The unlimited ammo problem
The idea that a fighter that carries a huge amount of ordnance being lighter than a fighter with just a weapon with no ammo (laser) is silly, and results in the current problem with rocket fighters being overly powerful. I realize that you can custom-build a force to deal with such a battle, but I never do this since it seems bizarre to imagine that any space navy would look at the rapidly approaching enemy force, then build their own fleet to order to specifically address THIS threat. I actually try to build balanced ships/navies, and if they lose, so be it.
My fix is to use the new salvo stuff to make rocket pods or rails that carry what is in effect a fixed number of rounds.
I’ve clipped out most of the code so it is easy to see with just the important bits.
The current fighter rocket:
For a cost of 16, and a weight of just 2, you get infinite rockets fired every 2100 time units.
My test rockets are identical in damage for now (can easily be upped), but they fire differently:
My idea was to add more with different stats based on numbers of rockets:
Twice the cost, twice the weight, twice the shots.
You could have fighters that match the mass/speed of current models with a pod that holds only 4 rockets (cost=3, weight=2, 4 rockets carried).
The guided “rocket” problem
Rockets are supposed to be unguided, that’s the difference between a rocket and a missile. Currently rockets have a turnspeed of 0.5—identical to virtually all missiles in game.
If the AI can’t deal with zero turnspeed, then it should be very near zero. Oddly, the cruiser rocket has a HIGHER turnspeed than guided missiles, lol (or is higher worse?).