Upgrades should always improve the ship! (Burst is a bit broken)

I should add that I agree that burst having a detrimental effect in other areas is acceptable - it's too powerful an upgrade not to have some drawback, otherwise it would just become a 'correct' choice, and thus not a strategic choice. However, burst sometimes brutalizes other stats. In many weapons, particularly many of the less expensive starting weapons such as energy and projectile cannons, there is almost no possible way that purchasing burst can be advantageous.

But still you invest upgrade points. Why would you want to invest more and more u.p. into something that isn't really an upgrade but a rebalancing?

I also think that the burst upgrade is unbalanced as it is right now.

I actually think many upgrades are unbalanced. In projectile cannons and energy cannons, refire rate is unbalanced in that it's too powerful an upgrade. Other weapons damage is disproportionately effective, or ineffective. Burst is merely the most visible example of this.

Would you like the upgrades to make the weapons better no matter how you upgrade them? Or would you want that there is a possibility that spending upgrade points in a wrong way actually makes the cannon a bit worse at times?

Would you like the upgrades to make the weapons better no matter how you upgrade them?

Yes. It's the "up" part of "upgrade" (and I believe the up arrow on the confirm button icon?)

Else you are just re-speccing with a cost and only the potential for improvement.

So far Burst seems most useful on weapons which just don't require aiming...which is mostly just the Missiles. And fighters.

Otherwise it seems better to usually just upgrade cooldown.

I frankly though think that there should be a balance between "Upgrade" and "Sidegrade". I like it that I can tune my ships weapons to my playstyle, but that also hinders me far too much sometimes with how lopsided the downsides are on some stuff. So I naturally am pushed away from a playstyle I otherwise like, to try and "Survive" through the game. Especially since I am not very skilled as of yet.

Would you like the upgrades to make the weapons better no matter how you upgrade them? Or would you want that there is a possibility that spending upgrade points in a wrong way actually makes the cannon a bit worse at times?

Yes all the options should be upgrades. BUT they should ALSO be sidegrades. That is, they should let the weapon specialize at different things while improving the weapon. This way the player could choose upgrades that don't make sense for their playstyle (don't upgrade range if you like to fight close), but they CAN'T choose upgrades that just make the weapon worse and waste points (frustrating). EndlessWar is correct to point out that burst will require very different tuning on weapons that don't require aiming, it is a fundamentally different upgrade on these types of weapon.

yes, I think every upgrade should be an upgrade, even if the player makes ineffective choices. Some upgrades can be rather ineffective, and that's okay. For instance, hull damage on a laser is pretty weak for an upgrade. That's fine, lasers aren't for hull damage.

The expenditure of points, and the increased cost of later upgrades, is punishment enough for choosing upgrades unwisely. You don't have to ruin the weapon to boot. At least is someone upgrades unwisely, they can keep their weapon on until they can afford to build and upgrade another weapon to exceed it.

This will also help feed the loot frenzy, as I won't want to throw away 70-90 percent of the weapons I find, because their upgrades are a reduction in effectiveness from what I can build myself. I can't tell you how much I hate finding awesome celestial weapons with crap upgrades.

Alright, Commanders. We will definitely go over the upgrade system and check for major faults there.

Lurkily, there are no wrong choices in upgrading the weapons. You basically said it yourself, it's about combining the upgrades strategically. Burst generally goes well with the damage upgrade, but if you want a fast firing weapon, burst is an awful choice. It's about the strategies behind the upgrade. It would be far too simple if the upgrades didn't have realistic consequences.