[MastaRyan]

OK, so I made a weapon for capital ships called a railgun. The weapon is meant to be a more powerful but shorter range version of a weapon called the HBlue. However, it is very hard to balance this weapon, because, simply increasing the railgun's power beyond the beam won't work because damage for beams is calculated about once every second. ( I think ... don't know the exact formula. ) Even worse, I have to worry about the ROF, otherwise this weapon will end up being superior to the BFRed. So, anyway, i need to know the EXACT formula for beam damage and dps. It would also be helpful if you guys would refrain from mentioning that beams should realistically be much more powerful than railguns.

HRailGun

Code: [Select]

;;-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
$Name:                                  HRailGun
$Model File:                    none
@Laser Bitmap:                  turret7
@Laser Glow:   Laserglow07
@Laser Color:   0, 155, 155
@Laser Color2:   80, 200, 0
@Laser Length:       14.0
@Laser Head Radius:  12.00
@Laser Tail Radius:  4.90
$Mass:                                  0.4
$Velocity:                              1000.0                           ;; speed of the weapon (initially) -- may or may not

change
$Fire Wait:                             5.0                  ;; in seconds
$Damage:                                4000
$Armor Factor:                  1.0
$Shield Factor:                 1.0
$Subsystem Factor:              1.0
$Lifetime:                      5.0                        
$Energy Consumed:               0.30                            ;; Energy used when fired
$Cargo Size:                    0.0                             ;; Amount of space taken up in weapon cargo
$Homing:                                        NO
$LaunchSnd:                             164                            ;; The sound it makes when fired
$ImpactSnd:                             85                                      ;; The sound it makes when it hits something
+Weapon Range: 5000
$Flags:                                 ("Huge" "Supercap" "Big Ship")
$Trail: ;; Trail cannot be set if

Exhaust is set
+Start Width:           0.25                                      ;; Width of trail nearest

missile
+End Width:             0.5                                       ;; Width of trail before it

"evaporates"
+Start Alpha:       1.0
+End Alpha: 0.0
+Max Life: 1.0
+Bitmap: missiletrail01
$Icon:                                  icongun03
$Anim:                                  LoadGun02
$Impact Explosion: maxim_impact
$Impact Explosion Radius: 160.0
$Muzzleflash: none


HBlue

Code: [Select]

;----------------------------------------
$Name: HBlue
$Model File: none
@Laser Bitmap: laserglow01
@Laser Color: 88, 176, 249
@Laser Length: 0.0
@Laser Head Radius: 0.3
@Laser Tail Radius: 0.3
$Mass: 100.0
$Velocity: 1800.0
$Fire Wait: 30.0
$Damage: 5200
$Armor Factor: 1.0
$Shield Factor: 1.0
$Subsystem Factor: 1.0
$Lifetime: 25.0
$Energy Consumed: 0.40
$Cargo Size: 0.0
$Homing: NO
$LaunchSnd: 124
$ImpactSnd: 88
+Weapon Range: 8000
$Flags: ("Big Ship" "huge" "supercap" "beam")
$Icon: icongun05
$Anim: LoadGun07
$Impact Explosion: ExpMissileHit1
$Impact Explosion Radius: 188.0
$BeamInfo:
    +Type: 0
    +Life: 6.0
    +Warmup: 4100
    +Warmdown: 5150
    +Radius: 150.0
    +PCount: 40
    +PRadius: 1.4
    +PAngle: 60.0
    +PAni: particleexp01
    +Miss Factor: 0.8 0.9 0.9 1.5 1.2
    +BeamSound: 147
    +WarmupSound: 154
    +WarmdownSound: 159
    +Muzzleglow: beamglow2
    +Shots: 0
    +ShrinkFactor: 0.0
    +ShrinkPct: 0.0
    $Section:
    +Width: 120.0
    +Texture: beam-white2
    +RGBA Inner: 255 0 0 255
    +RGBA Outer: 60 0 0 10
    +Flicker: 0.0
    +Zadd: 4.0
    $Section:
    +Width: 130.0
    +Texture: beam-blue2
    +RGBA Inner: 160 160 0 255
    +RGBA Outer: 60 60 0 10
    +Flicker: 0.0
    +Zadd: 4.0
    $Section:
    +Width: 160.0
    +Texture: beam-dblue2
    +RGBA Inner: 255 255 255 255
    +RGBA Outer: 255 0 0 255
    +Flicker: 0.0
    +Zadd: 4.0
    $Section:
    +Width: 190.0
    +Texture: beam-blue2
    +RGBA Inner: 255 0 0 255
    +RGBA Outer: 60 0 0 10
    +Flicker: 0.0
    +Zadd: 4.0 ]


[The E]

Beam damage formula is Damage value*Life value (defined in the $BeamInfo section)=Total damage. In other words, "Damage" already IS the Damage per second value.

Now, I see your personal field saying "Don't complain about it, retable it." One thing any tabler should do is read the wiki. Why aren't you reading the wiki?

[MastaRyan]

Uh.... well... you see... HELM, ENGAGE SUPSPACE DRIVE!  
EDIT: MastaRyan has defected to the PCA.

[Shivan Hunter]

One thing I don't think The_E made clear: damage per salvo calculation is actually $Damage * +Life * 5.5. DPS is $Damage * 5.5. Damage is applied 5.5 times every second.

I know this is in the Wiki (under the $Damage entry in weapons.tbl), but I thought I'd post it here in case you didn't think to look there.

[EDIT] Also, your beam is about as powerful as a BFRed in sustained damage, and over twice as powerful in a single salvo. I know a newbie's first instinct is to make a giant superweapon, but you might want to think about balance.

[The E]

Yeah, SH is right on both counts. The HBlue featured in Blue Planet has a damage value of 1850, that's plenty powerful already.

[MastaRyan]

[EDIT] Also, your beam is about as powerful as a BFRed in sustained damage, and over twice as powerful in a single salvo. I know a newbie's first instinct is to make a giant superweapon, but you might want to think about balance.

And I gave the BFRed more power. And, you also have to consider that the ship I'm using the HBlue on only has two of them, and they can't both be focused on a single target except in extremely rare circumstances.