Old balance issues

[onca]

Subject: Junkers ships & weapons

Hi Igiss, a few suggestions on the Junkers Collector VHF. At the moment it's not really anything -- it is substantially weaker in firepower and maneuvrability than other VHF's, yet has a crappy cargo hold size (120) compared to freighters. So it does not fit role of either combat or cargo vessel very well. I guess it is supposed to a compromise between the two -- but a poor compromise which forces Junker players to RP with less favourable ships. I would suggest two alternatives to improve:

- Freighter option: Increase armour to 20,000 and hold size to 200.

- Fighter option: Increase gun hardpoints to either 4x class-10 fixed + 2x turrets, or 5x class-10 fixed and 1x turret. (In addition to the rear one, of course). A modest increase in energy to go with it. Also improve turning rate a little, or increase armour to 14,000.

There are also issues with the Junkers weapons. If the Collector is to remain as is then these suggestions are especially important:

- Barrager Mark V (class 9) is substantially weaker than all other comparable weapons. Suggest increasing damage output from 198 to (say) 260/sec. This may seem overkill, but remember Barrager has a slow speed (600) compared to other laser weapons.

- The best Barrager turret is only class 3, or 109 dam/sec (IIRC). This especially hobbles the Collector with its reliance on 2 turrets. We need a better one, class 5 preferably, with damage comparable to its fixed counterpart.

Hope this is ok!

EDIT: If the Junkers guns are adjusted as suggested, then a change to Collector's weapons configuration probably isn't so important. But I'd still like to see hull/cargo/energy adjustments as appropriate.