I did a quick forum search and came up with nothing, so here it goes:
I know it's extremely unlikely that a new weapon system would be introduced, but I'll give it a shot anyway. A flamethrower. Yes, you heard it right. A goddamn flamethrower. Or, rather a weapon that fires in a similar pattern to a flamethrower (FT from now on). Something similar to the Plasma Burst Generator found in X3TC. Now, you might ask, how could this be different from missile slaved weapons (shotgun groupings)? Answer is simple. Instead of firing multiple tiny projectiles, the burst behaves more like a pulse that in fired forward, creating an area that damages enemy ships (obviously still not penetrating the outer layer of blocks because that would defy the purpose of armor).
Picture 1, a happy flamethrower user. Do you want to be as happy as him? I know you do, keep reading.
Now, how scalable would the weapon's burst be? There are two options:
1) Simply scales with DPS This is a more adaptible and simple solution.
2) Stays the same. This would automaticly make the weapon not only more viable for small ships by the size of the burst, but it would also do more damage to large, moving ships because the created burst would stay around for 1-3 seconds and the burst would be able to deal more damage ticks to the enemy ship, giving another edge for small ships over large ones (because people complain about small ships being UP).
Finally, how would the ship work as a primary/secondary system?
Primary:
FT+Cannon: Increased firing rate
FT+Beam: The burst extends further
FT+Missile: The burst extends wider or fires multiple bursts in a shotgun-like faction (shotgun flamethrower. It can't get more 'murica than that :p)
FT+Pulse: Firing rate reduced, does way more damage
FT+Minelayer: Flamethrower fires as a regular cannon-like projectile for some distance and after some time explodes into a burst
BONUS (original suggestion: http://starmadedock.net/threads/electrical-tesla-coil-weapon-type.5002/)
FT+Coilgun: Along with its regular damage, the burst field would confuse any electic coil lasers or any type of tracking missiles.
Secondary:
Cannon+FT: Don't know, I'm open for suggestions
Beam+FT: No idea.
Missile+FT: Fires like a regular missile, except where it hits, instead of regular missile damage forms a spherical, pulse-like burst. Useful for attacking numerous turret segments.
Pulse+FT: Increases pulse's lifespan
Minelayer+FT: Instead of a regular mine, it lays a pulse-like spherical energy field projectile. When an enemy touches the projectile, it'll start dealing pulse damage. While dealing damage, the energy ball thing would shrink until disappearing completely.
BONUS (original suggestion: http://starmadedock.net/threads/electrical-tesla-coil-weapon-type.5002/)
Coilgun+FT: Fires as a regular cannon-like projectile for some distance and after some time explodes into a burst that will head for the nearest enemy.
I know it's extremely unlikely that a new weapon system would be introduced, but I'll give it a shot anyway. A flamethrower. Yes, you heard it right. A goddamn flamethrower. Or, rather a weapon that fires in a similar pattern to a flamethrower (FT from now on). Something similar to the Plasma Burst Generator found in X3TC. Now, you might ask, how could this be different from missile slaved weapons (shotgun groupings)? Answer is simple. Instead of firing multiple tiny projectiles, the burst behaves more like a pulse that in fired forward, creating an area that damages enemy ships (obviously still not penetrating the outer layer of blocks because that would defy the purpose of armor).
Picture 1, a happy flamethrower user. Do you want to be as happy as him? I know you do, keep reading.
Now, how scalable would the weapon's burst be? There are two options:
1) Simply scales with DPS This is a more adaptible and simple solution.
2) Stays the same. This would automaticly make the weapon not only more viable for small ships by the size of the burst, but it would also do more damage to large, moving ships because the created burst would stay around for 1-3 seconds and the burst would be able to deal more damage ticks to the enemy ship, giving another edge for small ships over large ones (because people complain about small ships being UP).
Finally, how would the ship work as a primary/secondary system?
Primary:
FT+Cannon: Increased firing rate
FT+Beam: The burst extends further
FT+Missile: The burst extends wider or fires multiple bursts in a shotgun-like faction (shotgun flamethrower. It can't get more 'murica than that :p)
FT+Pulse: Firing rate reduced, does way more damage
FT+Minelayer: Flamethrower fires as a regular cannon-like projectile for some distance and after some time explodes into a burst
BONUS (original suggestion: http://starmadedock.net/threads/electrical-tesla-coil-weapon-type.5002/)
FT+Coilgun: Along with its regular damage, the burst field would confuse any electic coil lasers or any type of tracking missiles.
Secondary:
Cannon+FT: Don't know, I'm open for suggestions
Beam+FT: No idea.
Missile+FT: Fires like a regular missile, except where it hits, instead of regular missile damage forms a spherical, pulse-like burst. Useful for attacking numerous turret segments.
Pulse+FT: Increases pulse's lifespan
Minelayer+FT: Instead of a regular mine, it lays a pulse-like spherical energy field projectile. When an enemy touches the projectile, it'll start dealing pulse damage. While dealing damage, the energy ball thing would shrink until disappearing completely.
BONUS (original suggestion: http://starmadedock.net/threads/electrical-tesla-coil-weapon-type.5002/)
Coilgun+FT: Fires as a regular cannon-like projectile for some distance and after some time explodes into a burst that will head for the nearest enemy.