The Orion Nebula

I think, that crew Killing weapons are still too strong.
It is quite easy to reduce the Crew of Ships and Starbases to 0 and then Invade them with Tractor Beams, Transporter or Assault Ships.

Damperfields already have the special ability to make the Crew immune to such weapons, but they are too difficult to get (the Game is likely to be already over before you get your Hands on this tech)

What do you think about this modification-idea:

- Troop pods not only increase the Number of Crew Members, they also make the Crew immune to crew Killing Weapons (Neutron Blaster and Deathray).

Would it be possible to change this in a Mod, and do you think about it?
I think, this yould be a nice countertech for Crew-killing-and-invading-afterwards Tactics. At the moment, this tactic is very strong and almost impossible to counter. (you not only disable enemy shipy easyly by doing this, you get the ship techs als well).

Or just remove the crew-killing flag from said two weapons. How to do this is well known.

I think, that crew Killing weapons are still too strong.
It is quite easy to reduce the Crew of Ships and Starbases to 0 and then Invade them with Tractor Beams, Transporter or Assault Ships.

There is one point about crew killing weapons, which shouldn't be overlooked. These weapons are beams, and while they're beams, they may have problems hitting its target, if the target got high beam defense. In games vs AI its obviously not a problem to hit with beams. However this is not the case with humans. So crew killing weapons cannot be counted as ultimate.

Or you could reduce the damage done by Neutron Blaster and remove the Heavy mod from it; that way you're left with a short-range weapon that isn't too well suited for blasting shields and armor at long range, but still effective (if a little less) at killing marines.

Another point in a human vs. human game is that neutron blasters can be a DEFENSIVE weapon against those wicked players who like to raid your ships with power-armored marines.

Yes, i absolutely agree marine-killer beam weapons are not overpowered.

@ the OP - try some different tactics defending against boarders -

a) - as said eariler in this thread - a good beam defense is not hard to get: especially with smaller ships.
b) again as said eariler - marine-killing beam weapons are just as easy to use in defence as in attack: if not easier.
c) use tractor beams to hold your enemy at arms length to stop him getting in boarding range
d) pick creative to get a solid ground combat strength (for having all the ground combat techs)
e) in desperate straits security stations can help (though they are pretty crap) and troop pods.
f) if your opponent shows signs of having a high ground combat capability (high G, creative, + ground combat, telepathic etc) then make hard shields a priority tech to protect you from the deadly transporters.