Starport: Galactic Empires

I'm reposting this as a new thread, for the sake of not derailing the original idea of that thread.

My suggestion is as follows: You could purchase additional weapons normally considered "primary" weapons and equip them to your hardware slots, at additional cost and with some limitations.

Your hardware slots could be adapted to hold additional weapons. Example, your primary weapon could be fusion blaster, just for the sake of argument. You could also purchase a hellbore, install it to a hardware slot at additional cost, and have it set to map a specific key to the hellbore, and a specific location (Front, side, angled, rear)
You could fire your primary and your hardware weapon at once, but of course at an increased energy consumption rate, in this case the sum of their parts. It'd be a simpler tradeoff, without unbalancing existing ships. If you make that specific ships can hold increasing amounts of weapons over other ships, it increases the gap between those. Additionally, you could only have TWO weapons assigned to a specific direction. You could only have two front-firing weapons, and your primary weapon counts as one of those. So perhaps you want your primary and one hardware slot weapon to be hellbores, and your hardware hellbore to fire front. You could map that to a key near your fire key, and open up with twin hellbores for double damage.

In this manner, it wouldn't require any actual balancing, as it'd already BE pretty balanced. Sacrifice missle capacity for another weapon. Perhaps a specific tab in starbases for "hardware weapons" which allow you to assign the specifics.

Purchase of a hardware weapon would cost the same as purchasing that weapon as a primary. However you would need to pay an additional cost to have it assigned to a direction, perhaps an "installation fee" before it is functional. The installation process would also be when you would assign what key fires the weapon.

NICE!!!!! yes i like the idea but i think it would be a lot of work for the admins to give us the choice of firing where we want it to fire, like you said to fire left or right or back. personnaly firing front is better and simpler for them and for us. also here's another idea, but i will start it as a new topic so that it has a even chance to survive

Not a fan of this one either, whats the point? If you get enough for a grav you'll get one, if you are in a seth you'll get a fusion, no need for the others. There really are only 3 primary's that people actually use and one of them (EXP charges) Is rarly used in permas.

Not to mention chance's are you are going to have and isc seth or igs after 1 week anyway and the secondary on the igs and isc are ranged, so people won't need anything other than a grav. The seth people more than likely will buy fusions for range or bombs for range and power.

The point is exactly as the idea is outlined. We don't all go for ISC or Seth, believe it or not. There are players even late into permas who prefer to use other ships for one reason or another. This would allow variety and multi-function. Sure the grav beam is great, but you've gotta be facing an enemy at first to lock it on at least. it also doesn't have the greatest range. Maybe you'd like to have another grav beam firing from the rear, means you only have to turn half as far to get your lock. Or maybe you'd like to have a daring space battle blasting each other with fusion blasts from your side-mounted weapon, much like pirate ships of old battled with cannons facing the sides of their ships.

grav firing from rear? er no.

Why not?

nukahn wrote:Why not?

Give me a reason why they should make aiming easier, and you'll get a cookie

Having one primary weapon forces players to think about the choices they make and alter their tactics accordingly. Sure it's a limitations, but limitations are what makes gameplay tick. Take out inherent challenges and you'll take out the fun.

This wouldn't necessarily make aiming easier, however. You'd still have to have the side aimed at your enemy that you'd want to shoot at them, and since you fly forward or backward, it'd be even harder to aim a side-mounted weapon. Plus there's the matter of the additional energy cost as well as the higher than normal weapons credits cost intended to balance this.

Are you able to 'dual wield' any given weapons, or are you forced to use only one of each? It'd drain energy like no tomorrow, but being a 4-way self-directing Seth-grav-shuriken with 3 generators 'might' still be a little overpowered, cool as it sounds.