Unbalanced weapon effect/cost ratios

from GalCiv3 Forums

I've made a point in a differnt thread that I don't think weapons should use special resources (maybe with very few exceptions). It would be ok, if upgrading a ship didn't require paying these resourcces over and over again.

Even worse, many of these weapons aren't worth getting (most, IMHO). Here are some examples of the most glaringly unbalanced weapons:

1. Mass drivers / Prototype Durantium Driver:

 

Where is the point of getting this weapon instead of just Mass Driver, unlocked at the same level, with the very same tech:

According to the displayed stats, these are the exact same. Except for use of special resources.

2. Missiles / Prototype Antimatter Missile:

Why would anyone want to spend a special resource for just 2 points of damage, when the much older sparrow missile would already deal 3:

Yes it has a higher construction cost, but in the age of war, that's typically just a minor consideration.

Moreover, the Harpoon unlocked with the same tech does deal 5 damage instead of just 2:

3. The higherlevel missiles are even worse than the PAM, costing 2, 4, or even 8 units of Antimatter! Really? Why would anyone want to employ this

when he just could use that:

Four antimatter for +20% damage? That's ridiculous. Just use a fleet damage booster instead - that's 1 Antimatter and serves the entire fleet rather than just one weapon on one ship!

4. There are many more examples of special weapons with bad efficiency/cost ratio, but often it' hard to judge, because several other stats come into play. However, when weapons differ so much that it's hard to decide which is the better, why would anyone use the ones that use a special resource?!

 

P.S.: I've noticed that in some cases there are subtly different textual descriptions. If that indicates that the special weapon does offer some other advantage, then clearly this is a case of bad communication: The weapon stats in the tool tips do not show accuracy, range, or rate of fire. But if there is a significant difference for some weapons, it really should be displayed! Otherwise, how should anyone know??

16,784 views 10 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

I just noticed all my screenshots are shown as uuencoded text!? But when I try to edit my post the images are shown. What can I do? Or is something wrong with my browser?

Reply #2 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

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Reply #3 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

The first point made that weapons shouldn't require special ressurces except in rare cases I disagree. All your other points seem valid. I do think that they need to upgrade their prototypes as you advance, because after awhile regular weapons become better than the prototypes.

Reply #4 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Prototypes should be surpassed by "regular weapons".  Prototype literally means "first pattern" from the greek.

Reply #5 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Quoting AdamMG, reply 4

Prototypes should be surpassed by "regular weapons".  Prototype literally means "first pattern" from the greek.

I agree. But I agree also that from a game perspective it makes no sense to have inferior prototypes and normal, better weapons available at the same time.

Reply #6 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Quoting admiralWillyWilber, reply 3

The first point made that weapons shouldn't require special ressurces except in rare cases I disagree.
I wouldn't mind the use of special resources so much, if they would be accounted for when upgrading ships. As long as you need to repay the special component cost on every upgrade, it's unbalanced for most of the 'special' weapons. Actually pretty much all of them before the Age Of Ascension.

Reply #7 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Quoting lyssailcor, reply 5


Quoting AdamMG,
reply 4

Prototypes should be surpassed by "regular weapons".  Prototype literally means "first pattern" from the greek.



I agree. But I agree also that from a game perspective it makes no sense to have inferior prototypes and normal, better weapons available at the same time.

Exactly. I deliberately pointed out examples where this is the case. There are other examples I find unbalanced, but depending on your preferences  I suppose that YMMV.

Reply #8 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

I do agree that prototype weapons need rebalancing with the rest of the game.  They are currently not at all useful.  I was responding to a specific post (which I failed to quote).  

 

EDIT:   just as I failed to quote yours.  So what.  I think I'm done trying to help out on this forum.

Reply #9 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

When most of the special resource weapons provide a tiny benefit IMO they arent using just because it leads to micromanagement hell. That is, instead of queuing up several "Standard Planetary Defense M1" ships whenever a shipyard is idle and moving on in half a second, I have to stop and think if I have enough surplus resources to justify such a tiny improvement in ship quality. Then I have to design each ship twice - one no resource version, and one slightly enhanced ship

IMO heres what it should be(at least - I've tried with higher damage and I think at that point they start to become OP)

Prototype durantium driver: 5(or 6) Damage, costs 3 durantium. (My first attempt here was 8 damage, 5 durantium but that was arguably OP)

Prototype antimatter missile: 6(or 7) Damage, costs 3 antimatter

The idea here is you would use them for an enhanced "flagship" design.

I didnt realize they updated Harpoon, it used to be completely useless having the exact same damage as the other weapon unlocked at that tier.

Not sure about the others.

Reply #10 from Stardock.net Forums Top

I've accepted the fact that this game isn't going to be perfect. I prefer to stay away from fancy resource consuming weapons. Just stick to what I can mass produce. There just isn't enough antimatter to meet my needs anyways.