Reviews and Balance Issues: Red Hardpoint Modules

This is my first time getting into forum shenanigans for any game I've played. That beimg said I've been playing quite a bit of BS:H and it seems the developers actually care about making a quality product and respond to user feedback. So I thought I'd start with a commentary on module stats, balancing, and use.

Human Energy Cannon: with enough upgrades, can complete easy and normal difficulties without having to switch to better variants or weapons.

Pro's:
•cheapest turret
•2 burst upgrades max the hull DPS at 16.7
•upgrades don't debuff damage
•high shield damage at 150 DPS after full shield and burst upgrades, 6 total upgrades.

Con's:
•no hull damage upgrade
•upgrades debuff accuracy and range
•necessarily a close range weapon

Notes:
Best used on the Capital Ship or similar (5 turrets = 83 hull dps) used in conjunction with bolter or gatling turrets can deal massive damage at close range for very cheap.

Human Projectile Cannon: I must not know how to use this one, or it just sucks, because I see almost no use for it or its variants. In the early game it is useless unless upgraded significantly, and in the mid to late game it is seriously underpowered; a maximum 60 hull dps at 400 range costing 6 upgrades might not sound that bad, but without a way to lower shields it's useless.

Pro's:
•2nd cheapest turret
•high projectile speed
•very effective against unshielded fighters and drones

Con's:
•low maximum shield damage at 16 DPS, costing 6 upgrades and a range penalty of 600
•burst upgrade debuffs fire rate 1 second per level, 3 seconds total
•burst upgrade debuffs range 200 per level, 600 total
•accuracy and range upgrades debuff fire rate 0.2 seconds per level, 1 second total
•necessarily a close range weapon
•slow fire rate and low shield damage means most enemy shields regenerate 100% in between shots.
•in order to upgrade the weapon to be effective it needs 6+ upgrades costing 100+ in points per turret.

Notes:
I have found this weapon to be very impractical for its price and cost of upgrades. A fix would include one or more of the following: higher base fire rate, higher shield damage upgrades, lower range/fire rate penalties for upgrades, higher max range upgrades. But I honestly don't know what exactly would balance it.

Human Teleport: useful for getting into/out of hairy situations in the early-mid game. The increased mobility only becomes more useful later because of the slow rate of movement (for most ships) and high DPS in the late game means that skirmishes are usually determined before warp recharges, thus optimal field position is essential and can be achieved quicker with a Teleport module.

Pro's:
•radically increased mobility

Con's:
•requires use of a turret slot which decreases total main turret DPS by up to 50% depending on the ship

Escape Pod: essential for late game in normal and hard difficulties so you can escape to one of your fleet ships, think of it as a revival token.

Pro's:
•can escape a fatal situation

Con's:
•requires use of a turret slot which decreases total main turret DPS by up to 50% depending on the ship

Human Laser Cannon: well balanced short to medium range weapon capable of completing easy difficulty games without upgrades.

Pro's:
•upgrades don't debuff accuracy or range
•base 20 hull DPS
•very high accuracy
•very high shield damage

Con's:
•cannot upgrade range
•damage upgrades debuff fire rate, a total of +1.2 for 6 levels, fire rate upgrades give -1.5 for 3 levels.
•a fully upgraded turret only gains 10.2 hull DPS and 17.3 shield DPS at a cost of massive 288 upgrade points

Notes: I recommend only upgrading hull damage and fire rate, it will maximize hull dps. The upgrades for this weapon are poorly arranged, having a very low cost/benefit ratio. Eliminating penalties would make this a more pragmatic upgradable early-mid game weapon, this might also unbalance it, but to account for that the scrap cost could be increased.

That's all for now, I'll be taking a look at the more expensive modules soon, and will continue posting here.

o7