I'll have to admit that I wasn't particularly satisfied with the weapon balancing in Polaris 4.75. I might start work on the next version soon, and was wondering whether leaving out BS missiles would be a good decision or not. What do you guys think?
1. BS cannons in Polaris are already 3 times as more powerful than they were in Discovery 4.75 (the most powerful cannon does 3000 hull damage). I don't think they need missiles to increase their offensive/defensive capabilities.
2. BS missiles require little or no skill. Pilots simply target the enemy fighter and keep firing until they hear an explosion. There's no ammo, and no energy usage either.
3. Some capitol ships are immune to missiles. That's right, they give pilots an unfair advantage in BS vs BS duels as well.
By the way, I'd value your opinion even if you've never tried Polaris out.
"Terrorism is the war of the poor, and war is the terrorism of the rich." --Sir Peter Ustinov
Simply targeting and firing a missile is what a BS does against fighters. Sure the lasers are used as well, but the missiles are the main defense. Take that out and dodging a BS is too simple. The missiles require the fighter to have to take additional time to dodge and keep them from pummeling a capship.
What I want to do is give the fighters a chance against battleships. They'll have to rely solely on their flying skills to survive. As for the battleship pilots, they'll have to rely on their targeting skills to shoot their opponent down.
"Terrorism is the war of the poor, and war is the terrorism of the rich." --Sir Peter Ustinov
A decent fighter pilot can easily dodge gunfire from a BS. Missiles though make it more difficult for the fighter, but again a good pilot can still dodge them. Take away the missiles, a BS will likely find it too difficult to hit a moving fighter.
Now with that said, a fighter being able to dodge fire should still find a BS very difficult to destroy. Thus in the end my thinking is that fighter vs BS should be a stalemate where the fighter can hit the BS but not cause enough damage while the BS can destroy the fighter provided it can hit it.
I also forgot to mention that the BS shields in Polaris have been upgraded as well. They've got a slightly larger capacity, and a much better recharge rate as well. I don't think a single human fighter would be able to take down a BS that easily.
Anyway, I'll test this idea out against NPC fighters first and see how it goes.
"Terrorism is the war of the poor, and war is the terrorism of the rich." --Sir Peter Ustinov