w.r.t. this claim,
I agree 100% that the Thumper is too weak for its OP cost compared to all other guns. I'm not completely sure thats undesirable though, because imo there is some gameplay value in having a bad option or two. It gives new players something to identify as bad and then not use (system mastery progression) as well as lets them laugh maniacally when blowing up the poor pirate ships using them.
And then there is that special sense of embarrassment that happens when an enemy with thumpers manages to blow me up because I've been flying very badly...
eh. I don't agree. I've never felt any sense of accomplishment or achievement when discovering that something that's supposed to be useful in its role actually isn't and avoid it, nor does it provide me any joy blowing up dumb pirate builds that wield them in a medium mount (or worse: a large mount). At best I don't notice such obsolete equipment, but often it somewhat detracts from whatever game I'm playing by taking up space, especially if it's a thing that I want to be good. And let's be honest, who truly want Star Sector's BRRRRRRRRT gun to suck?
I'm fundamentally opposed to the idea that any weapon should intentionally be worse than other weapons for a given OP cost. I've made a personal mod filled with slight tweaks of vanilla stuff I hardly used, because I want as many options afforded to the player (well, me) to be viable as possible.
I agree wholeheartedly with Retry here - to expand on their point and my own; there's nothing wrong with a bad gun, but a bad gun should be cheap. There
is something wrong with a bad gun that is not priced (in Ordnance Points) commensurate to its value. I think I recall Alex mentioning this as a design principle even, at some point.
Anyway, the proliferation of people coming out of the woodwork to mention that they've already tweaked the thumper in their games speaks to my point and heartens me. To be honest, I'm less attached to any single fix - even the ones I myself proposed - as I am to the idea that
something needs to be done, and I trust Alex/David to figure out the best way to do it.
Save the thumper!