[StratComm]

Not if the docking transport is an Elysium, and the extra minute it takes to get in to position and traverse the longer docking path may affect the way the mission plays out.  The dockpaths were done with certain ships in mind, and so have particular characteristics that limit their functionality in a general sense but allow those smaller ships to dock more easily.  You wouldn't expect a Hippocrates to dock sanely with anything, would you?  It's a timing thing rather than a graphics thing, an important factor in mission balancing that people often forget.

If it's a problem, add another dockpoint or two for argos.  But you can't alter the ones that are there for reasons previously stated.  If the paths were backwards, or the docking point inverted, or something else obviously stupid (see Iceni) then you'd have a case for changing the existing ones, but that doesn't apply to those with paths that are just too short for the cruiser-sized Argo transport.

That also doesn't address the backwardsness issue, but the reason that can't be changed should be more obvious.


And turret changes are a little different (particularly with the Aeolus) because the change made was actually purely cosmetic.  Those firepoints already had huge firing cones IIRC, so making it true multipart only made it actually turn like it was supposed to. 

[Wanderer]

All true - except that multipart and singlepart turrets have very different behaviours. Swarm type weapons or type 4 beams for example have very different behaviour with single and multipart turrets. So changing singlepart or nonfunctional multipart to functional multipart turret can drastically alter the balance regardless of the turrets fov setting.

[StratComm]

Not if the weapon being fired is flak though.  You have to keep it in context.  I'm not responsible for the Aeolus, but you'll find that most people doing HTL models know not to mess with things in a major way if they could alter balance.

If the turret complaint is something you've actually run in to then that may be a valid discussion.  Using it as an example of why it's ok to change things since it's already been done is not within the scope of the point you originally brought up.  In general, altering the location of a firepoint (but not so much its normal) is not a problem; it's extremely rare (read: never) that the few meters here or there would affect aim in any way, and that change would be purely graphical in nature.  Normal changes are obviously more serious and need to be avoided wherever possible, and for the most part they have been.  (It should be noted though that the problem turrets, with the exception of the Aeolus main guns, are all silly little things like terran weak turrets that really couldn't affect balance if they tried.  Not that it's an excuse for doing them, just needs to be pointed out.)