Never seen that behavior myself, you didn't put the front large hardpoints in the same weapon group as the broadsides did you?
Also... *sighs*. So many folks disagree on the power-level of the Xu. Some say it is strong enough and fine, some think it is a bit on the weak side, and some think it is pathetic and a clear downgrade from the Conquest. While the ship perhaps could get some more balance tweaks here and there, I believe the truth is entirely less clear-cut and sits within shades of gray.
It has no relation to the Conquest at all, it forks even more from the base hull than pretty much every other THI retrofit ship. It is not a speedy battlecruiser, darting in and out of battlelines firing missile fusillades and constantly changing its facing to the enemy with tricky broadsides. And nor is it a brutish battleship meant to face other capitals head on.
It is a artillery ship, it is your Best Friend offering fire support from-afar. With its prodigious ballistic arsenal that is strong in every direction but directly aft. When given cover from fellow fleet assets so that it doesn't get faced down in close-combat with a peer level capital ship? It sits back and delivers ballistic fire support beyond that which any vanilla capital ship offers. It is Guns, The Ship. Don't directly compare it to the Conquest, or an Onslaught, or whatever mod capital or high tech ship you like. Look at it from the angle of its own strengths and weaknesses.
Anyways, if anyone has suggested balance tweaks for it? I am all ears, but I believe if it needs any (and I am considering some), they would be fairly subtle in nature since I truly believe anyone who thinks it is weak simply does not understand and or appreciate what the ship is about.
I think i should elaborate on the point i made a little better myself and other people should do that also:
Personally, the very first time i handled the Xu, it was very clear to me that this was nothing at all like the Conquest, if anything, a closer comparison would be the Victory from Ship and Weapon pack:
-Both have two fixed frontal guns.
-Both are meant to be slow and bulky.
-Both are offensive power houses.
-Both turn relatively slowly
Now for the key differences:
-Victory is more expensive to field at 55 DP vs 40 DP from Xu
-Victory has no hard points and instead uses built-in weapons which, arguably, generally outperform the Xu's hardpoints, depending on it's frontal loadout. This should be fine since it costs more.
-Victory has noticeably more
natural flux capacity and venting so on the stat screen a person will look at the Xu's flux capacity and compare it with a conquest and will think it's a downgrade, more guns, but less flux and a lot of people probably don't realize that the ability the ship has plays a big factor on keeping this bountiful firepower going.
I think the main problem is from the transition to Conquest to Xu, people feel like they lost a lot of stuff like mobility,
(which, seriously, just looking at the Xu you instantly expect it to be slow and bulky, so shouldn't be a surprise to anyone) and flux capacity
(Already mentioned ability's importance).
Does the Xu need tweaking?If you use it as a player, not really, a player will have to know how to manage the Xu's flux by depending on the ability. Keep in mind that we are talking about a faction that incorporates regular ships into it's roster, so, oddly enough, the Xu will perform well if it's accompanied by Conquests, which really goes into the spirit of the original conquest, a conquest will never win alone and this same philosophy is true for the Xu. I wouldn't give it to an officer thought, because i don't trust the AI to make good choices with the flux management.
Can the Xu be improved?Totally, but for at a modest cost of 40 dp you get a pretty decent ship with an absurd amount of guns.
Is it fair to compare the Xu with the Conquest?Absolutely NOT, it's like wanting to compare the Astral with the Legion, just because they are both carriers when they perform incredibly different roles. The Xu was built by a faction who's logic is "more guns = more better" and to their credit, that logic works for them. The Xu isn't meant to be perfect, it's meant to carry more guns and not just any guns, but the
guniest of guns.
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I hope this helps give more clarity to what i meant to say in my last post and more people should give their feedback and what they feel it lacks and/or how it can improve.
Personally i am fine with the Xu as is.