This is just my two cents on how the current weapon mechanics could be improved and added to in terms of balance, functionality, and content.
AoE, Rate of Fire, and Projectile Speed
What shoots faster, a battleship's cannon or a submachine gun? An anti-aircraft missile rack or an ICBM launcher?
The rate of fire and speed of AMC shots and missiles should decrease, not increase with size, barring customization of the weapon to specifically focus on RoF or projectile speed which would decrease the per-shot damage considerably. Of course, DPS would be conserved. Practically speaking, this would mean that small weapons would be much more able to hit small targets but do less damage per shot. However, smaller ships or those with only light armor would quickly be turned into swiss cheese.
That said, a battleship's main guns are going to blow a big-ass hole into anything they hit while a submachine gun is not. Guns in-game, regardless of size and damage, are only capable of damaging and/or destroying a single block per shot. AoE damage directly correlating to block damage would be an excellent thing to implement in terms of balance and common sense and, with the system of lower RoF with large weapons would mean that if a space battleship managed to hit a fighter plinking away at its shields said fighter would quickly find itself space confetti.
This AoE function would work something like this. A shot destroying a block but possessing residual energy (a shot dealing more damage than the block it just destroyed) would transfer its energy by transferring it to all adjacent blocks ( the blocks right next to and below the one that was hit).
Furthermore, the ratio of damage going into horizontal versus vertical blocks (Area of Effect versus Armor Piercing capability) could be tweaked in the customization screen widget, resulting in the ability to retain explosive effect to blow away lightly armored ships or customize the gun to cause a more concentrated and deeper crater on impact.
Practically speaking, an unmodified AMC with over 100 damage would cause damage to the blocks most near the target and potentially destroy them, making a crater and/or a reason for repair beams to actually be used. An AMC modified for increased AP capability would direct most of its damage downward, blasting holes through armor and into the vital systems of the target. This would mean that shields would not be nerfed while also buffing thick armor in the form of ordinary and hardened hull blocks.
This new system would also have a similar effect on missiles. Small missile launchers shoot small, fast missiles at a high rate of speed while large launchers shoot large missiles at a slower but still faster than current speed.
On the last note, in an era of space combat it is fundamentally ridiculous to fire a missile that goes slower than your own ship and the target's unless you are at ridiculously close range and the missile is guided by AI that will not make it go backwards when you fire it. However, very fast missiles should have poorer tracking capability due to the increased power required to turn.
Missiles should also be more configurable than energy weapons due to their physical nature, creating fewer penalties for making huge, slow torpedoes or fast-firing and light anti-fighter missiles. Furthermore, creating a dedicated type of "shieldbreaker" launcher would be expedient to balance the high rate of fire of smaller convential launchers being biased against fighters and other small ships.
Practically speaking, this would have several effects. First, the d1000 would actually be useful for delivering powerful torpedo-like weapons against capital ships or firing many faster, unguided rockets. Second, capital ships and ships of similar size would be able to retaliate with withering hails of small anti-fighter missiles.
These would be countered by shieldbreakers, specialized missile systems firing projectiles that would punch far more damage than a similar weapon of conventional size into shields while doing far less to hull or armor blocks.
Results
This overhaul would allow more specialization for the ships of StarMade, allowing for armor-piercing and shield-breaking strikes against large capital ships while increasing their defenses against such attacks in turn. Ships would find it beneficial to dedicate specific weapons for specific tasks - devastating slow-firing cannons for capital ships while single AMC blocks would function as minigun-like peashooters; not ideal by any means but still somewhat useful. Both extremes would faster projectiles than is currently the case while missiles would become faster but balanced by the new projectile speed, AoE, and rate of fire mechanics and would manifest in forms from titanic, ship-killing torpedoes and rockets to fast-firing missiles designed to sandpaper their foes by sheer volume of fire.
Overall, combat would be much more interesting and allow, again, increased creativity and specialization. Want a fighter full of miniguns? Done, but each shot won't do too much damage. Want something that can actually hurt a capital ship? Done, but that same capital ship will be blasting missiles and antifighter fire right back like no tomorrow. Want to build your entire ship around a weapon that can blow a hole clean through that capital ship? Sure, but they'll be shooting back with a bigger gun that can do the same.
More balance, more specialization, more creativity. More armor will be nearly as useful as more shields because capital ship guns will have AoE. Currently useless hardened hull blocks will suddenly have a function, minimizing said AoE shots by absorbing the damage. Missiled would finally be useful as well and on the same level as AMCs, which would be more modifiable and more balanced as well.
