Phased Polaron too easy to research?

UmberGryphon · #1 January 26th, 2001, 09:17 PM

quote:
Originally posted by rdouglass:
Once the AI gets Phased Shields, they (PPB's) drop drastically in their effectiveness.

Yes and no. Certainly PPBs stop being the best weapon by an order of magnitude, but they're so far in the lead early that they can lose a lot and still be one of the best weapons in the game.

I decide how good a weapon is by damage divided by rate-of-fire divided by size--"Damage per turn per kiloton". Even ignoring its special ability, the score of 1.6 (50/1/30) for a normal-mount PPB 5 is the best score for a non-racial-tech direct-fire weapon, and it even beats most of the racial-tech weapons. (I don't remember the score of a normal-mount enveloping acid globule, and I'm at work--anyone care to tell me?)

[This message has been edited by UmberGryphon (edited 26 January 2001).]

Tampa_Gamer · #2 January 26th, 2001, 09:33 PM

However, it costs 200k research to get there. For another 140k you can have ripper beams whith a ppk value of 2.5 (again, ignoring the special ability and stand-off ranges) and the additional RPs spent are getting you advances in propulsion at the same time.

[This message has been edited by Tampa_Gamer (edited 26 January 2001).]

[This message has been edited by Tampa_Gamer (edited 26 January 2001).]

raynor · #3 January 26th, 2001, 09:36 PM

In an earlier post, someone said that once the AI gets Phased Shields....

I have never seen Phased Shield on an AI ship. Has someone else?

I was under the impression that this was one of the flaws in the AI--that they never researched this.

I was kinda sorta hoping that my use of Phased Shields would turn the tide in my favor in my current game.

raynor · #4 January 26th, 2001, 09:42 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Tampa_Gamer:
[b]However, it costs 200k research to get there. For another 140k you can have ripper beams whith a ppk value of 2.5 (again, ignoring the special ability and stand-off ranges) and the additional RPs spent are getting you advances in propulsion at the same time.

I have never used the Ripper Beam. I didn't think they did that much damage or had that good of a range. Have you found them to be pretty effective?

SunDevil · #5 January 26th, 2001, 09:47 PM

In my games the ai uses phased shields. I think the cause of the ai not using phased shields falls under one/or both categories.

1. Phased shields not put in the ai ship design files. If it is not specified in these files then the ai will not use those ship components.

2. Components.txt file, either it being misspelled or put in the wrong order in the same family. There has been problems with the engines that the ai used, I can't remember if shields fall under this Category as well. Hope this helps.

rdouglass · #6 January 26th, 2001, 09:52 PM

I have seen many AI use phased shields. Of course, not in the early games - they just don't have the time to research them. I'm not positive, but I believe the AI has a much more "balanced" research regime than I do - I tend to focus on 2-3 specific areas, max it out, and move on to the next area(s).

UmberGryphon - I believe the normal mount for Enveloping Acid Globule is 100 (I too am at work and am calling it from memory).

And Raynor - I think the only purpose for Ripper Beams is a stepping stone to Wave Motion Guns. However, I see the AI building 'em all the time. Their range seems way too short for my taste - I think its only 2.

I do conceed that PPB's are a great early game weapon, but as many have said, the AI needs a little help at first to get going. Once they have about 50-60 turns without encountering a human, they become a much better challenge. That's why I don't use 'em (PPB's) and thats why I always play in a huge galaxy (250 systems).

AJC · #7 January 26th, 2001, 10:26 PM

I have seen the AI use phased shields in v1.19-but not very often. The AI is using phased shields more often in the latest Beta patch! I had a pretty nasty suprise from the AI Last nite- when it opened 2 warp pts into my home systems and then invaded one of the systems with 10 dreadnoughts, 8 battle cruisers and 2 carriers, all had phased shields!

I think that the PB damage needs to be reduced a bit and the cost of researching them needs to be increased dramatically.

I also think the Shard cannon needs to have a 1 turn fire rate.

Some of the smaller weapons for fighters/troops need to be balanced. Several of the small weapons do the same type and amount of damage - but take up less space on the units.