[Androgeos Exeunt]

What about 80 shield damage per shot?

[ChronoReverse]

While 1000 is too much, the point is that a specialized shield breaking weapon BETTER do a better job at it than a regular gun.  Giving up an entire weapons bank is a pretty huge tradeoff that needs an appropriate payoff.

[Timerlane]

Biggest problem is that it costs just as much as a Prom-S bolt to fire(1 full energy unit per shot). Second, IMO, is the shot velocity that only plays well with the HL-7s and the Prom-R. Third(debatable) is the weak fire rate(lower than the Prom-S).

Fix at least two of the above(and while you're at it, maybe make the Prom-R not useless), and I think it might be worthwhile.

The steep increase in energy usage from the S-Breaker to the Circe is easily the most jarring, though. 5x the energy consumption per shot, 250m less range, and slower fire rate, in exchange for +50mps shot velocity and 5 more shield damage per shot?

EDIT: Although, the increased lethality and ammo capacity of secondaries compared to FS1 might be at least part of the out-of-universe reasoning.

[Iranon]

The strange bit is that having the best of both games would be perfectly balanced and offered a large variety of effective loadouts.



Kayser and Prometheus S would still be the general purpose hard-hitters, balanced by energy demands.

Avenger and Prometheus still have the best hull damage after the Maxim. Unlike the Maxim, they are energy-efficient and perfectly usable against shielded targets. They're so similar that you don't really need both in a game, but that's not a problem.

S-Breaker and Flail would have their niche because they are energy-efficient in addition to strong against shields. Since the less specialised high-end cannons are actually good (unlike the Banshee), they wouldn't be no-brainers.

The Mekhu HL-7 would remain an excellent all-rounder.

The Maxim would still be the weapon of choice to pick off big things from afar.



That just leaves energy draining and anti-subsystem weapons, which are poor in both games.

[paul1290]

I think the morning star is fun to mess around with sometimes, especially with the small and fast ships that are often hard to hit normally ("where's your agility now!").

[Androgeos Exeunt]

In the hands of a good pilot, the Morning Star can be a very effective bomb interceptor and fighter killer (when coupled with missiles).

[redsniper]

In the hands of the AI, the Morning Star is EVIIIL.

[Colonol Dekker]

I went through the port, kitting out every Aten with a flail in every available mount with General ai.
 
 
I messed up stopping the suicide ram attack suffice to say.

[FreeSpaceFreak]

The Morning Star has a decent range, low hull damage and a high rate of fire. This makes it ideal for intercepting bombs. The Maxim has a high rate of fire as well, but it's harder to aim (due to the shuddering) and it risks to do more damage to the ship you're escorting than the actual bomb itself.
So I use the Morning Star on interception missions, but not because of its kinetic properties.

[Scourge of Ages]

Kayser is the only gun I'll ever need. If my ship can't equip it or it's not available yet, I go Promethius S or Subach. Why bother with depleting shields or draining energy or knocking them about when you can kill something fast in 2-8 shots, and something slow in 2-8 seconds.
Oh yeah, and there's two more bomber wings launching bombs at your cap ships and a wing and a half of dragons coming after you only and if you fly straight for more than a second you die because the rest of Alpha wing is mostly incompetent and have already gone down and HOLY???? is that another Lilith!?!? You just don't have time to mess around!

Sometimes though if I know there's going to be beam cannons to remove, I'll put a disrupter on the secondary bank.