Elite Dangerous Weapon Logic
Changes nearly all playable weapon shield/armor/hull damage values (excluding Strike Craft) to reflect the way weapons work in Elite: Dangerous. For clarity, NPCs with exclusive weaponry like the Stellarite Devourer and Dimensional Horror are untouched.
Simply put, this mod mostly inverts how energy and kinetic weapons work in Stellaris. Lasers do more shield damage now, but less hull/armor damage. Mass drivers do more hull and armor damage, but less shield damage. Some weapons, like missiles and archaeotech, have been changed more dramatically. Please be aware that I did not consider balance much when making this, so please let me know if youd like me to make any changes.
Detailed changes and a short explanation for each are listed below.
ENERGY WEAPON CHANGES
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Lasers;
Vanilla: +25% hull damage, -50% shield damage, +50% armor damage
Mod: -50% hull damage, +50% shield damage, -50% armor damage
Why: Lasers in Elite deal damage that is strong against shields and weak against hull/modules
Mining Lasers;
Vanilla: +50% hull damage, -50% shield damage, +50% armor damage
Mod: -25% hull damage, +100% shield damage, -50% armor damage
Why: Mining Lasers in Elite are worthless in combat, so I took some liberties with this one. I made them slightly better than regular Lasers at doing hull and shield damage so they have a reason to exist.
Lances;
Vanilla: +50% hull damage, -50% shield damage, +100% armor damage
Mod: -50% hull damage, +100% shield damage, -50% armor damage
Why: Lances are just big Lasers, so I doubled their damage to shields
Perdition Beams;
Vanilla: +25% hull damage, -25% shield damage, +50% armor damage
Mod: -50% hull damage, +100% shield damage, -50% armor damage
Why: Perdition Beams are also just big lasers so they get the same values as Lances
Plasma Launchers;
Vanilla: +50% hull damage, -75% shield damage, +100% armor damage
Mod: +0% hull damage, +0% shield damage, +0% armor damage, +10% shield penetration, +10% armor penetration
Why: Plasma Accelerators in Elite deal damage that ignores resistances of shields, hull, and armor. To emulate this I gave them slight penetration of both shields and armor in Stellaris, plus made their damage bonuses the same across the board
Disruptors;
Vanilla: +0% hull damage, +0% shield damage, +0% armor damage, +100% shield penetration, +100% armor penetration
Mod: Unchanged
Energy Launchers;
Vanilla: +75% hull damage, -50% shield damage, +50% armor damage
Mod: Unchanged
Why: Disruptors and Energy Launchers are unique to Stellaris and I felt that they filled a specific niche, so I did not change their values at all
Arc Emitters;
Vanilla: +0% hull damage, +0% shield damage, +0% armor damage, +100% shield penetration, +100% armor penetration
Mod: +0% hull damage, +400% shield damage, +0% armor damage, +90% shield penetration, +0% armor penetration
Why: Thargoid Interceptors in Elite use a lightning attack similar to an Arc Emitter, that effectively shuts down shielding so I gave Emitters a crazy high shield damage boost as well as changed their shield penetration value to 90% so that they damage shields while basically ignoring them
Cloud Lightning;
Vanilla: +0% hull damage, +0% shield damage, +0% armor damage, +100% shield penetration, +100% armor penetration
Mod: +0% hull damage, +400% shield damage, +0% armor damage, +90% shield penetration, +0% armor penetration
Why: Cloud Lightning is just an Arc Emitter so it gets the same values
Point Defense;
Vanilla: +0% hull damage, -75% shield damage, +100% armor damage, +25% armor penetration
Mod: -25% hull damage, +100% shield damage, -75% armor damage, +0% armor penetration
Why: Point Defense in Stellaris is basically just small Lasers so I changed their values to maintain some consistency with the other Lasers
KINETIC WEAPON CHANGES
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Mass Drivers;
Vanilla: +0% hull damage, +50% shield damage, -50% armor damage
Mod: +25% hull damage, -50% shield damage, +25% armor damage
Why: Mass Drivers are the Stellaris equivalent of Elite’s Cannons. Cannons in Elite do damage that damages modules and can cause hull breaches due to their high armor piercing value, but are not very effective against shields. To emulate this, I gave Mass Drivers bonus damage against hull and armor but reduced their shield damage
Autocannons;
Vanilla: +25% hull damage, +50% shield damage, -75% armor damage
Mod: +50% hull damage, -50% shield damage, +0% armor damage
Why: Autocannons are the Stellaris equivalent of Elite’s Multicannons. Multicannons in Elite can shred hulls due to their high rate of fire, but have low armor penetration and shield damage values. To emulate this in Stellaris, I gave Autocannons higher hull damage, lower shield damage, and no bonus/malus to armor damage
Kinetic Artillery;
Vanilla: +0% hull damage, +100% shield damage, -50% armor damage
Mod: +25% hull damage, -50% shield damage, +25% armor damage, +25% armor penetration
Why: Kinetic Artillery is just a big Cannon, so it mostly gets the same values as the Mass Driver. However, thanks to being larger, they would have a higher armor penetration value. To reflect this, I gave Kinetic Artillery a small amount of armor penetration
Mega Cannons;
Vanilla: +0% hull damage, +50% shield damage, -25% armor damage
Mod: +25% hull damage, -50% shield damage, +50% armor damage, +25% armor penetration
Why: Given their titanic size, they would have the highest armor penetration value of the bunch. To reflect this, I gave Mega Cannons the extra damage to armor
Flak;
Vanilla: +0% hull damage, +100% shield damage, -75% armor damage, +25% shield penetration
Mod: +100% hull damage, -50% shield damage, +0% armor damage, +0% shield penetration, +25% armor penetration
Why: Flak in Elite has a slightly above average armor piercing value, and low overall damage. It also deals Explosive damage, which is good against hulls. I emulated this in Stellaris by giving Flak Batteries higher hull damage and a small amount of armor penetration
Missiles/Torpedoes;
Vanilla: +0% hull damage, +0% shield damage, +0% armor damage, +100% shield penetration
Mod: +0% hull damage, -50% shield damage, +50% armor damage, +0% shield penetration, +50% armor penetration
Why: Missiles in Elite are incredibly ineffective against shields, but are capable of doing high explosive damage to the hull and can hit multiple modules at once. I removed their shield penetration in Stellaris and gave them 50% armor penetration instead, as well as extra damage to armor but low damage to shields
Swarmer Missiles;
Vanilla: +0% hull damage, +0% shield damage, +0% armor damage, +100% shield penetration
Mod: +100% hull damage, -50% shield damage, +0% armor damage, +0% shield penetration
Why: Swarmer Missiles are the Stellaris equivalent of Pack-Hounds, so their smaller size would mean they get no armor penetration but higher hull damage, as they are great at destroying modules
ARCHAEOTECH CHANGES
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Archaeotech kinda sucks in my opinion, so all archeotech weapons have better damage values than their regular counterpart.
For example:
Gamma Laser (GL) vs Ancient Cavitation Collapser (ACC);
GL: -50% hull damage, +50% shield damage, -50% armor damage
ACC: -25% hull damage, +100% shield damage, -25% armor damage