The drag munitions change did do some work to reduce permaboosting, but it went about it the wrong way; by creating a highly specific and limited solution to a systemic issue within the game, i.e. the current boost system and its attendant issues. However, systemic issues require systemic solutions, and the problems with the boost may only be fixed by addressing the boosting system itself, and not through mods, modules or other niche changes.
The present boost system really isn't a particularly fun or powerful system. It creates 3 issues, namely:-
1. Uselessness of capacity mods/Charge meta on engines
2. Permaboosting
3. Lack of controllability
1. Uselessness of capacity mods/Charge meta on engines
Since boost works as a one shot, all you really need is enough charge to attain that single boost shot; anything beyond that amount is worthless, making capacity mods useless and charge enhanced mods the only way to go for ENG.
Lets say that a boost requires 50 capacity from your ENG capacitor; with the present boost system, all you need is that capacity of 50; a mod that bumps capacity to 60 or even 70 is usless compared to a mod that allows you to get that 50 capacity quickly. The extra 10 or 20 capacity is useless compared to any sort of recharge rate buff.
2. Permaboosting
Permaboosting works and is useful because boost as it stands can just be connected; you can go from one boost to another and there's no real reason to hold off on boosting for the most part since it both makes you move faster and turn better. Any changes to this would necessarily have to affect a large number of mods.
There's no real issue IMO with the effects of boost per se, but the issue comes in when you just constantly apply the boost. The reason for this is simple; since boost works as a one shot, there's no actual reason to bank that boost, instead it's just better to be constantly moving from boost to boost. You dont really have much control over the boost beyond when to deploy it, and since it work as a one shot, you have no reason to conserve the boost.
3. Lack of controllability
This is perhaps the worst effect of the current implementation of boost. The boost always comes as a fixed buff for a fixed duration; you can't really do much beyond decide when to deploy it. It can actually be a massive hindrance in combat since it has a good chance of making you either overshoot or undershoot your target and thus leaving you little better off than when you started.
And while boost bleeding is indeed a thing; what it amounts to is a good way to deal with a bad system.
Solution
The solution to the boost issue IMO is to change the boost to a toggle instead of a one shot. Instead of just giving your ship a one off boost, the boost constantly drains your capacitor to give a sustained increase to your ship's thrust and handling.
This change solves the issues in the following way:-
1. Makes capacity mods viable by allowing for an actual choice between more frequent but lower duration boosting or longer duration but more frequent boosting.
2. As boosting becomes more controllable, limiting permaboosting becomes both easier (by tweaking charge consumption rate) and less less intrusive to existing mods (since mods wouldn't need to be touched at all).
3. This system would also be much more controllable, since it gives the player much more control over when and how much to deploy the boost.
The present boost system really isn't a particularly fun or powerful system. It creates 3 issues, namely:-
1. Uselessness of capacity mods/Charge meta on engines
2. Permaboosting
3. Lack of controllability
1. Uselessness of capacity mods/Charge meta on engines
Since boost works as a one shot, all you really need is enough charge to attain that single boost shot; anything beyond that amount is worthless, making capacity mods useless and charge enhanced mods the only way to go for ENG.
Lets say that a boost requires 50 capacity from your ENG capacitor; with the present boost system, all you need is that capacity of 50; a mod that bumps capacity to 60 or even 70 is usless compared to a mod that allows you to get that 50 capacity quickly. The extra 10 or 20 capacity is useless compared to any sort of recharge rate buff.
2. Permaboosting
Permaboosting works and is useful because boost as it stands can just be connected; you can go from one boost to another and there's no real reason to hold off on boosting for the most part since it both makes you move faster and turn better. Any changes to this would necessarily have to affect a large number of mods.
There's no real issue IMO with the effects of boost per se, but the issue comes in when you just constantly apply the boost. The reason for this is simple; since boost works as a one shot, there's no actual reason to bank that boost, instead it's just better to be constantly moving from boost to boost. You dont really have much control over the boost beyond when to deploy it, and since it work as a one shot, you have no reason to conserve the boost.
3. Lack of controllability
This is perhaps the worst effect of the current implementation of boost. The boost always comes as a fixed buff for a fixed duration; you can't really do much beyond decide when to deploy it. It can actually be a massive hindrance in combat since it has a good chance of making you either overshoot or undershoot your target and thus leaving you little better off than when you started.
And while boost bleeding is indeed a thing; what it amounts to is a good way to deal with a bad system.
Solution
The solution to the boost issue IMO is to change the boost to a toggle instead of a one shot. Instead of just giving your ship a one off boost, the boost constantly drains your capacitor to give a sustained increase to your ship's thrust and handling.
This change solves the issues in the following way:-
1. Makes capacity mods viable by allowing for an actual choice between more frequent but lower duration boosting or longer duration but more frequent boosting.
2. As boosting becomes more controllable, limiting permaboosting becomes both easier (by tweaking charge consumption rate) and less less intrusive to existing mods (since mods wouldn't need to be touched at all).
3. This system would also be much more controllable, since it gives the player much more control over when and how much to deploy the boost.
