We have a massive problem, literally. The masses of the ships are all severely broken and just wrong. Lets look at the current numbers, why they are set this way, and after some looks at the ships, why they are very wrong. Then we will get to the solution.
Most to least massive:
Galleon Mass: 320 t
Obviously, it is a big, heavy ship.
Pyramidian Mass: 300 t
People want it to hit hard during rams.
Goldfish Mass: 150 t
Medium size ship, medium mass. Pretty good.
Spire Mass: 150 t
What? Why? It is a glass cannon so it is supposed to be bounced around?
Junker Mass: 125 t
A bit on the heavy side. We will get to that.
Squid Mass: 95 t
Light and fast.
Now let's look at an image. I have removed all balloons and flags, which contribute little to the overall weight. The problems should be instantly apparent.
Based on pure metal and wood content, the Junker should actually be the lightest ship, or on par with the Squid. There should not be an issue giving them similar weights and adjusting the Junker forces to match. One is a well constructed speed machine, while the other is a poorly thrown together heap after all, and the Junker should be easy to bounce around.
Then we have the Goldfish and Galleons, which seem to be in an OK place. Their weights mostly make sense.
However, on the far right, we have the mass of the Spire looking down on all the other little baaby ships, saying "Oh, I almost didn't see you there Pyra..." Speaking of the Pyramidian... what the hell man? This ship is on par with or should be slightly heavier than the Goldfish, 200 t at most, not near-sumo like the Galleon. Hell, the Spire dwarfs even the Galleon in shear size and amount of metal used.
It is time to fix this.
First off, change all ship masses to something reasonable. Here are the new masses from light to heavy.
Junker Mass: 90 t
Squid Mass: 95 t
Goldfish Mass: 150 t
Pyramidian Mass: 175 t
Galleon Mass: 300 t
Spire Mass: 330 t
Adjust forces to keep the ship speeds relatively the same. "But now the Pyra can't ram!!!!!" you say? Well, it is time to bring in a mechanic to solve a long time balance issue.
Per-ship impact modifiers! (written in Impact font, no less)What is this magical modifier, you ask? It is only the best thing to happen to ramming since ever. Each ship would take different amounts of Impact type damage based on their modifier. A ship that has a 1.5x modifier will take 50% more damage from an impact, while a ship with 0.75 will take 25% less.
How is that going to fix everything? It just sound extra complicated, right? Wrong. Let's apply some numbers to the ships, and explain why.
Junker: 0.9x Impact damage. Yes, it is a light, poorly constructed ship made of garbage and wishes. However, this is what saves it. Ever do an egg drop? Yes, those things where you make a lightweight, most of the time poorly constructed shell out of garbage and wishes to protect an egg. When they hit the ground, they deform rather than breaking. A junker is one of those without the egg. When it is impacted, it simply flexes to absorb some of the damage. It is also light enough to bounce away instead of deforming to critical.
Squid: 1.75x Impact damage. It is fast, it is solid, it is lightweight. It flies apart like an F1 racer if it touches anything. This allows it to keep its 'tanky' bullet soaking ability without turning it into a sky torpedo as well. How amazing would that be?
Goldfish: No change.
Pyramidian: 0.75x Impact. It is solid and it is pointy. The ramming horn is not connected to the main hull, making it more flexible like the Junker. Let's face it. This thing was made for ramming. The stupidly high mass was meant to facilitate this in a very poor manner. With the loss of mass, it gains reduced impact damage. It loses some ability to inflict damage, but that could be compensated with a higher top speed (which I think a lot of people have been asking for) Did I mention Mines have Impact damage? That means this little vanguard can charge though a mine field with careless disregard.
Galleon: No change.
Spire: 3x Impact damage? The Spire is large, heavy, solid, and powerful. It is also tall, and prone to shear forces. Since its construction is very solid, it has no plasticity or deformation ability like the Junker or Pyra. This makes it vulnerable to rams and impacts.
The Spire is a special case, as it is NOT the ship it is supposed to be right now. This change in Impact damage reflects what the Spire should be. Just look at it and tell me that is the profile of a glass cannon. The Spire is the Paladin of the game, not the Wizard (Mobula is the wizard). It is a quick response city defense platform. The Spire should have copious amounts of armor and hull, like or exceeding the Galleon, with the highest vertical acceleration of all the ships. The Spire's weaknesses will still be its tall profile and large balloon (easy targets). With added Impact damage, having a balloon drop will cause much more ground damage.
So, you end up with two ships you rarely want to ram with, one specifically designed for it, and one sponge.
