.Overall the goal is to make it much more hectic. Ships more potent offensively on both sides, ability to use more drones, boarding, weapons. More breaching, fires, and stuns, niche weapons are better at what they do.
I'm updating the 1st post now with what has already been done, the original post is still below it, for changes I still intent to enact.
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Got things working as slipstream mod
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6seporzazb5i5ja/LLL.ftl?dl=0
Changes thus far:
Cooldown of weapons have been squeezed into a 9-14 second window(1 weapon is at 15). This should make battles more hectic, and combat progressively more explosive as the game progresses. Battle plans will have to made quickly at the start of battles.
Single Laser - 11 cooldown
Dual Laser - 12
Triple Laser - 13
Quad laser (was 5 shots) - 14
Basic laser power req is linear with shot amount, each hit has 40% fire. The custom dual lasers has 11 cd instead of 12, but -20% fire chance.
Single Heavy - 12
Dual Heavy - 13
Heavy Pierce - 12
Heavy lasers now do only 1 damage, but have 60% fire + 60% stun, 10% breach. Heavy Pierce is reduced to 30% fire + stun. Again, power req. is linear with shot amount.
Ion 1 -8, 1 Ion DMG, 30% stun, 10% Fire, 1 power
Ion Heavy -9, 2 Ion DMG, 70% stun, 20% Fire, 2 power
Ion Blast II - 5, 1 Ion DMG, 20% stun, 3 power
Ions have lower cooldowns than almost any other weapon type. They've had stun and fire odds buffed. The ion blast 2 is lower on statuses, and thus more specialized for ion damage to shields + systems.
Leto Missile - 9, 40% for all statuses, fire/breach/stun
Hermes Missile - 10, 70% for all statuses, 2 damage, 2 power
Pegasus Missile - 11, 2 dmg + 30% all statuses for each missile, 3 power
Breach Missile - 12, 100% for all statuses, 3 damage, 3 power
Artemis Missile - 12, 20% all statuses, 2 dmg, 1 power
Missiles are now slightly lower cooldown than lasers, as well as having higher odds for statuses. This should make them more appealing to the player. Most player ships will be starting with way to cope with enemy missiles, such as a defense drone, or a repair drone to patch up between nodes.
Mini Beam - 10, 30 Length Beam, 1 DMG, 20% Fire, 1 power
Pike Beam - 11, 140 Length Beam, 1 DMG, 20% Fire, 2 power
Halberd Beam - 12, 90 Length Beam, 2 DMG, 40% Fire, 3 power
Glaive Beam, - 13, 80 Length Beam, 3 DMG, 60% Fire, 4 power
Beams have had their cooldowns and fire chances buffed, but also have had their beam lengths reduced. Balancing will be done by further decreasing the length, no chance of dodge is already a great asset.
Dual Hull Smasher -14, 2 Shot, 2 DMG, 0% Fire, 50% Breach, 2 power
Triple Hull Smasher - 15, 3 Shot, 2 DMG, 0% Fire, 50% Breach, 3 power
Hull Smasher Laser - 14, 110 Length Beam, 1 DMG, 50% Breach, 3 power
Hull Smasher Missile, 12, 1 Damage, 40% Fire, 40% Stun, 100% Breach, 1 power
Hull Smasher weapons now specialize in breaches, and actually have 0 hullbust, which I thought was a pretty messed up mechanic. The lasers also do 2 damage instead of the typical 1. But their cooldown is 2 higher than the base lasers. If too strong, an increase to +3 CD could work. The Hull Smasher Laser my be the king of breaching, with 110 length and 50% breach. If it is too weak for 3 power, the length may be increased (or power down to 2 and other stats decreased). I may nix the Hull Smasher missile, and instead use it as an AI only weapon with custom stats.
These are all the non-conventional weapons, meaning no normal/ion damage (exception being ion bomb). They've all been made much faster on CD, so they get to act first. The plan is to make them especially useful for a mixed strategy, i.e. boarding.
Fire Beam - 8 , 50 Length Beam, 0 DMG, 100% Fire, 1 power
Bio Beam - 9 , 60 Length Beam, 45 Crew DMG, 2 power
Small Bomb - 7, 1 System DMG, 45 Crew DMG, 50% Fire, 20% Breach, 2 power
Breach 1 Bomb - 8, 2 System DMG, 45 Crew DMG, 30% Fire, 100% Breach, 3 power
Breach 2 Bomb - 9, 3 System DMG, 60 Crew DMG, 100% Fire, 100% Breach, 4 power
Fire Bomb - 6, 30 Crew DMG, 100% Fire, 2 power
Ion Bomb - 8, 3 Ion DMG, 20% Fire, 70% Stun, 3 power
Heal Bomb - 5, heals 65 crew health, 2 power
Lock Bomb - 5, 3 power
The 3 traditional bombs now suck up a lot of power, but do a lot more crew damage, have higher status %s, and have exceptional cooldowns. Breach Bomb 2 can take out Zoltans in 1 shot, although takes as much power as the Glaive Beam.
Triple Crystal -13, 3 shots, 1 DMG, 10% Breach, 40% Stun, 1 Shield Pierce
Heavy Crystal - 12, 1 shot, 2 DMG, 30% Breach, 70% Stun, 1 Shield Pierce
Heavy Crystal 2 - 14, 1 shot, 4 DMG, 70% Breach, 90% Stun, 2 Shield Pierce
Crystal weapons have the same cooldowns as their laser counterparts, with lower fire but some breach and stun. Might end up increasing the CD by another second.
