The way I see it is that the nerfs and buffs makes the different sized AMC arrays more specialized and gives each their own weaknesses and strengths.
It turned mounting AMCs on your ship from \'How small can I make my arrays and still use them?\' to \'What do I want these AMCs to do?\' which is a huge move in the right direction as it allows people to give more thought to deliberate design, which in turn rewards players for their creativity and forethought.
In addition, I wouldn\'t call the set of recent changes a nerf or a buff; It is a decrease in the capabilities of offense as a whole in favor of defense and utility. Shields getting buffs while the most multiplicative statistics on weapons getting a nerf is a pretty direct sign of that.
The \'balance\' between smaller and larger AMC arrays is also not as askew as people lead themselves to believe. Smaller AMC arrays have long been much more efficient damage-wise, and their drawbacks are shorter range and much slower projectile speed. Compared to larger arrays they rocked at dropping tons of damage in a very small engagement zone, and had the added benefit of being much better at clearing hull and ship components very fast.
Since large weapons were part of the nerf to offense in general, shouldn\'t small weapons be as well?
Large weapons were nerfed in such a way that they were hit where they didn\'t really have any point in the first place; their DPS and block clearing ability. This reinforces their weaknesses and makes their strengths more central to their useability.
A similar thing was done to small arrays, but instead of taking a weakness and making it worse (Which would have been their short range and difficulty to aim with. Imagine having to be within dumbfire missile range to use small AMCs!) Schema introduced a new weakness. This new weakness being increased power requirements doesn\'t gate or limit the ability of shotgun-type AMC systems, but it gives them a higher opportunity cost. It makes you think about putting them in instead of absent-mindedly going for whatever gives you the highest DPS.
Besides, shotgun-type AMCs don\'t need a nerf to their damage, range, or projectile speed. They\'re meant for sneaking/charging up on people and unloading all your power in them to finish them as quickly as possible. If you have longer ranged weapons than them and know they\'re coming, all you\'ve gotta do to get an advantage on an enemy is not let them close the distance.
