First impressions and some questions

[Awaras]

Started playing the beta yesterday, like what I see so far.

I had a question regarding weapon mounts. I just researched the first few ships that can mount heavy weapons, and now the icons for my old, small mount weapons in the design screen have changed:



The laser, coilgun and nuclear missiles are now shown as 'bundles' of two each. My guess is that the heavy mounts can mount two of the weapons at the same time, but the damage shown for the double laser in the heavy mount in the top left corner and the single one in the turret below reads the same: 1-10 dmg. Is there a point in mounting small weapons in heavy hardpoints?

Another thing I noticed is that, when targeting an enemy with lasers, the lasers will fire at the part of the enemy ship that you point at with your mouse cursor. Is there a point to this (Can you, for example, target the enemy's weapons or engines in this way) or is it just cosmetic?

[Arioch]

The laser, coilgun and nuclear missiles are now shown as 'bundles' of two each. My guess is that the heavy mounts can mount two of the weapons at the same time, but the damage shown for the double laser in the heavy mount in the top left corner and the single one in the turret below reads the same: 1-10 dmg. Is there a point in mounting small weapons in heavy hardpoints?

Yes. A regular laser mounted in a heavy hardpoint will actually have two weapons that each fire, whereas a heavy laser will only have one.

Another thing I noticed is that, when targeting an enemy with lasers, the lasers will fire at the part of the enemy ship that you point at with your mouse cursor. Is there a point to this (Can you, for example, target the enemy's weapons or engines in this way) or is it just cosmetic?

It's just cosmetic.

[Awaras]

Yes. A regular laser mounted in a heavy hardpoint will actually have two weapons that each fire, whereas a heavy laser will only have one.

That makes sense, but I really think that this should be more clearly presented in the ship design window, since right now there is no indication of that other than the visual appearance of the weapon.

Maybe the hardpoint stat in the upper right corner of my screenshot should read 'Laser x 6' instead of 'x 3' to make the difference clear?

[Awaras]

A few more observations:

The shields seem a bit too strong, but it might just be me. Maybe I need to invest more into researching new weapons.

Why is the ship design button placed in the 'Esc' menu with save/load/options? Wouldn't it be more logical to have a design button somewhere on the main screen?

[Arioch]

Why is the ship design button placed in the 'Esc' menu with save/load/options? Wouldn't it be more logical to have a design button somewhere on the main screen?

Probably. You can also get into the ship design screen by shift-clicking on a ship in the production menu.

[sven]

Why is the ship design button placed in the 'Esc' menu with save/load/options? Wouldn't it be more logical to have a design button somewhere on the main screen?

Probably. You can also get into the ship design screen by shift-clicking on a ship in the production menu.

Yeah, this is one of those things that has long been on the "too-fix" list, but that those of us who know the hidden hotkey have gotten a bit complacent about it. Right now, we're working on putting in a much needed update for the planet production screens -- replacing the old-shift click designer access is probably something we can do at the same time.

[sven]

Maybe the hardpoint stat in the upper right corner of my screenshot should read 'Laser x 6' instead of 'x 3' to make the difference clear?

Opps That was indeed the way it worked, in earlier builds. One of the more recent weapon update passes must have broken something. Thanks for pointing this out...

edit: should be patched on 'dev' (r12731).