Weapons now cost 5-30 scrap. Generally, 5 per laser/ion damage, or 'tier' of missile. Bombs and beams start higher, at 15 or so, and reach the cap of 30. While this makes weapons more accessible, it also decreases the scrap selling from weapons by a ton. I hope to encourage the player to keep a variety of weapons on hand, and allow them to change up their strategy more, through buying at shops.
Combat Drones/Beam Drones now need 1 power, but have reduced firing speed (close to half)
Combat Drone II needs 2 power, but have double firing of Combat Drone 1. So the benefit is fewer drone slots, fewer drones spent. Might reduce firing speed slightly, to balance them with Combat 1.
Defense Drones now cost 1 power, and have 15 second cooldowns. Defense 2 costs 2 power with 7.5 second cooldowns. This probably will lead to power micro managing, as I think the cooldown decreases when they are not powered. Will keep considering alternatives, the goal is to make them good against missiles, but not nearly full proof. Lower chance to intercept would be great, if I can figure out how to do that.
For now Kestrel A is the only ship I'm balancing around this mod. Here are the changes, thus far:
10 hull
Starts with 4 engine to give better dodge from the start, may increase that even more
starts with backup battery (once I get the AE stuff ready)
Starts with drone system(2 power)
Starts with repair drone, ship repair drone, and boarding drone.
starts with boarding(1 power)
Weapon power decreased to 2. Starts with Basic Ion, Single Laser, Bomb 1, and Artemis
Starts with Shield Recharge Booster and Adv. FTL Navigation
Now starts with 7 Humans, hope to make player crew die more often, but this is mostly to enable a boarding strat early. Enemy ships will be made stronger to compensate.
The next big step is an overhaul of the enemy ships to make them more focused and better at what they do, and thus requiring less of a "one size fits all" player strategy. Enemy boarders will be more aggressive, gunships will be more overwhelming and thus require a quick assault or disabling of their systems. Enemy beams will be synchronized on cooldowns with lasers, or beams will be taken out altogether.
current crew prices
Human - 15
Slug - 17
Engi - 20
Mantis - 27
Rockman - 32
Zoltan - 35
Crystal - 50
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Old Post
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Crew
All costs decreased, generally it was rarely never worth it to buy crew in shops. This should make them a more viable option.
Human - 15
Slug - 17
Engi - 20
Mantis - 27
Rockman - 32
Zoltan - 35
Crystal - 50
Systems
Similarly, all system costs are decreased, making sub-systems more cost efficient. The best systems are also reduced in price, but more so for balancing combat.
Oxygen
2 - 25
3 - 25
Teleporter
B - 30
2 - 30
3 - 30
Cloaking
B - 50
Max upgrade now level 1 (may change to 2, but at very high price)
Pilot
2 - 20
3 - 20
Medbay
B - 20
2 - 30
3 - 30
Shields
B - 50
2- 20
Max Level 2 (may change to 4, at high price)
Artillery
B - 30
2 through 4 - 30
Engines
2 through 8 - 20
Weapons
2 through 8 - 25
Drones
B - 30
2 through 8 - 20
Sensors
B - 20
2 - 25
3 - 25
Doors
B - 30
2 - 30
3 - 30
Weapons
Some enemy boss weapons given lower cooldowns
Most weapons buffed, here are general buff directions
All lasers have minimum 20% fire chance
Heavy lasers have 50% fire, 20% breach(down from 30%), 50% stun
Missiles have significantly lower cooldown and/or power req, higher breach and stun odds
Beam weapons have higher cooldowns and/or power req, higher fire chance and larger ones have small breach
Ion weapons have shorter cooldowns, higher stun, and stronger ones have small chance of fire. Also very cheap in shops.
Bomb weapons are lower cost and power, higher fire, breach, personel damage. But, higher cooldown (some cooldowns hardly changed since they were already high).
Crystal weapons, in comparison to heavy lasers, have higher stun chances and lower breach chances, and no fire chance.
Fire, Bio, Health weapons are much lower in cooldown and power requirement.
Drones are a lot cheaper in shops, more ships start with drone systems, drones generally weaker but less power requirement, resulting in a net buff.
Fuel cost increased from 3 to 4
Drone cost reduced from 8 to 4
Missile cost reduced from 6 to 2
Almost all player weapons lowered in cost, many significantly
Here are some nerfs
Dual Shot Laser - Cooldown increased from 10 to 14
BL2 - power consumption increased from 2 to 3
Augments
Crystal Shard -
2 damage, 50% breach, 50% stun, 30% chance on hit
Rock Plating - 15% to 30% ignore hull damage
Crew Stims 25 - > 35% buff
Drone Speed 25 - > 60% buff
System Casing - 15 -> 50% ignore system damage
Repair Arm - down to 5% scrap reduction, from 15%
Scrap Collector - nerfed to 5% scrap increase
Auto - Reloader - reduced from 10% to 5% CD reduction
Pre-Igniter - cost from 120 to 140
Rechard Booster - 25% to 40% FTL charge increase
Drone Recovery - cost increased to 70
Player ships health changed to 10 through 15
Stronger starting crews
More starting systems, most often drones (with accompanying drones) and boarding
