Looks like they are heading in the right direction with having weapons that can counter any build. So long FOTM builds and everyone running FDLs and FAS [up] Hopefully!
And what will replace it? Changes made without broader effect, just means the FOTM changes, it's not going to remove 'optimal' builds, because the game
actively encourages this. There is a single 'best' DPS weapon. A single 'best' silent running ship. When you combine some of these elements, you don't get highly divergent builds; in fact this just narrows the range down to a specific combination.
A broader range of weapons that have reasonably equivalent DPS, or DoT; ships that have some logical thought placed on progression and similar goals; so that we don't all just gravitate to the same optimal builds to get a bunch of things done, and otherwise a hangar full of ships that get driven once or twice a week (at most).
Ships need to have more value across the board, and reasonable counters. That's not suddenly going to change without a pretty reasonable overhaul. Frontier have a lot more to do, than merely fudging some numbers using engineer 'magic sauce' mixes, frankly. I'm hoping that's not their
actual idea of a cure for what are ostensibly a number of pointless ships. The maker help us all, if that's the case.
Yes, it's a great way of introducing different weapons and different outcomes so there is a broader array of options; but if there's one 'magic sauce' that's considerably better than the rest, for each technology, then it's just repeating the same outcomes.
This is where Frontier struggles a bit; balancing mechanics between ships. Again, one only has to look at the DPS capability for an all-rails FDL, and a shield on a type-7, to realise even the largest shield gen (which massively compromises cargo capacity) will lead to a destroyed ship, before it can escape. If there is never any chance of escape; if it's a forgone conclusion, then the developers (despite best efforts) have failed to balance damage versus survivability.
So I have some good hopes for the upcoming changes; it's hopefully going to re-shuffle the deck and provide a few different counter/ defense options. But if this simply leads to the same 'single engineer fix, is disruptively better than everything else' type thing, then we are back to square one, with a single upgrade, on a single ship, using a single weapon type, becoming considerably more optimal - and it'll just repeat the cycle.
I am fully aware there are many more mods to be revealed, this thread is merely an attempt to hear opinions and probable future applications of the said mod.
