[BorisBlade]

ES variants of weapons that are really more just a visual difference, aka different projectile look and weapon model but act the same otherwise, those are fine and simple to do.

But when they start tryin to get them to work differently it quickly can become a balance issue. Look at the MA weaps. Which in basic function are exactly the same, only the fire rates/damage per hit are really different which seems easy to balance. The cycler seems fine with its lower damage because of its higher fire rate which in theory should be the same overall. But due to the nature of ranged burst fire, how that interacts with bloom, the way armor absorbs damage, etc. It ends up being quite inferior. And dont get me started on the HA weaps.....those are a nightmare. It could all be fixed but its not as simple as you would think sometimes.

I like the empires to play a bit different but its a delicate line in a game like this. Giving advantages in some situations to certain empires just frustrates the others. Luckily the customization aspects could allow for features that allow every weapon to all have the same functional aspects with different tweaks or mods. Atleast to some extent.