Weapons
Amount and diversity of weapons in Vanilla (before 3.0 at least) was kind of lacking, usage of MK system was one of the reasons and many weapons felt samey, in many cases you finished up using just one overall best weapon in the game. Also, in some cases weapons felt wrong with how they sounded/looked comparing to damage they deliver or what their role was. In addition, combat was sometimes clumsy, especially for larger ships as their turret ranges and turret damage output were too short/low as to what I, as player, expected. Changes to fix those issues are listed below.
Weapons changes
Removal of "Mk" system, every weapon is unique in its "feel"
Find a specific niche for every weapon so that player should choose a tool for a job and not just use one gun on everything
Rework of most effects and sounds for weapon to "feel" appropriate to its role, to bring that OOMPH for heavier guns
Ranges of engagement are now different, S weapons up to 5km, M weapons/turrets up to 9 km, L weapons/turrets up to 20 km
Projectile speeds increased across the board to make fights more engaging and cinematic
Addition of new weapons, many of those are from X3 (68 unique weapons in game now). Added new M and L race-specific turrets (27unique turrets in game now).
Added 2 general destroyer weapons as well as new race-specific unique weapons for each race.
Weapons were separated into Light and Heavy classes, light being mostly anti-fighter while Heavy are hard-hitters to combat medium and capital ships. Different ships have different hardpoints. Since version 2.4 of the mod this is now clearly visible in UI and are called Standard and High-Powered slots respectively
Weapon names have prefix describing their class and size.
All weapons description in encyclopedia updated/added.
Argons focus on Ion weapons, Paranids on railguns and short-ranged powerful beams, Teladies on kinetic weapons, Splits on guns with high rate of fire, Terrans on heavy weapons with low rate of fire.
Weapons now have different amount of damage vs hull and vs shield. Use HEAVY(high-powered) weapons with additional shield damage to combat high shield regen values of the larger ships
L turrets and weapons are designed to be true capital weapons, with high range and damage, while inaccurate and with low efficiency against Small ships
Prices and material costs were changed for all weapons based on their performance and streamlined using the formula
Special cases/weapons
All "plasma" weapons deal increased damage to ship components (turrets, shield, engines)
Plasma Bomb weapons bypasses shields entirely
Powered L turrets can be equipped by Carriers and in limited number by Battleships (not available for Split battleship and carrier) and in case for Terrans - on their destroyers as well.
All weapons with IONin their name (+ terran EM and weapons) have slight stopping effect, slowing down the target or impacting their turn rates.
Concussion Impulse generator and Graviton weapons now push light fighters when hit.
Small presentation of capital long-ranged combat:
