JohnBWatson wrote:I would say it's a similar dynamic. Given that both of these weapons are more expensive and power intensive, I think they should be more useful. Now, at present, omnidirectional weapons are basically the best swarmbuster weapons available, leaving little space for dogfighting weapons. I think it'd therefore be okay to nerf the OTL a bit in order to make the omnidirectional particle cannon and early - midgame forward firing swarmbusters more useful.
Some people only use omnis. Some people almost never use them. I would never take an OTL over a PK25 or an OPB over a Moskva 33. They're plenty good against hornets and wind slavers and actually hurt things that are dangerous. Non-ALT omnis tend to fall around fourth on my weapon type selection after howitzers, brooms, and short range DPS guns.
JohnBWatson wrote:An omnidirectional bombardment weapon strikes me as far too powerful. Maybe with somewhat lower range, it could work, but outside of that it'd make the OXrayLaser even less worth getting, and it'd still leave the problem of a missileship getting most of its firepower and cost from what is intended to be its secondary weapon.
On what grounds? What could you do with an omni-flenser that you can't do with an omni-particle or regular flenser? The regular flenser is going to do more damage against stationary targets because omnis usually fire slower. The only possible use would be to snipe Sung turrets, but slave camps can be taken by drilling at no risk already.
Easier turret sniping is nice and all, but the omni flenser has appeared in WE3 and it's not that special. Flenser swivel is also available on the Freyr and it's a nice trick, but it wasn't until the Thorins were added that the swivel was a major draw.
JohnBWatson wrote:Should hitscan be restricted to graviton and upward for the sake of realism(as well as keeping the player supplied with new content as the game goes on), or should it be allowed to appear for less advanced weapons that it would work well with?
Tachyon weapons would arguably appear as positron or antimatter weapons with backwards projecting visual effects so it could appear in those types. Gravity is light speed limited, but an awful lot of fiction used FTL gravity before we were sure of that so it might be acceptable for Transcendence's somewhat campy aesthetic. I would suggest it be exclusive to those types and maybe one of the dark energy types.