I'd say that when viewed as-is, the cost progression for the ammo does not make sense. The pistol shard costs 1 token alone, and fully discharges to about a cutting laser's strength. The rifle's shard costs 2 token, and fires with an equivalent of 10 cutting laser pulses. The Bazooka (I still prefer Cannon) fires, presumably, an even more powerful shot - but, even with the cooling block extra, costs 1 token.
Gonna have to find some way of stopping people from buying the Bazooka clips to power their Rifles, if you go this way.
Otherwise, i.e. stat-wise. A "standard laser pulse", as far as I've known in this game, is about 5 seconds. I'm using this just to get some numberable data here. The standard Laser Rifle battery provides enough power for 24 5-second pulses, and costs 1 token. The standard Cutting Laser battery provides power for 12 "standard pulses", and costs 2 token.
Now, taking into account that blueshards aren't necessarily cheaper per unit storage, and these are going for compact rather that efficient, balancing game mechanics and fluff is going to be tricky. Bear in mind, production costs don't factor as much into token costs, and while we would like to phase out the old Laser weapons on the battlefield, doing so within the token economy is probably not what we want to do.
Here's my take on possible balance:
Blaster Pistol - 1 token cost, 1 token per 20 shots (instead of equivalent 24 of Laser Rifle). Note that the weapon is cheaper to buy than the Laser Rifle (2 token), and while it has compactness on its side, I think the lack of cutting ability reduces its utility enough to allow the lower cost for comparable number of shots.
Blaster Rifle - 4 token cost, 2 token per 10 shots (instead of equivalent 12 of Cutting Laser). The weapon is, again, half as expensive as its nominal power equivalent (Cutting Laser, 8 token), and with notably lower requirements as well. With the same reduction in utility, I think this is the most balanced of the proposed designs.
Blaster Bazooka - 6 token cost, 2 token per shot. The weapon has no direct power equivalent in Armory weapons, the closest being the PEW.
While 2 token per shot may seem expensive, the much lower buy-in cost would allow potential buyers to pack much more heat for the same initial cost. I think it goes well with its description as a "bazooka" - the namesake weapon is itself a cheap launch tube, with the ammo being the more important part. Likewise, comparing to its closest equivalent, the PEW, the weapon is half as expensive (at least) to purchase, while its ammo is slightly less cost-efficient per shot, yet has similar destructive power. The difference in utility is once again there, in a different way (the firing as a HEP without ammo thing), but it is one that I think the PEW could probably be corrected for, rather than the Bazooka. Keeping the ammo cost at 2 token keeps the cost curve in the series more level (the Rifle can put out a similar blast, it just melts with it), and prevents its abuse by creative tinkerers.
That's my take on it.
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Topic: Hephaestus OOC (Read 168496 times)