AoE, Rate of Fire, and Projectile Speed
What shoots faster, a battleship's cannon or a submachine gun? An anti-aircraft missile rack or an ICBM launcher?
The rate of fire and speed of AMC shots and missiles should decrease, not increase with size, barring customization of the weapon to specifically focus on RoF or projectile speed which would decrease the per-shot damage considerably. Of course, DPS would be conserved. Practically speaking, this would mean that small weapons would be much more able to hit small targets but do less damage per shot. However, smaller ships or those with only light armor would quickly be turned into swiss cheese.
That said, a battleship's main guns are going to blow a big-ass hole into anything they hit while a submachine gun is not. Guns in-game, regardless of size and damage, are only capable of damaging and/or destroying a single block per shot. AoE damage directly correlating to block damage would be an excellent thing to implement in terms of balance and common sense and, with the system of lower RoF with large weapons would mean that if a space battleship managed to hit a fighter plinking away at its shields said fighter would quickly find itself space confetti.
This AoE function would work something like this. A shot destroying a block but possessing residual energy (a shot dealing more damage than the block it just destroyed) would transfer its energy by transferring it to all adjacent blocks ( the blocks right next to and below the one that was hit).
Furthermore, the ratio of damage going into horizontal versus vertical blocks (Area of Effect versus Armor Piercing capability) could be tweaked in the customization screen widget, resulting in the ability to retain explosive effect to blow away lightly armored ships or customize the gun to cause a more concentrated and deeper crater on impact.
Practically speaking, an unmodified AMC with over 100 damage would cause damage to the blocks most near the target and potentially destroy them, making a crater and/or a reason for repair beams to actually be used. An AMC modified for increased AP capability would direct most of its damage downward, blasting holes through armor and into the vital systems of the target. This would mean that shields would not be nerfed while also buffing thick armor in the form of ordinary and hardened hull blocks.
This new system would also have a similar effect on missiles. Small missile launchers shoot small, fast missiles at a high rate of speed while large launchers shoot large missiles at a slower but still faster than current speed.
On the last note, in an era of space combat it is fundamentally ridiculous to fire a missile that goes slower than your own ship and the target's unless you are at ridiculously close range and the missile is guided by AI that will not make it go backwards when you fire it. However, very fast missiles should have poorer tracking capability due to the increased power required to turn.
Missiles should also be more configurable than energy weapons due to their physical nature, creating fewer penalties for making huge, slow torpedoes or fast-firing and light anti-fighter missiles. Furthermore, creating a dedicated type of "shieldbreaker" launcher would be expedient to balance the high rate of fire of smaller convential launchers being biased against fighters and other small ships.
Practically speaking, this would have several effects. First, the d1000 would actually be useful for delivering powerful torpedo-like weapons against capital ships or firing many faster, unguided rockets. Second, capital ships and ships of similar size would be able to retaliate with withering hails of small anti-fighter missiles.
These would be countered by shieldbreakers, specialized missile systems firing projectiles that would punch far more damage than a similar weapon of conventional size into shields while doing far less to hull or armor blocks.
Results
This overhaul would allow more specialization for the ships of StarMade, allowing for armor-piercing and shield-breaking strikes against large capital ships while increasing their defenses against such attacks in turn. Ships would find it beneficial to dedicate specific weapons for specific tasks - devastating slow-firing cannons for capital ships while single AMC blocks would function as minigun-like peashooters; not ideal by any means but still somewhat useful. Both extremes would faster projectiles than is currently the case while missiles would become faster but balanced by the new projectile speed, AoE, and rate of fire mechanics and would manifest in forms from titanic, ship-killing torpedoes and rockets to fast-firing missiles designed to sandpaper their foes by sheer volume of fire.
Overall, combat would be much more interesting and allow, again, increased creativity and specialization. Want a fighter full of miniguns? Done, but each shot won't do too much damage. Want something that can actually hurt a capital ship? Done, but that same capital ship will be blasting missiles and antifighter fire right back like no tomorrow. Want to build your entire ship around a weapon that can blow a hole clean through that capital ship? Sure, but they'll be shooting back with a bigger gun that can do the same.
More balance, more specialization, more creativity. More armor will be nearly as useful as more shields because capital ship guns will have AoE. Currently useless hardened hull blocks will suddenly have a function, minimizing said AoE shots by absorbing the damage. Missiled would finally be useful as well and on the same level as AMCs, which would be more modifiable and more balanced as well.
