Rebalance Proposal for AC v1.2.0

Rebalance Proposal for AC v1.2.0

General ideas in the latest iteration of the ProMod rebalance:
Variety, Depth
High Skill ceiling, Low Skill Floor. Newer players are more competitive, High skill players are not hindered
All weapons should be useful. That encourages variety of play & rotating meta changes
Alpha damage reduced from past versions (CIG has expressed desire to raise Time-To-Kill)
Rates of fire reduced from past versions (CIG has expressed desire to raise Time-To-Kill)
Heating & Energy mechanics now implemented & balanced across initial volley, sustain and full recharge between fights
Mouse TLI, Mouse Lag, TrackIR TLI and Joystick Lag systems are affected positively
Unit cost should affect play-balance, but not to an extreme degree making weapons ineffective purely off cost

Velocities and range rebalanced along the following guidelines & lore:
Ballistic projectile size VS barrel length / size (Sledge II treated as rail-gun lore, not derp-cannon 3d model design). Higher calibers allowed longer flight times.
Energy projectiles total energy damage/consumption = cohesion (Lifetime) by 5-7.25% and greater velocity by 12.5%
Playability. The longer ranges allow room for later ship combat ranges to grow. The longer ranges in fighter ship combat are generally non usable beyond straight-line jousting line-ups. The extra range gives players a chance at affecting incoming & outgoing runs (Force dodging or trading) and possible skillful sniping at unaware targets. Very heavy "alpha" damage weapons (Neutrons, Sawbuck, Tarantulas, Distortion) retain much lower velocities for playability reasons. They have range for near straight line combat, but high-deflection shooting remains more difficult than most.
For Joystick and TrackIR play, the higher velocities in general reduce instances of ESP/Auto-Aim lining up shots outside of the area of effect. It also reduces the frequency of instances where the target is difficult to aim at, because it "dances" along the border of effect. Furthermore, Joystick users find more benefit by using upsized fix weapons that mice users may find as a worse trade-off. (More variation between sizes and weapons in a size to promote variety).
For Mouse LTI play, it raises the skill ceiling required of "mono-boating" / "Min-Maxing" when the player's main wish is to have a single pip. While the people participating in this document are, in general, of the principal that players should be able to have a maximum of variety. To encourage more variety of weapons & weapon mixing, some trade-off is needed to encourage variety without being harsh, or having options removed.

Ultimately, when the game meta changes via slower combat (Physical damage models, lower damage output and slower ship maneuvering) The basic premise of this balance still works. All that is needed is progressively lessening the alpha damage to suite Time-To-Kill and the base velocities to work aligned with slower craft.

List of Changes:
Armor
Armor's missile signal strength multipliers have been changed to 1.0 (No multiplier). That removes the extra strength missiles had against the Aurora LN and 325a.
Hornet Ghost's stealth armor multiplier has been decreased from 0.5 IR 0.5EM 0.25 CS to 0.65 IR 0.65EM 0.4 CS
Energy
NN-13 Neutron: Added 12 distortion damage. Lifespan increased from 0.8s to 2.0s (Range increased 292% from 560m to 1400m), Heat pool decreased from 500 to 380, Cooling increased from 40 to 48, Balancing initial volley VS sustain VS retreat & recharge
NN-14 Neutron: Added 20 distortion damage. Lifespan increased from 0.6s to 1.8s (Range increased 305% from 420m to 1377m), Cooling increased from 40 to 75, balancing initial volley VS sustain VS retreat & recharge
Omnisky's have had a reduction in alpha damage while keeping their relatively high velocities. Leaving them as accurate, long range weapons.
Omnisky 3: damage reduced to 34-Energy 3-Distortion Projectile, Heat per shot 21, pool 700, 25 cooling. Energy per shot 55, Pool 500, Recharge 75
Omnisky 6: damage reduced to 54-Energy 5-Distortion Projectile, Heat per shot 27, pool 800, 23 cooling. Energy per shot 70, Pool 600, Recharge 85
Omnisky 9: damage reduced to 80-Energy 8-Distortion Projectile, Heat per shot 35, pool 900, 25 cooling. Energy per shot 90, Pool 700, Recharge 120
Omnisky 12: damage reduced to 122-Energy 12-Distortion Projectile, Heat per shot 48, pool 1000, 27 cooling. Energy per shot 115, Pool 800, Recharge 130

