Meaningful Weapon choices

[Ingvent]

So I "finished" the game and decided to share my opinions in different posts about Weapons, Equipment, Armor, not just limited to troops but to the drone and aircraft too.

I want to say that I am aware that developing a game is not easy, and budget and time constraints do not help with the situation. I hope some of the things I write here can somehow be helpful.

First of all, we must be clear about two things:
1 - The weapon trinity is Damage, Accuracy, and Cadence.
2 - How weapons interact with Armor: Ballistics pierce, Energy ablates.

Currently in X2, we have Gauss and Lasers. The latter have an interesting perk, but first, we have to look at the key differences:

Gauss (and accelerated) have better damage and armor piercing.
Lasers have "better" accuracy and ablate more armor (and have an easier time destroying terrain).

Now let's get to the point...

--Gauss/Accelerated--

-Infantry Weapons-
Currently, I feel Gauss works very well as they are, an evolution from the classic firearms. Its niche is being high damage and piercing weapons.

Because of the variety of handheld weapons, I can't be too generalized in my comments, but I consider Gauss should gravitate towards Damage or Cadence. Sniper and Shotgun being more toward damage, and Rifle and Machinegun having more cadence. All of them sharing the Armor Piercing property.

A special case is the Shotgun. I consider it could be awesome if it could load solid slugs with increased penetration but keeping the short-range properties.

-Drone Weapons-
The gauss cannon feels great! but here's my suggestion: What if it comes with some degree of Stun damage? Think about it. It is a supersonic solid projectile, so if it hits, the impact should be enough to have a more potent effect if the target survives!

The gauss rifle really should be looked at.
Right now, it is just a gauss rifle, and considering all the ammo it has, it is really a shame that there is no x10 burst available.

-Aircraft Weapons-
It feels very weird that there is no Gauss Cannon for planes. It could fill the niche of a medium-range anti-large weapon. High damage, low cadence, and armor-piercing.

Because of the distances in aerial combat, I can see the Gauss Cannon not being an instant hit. Their projectiles should be faster than missiles but slower than lasers! This could give them the niche of anti-large (excellent against those bombers and carriers).

--Lasers/Plasma?--
First, I want to say I hope the Devs do not include plasma weapons, but instead, some type of equipment to improve Lasers and Gauss. I will talk about that in "Equipment and space choice."

I consider Lasers very interesting; they have a different dynamic compared to Ballistic weapons, which opens the possibility of creating a compelling alternative to the more direct and forceful ballistics.

-Infantry Weapons-
First thing I think needs a change is the Shotgun; it really feels out of place as an energy weapon. Suggestion: Laser Carbine/SMG.

-Laser Carbine/SMG: As a matter of visuals, instead of all shots at the same time, it should be similar to how the rifle or machine gun works. Keep the same short-range bonus accuracy, but now it shoots in bursts of five shots. It would be more appealing (conceptually and visually) for laser weapons.

The second thing to change should be the Perk: Easy to Aim. That bonus should go to the Tactical Module and change the burst and accuracy properties of all the weapons while reducing their Suppression value (micro pulse laser shots aren't as intimidating as solid shots).

Increase the burst of Pistols and Sniper by 1.
Laser Carbine/SMG as mentioned above.
Increase accuracy of snap and normal shots for the rifle.
Increase burst of machine gun by 5 (for full burst it will become x15) and small burst by 2 (so it becomes x5).
-Drone Weapons-
The Laser Cannon feels mostly good. At the moment of writing, I do not remember if it has AOE, if it doesn't, then it should have a small one!
The Laser Rifle, again, really should have a bigger burst mode, accuracy is okay considering it is drone-operated.

-Aircraft Weapons-
The Laser Cannon is very good and accomplishes what it should! The only thing is it lacks "late-game support," which I will cover in the equipment post.

--EXPLOSIVES--
Ah, explosives, they feed the human need to make things explode and our early-game way to level the field against the xeno menace.

At least in ground combat, I suggest letting explosives inflict a certain amount of Stun damage. The concussive nature of explosives makes it fitting.

-Infantry-
The grenade launcher feels bad, low damage, low accuracy, and the worst of all is that it shoots more like a direct-fire weapon instead of the arching weapon it should be.

My proposal is to let the weapon arch like grenades; the farther the objective, the bigger the arch.

-Drone Weapon-
The missile rack accomplishes its purpose; what I think is missing is a secondary one-shot missile. It looks cool, and I already see drones of its size carrying 2 missile launchers.

Did I say it looks cool?

And that is all. I appreciate it if you read it all, and I will appreciate it even more if one of the devs reads it and helps them take some ideas from it.