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# System prepended metadata

title: dopas cas rebalance patch note

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dopas cas rebalance patch notes woo!!!!!!!!!

**goals:** 
tie requisitions and cas point gen together more closely
buff underutilized options and nerf overutilized options to bring choices more in line with each other and give CAS pilots more functional variety
make cas more fun to play as and against

**nongoals:**
buff CAS as a whole
nerf CAS as a whole
increase the strength of already good options, or nerf bad ones


**1. Point generation from corpse selling**
At the moment, CAS is somewhat disconnected from requisitions. [#12547](https://github.com/tgstation/TerraGov-Marine-Corps/pull/12547/files) connected dropship point generation with miners, which was a very positive change. However, CAS often runs into the issue with some games where requisition is fluorishing due to lots of xeno corpses being sold, but CAS is doing poorly even without spending much due to a lack of miners. By tying CAS point generation to exports, and similtaneously increasing the cost of most items, this patch aims to make CAS points more meaningfully attached to requisitions - a fluorishing requisitions should be mirrored by a fluorishing CAS, and likewise in games where marines aren't securing kills/corpses CAS should struggle more.

Currently, the base point per minute formula is calculated as (orbit_level+3) * 3, which works out to 12, 18, and 24 points per minute (on low, mid, and high orbit respectively.) Balancing off the 18 value, the following balancing math will make the following (admittedly arbitrary) assumptions: marines secure an average of 2 to 3 miners at a given time (with plat miners counting double), and marines export a rough average of 200 points a minute (or 2000 per 10 minutes).

Factoring in the expected return of a miner as 15 points every 140 seconds, the expected point generation of CAS at medium orbit is currently near 30 to 35 points per minute. With the addition of 5% of export value, this is expected to increase to a rough range of 40-45 points per minute. As such, without further balancing reasons, **prices should increase roughly 33-40% across the board to compensate.**

**2. Making orbit matter more**
Back when [#6267](https://github.com/tgstation/TerraGov-Marine-Corps/pull/6267/files) was created, orbit was the only source of point generation CAS had available, so the change was sort of necessary to make low orbit not totally gimp the pilot's point generation. With the addition of other sources of CAS point generation, I'm reverting this change back to orbit_level * 6. This will have no effect on medium orbit, will halve the base point gen on low orbit (12->6), and will increase the point generation on high orbit by 25% (24->30). Paired with the general cost increases, this should hopefully make high orbit more enticing and low orbit more punishing compared to before, especially when marines are generating low amounts of requisition points.

**3. Every single other change**
GAU: 400 -> 300
Rocket Pod: 600 -> 450
Minirocket Pod: 600 -> 450
As-is, the non-laser cannon weapons are hilariously overpriced. The only reason you are ever printing one is for gimmick 3/4 weapon strategies. A 25% cost reduction combined with an increase in expected point generation should let our pilots be a little sillier without effectively locking them out of the game because of it.

Laser Cannon: 600 -> 800
I considered increasing the cost further, but decided to instead focus the change towards laser ammo, instead.

30mm: 75 -> 100
Highvel 30mm: 150 -> 250
Harsher change for highvel because it's already pretty strong.
Also multiplied the round counter by x10 (their examine description will now say they have 2000 rounds and fire in bursts of 200) as a purely cosmetic change - if they supposedly fire at 5200 RPM, it feels really weird they're firing 20 rounds a burst.

Laser Battery: 85 -> 150
Laser ammo is a bit too affordable once you have the gun. The laser cannon already boasts several powerful advantages, it doesn't need to be an economic powerhouse, too.

Widowmaker: 75 -> 225
Incredibly overdue change, and honestly might not be far enough. With a halved travel time (3s default, 1s low) and a 2/4/7 radius, the widowmaker similtaneously boasted both an absurdly cheap price and the crown as the best missile for eliminating single squishy targets. The widowmaker will keep it's niche as the latter, but will no longer simply be the objectively best missile to print in virtually any situation.
Banshee: 150 -> 225
Fatty: 250  -> 325
Napalm: 200 -> 250
Napalm is underutilized compared to its friend the banshee. Hopefully making its price a little more competitive makes it more reasonable.
Keeper II: 300 -> 300
The Keeper has long been a mediocre missile held back by its incredible price. Now it's just a mediocre missile. Yaaay.

HE minirocket: 100 -> 175, time to impact: 4s -> 2s, light explosion range: 4 -> 3
HE minirockets have nothing going for them. Ask virtually any CAS pilot what they use HE minis for, and they'll say something like, "fuck, I dunno. Moving bodies?" And then you'll hear a corpsman angrily shout, "STOP DOING THAT! I HAVE TO FIX THEM UP!" This change aims to give them a unique niche: the fastest non-laser weapon. In exchange, their already small LE range gets a bit smaller - with a weapon this fast, the user should be expected to be more accurate with their shots. The hopeful goal is this makes the HE minis overall more skill intensive on both sides and gives them a niche that makes them not just a worse 30mm.
Incen minis: 200 -> 250
Tangle minis: 150 -> 200
Tacsmoke minis: 25 -> 75
These were just way too cheap. Coating an area with tacsmoke isn't nearly as powerful as tangle, but it's still pretty damn strong.
Flare minis: 25 -> 50