So, this is probably one of the more bonkers suggestions around, but here goes:
Implement a module that, when activated, turns your weapon in to a hull repair or shield repair beam. It would deactivate your main weapon and replace it with a laser-like weapon that replenishes hull or shield of friendly ships you shoot with it. Not trivial to implement and certainly a departure from current mechanics.
My vision would be:
Active module.
Category: Engineering
Cooldown: 40s
Duration: 10s
As usual, two versions, one for hull, one for shield.
Because we currently can’t lock friendlies, it would have to be an instant hit laser-like weapon, otherwise hitting a jinking interceptor with it without a lead indicator would be a nightmare.
It would have some interesting ramifications:
* It would create a skill element to repairing that is currently lacking besides managing cooldowns, but without a radical departure from current game skills (everyone already has skill hitting moving targets with weapons, you’re just doing it with friendlies instead of enemies).
* It would force a repairer to choose between dealing damage and repairing friendlies, adding a trade-off.
* It would force repair ships to expose themselves to enemy fire to do their jobs because they’d need line of sight. Currently engineering frigates can hide in a dark corner behind some rocks and do a large part of their job absolutely perfectly.
Obviously, the last thing we need right now is moar healing, since it’s pretty OP already, so I would expect this be implemented only as part of a balance pass to repair modules, rather than strict additions to our existing repertoire.