New Weapon Damage Types and Classes (and New Weapons In General)

Suggestions Balance
#1

As with pretty much every post, I was playing the game when a thought occurred to me:

3 damage types is not enough.

So, after a little mulling it over I came up with several new damage types that could be assigned to new weapons. Each damage type could be referred to as a class, with each class having certain attributes that remain fairly constant throughout a variety of weapons in that class.

Quick Reference Guide

Abbreviations
dmg - Damage.
rng - Maximum range and Optimal range.
acc - Accuracy, where + increases the accuracy.
rof - Rate of fire.
spd - Spread, where + increases the spread.
vel - Projectile speed.
ovr - Heating rate, where + increases the time taken.
crt - Critical chance.

Identifiers - Mods
Function: - What the item does.
Based On: - Which weapon mod the mod is either an improvement of or based on.

Weapons, Mods and Others

Thermal
Thermal weaponry sticks to the low damage, long range and hitscan mantra. Really simple and easy to use, but not recommended for the people who want more bang for their buck, so to speak (or can actually target lead).
Weapons

Meson Beam
Short Description: Fires a laser that will do more damage the longer you fire it. The damage depends on the charge level of the laser, which is directly in proportion to how hot the laser is.
Effects:
0% - 33% maximum heat does 75% damage. 0% - 25% with Particle Capacitor installed.
33% - 67% maximum heat does 100% damage. 25% - 50% with Particle Capacitor installed.
67% - 100% maximum heat does 125% damage. 50% - 75% with Particle Capacitor installed.
75% - 100% maximum heat does 150% damage. Only available with Particle Capacitor.

Cryonic Disruptor
Short Description: The longer the laser is kept on-target, the slower the target becomes, up to a maximum of 12% speed reduction. Damage is lower than the standard assault laser.
Effects:
2 seconds on target reduces speed by 4%
5 seconds on target reduces speed by 8%
8 seconds on target reduces speed by 12%

Mods

Bifocal Lenses
Function: Increases Thermal weaponry damage. Mk 1 = +5% dmg, Mk 2 = +7.5% dmg, Mk 3 = + 12.5% dmg.
Based On: Enhanced Lens Kit
Energy Injection Cables
Function: Increases Pulse Laser rate of fire by a certain percentage. Mk 1 = +5% RoF, Mk 2 = +7.5% RoF, Mk 3 = + 10% RoF.
Based On: Conductive Lens Kit
Disruption Lenses
Function: Changes damage class to EM. Increases damage. Mk 1 = +2% dmg, Mk 2 = +3% dmg, Mk 3 = +5% dmg.
Based On: Microwave Lens Kit
Trihedral Crystal Kit
Function: Increases Optimal and Maximum range. Mk 1 = +15% rng, Mk 2 = +20% rng, Mk 3 = +27.5% rng.
Based On: Original Modifier
Energy Compressor Lenses
Function: Increases laser damage dramatically. Halves range. Mk 1 = +10% dmg -50% rng, Mk 2 = +16% dmg -50% rng, Mk 3 = +24% dmg - 50% rng.
Based On: Double Lens Kit
Particle Capacitor
Function: Increases Meson Beam charge level by one. See weapon for more details.
Based On: None
Photon Solidifier
Function: Changes damage class to Lance. Increases damage. Mk 1 = +2% dmg, Mk 2 = +3% dmg, Mk 3 = +5% dmg.
Based On: None

EM
High damage to shields, low/medium damage to hull, good rate of fire, range and projectile speed. Overheats quickly.
Weapons

Leech Cannon
Short Description: Upon hitting a target’s shields, some of the damage inflicted will heal your shields by the corresponding amount.
Effects:
On hit heal shields by 15% of the damage dealt.

