I like the spider lab as is - the power of an all-terrain raider would be nightmarish, so I'm happy with their instagibby paper fleas.
The mace is, in general, OP. It's time to give up and reclassify the thing as a skirmisher and balance it as such.
Between the Mace and the Penetrator (and the fact that the Con is basically a hovering Masion) I'm thinking the only reason everybody doesn't start Hovers is their terrible raider/scout unit.
Gauss rifle weapons are, in general, weak. They've got several values that make them impossible to balance properly:
- They can hit multiple targets by passing through.
- They do more damage to larger (by hitbox) targets.
- They penetrate shields
- They get rangeboost from high altitude (this seems extremely finicky in my experienc).
So it's no wonder that the only gauss weapon that performs reasonably is the turret. Assault forces tend to be shielded or include dense packs or large hitboxes.
Weapon E-costs have been deprecated for non-stockpile weaponry. I think it game out of a failed attempt to have an energy-storageless economy, but either way it does simplify the game a bit.
The AA/non-AA break is problematic in general. ZK tried to move away from the BA/Uberhack superhard-distinction between AA and non-AA units, but it has kind of failed in this vein. Dedicated AA units make multifunction units look pathetic and hard-counter entire labs.
And yes, the Kiss, while not terribly effective at gunning down large swarms of enemy air, is
fantastic at simply surviving and soaking up damage.
