Here is my commentary so far:
All in all, its an excellent update! I am having a blast.
a) Ships. I have a separate thread about this, but I am quite happy with the Harbinger and Valiant. The Erkelheimer or whatever however is just a weaker version of the Valiant basically. I lose a bay and gain nothing.
Fast ships need intrinsic ability or something to make them more "special"... the extra speed just does not DO enough in this game to justify their weakness elsewhere.
a1) We probably should not be allowed to take a VALIANT as a sidekick...it is really overpowered. Pricey but incredible. The Erkelheimer is kind of weaksauce but is still a step up from the previous choice. I would add Armada and the 2 bay ship as other top-level sidekick options, but not the valiant or harbinger.
b) Celestial death rays - As per the other post these are incredibly overpowered. As stated, there is hardly any counterplay and you basically insta-lose if you get stuck in shield-drainer EMP when a few arrive. Counterplay is also more of an accident... i.e. I HAPPEN to have a missile-based offense and a ton of fighters/bombers. This allows my bay ships to absorb quite a bit of the deathray. Having high shields is the best real counter, coupled with long range so that shields dont get shredded by lasers or other shorter range fire.
These guys hull damage needs to be nerfed down to a consistent 200 or so damage which is still a lot.
c) The new minimap is really hard to see the Connections. The old green nodes with green connectors were way more visible. Please add white or some other more visible color to show the node connections.
d) Some of the junk weapons remain junky. They don't have to be GREAT, but they really ought to have some PURPOSE or utility of some kind. Vulcan Cannon, Gatling energy gun, TESLA COIL, etc. They need a LOT more punch to justify their awful range...and lack of availability. Or at least ability to upgrade.
The Vulcan could at least TRY to shoot at missiles if they are in range. It would put a lot of projectiles into space at least, instead of sitting there. Tesla could also have a secondary anti-missile role.
e) No comment on new particle cannon. Its just too expensive to ever use. I mean, thats almost an entire new SHIP for the price which I can load down with random weapons I have in my hold.
Nuke is horribly pricey but definitely can have an affect if used right. This cannon... I dunno. Consider reducing price.
f) Fighter targeting. If I tell my fighters to attack a target, I really wish they would DO THAT. Instead they keep flying back and forth trying to shoot at random missiles. If unordered thats fine, but in Attack mode, I want them to ATTACK. Bolter fighters are particularly bad since they arent very manuerable.