Mods

Power Amplification System
Function: Increases EM weaponry damage. Mk 1 = +5% dmg, Mk 2 = +7.5% dmg, Mk 3 = + 12.5% dmg.
Based On: Double Deflector System
High-Voltage Magnets
Function: Increases projectile speed but reduces accuracy. Mk 1 = +45% vel -20% acc, Mk 2 = +55% vel - 20% acc, Mk 3 = +67.5% vel -20% acc.
Based On: Booster Circuit
Needle Impact System
Function: Changes damage to Kinetic. Increases damage. Mk 1 = +2% dmg, Mk 2 = +3% dmg, Mk 3 = +5% dmg.
Based On: Needle Deflector System
Supernova Overdrive
Function: Changes damage to Annihilation. Increases damage, but reduces rate of fire. Mk 1 = +5% dmg -30% RoF, Mk 2 = +10% dmg -32.5% RoF, Mk 3 = +15% dmg -35% RoF.
Based On: Supernova System
Parasitical Booster
Function: Increases shield point gain on Leech Cannons, but reduces range. Mk 1 = +5% leech -7.5% rng, Mk 2 = +7.5% leech - 12.5% rng, Mk 3 = +10% leech -17.5% rng.
Based On: None
Nitrogen Coolant
Function: Decreases heating rate. Mk 1 = -7.5% ovr, Mk 2 = -11% ovr, Mk 3 = -15.5% ovr.
Based On: None

Kinetic
Low damage to shields, high damage to hull, good rate of fire, range and projectile speed.
Weapons

Railgun (Redesigned)
Short Description: The Railgun fires single shot shells with a high degree of accuracy over a long range. The shells travel extremely quickly, but still require target leading.

Hellstorm Cannon
Short Description: This is simply the current Railgun, except with a rename. Yes, it’s kind of pointless, but a rename would do it well.

Kinetic Accelerator
Short Description: Stock gun of most ships. Trades some of the hull-smashing capabilities for increased damage to shields. Otherwise has average statistics all around.

Mods

Explosive Rounds
Function: Increases Kinetic weaponry damage. Mk 1 = +5% dmg, Mk 2 = +7.5% dmg, Mk 3 = + 12.5% dmg.
Based On: Enhanced Rounds
Wide Barrel
Function: Increase Hellstorm cannon spread and damage. Mk 1 = +3% dmg +6% spd, Mk 2 = +6% dmg +9% spd, Mk 3 = +9% dmg +12% spd.
Based On: Vanadium Shells.
Hammer Rounds
Function: Increase critical chance. Mk 1 = +7.5% crt, Mk 2 = +12.5% crt, Mk 3 = +17.5% crt.
Based On: Shaped Charge Shells
Depleted Uranium Rounds
Function: Increases projectile speed and accuracy. Mk 1 = +20% vel +10% acc, Mk 2 = +30% vel +12.5% acc, Mk 3 = +40% vel +15% acc.
Based On: Uranium Core Shells
Antimatter Rounds
Function: Changes damage type to Annihilation. Increases damage, but reduces rate of fire. Mk 1 = +5% dmg -30% RoF, Mk 2 = +10% dmg -32.5% RoF, Mk 3 = +15% dmg -35% RoF.
Based On: Antimatter Shells
Fusion Warheads
Function: Changes damage type to Thermal. Increases damage. Mk 1 = +2% dmg, Mk 2 = +3% dmg, Mk 3 = +5% dmg.
Based On: None

Lance
Low damage weapons with a very high rate of fire. Their range is slightly lower than either Kinetic or EM, but the projectile speed is slightly higher. They have lower accuracy than most weapons.
Weapons

Gatling Cannon
Short Description: Very fast-firing main weapon (a singular stream of small projectiles). Does slightly more damage to hull than shields.

Bolt Lance
Short Description: Fast-firing standard Lance class weapon.

Sidewinder
Short Description: Has limited target tracking, but only when a lock has been achieved.
Effects:
Projectiles follow target if a lock has been established. Turn speed is 40% less than a standard missile.

Mods

Galvanised Bolts

Function: Increases Lance weaponry damage. Mk 1 = +5% dmg, Mk 2 = +7.5% dmg, Mk 3 = + 12.5% dmg.

Based On: None

Choker Barrel

Function: Increases accuracy, but reduced rate of fire. Mk 1 = +15% acc -5% RoF, Mk 2 = +20% acc - 7.5% RoF, Mk 3 = +27.5% acc -12.5% RoF.

Based On: None

Annihilation
Single shot, massive damage long-ranged weaponry with an incredibly slow rate of fire and massive energy consumption per shot. Projectile speed is average.
Weapons

Note: Annihilation Weapons are unavailable for use until Tier 3.
Ionic Disassembler
Short Description: Standard Annihilation weapon.

Gravitic Wave Driver
Short Description: Fires a ball of solid matter that creates a gravitational pull around the projectile at the cost of damage and range.
Effects:
AoE around projectile for 200 metres. Ships within the radius suffer 20% of the stated damage and are pulled towards the projectile as it passes. Ships pulled into contact are counted to have suffered a direct hit.

