Multiple Warhead Missile: Not nerfed enough

GSB2 GSB2 Gratuitous Discussion
1

This is not a difficult weapon to mount by any stretch of the imagination. The negligible power cost of 2 means all you need is 60 crew - a large crew quarters lets you mount four MWM for a grand total of 16 power and a module slot.

It has 1200 range, which is the widest anti-shield weapon range outside of the disruptor missile. Range translates into concentration - it’s possible for an entire fleet to focus fire on a single ship, and no shields are capable of resisting it.

It shoots 5 missiles a time. It gets a dummy missile launcher effect for free, with the added advantage of none of the missiles actually being dummies. It is a consistent, powerful weapon that makes all other missiles in your fleet better - point defenses are increasingly overwhelmed the more of these you use.

It is a missile, which means you can use it in conjunction with painters, hard countering any attempts to exploit tracking speed.

Compare it to the closest competition:
MWM: 160 cost, 38 dps, or 7.6 dps per missile, 80 damage volley
Torpedo: 120 cost, 18.9 dps, 55 damage volley
Fast missile launcher, 100 cost, 15.8 dps, 31 damage volley
Heavy plasma launcher, 160 cost, 12.5 dps, 40 damage volley

Even if you try to adjust for cost, the MWM comes out on top. It’s completely impeding on what one would think is the torpedo’s territory - the torpedo is slower, has poorer tracking, is easier to shoot down, and the utility of slightly more armor pen is easily dwarfed by raw firepower. The fast missile launcher’s trait of being faster to slip by point defense is almost a quaint consideration when one can simply shoot an additional 5 missiles instead. The MWM is both the higher damage and higher utility option. Don’t use anything else.

Like all missiles, this weapon shines in scenarios like Paleovost IX (slower movement to hurt both fighters and rushers) or Zoophon (no dreads for easy armor tank).

It’s broke. The long range makes it favored by tank fleets, so many indirect nerfs (like a weight increase) aren’t going to mean much. Buffing point defense will just lead to an arms race where every other missile type is left behind. This weapon, at current damage values and missile count, is a serious problem.

2

Actually I do agree. One of the problems with balancing GSB or GSB2 is changing the requirements of a module is not preferred, because that suddenly invalidates thousands of peoples challenges. Therefore I would suggest that what the weapon needs is a combination of lower damage per missile, and perhaps actual slower missiles (to give point defense more time to react).

I’d also like to consider the possibility of a missile-attracting module as a future new feature. Something you could strap to cheap (but fast) fighters to allow them to act as missile decoys, effectively running the incoming missiles out of fuel (and having an ability which forces nearby missiles to re-target onto them).

All thoughts most welcome. If there is a consensus, I’m inclined to re-nerf the module in the next patch, probably in a few days time.

3

Put me down as aye on the renerf

4

I agree, it’s still too strong.

If I remember right, in an earlier version of the beta the MWM shield penetration was less than the max cruiser / dread shield resistance. Would going back to that be too much of a nerf for some? I don’t know. Otherwise a simple damage reduction is the best approach I guess.

I quite like the fighter lure idea too.

5

Nthing this, Something needs to be done to bring it in line. If it had less penetration across the board? They are smaller missiles after all.

6

Ok this is getting rebalanced in the next patch (version 1.27). I’ve slightly reduced the missile speed, and cut the damage per missile noticeably. Hopefully this will stop people relying on it too much for spammage :smiley:

7

In GSB1 there was:

  • quick ships that dealt lots of damage when they came into range (Cruiser Laser)
  • slow ships that dealt lots of damage at range (MWM)
  • slightly less slow ships that dealt less damage than both, but was less easy to hard counter (Plasma+beam laser)

In GSB2 I have seen (so far):

  • slow ships that deals lots of damage at range (missiles)

Last weekend I tried to make a quick cruiser fleet to close the gap quickly, but the pulse laser (or whatever it’s called) did not deal as much damage as MWM and did not penetrate some shields.

Today I tried a challenge online and it had quick cruisers that penetrated my shields and dealt more damage than my MWM’s. Were there changes to balance in the meantime?

In any case, I stopped using Plasma + point defense frigates to deal with the missile fleets. It was better to just spam MWM to overcome their point defense.

There is definitely still some work to do regarding balance. It is really difficult to get it just right, I can imagine, but what I believe is of great importance is that the choice of fleet is one of nuance. Like in GSB1 I sometimes lost greatly, then I swapped orders from Co-operate/vulture to Co-operate/retaliate and won. I haven’t played this game enough to conclude yet, but I get the feeling that it is far more one-or-the-other this time around.