One of the great things about SS is the ability to just tweak stuff on your own. I've been experimenting with a kind of "vanilla balance mod" for a little bit and thought I'd share some of the small tweaks to the game I've made that may be fodder for balance discussions proper.
Weapon ChangesPhase Lance: Increased range to 700.
The Pulse Laser and Phase Lance are sort of two sides of the same coin: one deals hard flux but little true damage while the other deals strong armor damage but no hard flux. Both are decent against strike craft, both are 600 range, both are 10 OP, and both are relatively close in terms of flux use. Whereas the Pulse Laser is a true generalist, the Phase Lance often wastes its shots on fighters or on shields. I wouldn't call it "weak" in a vacuum but its upside isn't nearly as pronounced as say, the Ion Pulser, which is only 1 OP more. So, I gave it more range. Since it doesn't deal hard flux, I felt that the range increase doesn't benefit it nearly as much as it would a Pulse Laser and its penchant for hitting shields also kind of reduces the overall effectiveness. However, the extra range gives Medium Energy, as a whole, a bit more "bite" and allows Phase Lances to shine a little brighter among its brethren (without having to spend OP on Advanced Optics).
In playtesting, I've found the added range really helps Midline ships like the Eagle. Yes, Phase Lances get "wasted" in the opening volley (as they tend to outrange their other Energy counterparts) but it also means that as energy ships try to back off, the Phase Lances are also get opportunistic hits as shields drop.
Burst Laser and Heavy Burst Laser: Increased maximum charges to 5 and 9, respectively.
I just don't think Burst Lasers are worth the OP cost as they stand and though I'd like to try something more exotic with the HBL (allow it to target 3 targets independently at once), I wanted to keep these changes to just value tweaks. Giving them more charges allows them deal with saturation better and makes them slightly better at engaging larger targets without making their sustained damage any better.
Heavy Mortar: Increased damage/shot to 220 and flux/shot to 180. Reduced rate of fire to 1/sec. Reduced recoil 25%. Same DPS and flux/efficiency as before.
Why would I ever change the ever-reliable Heavy Mortar? Well, to make room for the Assault Chaingun change below. The two would hold roughly similar roles so I made the Heavy Mortar harder-hitting but slower firing. Because it's not spewing rounds all over the place, I made it slightly more accurate. It acts more like an HE Arbalest now. I wanted to keep the 2-round burst but it felt like the delay between bursts were painfully long. As an HE weapon, it's technically better due to greater damage/shot but it still misses and you're rarely going to get multiple rounds on the same patch of armor. I intended this to be a side-grade rather than a buff/nerf.
Assault Chaingun Completely reworked. Range now 800. Damage/shot and flux/shot is 120. 180 rounds/minute. 360 DPS total. Decreased maximum recoil but otherwise inaccurate at range.
Yes, this is now the mythical 800-range, 10 OP Medium HE option (at the expense of a short-ranged buzzsaw that needed more damage/shot). Honestly, I felt the ACG could fulfill both roles. At range, you're throwing flux away because you're inaccurate but up-close, it can do some real damage. The other factor to consider is that it's an expensive weapon to fire regardless of what you do. It might be a good overall HE option but good luck getting it to fit your flux budget.
In playtesting, I found I was treating it like a Heavy Blaster rather than a general-purpose weapon. Load up on Small Kinetics and let a single ACG do the heavy lifting. Hammerheads with an ACG and Heavy AC combo punched themselves out pretty quickly if you let the go full bore. A single one on an Enforcer was usually enough. Cruisers like the Eradicator and Eagle saw good use out of them and Capitals loved them. If you could afford to fire it, it was almost a Large Ballistic in a Medium slot (again, Heavy Blaster-esque)
Hephaestus Assault Gun: Upped damage/shot and flux/shot to 240. Halved firing rate (120/min now). DPS/flux stay the same.
Another domino effect of the ACG change. The ACG was now basically a slightly less efficient Medium HAG so the HAG needed to side-grade a little too. Same thing as the Heavy Mortar: double the damage, half the shots. It has better armor-penetrating properties but is also a little less of a generalist weapon. What it really competes with now is the Heavy Mauler as they do about the same damage/shot. Heavy Mauler front-loads its damage as
much more accurate, though, so I didn't feel the overlap quite as much.
Fighter ChangesTrident: Increased wing size to 3 (from 2)
This is a 50% buff, I know. However, I didn't feel the Dagger vs. Trident comparison was close at all due to the Trident's extra 7 OP cost and the fact it's slow as molasses. If you can afford one of these wings, you're getting the premiere bomber platform but they also have their drawbacks beyond cost. Also, it's name is "Trident" which brings to mind a 3-pronged weapon, not a 2-pronged one!
Wasp: Decreased replacement time to 2 (from 5).
These should be true swarmers and what they lack in firepower and overall usefulness, they make up in sheer quantity. Even at low carrier replacement levels, these things should be popping out and easily replaceable.
Hull ChangesEagle: Increased top speed to 75.
See the
Eagle thread if you want to know more. I think Speed is what the Eagle needs most of. Paired with some of the Weapon changes, it's more of an assault ship, I feel.
Aurora: Changed shield to a 360 degree Front shield with half current upkeep.
I removed the "Front Shield Conversion Tax". More of a personal preference than a necessary balance change. I think this also gives the Aurora a bit of a mystique to it and a slight advantage over the Fury in terms of it being the premier High Tech Cruiser. The Aurora's shield might not be as efficient taking damage but it is super-efficient in terms of upkeep cost and 360 degree defense, "as standard!!!"
Legion: Added 30 OP.
See the
Legion thread. Basically, the Legion is OP-starved relative to the Onslaught though it costs the same logistically. I didn't want to go overboard with it but it allows for an extra hull mod or two.