The video demonstrates that while high-damage weapons can penetrate the energy thresholds of large ships as intended, smaller weapons exploit unarmored turrets—major weak spots—to inflict significant damage and even destroy these ships, revealing a critical flaw in the game’s damage system. The creator urges developers to address this imbalance by adding turret armor to maintain gameplay fairness and prevent light fighters from disproportionately harming capital ships.
In this video, the creator conducts a threshold damage test using two types of weapons: size 3 Pentalisa repeaters with an alpha damage of 43.7 and size 3 Omniski 9 laser cannons with an alpha damage of 218.7. The test targets two ships, the Warden and the Perseus, which have energy threshold values of 62 and 106 respectively. According to the threshold damage mechanics, the Pentalisa repeaters should not be able to damage these ships, while the Omniski 9 cannons should. However, the test reveals surprising results that challenge these expectations.
Initially, the creator demonstrates that while the Pentalisa repeaters do not visibly damage the Warden’s main hull, they can damage the ship’s turrets, which are not armored. The damage inflicted on the turrets eventually bleeds through to the rest of the ship, causing significant damage and even destroying the Warden. This reveals a major flaw in the game’s damage system, as turrets represent a large weak spot that can be exploited despite the ship’s energy threshold protection.
The test continues with the Perseus, showing similar results. The Pentalisa repeaters fail to damage the hull due to the higher energy threshold, but again, the turrets take damage and the damage bleeds through to the ship’s front, causing visible harm. The creator argues that turrets should be armored to prevent this exploit, especially large turrets on capital ships like the Perseus. This weakness undermines the intended gameplay balance of threshold damage and allows smaller weapons to damage much larger ships.
In contrast, the Omniski 9 laser cannons perform as expected, dealing damage to both the Warden and Perseus regardless of where the shots land, thanks to their higher alpha damage exceeding the ships’ thresholds. This confirms that the threshold damage mechanic works correctly for weapons with sufficient alpha damage, but the turret vulnerability creates an unintended loophole for lower-damage weapons.
The creator concludes that while the threshold damage system has potential, its current implementation is crude and incomplete. The lack of turret armor creates huge weak spots that disrupt gameplay balance, allowing light fighters to damage large ships in ways that should be impossible. The creator hopes the developers will address this issue soon, possibly in future updates like Maelstrom, and invites viewers to suggest other tests. Overall, the video highlights a significant flaw in the game’s damage model that needs urgent fixing.