In .41 we have a new tech tree. Lets analyze it and see how it goes...
First of all this is a fairly pricey tree, same as the Energy Weapons one.
Rocket PD - What an oddball weapon! Unguided rockets against enemy fighters, missiles? WTF? :-)
So it has 350 range vs 400 PD laser. Max damage of 12 per rocket at 1.6 fire rate when fully upgraded.
That is a hull damage of 7.5 DPS which is slightly better than the PD laser and worse than the 11 from the PD projectile. Surprisingly good projectile speed and the fatter projectile has a better chance of hitting fighters.
The main thing is that it PENETRATES SHIELDS just like other missiles/rockets. That makes this weapon a natural for missile strategies.
I really like this addition as it fills a specific niche and isn't bad for general purpose. It is surprisingly good early game for taking out big targets like warpstations.
Ion Plasma cannon - Fairly generic 700 range weapon with solid upgrades. Harder to get than Orb but superior. Biased a bit towards hull damage as opposed to orb's shield bias. Would have liked to see the higher burst with the slowdown effect of the harbinger ion cannons (tho less strong) to differentiate it.
DPS vs shields: 8.8. Hull: 12. Orb has 14.5/9 by way of comparison.
Mega Plasma - Kind of miss the giant ball of death, long reload, big impact with some splash of harbinger. This one is a rather generic 700 range(?) with no splash. Huge 43 DPS vs shields. Rather weak 7 vs hull. Megalaser is 50/12 by comparison and 1 tier up.
It is ok, but doesn't feel all that satisfying. It is quite good in that it can take down an enemy's shield entirely with the first volley, making hull-biased weapons a lot stronger.
Death Ray - Somehow lacks the coolness factor of harbinger. Probably since cooldown is so fast that it feels like another laser. And same ole range.
Another 700 range weapon. This one is hull biased but still quite good as a general purpose gun.
Very accurate obviously. Surprisingly good 4.5 second cooldown when maxed.
DPS of 11 vs shields, 32 vs hull. This makes it the best hull damage weapon in the game! Even the amazingly good photon torps only do 19.5 hull (but 40 shield).
Obvious combo with Mega Plasma, tho they both have the same range and this is a laser so it will hit and be wasted before the plasma hits.
Great with Plama Eclipse (800 range), but that is not really feasible due to their tech tree positions.
Still, a great weapon.
Bottom line: Always good to have more content. Havent checked other changes yet. New guns are decent and pretty well balanced, but don't bring much new to the game being kind of generic. Rocket PD is the exception. Low enough to be easily grabbed with missiles, good niche usage. Interesting dynamic. I do also like Death Ray as an ultimate weapon. Much nicer than MegaLaser.
