FTL Captain's Edition 1.308/Inf 1.301b/EL 1.308

[Russian Rockman]

Here's a thought about a new weapon for CE, which I think might work: an Ion Stinger.
It's basicly an ion beam with a beam width of 1 pixel, making it a non missing single hit ion strike on the shields.
Damage values, charge time, etc. I leave to the imagination of the competent weapon modders out there.
Just tought it might be a nice touch to the game.

After going so long without ion beams I kind of tricked my brain into thinking they wouldn't be good anyway because ion weapons don't work the same as beams... The whole "content separation" thing Sleeper is always trying to maintain. I think that this idea "could" work, but the beam would actually still have to move pretty quickly or it would still drain all the shields even if it]'s one pixel!! (At least thats what I remember from my testing, I remember the speed has to be 12 times the number of pixels, or something like that). So then you really wouldn't even see the beam, which isn't very cool.

I'm just going to throw this out there again though... SYSTEM BEAM, a beam that only damages systems. 1-2 system damage. Right now the Open Artillery mod has a green Zoltan beam that damages systems only, no hull damage. (Goes well with the whole Zoltan not wanting to simply murder peopler thing...) You could even use the names "Baton Beam" and stuff for that because it would basically be a ship "stunning" beam. (Hey theres another idea, maybe it could do stun damage too?

[New Guy]

After going so long without ion beams I kind of tricked my brain into thinking they wouldn't be good anyway because ion weapons don't work the same as beams... The whole "content separation" thing Sleeper is always trying to maintain. I think that this idea "could" work, but the beam would actually still have to move pretty quickly or it would still drain all the shields even if it]'s one pixel!! (At least thats what I remember from my testing, I remember the speed has to be 12 times the number of pixels, or something like that). So then you really wouldn't even see the beam, which isn't very cool.

Well, if the projectile doesn't appear, it could pose as Effector MKIII, the instant and sure-hit effector that takes so much power to function. Aside from that, and giving it an ion damage of 1 maximum, I don't really know how to make this balanced.

E: Could be given a long warm-up time, like the Chain Vulcan.

I'm just going to throw this out there again though... SYSTEM BEAM, a beam that only damages systems. 1-2 system damage. Right now the Open Artillery mod has a green Zoltan beam that damages systems only, no hull damage. (Goes well with the whole Zoltan not wanting to simply murder peopler thing...) You could even use the names "Baton Beam" and stuff for that because it would basically be a ship "stunning" beam. (Hey theres another idea, maybe it could do stun damage too?

To make the system beams worth using, since ordinary beams also damage systems, it could be given twice the amount of damage ordinary beams usually deal, and be given the range of a Pike Beam. When I put it this way though, it sounds a bit OP.

[rannl]

Here's a thought about a new weapon for CE, which I think might work: an Ion Stinger.
It's basicly an ion beam with a beam width of 1 pixel, making it a non missing single hit ion strike on the shields.
Damage values, charge time, etc. I leave to the imagination of the competent weapon modders out there.
Just tought it might be a nice touch to the game.

After going so long without ion beams I kind of tricked my brain into thinking they wouldn't be good anyway because ion weapons don't work the same as beams... The whole "content separation" thing Sleeper is always trying to maintain. I think that this idea "could" work, but the beam would actually still have to move pretty quickly or it would still drain all the shields even if it]'s one pixel!! (At least thats what I remember from my testing, I remember the speed has to be 12 times the number of pixels, or something like that). So then you really wouldn't even see the beam, which isn't very cool.

I'm just going to throw this out there again though... SYSTEM BEAM, a beam that only damages systems. 1-2 system damage. Right now the Open Artillery mod has a green Zoltan beam that damages systems only, no hull damage. (Goes well with the whole Zoltan not wanting to simply murder peopler thing...) You could even use the names "Baton Beam" and stuff for that because it would basically be a ship "stunning" beam. (Hey theres another idea, maybe it could do stun damage too?

