The Laser Rifle is just a little bit too good

[Coconut Jonlan]

Well the title says it all really - due to its relatively high damage rating, rate of fire (i.e. the relatively low number of TUs it needs to fire)  and number of shots per shot (if you get my meaning), it's loads better than the plasma or PA weapons, even the heavy weapons.

Tactically its better too, as the reaction fire button allows you to save exactly enough TUs for a kneel and fire with the LR, and again the high rate of fire makes your troops more mobile.

It's just a little bit too good to be the very first new weapon a player is likely to research and develop - in fact at the current stage of development for the game, there's no need for any other weapon right through until the end.

I'm probably jumping gun (pardon the pun  ) and there will be more balancing of the weapons and bigger, tougher, and  meaner aliens that'll make the other weapons more useful in future revisions, but just in case the programmers have spent too much time coding and not enough time playing to see how unbalanced the weapon research tree is then I thought I'd mention it

[BTAxis]

Yeah, balancing is something that will happen in the future, and in large amounts, too. Note, however, that laser weaponry will be rendered largely ineffective with the introduction of heavier armours. Not all of them are in the game yet, so that's something we can't asses yet.

Note also that the more shots, the more armour affects the net result. 3 shots of 30 damage each do less damage than 1 shot of 90 damage, because each shot gets the armour reduction. Of course, with 3 shots it's more likely to hit your target at least once (given equal accuracy).

[Duke]

.... but just in case the programmers have spent too much time coding and not enough time playing to see how unbalanced the weapon research tree is ....

True. In OpenSource games, programmers usually spend ALL their time programming and rarely get a chance to actually play the game.
*Balancing* the game is usually up to the scripters; that is, everybody who knows the game and can handle an editor. Look for the appropiate .ufo file that holds the values for the laser rifle and *suggest new values*. THAT would be something we could discuss. And THAT's what OpenSource is all about.

btw I agree that the laser rifle is a very nice weapon. Maybe a bit too nice...

[Coconut Jonlan]

True. In OpenSource games, programmers usually spend ALL their time programming and rarely get a chance to actually play the game.
*Balancing* the game is usually up to the scripters; that is, everybody who knows the game and can handle an editor. Look for the appropiate .ufo file that holds the values for the laser rifle and *suggest new values*. THAT would be something we could discuss. And THAT's what OpenSource is all about.

btw I agree that the laser rifle is a very nice weapon. Maybe a bit too nice...

if it's just a case of twiddling a few numbers to get better balance then that's something I might be able to handle - of course I'm supposed to be writing up my Phd thesis.....

[BTAxis]

You can edit the script files in any text editor. They're in the base/ufos directory. You can change most weapon parameters, but you can't change the actual game rules that way.

[Duke]

...that's what programmers are good for ... *smiles*

[vedrit]

I havent had much opportunity to play with the lazer rifle, as I tend to run into issues before I can get it, but in past versions, I thought that it was a poo upgrade, that it was equipped for such a short time before I moved onto plasma rifles.

If anything needs to happen, its that the lazer rifle needs to made available sooner.

[Coconut Jonlan]

I havent had much opportunity to play with the lazer rifle, as I tend to run into issues before I can get it, but in past versions, I thought that it was a poo upgrade, that it was equipped for such a short time before I moved onto plasma rifles.

If anything needs to happen, its that the lazer rifle needs to made available sooner.

The laser rifle is much bettter than the plasma in 2.2.1 - quite a bit more powerful, better fire options / better rate of fire.

It seems more accurate as well.

IMO its ever so slightly better than the particle rifle as well, as the equivalent shots in terms of TUs are either faster, and/ or give greater chance of hitting as it gives you more shots per shot .

[BTAxis]

You may be talking about different versions. Weapon balance is different in the current development version.

[vedrit]

The laser rifle is much bettter than the plasma in 2.2.1 - quite a bit more powerful, better fire options / better rate of fire.

It seems more accurate as well.

IMO its ever so slightly better than the particle rifle as well, as the equivalent shots in terms of TUs are either faster, and/ or give greater chance of hitting as it gives you more shots per shot .

While Im not sure about the particle rifle, as it seemed like a 1-hit kill, the lazer did seem to have less spread than the plasma, which i agree, kinda goes against weapon usage.

[Destructavator]

I'm guessing not a lot of work is going into balancing weapons right now in 2.3 because so much is being worked on, but I'd imagine that in the future when the project gets close to a 2.3 release, when a "feature freeze" comes (and work goes heavily into working out bugs), that work would be done to balance all the weapons, armor, etc. around that time, but right now when so much is being changed in the code and features I don't think it makes sense to try to constantly balance all the weapons and such as it would slow things down, and the 2.3 version isn't fully playable anyways.

Regarding 2.2.1, yes, I like the laser weapons a lot from that version myself, I think they are quite useful in that version.

On a side note, I think the coilgun in 2.3 is cool, I've always liked weapons that are all-at-once and very powerful (at the expense of the number of shots/ammunition, the bulkiness, etc.).