Because a ship with lots or range bonuses will break them either way. This would also entail an arbitrary split in weapons. I dunno, it just seems like it would solve all the problems if we put in the 3-stage system so I don't see the point of trying anything more cumbersome.

Class locked items, according to Blue Dwarf, does nothing to the stats atm. All it does is limit who uses them.

Was quite upset when Blue Dwarf told me.

Just correcting your statement, Biggee.

I really don't think there's anything wrong, conceptually, with the current 3-stage tracking system. overall, on zerkers, the tracking works quite reasonably. I suspect however that the tracking bonuses for snipers and AI, and perhaps certain weapons (read: ZHT), were over-exaggerated to compensate for the previously mysterious difficulties in using torpedoes in short or mid range.

One change that would definitely balance the tracking over the short range would be killing the pre-burn tracking, so that the torpedoes initially go straight out from where the shooter was pointing at launch time. This would make it much easier for SDs to avoid the projectiles at short range, because moving halfway around the target in between launch and burn would cause the projectiles to go in a wide arc that likely wouldnt result in a hit.

Alternatively, because that may be a bit extreme, could we put a fractional tracking on torpedoes pre-burn, so that they turn at maybe one-sixth rate of burn tracking so that they do track a little before the burn, but not enough to fully track an SD?

tl;dr I think the only problems with the current 3-stage system are the initial tracking and possibly overcompensated balancing on tracking previous to this change.