Freelancer had quite a few different weapon types and in Sins of the Sirius Sector I am bringing those weapon types along for the ride; however there will be some differences to what you are used to in Freelancer...
First of all, the majority of weapon types will have two versions. The 'light' and 'heavy' version. This is so that weapon upgrade technology can give different bonuses within one 'group'.
Generally light weapons will be used by fighters and smaller craft, while the heavy versions will be used by heavier ships and capitals.
Two other changes, based on my personal preference are this:
Laser, Photon and Tachyon weapons are now beam weapons. Freelancer didn't have beam weapons due to engine constraints, modders found lots of creative ways to simulate them but nothing really worked perfectly.
Sins doesn't have that limitation. The reasoning behind this change is that I've always felt a little annoyed when 'lasers' have been bolt weapons. They should be beams. As photon weapons are light particles, and basically a laser that works on different principles they get the change too. Tachyons become beams because a tachyon particle is a theoretical particle that moves faster than light therefor it makes sense to make them instant-hit beams.
the other is projectile weapons. Freelancer didn't have them by default, though looking through the game files it seems that it was intended at some point.
Since I love hard projectiles in space games, they are added to freelancer in the forms of various railguns, autocannons and flechette guns. They wont detract too much from the original weapons, but the intention is to add some variety.
The last thing to make a note of, is that there are 4 types of 'missile' weapons in the mod.
Homing missiles: weak but fast missiles that are often fired rapidly. They are good at hitting fighters (especially those fast light fighters)
Heavy Missiles: These are the hard hitting long range missiles. They cant catch light fighters, but can get larger classes.
EMP Missiles: These missiles only damage shields, and some ships have boosted versions that will also damage energy or have other effects
Torpedoes: These are large, powerful and slow. Primarily for hitting capitals and stations. Can't hit fighters at all as they don't have the required tracking abilities
Cruise Disruptors will be represented through abilities.
So, the weapon types in total are as follows:
Light Laser
Heavy Laser
Light Particle
Heavy Particle
Light Photon
Heavy Photon
Light Tachyon
Heavy Tachyon
Light Plasma
Heavy Plasma
Light Neutron
Heavy Neutron
Light Kinetic
Heavy Kinetic
Pulse
Homing Missile
Heavy Missile
EMP Missile
Torpedo
Unknown (nomad energy weapons)
Pulse weapons only damage shields and as such they have only one version.
Nomad weapons use Unknown damage type, except the Nomad torpedoes, which use Torpedo type, but flagged as energy rather than physical.
Kinetic Damage type is the one that represents all railgun/autocannon/flechette weapons.
That's all for now!
Any questions feel free to ask, I'll try to answer in good time
Thanks again to everyone following the mod, it's great to know people are interested in it!
