After watching and playing in the last few tournaments, I think that lasers are probably a little bit too strong (and cannons might be a little too weak). I do NOT think that laser triangles are unbeatable - obviously there have been several examples of strategies that can beat them. But I do think that laser triangles are too dominant in any head-to-head fight. A combination of the power of lasers (accuracy+projectile speed) and the durability of a triangle (shield cascade and narrow profile) makes it very difficult for cannons to fight head-to-head.
A quick word on Nop (the only high-level player who uses a lot of cannons): IMO most of nop's victories come from his piloting and ship choice skills, not necessarily ship-design skills (no offense to nop! I think you're an excellent player and build solid ships, just that your "edge" is in piloting and ship choice). For example, in the June? tournament he beat Orb's laser triangle by using a splitting wall that wedged itself behind the triangle. Orb was unable to pilot his ship out of the situation, and ended up losing his control rooms despite having an overwhelming weapon and $ advantage. But nop would have won just as effectively with lasers, or small cannons or maybe even missiles. Once his ship got into position, it didn't really matter what weapon he used. (note to nop - cannons have penetration, but lasers are more accurate and better at focusing down specific parts, especially through armor. IMO neither is strictly superior for flanking/swarming).
Instead of changing damage numbers or projectile speeds, I would suggest changing the relative durabilities of the weapons. Right now, lasers are much more durable than large cannons. They are more difficult to focus down (because they're smaller), have better hp/op-cost, better hp/dps, and identical hp/surface area. Lasers are also much better vs penetration, since a laser has 3 pen-resist but max 2 tiles, while a large cannon has 3 pen-resist but can be hit up to 5 times by penetration.
To me, it seems very strange that lasers are durable while cannons are fragile. "Laser" implies fragile electronics and optics, while "cannon" implies a big brutish turret. Lasers physically look fragile, while cannons look tough and even have the armor texture on them. Yet lasers are significantly more durable than cannons.
So, I would suggest making lasers/eb a little more fragile, and cannons a little more durable. Specifically I would suggest something along the lines of:
- Basic laser hp 4000 -> 3000.
- Basic laser pen-resist 3 -> 2.
- Electrobolt hp 6000 -> 4500.
- Electrobolt pen-resist 3 -> 2.
- Large cannon hp 12000 -> 18000.
- Large cannon pen-resist 3 -> 4.
- Standard cannon hp 6000 -> 8000.
While significant, I don't think these changes would break any of the weapons. Since most ships shield their weapons, the effective hp changes are less significant than they appear. I just ballparked the numbers though, so they might be too high or too low or not necessary at all. Equally impactful would be the pentration changes, which normalizes penetration across weapons and helps out standard cannons immensely.
It might also be worth considering range changes. Lasers could have their range reduced from 150 -> 125 (same as EB ), and/or possibly small cannons (which definitely need a buff) could have their range increased from 175 -> 200 (same as cannons/ions). Small cannons already have better effective range than large cannons because of their projectile speed and accuracy, so it doesn't really make sense that they officially have less range.
Side note: some nuances of the per-tile penetration changes that have affected balance. An individual part can be hit both by impact damage (on the initial hit) and penetration damage (as the projectile moves through the part). Also, a projectile only hits one tile in the room in which it runs out of penetration. Combined, these changes have made cannons even weaker.
