4) Cannons, and especially nukes, can too easily be range-boosted further than other weapons.
Walt The cannon range nerf is specifically to solve the massive momentum-boosting advantage that cannons have over other weapons. That's not even really a balance issue, it's just really weird and makes no sense. They might need a separate buff to compensate though.
Walt Instead of lowering range, I could also buff projectile speed a bit, which would simultaneously buff cannons (both accuracy and making them harder to shoot down) while also reducing the effect of momentum boosting. That might be better than a range nerf, though there's a limit because I still want cannons to be slower than lasers.
Equalizer That said railguns and ions can have ranges about 2-3 times that of cannons since they gain little/no range from ship speed. They should be able to match the range that cannons can get from momentum boosting.
First off, I donāt think itās key for all projectiles to have the exact same 3-second lifetime (which it looks like most of them have in the experimental changes). As long as the lifetime is similar, it should still be difficult to range boost a cannon or nuke more than other weapons.
Walt Standard Cannon
Range: 200 -> 150
Large Cannon
Range: 200 -> 120
Speed: 35 -> 40
Range decreases sound fine to me, as long as they get buffs to compensate. I would suggest keeping the large and standard cannon at the same range though, because I think it doesnāt feel very ālargeā to have shorter range.
In general I was thinking cannons could be cheap and durable, but short-range and inefficient with surface-area. So in addition to the range decreases, they could get cheaper (cost and/or ammo) and tougher as compensatory buffs. I also wouldnāt be against making them extra-strong vs armor.
Walt Railgun
Range: 250 -> 200
Range is now increased by accelerators
Speed: 110 -> 100
Near-infinite range would definitely help single large railguns compete with fans, but Iām not sure what other consequences this change might have. 200 feels like far too high of a starting range, given how many accelerators are on the average railgun (unless the accelerator formula changes).
Walt Small Laser
Range: 150 -> 160
Heavy Laser
Range: 150 -> 200
Speed: 60 -> 100
What would you think about making the different firing modes of the heavy laser have different balance effects?
Walt Range: 200 -> 250
Damage: 200 -> 300
This sounds very strong. I havenāt had a chance to test it out in depth though.
Walt Nuke
Range: 150 -> 90
I think that decreasing their range to 90 is pretty extreme, but I agree that they can probably be boosted too far now, and I also think that increasing their projectile speed (to reduce lifetime) would feel weird. The only other option I can think of is to have them transition to grid-relative movement over time (like mines), but that makes them difficult to chase enemies with. So Iām not sureā¦.
What to do with nukes probably depends heavily on any reductions to nuke hp, any changes to flak/PD, and the increased range of some other weapons (railguns/HE/EMP).
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In general, with these specific numbers I'm a bit worried that turreted weapons will have too short range to be used on slow ships.
