally mounted, easy to re-arm between engagements, but nigh-impossible to work on in the heat of an engagement. And everyone knows that using missiles at the right time can make all the difference. That one slip that rips all your armor away, or that timing that cripples the enemy capital. Now you'll just face a boring, obnoxious trickle of missiles here and there throughout the battle, a role that used to be delegated to LRMs like the pilum.
Peak effectiveness for destroyers AND cruisers? What's the advantage of this, what's the purpose? To force people to use capital ships in larger engagements? Isn't this just the type of forced gameplay that you've said you are trying to avoid many, many times in the past?
There's more I could say on the whole thing, but I feel like my point has been made. The entire "combat balance pass" feels forced to me, even to the point of risking casualizing the entire game. There are a hundred generic space blasting games, the industry doesn't need another one. What was your thought process here? Right up to calling it a "balance pass". This is a drastic restructuring of some of the core concepts of combat in the game. What's next, removal of hard flux? Making armor a homogeneous HP pool instead of area-based?
I've mostly agreed with everything you've done with this game Alex, my posting history will reflect this. I can't agree with these changes though, I really can't. I urge careful reconsideration of these things before you start the downhill slide into a run of the mill shootemup like SPAZ.
I hope the tone of this post doesn't detract in any way from the content, I recognize it could be construed as combative, but I'm genuinely sharing my thoughts on the presented changes and hope this will be taken into account. This is a game that I invested in very, very early and I've seen it grow and come a long way. This is one of the first changes that has stood out to me as a step in the wrong direction, at a time which should be very exciting for Starsector. There are players coming out to make some of their first posts on the board to express similar opinions, so I know I'm not alone in this. I look forward to keeping an eye on how things progress.