Ion Stinger : if it behaves (speed wise) the same as the other single pixel instant hit beams, then this shouldn't be a problem. Worst case - the Stinger generates two hits on impact. With an ion damage of 1, you get an actual ion damage of 2. Blance that with a long charge time and you've got another interesting weapon in the game.

System beams : I like that idea a lot. I think that they could be balanced with having some limited shield piercing abilities, but again, I leave this in the hands of the dedicated weapon designers

[Kaerius]

To make the system beams worth using, since ordinary beams also damage systems, it could be given twice the amount of damage ordinary beams usually deal, and be given the range of a Pike Beam. When I put it this way though, it sounds a bit OP.

Or just give it some shield pierce.

[New Guy]

Too obvious an answer

Seriously though, how much of a shield-pierce are we talking about here?

[Kaerius]

Too obvious an answer

Seriously though, how much of a shield-pierce are we talking about here?

2 should do, a good balance point where it's useful but won't single-handedly go through late game shields. From there balance it with power cost, beam length and cooldown(should probably keep the power cost low but cooldown mid-high, like 16+).

[Russian Rockman]

Well, if the projectile doesn't appear, it could pose as Effector MKIII, the instant and sure-hit effector that takes so much power to function. Aside from that, and giving it an ion damage of 1 maximum, I don't really know how to make this balanced.

If the ion "beam" was explained in a similar way as the Effector that essentially made it a different type of ion weapon that can't miss that could work pretty well I think!


The system beams could have shield piercing and/or they chould have a lower cooldown time than normal beams and/or they could have generally a lower power cost than normal beams.

EDIT: Actually giving them generally higher shield piercing, even just 1, actually seems like a good idea. That would set them apart from normal beams.

Also had an idea, you can change beam color now, so what if the "System Beams" were "Arc Beams". It could explain why they go through shields unlike normal beams. Rather than being "heat" based they are "electrical" based and they fry systems circuits. Then they could also be given a bit of stun on enemy crew and a custom impact graphic. You could extend this weapon type to lasers and even missiles maybe too...


I actually think were starting to exhaust the types of weapons we can have in this game... The only other type of weapon I can think of would be the commonly requested Microwave/Cryo weapons. But plasma launchers start fires just like a microwave weapon would and Cryo "lockdown" weapons just don't fit in when you have to use the crystal lockdown to make it work. (Unless you changed the Crystal lockdown animation I guess...)

I mean really? Aside from whether it's possible or not, what else is there that could actually be added? Anyone have any other ideas?

EDIT: Side question, you can't give area effect targeting to non-Burst type weapons can you?

[New Guy]

Cryo weapons could also stun for the whole duration Crystal Lockdown takes effect. Would be too OP though, unless the Cryo weapon also has an ungodly cooldown. Proper applications for cryo weaponry include freezing the piloting so they can't dodge.

But we need more time-based Chain weapons (vulcan types).

[Russian Rockman]

But we need more time-based Chain weapons (vulcan types).

Hmmm... I can't think of anything else though. A chain Effector might work, that one makes sense!!! One more Effector is always good But it wouldn;t be time based, probably more like the chain ion.

A chain missile launcher is problematic because it would cost a lot of missiles, but i suppose you could make one of those for missile specific ships like the Rock A.

BTW I was only talking about Microwave and Cryo weapons because I see that as the most common suggestion from a whole bunch of other people. With the new stun effect though... as you just pointed out, they could actually be kind of interesting I guess.

I honestly have no idea how Sleeper keeps Captain's Edition even remotely balanced. Like it doesn't seem any "less" balanced than the original game. Every enemy i face in vanilla up to sector 3 always seems to have a Leto missile. Consistently... Is there like some sort of algorithm you using Sleeper? Seriously, I don't have a good enough grasp on weapon rarities and such to know how stores enemies generate their weapons. Is there a good tutorial on that somewhere?

[New Guy]

I suppose now is the time to rip apart the XML and see how they work, individually