Hi all,
I'm well aware that everyone has pretty much reached the conclusion that PPBs are undercosted research-wise for the damage they do. I was just mulling over the data files for some of the weapons and noticed a bit of a discrepancy. Here's the PPB damage values:
code:
1  30  25  25  25  20  20    5,000
2  45  40  40  40  35  35   10,000
3  50  45  45  45  40  40   22,500
4  55  50  50  45  45  45   40,000
5  60  55  55  55  50  50   62,500
Note the progression between level 1 and 2 - 15pts across the board! Contrast this with APBs changes per level of either 0 or 5 pts and it seems odd. Then note that it's a flat 5pts per level after that for PPB, and I can't help but feel that this is a mistake and there are 2 missing levels of PPBs meant to be here, ie:
code:
1  30  25  25  25  20  20    5,000
2  35  30  30  30  25  25   10,000
3  40  35  35  35  30  30   22,500
4  45  40  40  40  35  35   40,000
5  50  45  45  45  40  40   62,500
6  55  50  50  45  45  45   90,000
7  60  55  55  55  50  50  122,500
Adding in these two new levels would result in the following research costs:
APB to max = 1,677,500
old PPBs   =   290,000
new PPBs   =   502,500
I think this still leaves PPBs undercosted, but seems like a step in the right direction. Anyone have any thoughts on this? I think I will make this change to the next game I play with my friends, as well as interleaving shields and phased shields in the Shield tech, as opposed to having to get to Shields 6 to start on phased shielding. Perhaps these 2 small tweaks will introduce some more weapon diversity in our group's games.
/UseOfWeps.