Just want to let you all know that I'm following this discussion with great interest. 🙂
When I make balance changes, I'm usually thinking about how it will affect the future game more than I'm thinking about how it effects the current game. And so while I think it's arguable that the recent balance changes have made the game less balanced, I still think that the increased distinction between weapons and nerfing of systems-breaking strategies (layered shields) better prepares the game for the long-term. Ultimately, I think there's only so much that can be done to balance the game until there are more weapons in it.
On electro-bolts: Electro-bolt base energy drain was reduced by 1/3, and is reduced by another 1/3 for every shield it goes through. If it passes through one shield, that's less than half the energy drain than the previous version and only 2/3 the drain once the shield is down, which doesn't seem too bad to me? But y'all actually play the game more than I do, so I don't have a super-strong sense of how well they're balanced.
On missile buff: Missiles were buffed primarily because they just didn't "feel" powerful enough, and as a secondary reason as a counter to internal shields. If missile kites are too powerful, then I think the short-term solution is to buff PD rather than debuff missiles, and the long-term solution is to add more weapons to counter missiles (railguns?).