The M#a line receives damage increases with heating increases to make them middle of the road energy cannons.
Behring M3a: damage increased to 36-Energy 3-Distortion Projectile, ROF Decreased 5% (210 to 200rpm),  Heat per shot 20, pool 1000, cooling 25. Energy per shot 115, Pool 500, Recharge 50
Behring M4a: damage increased to 57-Energy 5-Distortion Projectile, ROF Decreased 1.67% (183 to 180rpm), Heat per shot , pool 600, cooling 30. Energy per shot 115, Pool 800, Recharge 60
Behring M5a: damage increased to 87-Energy 8-Distortion Projectile, Heat per shot 28, pool 1400, cooling 35. Energy per shot 115, Pool 700, Recharge 70
Behring M6a: damage increased to 133-Energy 13-Distortion Projectile, Heat per shot 34, pool 1600, cooling 40. Energy per shot 115, Pool 800, Recharge 80
Repeaters
Bulldog: Damage decreased to 10-Energy 1-Distortion, ROF increased 27% (550 to 700rpm), Heat per shot 5, pool 700, cooling 25. Energy per shot 15, Pool 500, Recharge 90
Badger:  Damage decreased from 20-Energy 2-Distortion, Heat per shot 6, pool 1000, cooling 15. Energy per shot 18, Pool 600, Recharge 90
Panther:  Damage decreased from 32-Energy 3-Distortion, Heat per shot 8, pool 900, cooling 25. Energy per shot 21, Pool 700, Recharge 90

Distortion

Distortion Cannon. Large increase in distortion output to create a niche for knocking out shields.
Joker: Damage increased to 18-Energy 175-Distortion, Heat per shot 50, pool 500, cooling 40. Energy per shot 100, Pool 500, Recharge 55

Rail-Gun
Sledge II: ROF increased 25% (60 to 75rpm), Heat per shot 50, pool 500, cooling 25. Energy per shot 50, Pool 500, Recharge 25

Ballistic Cannons
9-series: ROF increased 10% (200 to 220rpm), Heat per shot 8, pool 500, cooling 35.
11-series: Damage decreased from 45 to 41, ROF increased 226% (150 to 340rpm), Heat per shot 11, pool 700, cooling 35.
Tarantula: Damage decreased from 56 to 45, ROF increased 60% (150 to 240rpm), Heat per shot 12, pool 400, cooling 20.
Tarantula mk3:  Damage increased from 108 to 117, ROF decreased 9% (120 to 110rpm), Heat per shot 14, pool 400, cooling 20.

Gatlings
The Gatlings were found to have a "proper" working spin-up mechanic already in-place. Because of this, spin-up time delay was removed and the gatlings are allowed to fire instantly; with the ROF building in relation to the rpm of barrel rotation. While they are not synced, they do work in relation to each other. This provides a greatly enhanced user-experience while maintaining gatling balance.
GT215: ROF decreased 11% (750 to 675rpm), Heat per shot 8, pool 700, cooling 50.
GT220: ROF decreased 11% (900 to 810rpm), Heat per shot 4, pool 700, cooling 50.
T21: ROF increased 8% (600 to 650rpm), Heat per shot 8, pool 700, cooling 50.

Burst fire
Sawbuck: Damage decreased from 56 to 45, ROF increased 16.5% (400 to 466rpm), Heat per shot 13, pool 600, cooling 35.

Ammunition

My strong suggestion is to leave ammunition counts alone! Ammunition counts should be rebalanced for player VS player. Unfortunately, there is a large divergence between what high-skill Player vs Player combat ammunition counts should be balanced towards VS what low to average skill player VS AI (Vanduul or Pirate Swarm) require. If, in the future, Arena Commander (and PU) ammunition counts can be made different than Vanduul / Pirate swarm modes. The following formula proves very good at balancing ammunition amounts.
Ammunition count = How many times over do you want the number of times you want the weapon to kill the average HP pool of the ships expected to fight. The suggestion for tournament play is 7 times over + 5-10% on EVEN numbered size ratings only! Also, recognize how many times over ONE, THREE and SIX guns can kill the average ship.
That provides a balance that promotes good trigger discipline and accurate shooting. Players doing so can kill many ships. Players not doing so quickly run out of ammunition and quickly learn trigger discipline & accuracy. This also makes a stronger case for energy VS ballistic. All are positive traits.

Shielding

At this time, shield values can remain as-is. If CIG feels like rewarding more control-active players; it would be nice to increase the maximum shield face &regin biasing from 40% to 50%.
	<param name="shieldMaxHPShift" value="0.4" />
	<param name="shieldMaxRegenShift" value="0.4" />
We find that increasing shield HP and regeneration rates by 10% across the board also work well with the above game-balance.

