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[Thaago]

... Twin plasma cannons are absolutely amazing at shattering armour, they completely outclass any ballistic option. ...

I have to disagree with you on that one. Plasma is an ok weapon, but it does ~600 dps in 750 damage shots for ~900 flux for 30 OP (up to ~900 in 1125 point shots at full flux) vs. 825 dps in 1125 damage shots for 500 flux for 16 OP with a Hellbore against armor. Granted the plasma has better projectile speed which makes a big difference in hitting smaller/faster ships, but the Hellbore has better range.  At full flux the plasma is slightly better for double the OP cost, but if you are at full flux then you don't have very many shots left with a plasma cannon anyways.

I've been flying an Odyssey as my ship in a recent game and it is indeed a fine ship but even its shield panics against a storm needler, and the sheer range of gauss cannons with the integrated targeting hullmod is brutally effective.

[KDR_11k]

The big issue I had with twin plasmas is their flux output (900/sec, even with 660 dissipation you can't really run those things nonstop), even moderate enemy fire against your shield can make them too expensive to use and force you to lower your shields if you want to attack more (hell, a really tricky commander could keep his shields down until he sees your plasmas charge up but of course that's purely theoretical due to the lack of PVP). Conquests can equip twin MIRV launchers which are really good at overwhelming beam PD, IIRC the Odyssey comes with three medium missile slots compared to the two medium and two large of the Conquest. Also don't forget that a Conquest has several small and medium energy mounts in addition to its bigger ballistic mounts.

I'm not too sure if a flight deck is really worth that many OP since you can easily take some secondary ship with flight decks into your fleet that'll do the job.

[Iscariot]

You'd have to spend FP to field it though. The Odyssey is a fantastic ship in that it can be a decent line ship but also provide a very close rearming site for fighters.

[Thaago]

You'd have to spend FP to field it though. The Odyssey is a fantastic ship in that it can be a decent line ship but also provide a very close rearming site for fighters.

Agreed. Nothing like refitting bombers right next to their target - multiplies their effectiveness by several times.

[Kommodore Krieg]

Well that reminds me of a point I was going to bring up. ATM the capital ships are massively unbalanced with the paragon and the odyssey capital ships wiping the floor with the conquest and the onslaught. I feel all the capital ships should be more balanced than they currently are or at least the main ones (ie one for each faction).

Uh, an imbalance like you are describing does not exist.  An onslaught is more than capable of taking out a paragon, and it laughably destroys an odyssey.  The conquest is also a very capable ship. 

[Alrenous]

The one side of my one-sided Odyssey was about as powerful as my regular dual-sided Conquest, but was good at different things.

It was absolute murder on anything smaller than a cruiser - and has the speed to catch most cruisers and ruin their day. Add nav beacons and it is a perfect pirate. The dual plasmas can almost instagib an Enforcer with the shields down. It vents ridiculously fast - it seemed like a Lasher. I could generally get away with taking one Gauss volley before I got the shields back up. Getting behind an Onslaught comfortably confirms the Onslaught's death. Being in front of the Onslaught is a hard situation to get out of without hull damage. Found that the IR pulses didn't do anything noticeable against anything bigger than a frigate, though they were great at countering Piranha barrages.
Auxiliary thrusters help a lot.

[Anysy]

I mean yeah, a bigger ship can have a larger powerplant, and larger is usually better in terms of efficiency

And its not so much unlimited speed i want- Just a lot faster. If battleships has a max speed of closer to ~100, but still their current acceleration, it wouldnt change that much *in combat*, as you would never actually BE at 100 speed, except for moving between areas of combat

And the turning turrets while you turn your ship thing just seems wrong for some reason. I am not sure I can see its reasoning

[MidnightSun]

I think the balance between the capital ships, especially considering their FP costs. I can comfortably handle Odysseys, Onslaughts, or even Paragons in my Conquest if I execute the attack properly (I use Hellbores and HVDs, no PD).

And its not so much unlimited speed i want- Just a lot faster. If battleships has a max speed of closer to ~100, but still their current acceleration, it wouldnt change that much *in combat*, as you would never actually BE at 100 speed, except for moving between areas of combat

If you release W after getting to max speed, you can drift and keep the same speed, even if you put up your shields or start firing. Tell me you want a speed boost after you see an Onslaught at more than 100 speed (easily achievable with a nav buoy) crash through an enemy line with guns blazing

[icepick37]

So what does the new burst laser mechanic mean for the guardian pd?    Let's all speculate wildly until we get an official answer!

[Apophis]

Burst PD Laser, Heavy Burst Laser, Guardian PD Laser: these now use ammo ("charges") that regenerate. Charges regenerate slower than the fire rate of the weapons, allowing a front-loaded burst of damage before slowing down to fire at the regeneration rate (rather than the actual rate of fire).

Charges are a good idea but i see a problem with PD weapons. If they use all the charges versus a ship, when there is an incoming missile they will fire at it at the (slow) recharge rate, leading to a situation worst than the current one. I suggest a simple change: energy weapons that have charges and pd tag do not fire at ships unless they have more than 50% charge (or 33%).

what about this?

[icepick37]

So you think it will suck?

[Alex]

So what does the new burst laser mechanic mean for the guardian pd?    Let's all speculate wildly until we get an official answer!

It's a weapon I haven't been happy with, as far as it living up to the original vision... until now

Burst PD Laser, Heavy Burst Laser, Guardian PD Laser: these now use ammo ("charges") that regenerate. Charges regenerate slower than the fire rate of the weapons, allowing a front-loaded burst of damage before slowing down to fire at the regeneration rate (rather than the actual rate of fire).

Charges are a good idea but i see a problem with PD weapons. If they use all the charges versus a ship, when there is an incoming missile they will fire at it at the (slow) recharge rate, leading to a situation worst than the current one. I suggest a simple change: energy weapons that have charges and pd tag do not fire at ships unless they have more than 50% charge (or 33%).

what about this?

You could always toggle autofire off to conserve charges. Your suggestion has the opposite problem of hobbling its dps "just in case", meaning you'd never get full effectiveness out of it vs ships. I think this is a decision best left to the player, and there's already a tool to do it with - along with an extra weapon group to make it easier to manage.

[Alex]

Updated notes with latest batch of stuff. Still got a number of things to wrap up, and need to do a considerable amount of testing (especially of the new admiral AI, to sift out anything downright silly it might do). But, it's getting there.

[Trylobot]

@Changes as of April 12, 2012
WANT

[Iscariot]

Content:
Added music (written by Stian Stark, one track so far)
New graphics for the Hellbore and the Hephaestus Assault Gun
New graphics for Flak, Dual Flak, Light Assault Gun
Added new large ballistic weapon: "Mark IX Autocannon"
Adjusted several variants to use it, made available in campaign (pirate base)

This is probably my favorite part of the entire thing. Music? Hells yeah. New Hellbore graphics? YES. I have to admit that weapon looked a little like an old timey age of sail era cannon. New autocannon? HNNNNGGGGHHH.