Alternate equipment.csv

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• Is there a way to specify an alternate equipmnet.csv in the definition of a mission, or to load an existing mission but specify an alternate equipment.csv?
  
  From the directory structure of /serverdata and the way the data loaders seem to work, it does not look possible, but I thought I would ask anyway.
  
  Basically what I'm getting at is whether I could for example play a game with original Laser Squad equipment stats, or a set of equipment stats where lasers are buffed so they are not generally inferior to the other weapons.
  Posted by SPIKE 16 days ago [Login to reply]



• There isn't I'm afraid. That's the file the server loads for all equipment. However, if you feel any stats need changing, feel free to post to the forum where it can be discussed and if there's general agreement, I can change them. I've not looked at the stats for a while. I usually look at what are the most/least popular weapons to see which ones might be over/under powered.
  Posted by SteveSmith 15 days ago [Login to reply]



• Thanks Steve. I didn?t wanted to suggest changing what everyone has got used to for 14+ years hence asking if theee was a way to load an alternate equipment file.
  
  But thank you for the suggestion, I will give that some thought.
  
  Lasers are not great in original Laser Squad either, ironically. But they do have two benefits that are not in the current equipment data, namely
  
  Much higher ammo capacity, about double that of ballistic weapons
  More rapid fire (lower AP) with similar overall accuracy per AP
  Similar or better ammo costs per shot
  Posted by SPIKE 15 days ago [Login to reply]



• As you said in a post long ago Steve, the stats in the original game are a mess - at least if the manual is to be believed - I may take a look at the code to see if Gollup rationalised the weapon stats beyond what the manual says, but the original Laser Squad manual data is full of illogical and contradictory data. Some themes emerge however.
  
  - compared to Stellar Forces pistols are significantly worse in accuracy and accuracy per AP. Their increased RoF does not really compensate for this. SF makes pistols much more viable by greatly narrowing the gap between pistols and rifles on accuracy, accuracy/AP and ammo capacity.
  
  - base weapon accuracies are much lower in the original, although the effect of skill in the original is very complex and not well documented, so that would require a code dig.
  - the clear overall winner in the original game is the MK-1,far more clearly even than the Marsec Autogun is in Stellar Forces. Not great game design in the original to have such a go-to weapon.
  
  - the "laser sniper" (L80) is the very clear winner in absolute first shot accuracy, again much more starkly so than in Stellar Forces. This at least makes sense and is balanced by many other drawbacks of this weapon.
  
  - pistols do not have auto fire apart from one type that has comparatively poor autofire and is generally inferior to the other pistols in single shot mode. That's kind of realistic about how ballistic pistols work. Physics etc.
  
  Generalising about original Laser Squad lasers
  
  - ridiculous weight and size
  - much higher auto ROF than any ballistics
  - somewhat better snap ROF than ballistics and about the same accuracy/AP, but with substantially lower damage
  - generally shockingly bad accuracy, with the sole exception of the "laser snioer".
  
  In summary it's hard to understand why anyone would bother developing these weapons let alone deploying them, apart from the sniper role for the L80 and the spray and pray close assault role for the H50 or the virtually identical Heavy Laser. Basically these are shotguns.
  Posted by SPIKE 12 days ago [Login to reply]



• Fixing lasers is a lot harder than I first thought.
  
  Going back to first principles:
  
  I don't see any reason why they should be inaccurate. On the contrary they ought to be more accurate than ballistic weapons. For related reasons they should be rapid firing in all modes. Recoil is minimal, gravity drop is nil, air resistance effects minimal.
  
  You could decide that the mechanical rate of fire is slow due to heating or whatever. But the human factors of rate of fire should be beneficial.
  
  You could decide they are heavy. In principle there's nothing wrong with that. But, you then have to give a reason why someone brings a heavy object to the battlefield as their main weapon that determines if they live or die. If it weighs the same as a heavy weapon it needs heavy weapon advantage of some kind.
  
  Going all the way back to the source for these games: Traveler. In that game lasers are heavy but hit very hard and have huge ammo capacity. They are also armour piercing and can kill hardened targets. That is the only reason that justifies carrying them on to the battlefield.
  
  In SF terms those laser weapons would have damage of say 80 for a laser carbine and 100 for a laser rifle. Ammo would be 50 and 100 respectively. Accuracy and APs would be similar or better than the Marsec long guns.
  
  In Traveler lasers don't have auto fire due to cooling limitations and that's a balancing factor.
  
  In Laser Squad and Stellar Forces lasers have auto. In SF terms (SF is scaled to 60APs = 100% APs) the laser auto modes should be 2APs per shot. In Laser Squad these shots are at 3% accuracy. I find that low accuracy hard to justify when there is almost no recoil. But some limitation is needed to stop auto lasers being OP. I would suggest reduced damage per shot when in auto mode. An explanation could be made for that.
  
  Alternatively you could drop the weight to normal levels, same as ballistic guns, and then either drop the damage or drop the ammo. You still have a superior weapon. But we don't develop and deploy new types of weapons unless they are superior in some way. Maybe as a further balance factor lasers can't be reloaded in combat (az in Traveler).
  
  Anyway those are the ideas I have been kicking around.
  Posted by SPIKE 12 days ago [Login to reply]



• I guess another option would be to use the weapon stats from the first XCOM game. Julian's third iteration of these rules. Those are very well balanced.
  Posted by SPIKE 12 days ago [Login to reply]

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