Missiles

If CIG is interested in rebalancing missiles. We can advise on this also. We have done many wildly differing changes to missiles. It depends on how far CIG is willing to re-balance them. Values were changed mostly on Lore, Type/Role, Size/Complexity, Range and Playability; popular changes we implemented were:
Agility changes to equalize the most out-ling missiles with the median
Seeker FOV reductions to increase terminal jinxing effectiveness
Broadly differing lock-on times from 1.8-4.0 sec
Maximum seeker tracking ranges were greatly increased
Increased and varied life spans from 10-30.0 sec
Varied fuel amounts to last 50-100% of the lifespan
Increased seeker sensitivity of IR and EM
Decreased seeker sensitivity to noise on IR and EM (reduce countermeasure & background affect)
Countermeasure launcher was made burst-firing. Firing a 3 round burst quickly on each activation (With ammunition counts varying accordingly). (IRL, countermeasures are not tube launched one at a time with a 2 per second hard-limit)
It was found that the missile-play at longer ranges were an easily dodged, useful distraction; while the increased resistance to countermeasures required more attention in very close engagements.
It goes without saying, the Tempest II's domination of many stat categories (from acceleration & maneuverability to seeker sensitivity & noise amplification) create a large issue in the meta. We're sure that will be (heavily) addressed, along with the issue that Matt Sherman & Mark Abent relayed to Erik McKetten and myself in March; where the number of countermeasures to affect the CS seeker was effectively twice as high as other missiles. We were told at that time the issue was fixed on CIG's end in February, but those changes had not made it into Live builds. (To this day).

Vanduul
Vanduul gun weapon velocities have been increased by 10%
Glaive Incoming damage multiplier has been un-nerfed by 66% from 2.5x to 1.5x
Scythe shield hp increased 200% from 187 to 374hp
Glaive shield HP increased 300% from 187 to 561hp


The following people have provided valuable feedback, direction, testing and time over the rebalance mod's history:
Dan "Tazius" Compart - 1%, 7
Goloith - 1%, 7
SillyOne - Omega Corp
Erik 'The Cat' McKetten - BSVC
HydroBigBang - Imperium
Anarkos - Directorate
Army_12bc - Omega Corp, Ex Mil, Scorpio Splinter Syndacte
Asanagi Mikihiko - 1%, 7
Baior Of Red - 1%, 7,
bod699 - Imperium
Captain Richard - TEST
DeeDee-101 - Das Kartell
Emulat0r - Omega Corp, Ex Mil, Scorpio Splinter Syndacte
Grakees - Bad News Gaming, TEST
HerrMatthias - MOON67/Freie Piloten, Das Kartell, Omega Corp
Magnitude - 1%
Jack Cassedy - 1%, 7, Imperium
malogos - 1%, 7, Imperium
mojo - OWN, Omega Corp
RedMenace - Imperium
rtmoose - 1%, 7
syr3zz - Das Kartell
Tren - Impulse
Whinythepoo - Imperium, Impulse
xTODMANx - Omega Corp
[OWN] Balothar - OWN
And many others randomly joining in via teamspeak from associations with Orgs, clans and lobbies created via twitch streams. The players that have provided support run the gamut from many of the recognized long-term, highest skilled players in the game to experienced average performing players. Mouse TLI, mouse Lag, TrackIR LTI, TrackIR Lag, HOTAS Lag, 6DOF hotas Lag, 6dof Dual-Stick Lead and 6dof Dual-Stick Lag players are all represented; with many of the 1% and secret 7 alliance players ably testing mouse and joystick and high skill abilities.
These changes, and many others have been play-tested in various forms over time. In Multiplayer PvP, Vanduul Swarm COOP, Vanduul Swarm SP and Pirate Swarm (using heavily upgraded AI) and work very well in the current maps and ship handling. They provide a great short-term experience! If pressed, this general rebalance can also serve well a in the medium term without change should the pending wide-scale changes take more time than expected to be implemented. There is enough variation and usability contained so that the meta can rotate over time players discover deeper playstyles and quasi-counters to loadouts.
While it is impossible to make changes that every person 100% agrees with; all parties concerned with the rebalance have expressed approval of the balance, goals & logic involved.

We also have other balance mods in lesser completed states, should CIG want and have time for more radical changes. Quick ship mechanic changes to slow down combat and improve handling without editing IFCS and source-code physics, allowing much longer TTK on the weapons. Simulating things in the future such as Physical based damage and future shield mechanics. Swapping missile pods for guns. With minor help on CIG's part. We could have "feature complete enough" versions of all of our "old live" Freelancers, Constellations, Merlin Redeemer & Retaliator to be test-flyable and usable by the AI. Last week, Foundry 42 expressed to Tazius and myself that they did not have versions of those ships in a state the level-editors can use as near-term stand-ins for final versions. The ones used for the Constellation reveal / demo were rigged and non-functional.

-Toysrme