Alex, do you think any other ammo-based weapons will affect CR? I'm thinking mostly of Ballistics, but there are some ammo-based Energy-DMG type weapons. (AM Blaster or Mjollnir, for example). You'd need to reload ammo based weapons between fights, no? Technically, that would affect combat readiness. I imagine you kinda don't want to touch on that yet (if at all) since that could push players towards pure, unlimited-ammo Energy-type weapons.
Probably not. Missiles are different in that they're both low-ammo and not generally a primary weapon type. For ballistics, ammo is there more for feel than mechanical reasons. I might actually eliminate ammo for ballistics altogether, or just bump it up to where it doesn't matter. Limited ammo on primary weapons creates some undesirable dynamics, such as waiting out the AI's ammo, aforementioned issues with what the desired AI behavior is (cautious to avoid damage vs aggressive to make efficient use of ammo), etc.
On the flip side, might CR eventually affect ballistic ammo count if CR is too low between fights? Speaking of which: if battle are now in phases, will ammo levels at the end of phase one reflect in phase 2? Or will ammo be restored between phases/engagements?
No, for the same reasons - not the kind of dynamics I'd want to encourage. All ammo is reloaded between phases.
Lastly, will we have visible supply consumption for missile ammo now? Supplies only have applied to crew, fleet repair, and fleet "maintenance" (for being over limits), yet not to the expendables/consumables known as ammunition. I ask the same if ballistic weapon ammo usage will affect CR and such at some later time (if at all). I just find it kinda strange that supplies really only consist of 2 things: Food (crew) and ship components (Fleet; think armor, wiring, conduit, etc.) Apparently ammo is freely available?
At the moment, regaining CR has a slight supply cost associated with it, and ships have a per-hull maintenance cost, so I'd look at ammo as being one of those.
Maybe change the percentage speed bonus to a flat bonus based on hull size? Compare to, for example, unstable injector - for a slow capital ship, the skill (even maxed) adds maybe +3 top speed, versus +20 for the hull mod, while a zippy frigate gets notably more benefit (even in comparison to the increased benefit from the hull mod). And then it wouldn't get quite so silly in combination with an increase to base frigate speeds.
Hmm. The percentage bonus from the skill is only a small part of it, though. You get +75 (0-flux) +50 (2x Nav Buoy) +40? (Aug Engines) +40? (Injector). That's, what, +205 to speed? Then another 20 or so from Helsmanship for a 200-speed frigate, which at that point isn't a big deal. So, I don't know. Might disallow the AE + UI combo, but... well, this should probably go into another thread. I think speed for many ships, not just for frigates, tends to get a little out of control if stacked.
Re: shields stuff - let's keep this on-topic. There are several threads in the Suggestions forum talking about this very idea. (Short answer: it's rather involved.)