They were all balanced, apparently, based on parasites being really broken. Now, it's the exterms that are broken; hardly a single AI will not kill a parasite before it does any real damage!

EDIT: okay, never mind. I tested it out on a base with no exterminator, and it maxed at the same, ridiculously low amount of damage. Something like 300 DPS from 40 of the best sludges. My head is full of %$#$ now.

I believe, amazingly enough, that most parasite weapons need a beef.

Parasites don't build up like they used to and cause massive damage, there is little to no reason to use an exterminator anymore since the parasites are so few. I remember I once was able to PvP players with an Ice Sludger who didn't have exterms, now I will do at most a laughable 10 - 20 damage per tick for a few seconds with no exterm.

/me lolz at doing 700 damage a tick on an Icepick because of fires building up

But yeah, just pure parasite weapons such as the Ice Sludger, Super Duper Ice Sludger, etc should be beefed. (or at least the parasite)

I'm looking forward to the ensuing complaints about basils raping peeps.

but yes I agree in general, parasites are a cool idea, and a potentially good game mechanic... beef some of the player ones.

I think that weapons that are based only about 50% on parasite damage are just fine; fires work just fine as anyone who's done an uber run can attest to, and basil bacteria are already overpowered anyway(could almost remove their actual damage...parasites do a lot of damage!)

The problem is with items like the syringes, the super ice sludgers, etc. Even when the enemy doesn't even have an exterminator, they don't do what they're supposed to do! Ice sludgers don't make the target noticibly heavier, even the super duper versions, and their damage is fairly pathetic, for example.