Tech Broker modules and weapons are borderline useless (and how they should be fixed)

[cool_lad]

Tech Broker modules and weapons are borderline useless, often even compared to their stock normal equivalents. Let's look at some examples:-
1. Plasma Charger: only come in one size (medium), do less damage than a similarly sized plasma accelerator and needs to be charged up
2. Gauss cannons: only come in one size (medium), do less damage than rails and give crazy heat to the ship on top of that
3. Caustic Missiles: can't bypass shields, dumbfires only and even then the caustic effect only lasts for a small amount of time

Ultimately, these weapons just feel like watered down versions of normal weapons and are often even worse because of their drawbacks and cost of procurement (which makes engineering look easy). Some may make the argument that at least guardian weapons are for AX combat (even though we were told that they'd be useful in both AX and normal combat), but even there, the only weapon that actually feels even remotely useful is the gauss cannons, with other weapons being more of a liability than anything else.

The state of these weapons and modules feels even worse when compared to engineered versions of normal modules, which make the tech broker stuff look like pure garbage.

Therefore I think that these weapons and modules are in need of heavy buffs, not to mention powerful special effects that can't be obtained from normal or engineered modules in order to at least justify the effort put into procuring them. And dare I dream that these will actually become unique and viable for combat and general use?

 

[space voyager]

At least Gauss cannons have their worth in Thargoid fighting, but I do agree that these weapons should present a step forward in weapon development.

I understand that some weapons may remain very anti-Thargoid specialized, but in-game reality is that some people enjoy terrorising defenceless players. Being armed with weapons, useless in defence against such people, doesn't help in persuading players to join the narrative.

 

[Brrokk]

TBH I've made good use of the plasma charger against Thargoids; it's very effective at bringing down their shields.

I think the problem is expectation. People thought these weapons would have awesome power when actually they're comparable with ordinary engineered weapons. I think that's OK though. I wouldn't want to see more "power creep" and it's good to have more than one route (engineering or Guardian gathering) to effective equipment.

 

[Rick Bravo]

True, the guardian stuff and the aegis ax stuff has all the problems the OP said but its even worse because if you want to fight thargoids you need to either need to outfit your combat ship twice (PvP and Thargoid being almost completely different builds) and waste time switching modules and/or shipping modules OR buy a dedicated ship ( or two) for thargoid fighting. A few of us have done exactly these things but we are a minority of players. most players aren't going to bother because its too much work for too little return. Fdev has made it difficult to participate in thargoid content and so most players are giving it a pass. After all the guardian and thargoid hype put out by Fdev, how can you not see this as Fdev spiking the ball on the 1 yard line.

 

[Teh Smoo]

I compared the Guardian stuff with same-sized, properly engineered regular stuff, and it was pretty much inferior in every category. Except maybe integrity, but that's not enough to justify the bother of unlocking any of it.

The only module that I want is the FSD booster, and as said above, I only have minor interest in the weapons. And my time is currently directed toward finishing out my engineer roster and other things. But not Guardian stuff.