Updates from today’s discussion:
– Pshock count dropping to 1, to prevent the Scout Mk2 from turning into Horizon-lite. Plus it still has plenty of beacons (and the second tube) to serve as an anti-biological platform when such a need arises.
– Changing the rear point defense beam to a ~300 degree, forward facing beam. I was originally concerned this might be perceived as “too powerful” and that the rear-facing beam could be used to help peel drones away from friendly ships and then offer some measure of safety while destroying them, but Xavier suggested a “[r]apid fire, but low damage” beam instead so making that alteration.
– Improving warp efficiency further to 0.3. Rakaydos reported that the previous 0.6 didn’t feel right even with 0.1 ship efficiency, so Matisyan suggested bringing it in line with the main line of TSN vessels. With this change, all systems 100% and shields down results in an average gain of 1 energy per ~5 seconds at warp 2, the loss of a less than a point of energy per second at warp 3, and about two points per second at warp 4. This should hopefully feel more comfortable and do better to achieve the “Energizer Bunny” feel which has been mentioned.
New draft of vessel implementation:
<vessel uniqueID="1" side="0" classname="Scout MkII" broadType="player">
<art meshfile="dat/artemis-scout.dxs" diffuseFile="dat/artemis_diffuse.png"
glowFile="dat/artemis_illum.png" specularFile="dat/artemis_specular.png" scale="0.2" pushRadius="150"/>
<internal_data file="dat/artemis-scout.snt"/>
<!-- Weapons and Shields modified (1/4)-->
<shields front="15" back="15"/>
<performance turnrate="0.008" topspeed="0.8" shipefficiency="0.1" warpefficiency="0.3" jumpefficiency="1.0"/>
<beam_port x="0" y="17.8" z="289.0" damage="0.25" playerdamage="2" arcwidth="0.4" cycletime="6.0" range="1100"/>
<beam_port x="0" y="17.8" z="289.0" damage="0.25" playerdamage="0.75" arcwidth="0.83" cycletime="3" range="500"/>
<torpedo_tube x="0" y="8.35" z="258.74"/>
<torpedo_tube x="0" y="8.35" z="258.74"/>
<torpedo_storage type="trp" amount="8"/> <!-- Homing"-->
<torpedo_storage type="nuk" amount="0"/> <!-- LR Nuke-->
<torpedo_storage type="min" amount="2"/> <!-- Mine"-->
<torpedo_storage type="emp" amount="2"/> <!-- EMP"-->
<torpedo_storage type="shk" amount="1"/> <!-- Plasma Shock"-->
<torpedo_storage type="bea" amount="8"/> <!-- Beacon"-->
<torpedo_storage type="pro" amount="8"/> <!-- Probe"-->
<torpedo_storage type="tag" amount="8"/> <!-- Tag"-->
<engine_port x="0" y="-9.22" z="-300"/>
<engine_port x="0" y="29.64" z="-300"/>
<long_desc text="TSN Scout, 2239 refit^Long range scout vessel of the TSN.^1 forward beam, networked point defense beam^1 Torpedo tube^Stores for 8 homing, 2 mines, 2 ECM, 1 PShock."/>
</vessel>