Nova Disintegrator
Short Description: Very high powered weapon. Rate of fire is the lowest in the game, excluding some special modules. Energy consumption prevents more than 3 shots from being fired until a recharge is required.
Effects:
After 3 continuous shots the weapon requires a 2 second recharge.
One shot cycle takes 1.3 seconds. 0.4 second charge time, 0.5 second beam shot which appears along the line of fire instantly, then 0.4 second cool down.

I tried to make this a little more readable, instead of being one massive wall of text. Thought it might help.

#2

3 damage types is not enough.

Why so?

 

 

and ITTT (Instant Time To Target)

Usualy people use term “hitscan”

 

Many players have their own ideas and suggestions, how they think that game could be better, but your ones are ridiculous.

#3

3 damage types is not enough.

 

Why so?

 

3 damage types doesn’t seem to encompass everything, which is why I suggested more.

 

 

Many players have their own ideas and suggestions, how they think that game could be better, but your ones are ridiculous.

 

Why so? I’ve just proposed 12 new weapons, plus a sensible remake of one to make it conform to its name a little more. A little variety never hurts. Pricing and modification etc are up to what you think would fit. There’s no need to be so sharp in your reply.

 

And besides; lasers are overused.

#4

Big problem with too many damage types is that the type specific defense modules would then become useless.

Your suggestions are pretty imaginative, but rewriting the entire weapon system of the game isn’t very realistic. Maybe try extracting some of your individual ideas and integrate them in to the current weapon and damage system, for example the weapon that does more damage the longer you can hold it on target, leeching weapons (maybe a bit OP but maybe with some balance tweaking…), weapons with limited auto-tracking.

#5

Big problem with too many damage types is that the type specific defense modules would then become useless.

Your suggestions are pretty imaginative, but rewriting the entire weapon system of the game isn’t very realistic. Maybe try extracting some of your individual ideas and integrate them in to the current weapon and damage system, for example the weapon that does more damage the longer you can hold it on target, leeching weapons (maybe a bit OP but maybe with some balance tweaking…), weapons with limited auto-tracking.

 

I see your point here.

I actually just want to share one of my experiences to offer a reasonable counter. I have played a game with no less than 9 damage types, with type-specific damage reduction. Even with 9 different types, these damage reductions did come into play a lot more often than I had anticipated, primarily because I was able to anticipate them based on what difficulty my current situation was. In actuality, I’ve outlined only 5 damage types. Damage-specific reduction systems would still work to a good degree, mostly because that in the event these weapons were to be added, I would expect the majority of higher-tier players to gravitate towards annihilator weaponry due to their confidence in their aiming and massive damage output of even the most basic annihilator weapon. Therefore, I would purchase a defence module to counter that.

This would cause a chain which would result in other players adopting the same tactic, switching weapons to deal with this damage reduction. And I specifically designed these weapons to fit mostly as subgroups: Lance and Kinetic are very similar in operation and principle. So are Thermal and EM: they both consist of DEWs. Annihilator is in a class of its own. As these subgroups are closely related, I believe that the developers could assign damage resistances based on these groups, instead of all 5, which still gives you around a 1/3 chance of taking reduced damage compared to the 1/9 chance I had. See the logic here?

#6

More damage types are a nice idea, but they make balancing much harder.

#7

More damage types are a nice idea, but they make balancing much harder.

Take what you like! These are suggestions, after all.

#8

Most of this is complexity without depth, or lacking in consistency with the existing rules(and it’s frail as it is already).

 

Do not want.

#9

Most of this is complexity without depth, or lacking in consistency with the existing rules(and it’s frail as it is already).

 

Do not want.

Could you elaborate on that a bit?

#10

Here’s a less-complicated way of doing it.

 

Laser, Electro-Magnetic, Kenetic, Tachyon*, Neutron*, Dark-matter*.  *Introduced at Tier 5.

 

Tachyon would be a sub-class of Laser weapons unlocked via Empire contracts. They would mix Thermal (75%) and Kenetic (25%) damage. Fire Tachyon particles at extreme speeds. Low damage, High ROF. Unlike lasers, these would have actual projectiles.

 

Neutron would be a sub-class of Electro-Magnetic weapons unlocked via Federation contracts. They would mix EM (75%) and Thermal (25%) damage. Fire Neutron particles at moderate to slow speeds. Moderate damage, Moderate ROF.

 

Dark-matter would be a sub-class of Kenetic weapons unlocked via Jericho contracts. They would mix Kenetic (75%) and EM (25%) damage. Fire shells with Dark-matter warheads at moderate speeds. High damage, Low ROF.

#11

Those are some nice weapons suggestions but it would be better if they fit within our already existing range of dmgs, too many types of dmgs are too complicated and is harder to balance/counter

#12

Those are some nice weapons suggestions but it would be better if they fit within our already existing range of dmgs, too many types of dmgs are too complicated and is harder to balance/counter

Imho, the point at which single-type damage reductions become redundant is about 6 or more. Or you could make all 5 damage classes fit under 3 main classes (Impact, Energy, Disintegration?).

#13

Or you could make all 5 damage classes fit under 3 main classes (Impact, Energy, Disintegration?).

Or we could call them “Kinetic”, “Thermal” and “EM”…

#14

Or we could call them “Kinetic”, “Thermal” and “EM”…

Better yet, we could break each type down into three weapons; one that is weak, short ranged but really fast firing; one that is slow to fire but has long range and does lots of damage; one that is somewhere in between.

 

If only the Developers had come up with something like that already to give us some variation in our weapons…

#15

Better yet, we could break each type down into three weapons; one that is weak, short ranged but really fast firing; one that is slow to fire but has long range and does lots of damage; one that is somewhere in between.

 

If only the Developers had come up with something like that already to give us some variation in our weapons…

 

We could even have a tier system like mk1 being the lowest quality and mk3 being the highest quality money can buy with the completion of some kind of specials tasks.

There could also include this awesome looting grade weapons where it is extremely rare to get but very powerful compared to the ones you can buy…

 

So many great ideas, why havnt the devs thought of them…

#16

I’m very sorry for making a suggestion in the suggestion forum.

If you’re going to be sarcastic and/or make no actual contribution to this thread I respectfully ask you simply do not reply.

By the way, do percentages stack in this game? Or do they multiply previous percentages?

#17

Maybe try extracting some of your individual ideas and integrate them in to the current weapon and damage system, for example the weapon that does more damage the longer you can hold it on target, leeching weapons (maybe a bit OP but maybe with some balance tweaking…), weapons with limited auto-tracking.

 

Agreed, dont add things if it can be achived with expanding the current system, makes it less complicated and same results.

#18

Here’s a less-complicated way of doing it.

 

Laser, Electro-Magnetic, Kenetic, Tachyon*, Neutron*, Dark-matter*.  *Introduced at Tier 5.

 

Tachyon would be a sub-class of Laser weapons unlocked via Empire contracts. They would mix Thermal (75%) and Kenetic (25%) damage. Fire Tachyon particles at extreme speeds. Low damage, High ROF. Unlike lasers, these would have actual projectiles.

 

Neutron would be a sub-class of Electro-Magnetic weapons unlocked via Federation contracts. They would mix EM (75%) and Thermal (25%) damage. Fire Neutron particles at moderate to slow speeds. Moderate damage, Moderate ROF.

 

Dark-matter would be a sub-class of Kenetic weapons unlocked via Jericho contracts. They would mix Kenetic (75%) and EM (25%) damage. Fire shells with Dark-matter warheads at moderate speeds. High damage, Low ROF.

 

Whats the point of mixing the damage type?

For Tachyon: this is pretty much a railgun with a uranium modifier that deal thermal damage mostly.

Neutron: close to what EM currently is.

Dark matter: guess there arent any high damage/low ROF guns if you dont count heavy railguns and charged plasma shots, and they got other effects to them aswell so i dont know if they count, stabilized rails might cut it though.

 

While these weapons arent exactly what we have in game, why not make it simple and add a weapons with these properties instead?

#19

Whats the point of mixing the damage type?

For Tachyon: this is pretty much a railgun with a uranium modifier that deal thermal damage mostly.

Neutron: close to what EM currently is.

Dark matter: guess there arent any high damage/low ROF guns if you dont count heavy railguns and charged plasma shots, and they got other effects to them aswell so i dont know if they count, stabilized rails might cut it though.

 

While these weapons arent exactly what we have in game, why not make it simple and add a weapons with these properties instead?

 

I’ll be extracting the ideas and implementing them into current damage classes. Annihilation will probably go to… EM damage, and Lance to Kinetic.