Ammo synthesis should not be used as a straight advantage to damage to gain upper hand in fights.
Instead it should serve its actual purpose, which is to restock ammo.
So, the damage bonus coming from synthesis should be reverted:
1. Basic synthesis comes with a -30% damage penalty, since it's a quick and crude restock for emergencies. Also doesn't have any timer.
2. Standard synthesis will have -15% damage, compared to station-sold ammo. Short timer, 2-3 seconds.
3. Premium comes with no damage penalty, since its a advanced restock matching the quality of station sold ammo, but comes with a timer of 5+ seconds.
On top of that, show a small red icon on enemy player's ship HUD if his synthesis was cancelled by your shots during the timer, and a quick short blue icon that shows up if your enemy finished a ammo synthesis.
Decrease the amount of materials needed for ammo synthesis to compensate, remove some rare materials from premium and standard.
Maybe even add alternative ammo synthesis options, that use mined ores (so one can restock his ammo by carrying a refinery and a mining laser, in asteroid fields).
Instead it should serve its actual purpose, which is to restock ammo.
So, the damage bonus coming from synthesis should be reverted:
1. Basic synthesis comes with a -30% damage penalty, since it's a quick and crude restock for emergencies. Also doesn't have any timer.
2. Standard synthesis will have -15% damage, compared to station-sold ammo. Short timer, 2-3 seconds.
3. Premium comes with no damage penalty, since its a advanced restock matching the quality of station sold ammo, but comes with a timer of 5+ seconds.
On top of that, show a small red icon on enemy player's ship HUD if his synthesis was cancelled by your shots during the timer, and a quick short blue icon that shows up if your enemy finished a ammo synthesis.
Decrease the amount of materials needed for ammo synthesis to compensate, remove some rare materials from premium and standard.
Maybe even add alternative ammo synthesis options, that use mined ores (so one can restock his ammo by carrying a refinery and a mining laser, in asteroid fields).
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