Flagship Randomizer 1.29 for AE, ACE and ACE Infinite

[stylesrj]

I think there should always be at least one missile as a primary weapon. I got up to Phase 3 in one of my runs and all they had to throw at me was a Hacking Module (hit me in artillery), Mind Control (would mostly target my Shield Zoltans and not my awesome boarding team which had Mantises and a Crystal), a 3-shot ion flak gun and a bioweapon which pierced all shields.

The ion gun would have made things difficult but it was actually more annoying than anything else and the bioweapon was a joke as it would hit mostly empty rooms and my Clone Bay was well up to the task of reviving people. It probably would have been harder if I had a medbay or if they hacked shields, but honestly the main worry of Phase 3 to me was always that damned missile launcher.

Phase 1 was rather funny though - two missile weapons, both in secondary slots. Cluster rockets in one, Fire Missile in the other.

[Russian Rockman]

I don't think there should ALWAYS be a missile launcher, and the amount of non-lethal weapons has already been limited.

However, the bio beam I can see having problems. Perhaps the flagship should have a stun beam instead of a bio beam? That way the beam does system damage as well. Or you'd just have to give the Bio beam a little shield piercing and increase it's fire rate/speed a lot.

I can't really think of many underpowered weapons. The ions can be very annoying. The plasma launcher I can potentially see not being so good, but if it fires a big enough volley it could be devastating when it gets through your shields eventually.

Can the flagship have cloak missile artillery? Because it should. Also I'm not sure if the flagship has a fully fleshed out arsenal of bombs. Finally, chain artillery is apparently a thing, it would require so e testing, but I can think of some nasty chain artillery weapons.

[stylesrj]

The bio beam could go through at least 3 layers of shield. Didn't get the 4th, because standard operating procedure for facing flagships does not include advanced shielding.
And I forgot I was in Sector 7 in terms of infinite space... the next jump was the Last Stand.

But still it was rather trivial even if it fired quickly (like every 10 seconds). The ions did make the BS Barrage more potent though but it wasn't enough to save them from my own.

I still think a missile weapon is mandatory as a primary. I might have been in trouble then

[NarnKar]

The bio beam could go through at least 3 layers of shield. Didn't get the 4th, because standard operating procedure for facing flagships does not include advanced shielding.

Bio beam pierces all layers. Maybe have it do more crew damage, like enough to take out a rockman?

Also, concerning the fact that the ion and bio-beam were the main weapons, and the hull-damaging weapons fell off...maybe consider putting at least one hull-damaging weapon as the main gun.

Can the flagship have cloak missile artillery? Because it should. Also I'm not sure if the flagship has a fully fleshed out arsenal of bombs. Finally, chain artillery is apparently a thing, it would require so e testing, but I can think of some nasty chain artillery weapons.

I agree with the above, especially the chaining bits...me, I'd love (in the masochistic way) to see a Chain Vulcan on the Flagship.

[stylesrj]

Bio beam pierces all layers. Maybe have it do more crew damage, like enough to take out a rockman?

Then there will be complaints from those who didn't have a Clone Bay at the end to be slowly destroyed by a beam that strikes instantly and randomly. I mean having a light laser gun which already does 60 crew damage (kills an AI avatar in one hit) is dangerous but there's a slight chance the target can dodge it and level 3 shields block it.

Although you could buy a Clone Bay to plan accordingly as you look at the intel.

[Estel]

Considering how often anti-bio beam hits empty rooms (flkagship fires it randomly), it could use some boost. Maybe not kill a rockman in one strike, but for sure it could do more than 100 crew damage.

/Estel

[Russian Rockman]

I'm not too excited about having a bio beam that kills crew in one hit... Nothing should be THAT OP. And I know that you could plan accordingly by looking at the intel, but I don't think the intel should directly dictate how you level up and equip your ship, it should be more of a suggestion. The bio beam should probably just get maybe 3 layers of shield piercing and fire much faster, and should do enough to take out an AI (MAYBE a Zoltan), but not enough to instantly take out anyone else. It should keep your crew huddled in the Medbay and off terminals. If you want to make it really strong, make it do 90 damage and make it move slowly so that you can potentially have your crew dodge it.

However, I still say that a stun beam would be more effective because it has the practical function of taking out systems whether or not it hits crew.

On an unrelated note: somebody mentioned note, somebody mentioned infinite space and that got me thinking that the randomizer should be able to ramp up the difficulty on infinite. Just a few small changes like making the weapons fire faster, and the systems more powerful.

[stylesrj]

On an unrelated note: somebody mentioned note, somebody mentioned infinite space and that got me thinking that the randomizer should be able to ramp up the difficulty on infinite. Just a few small changes like making the weapons fire faster, and the systems more powerful.

Yeah I realised that the Flagship was pretty powerful in Infinite Space compared to vanilla CE. I mean Level 3 defense drone...
Shortly after I used the Randomiser I realised that now the Flagship would be much easier now that I'm facing a vanilla CE-type flagship and not a OP OP Flagship designed to punish those who didn't grind everything effectively.

[rannl]

After seeing the recent comments, here's a thought about the weapon randomizing concept.

The random selection will start with selecting 2 hull damaging weapons for the first 2 weapon slots (the main guns). Those will include lasers, missiles and beams (no more then 1 beam weapon). After that, secondary weapons will be selected, following the guidelines of no more then 2 lasers/missiles/ion type and no more then 1 beam type weapons.
This will also ensure that no more then 2 NHD (non hull damaging) weapons will be selected.

If this idea will get enough support, I'll code it in the tool.

[NarnKar]

The random selection will start with selecting 2 hull damaging weapons for the first 2 weapon slots (the main guns). Those will include lasers, missiles and beams (no more then 1 beam weapon). After that, secondary weapons will be selected, following the guidelines of no more then 2 lasers/missiles/ion type and no more then 1 beam type weapons.
This will also ensure that no more then 2 NHD (non hull damaging) weapons will be selected.

If this idea will get enough support, I'll code it in the tool.

Support!