Is Disruptor Ammo supposed to be this way?

I was doing some experimentation with the Disruptor Ammo module, and I noticed some irregularities in how the various weapons it applies to (Light Particle Beam, Shotgun, Heavy Machine Gun) are affected by it. I was wondering if there a particular reason for this, or if it's maybe just legacy balancing from a previous commander system.

Disruptor Ammo affects the Shotgun and Heavy Machine Gun weapons in a predictable manner: it cuts the damage output of the weapon in half, then adds half of that back as slow damage. I'm guessing this is the intended implementation of the Disruptor Ammo module, but it strikes me as being very inefficient -- 450 metal is a lot for an upgrade that actually reduces your commander's output. Disruptor Bomb only cost 200 metal, why not get that instead?

On the other hand, Light Particle Beam changes drastically with the Disruptor Ammo module. It goes from being a weapon that shoots a 55-damage shot, three times a second; to a weapon that shoots 165-damage-plus-230-slow shots, every other second. Not only does Disruptor Ammo affect the Light Particle Beam differently than it does the Shotgun and HMG, it increases the commander's overall DPS, as opposed to decreasing it.

Is there a reason Disruptor Ammo works this way?

Slow damage does not decay for 0.5s so a HMG (0.16s reload) will not start decaying but the particle beam will.

The Heavy Machine Gun also has a significant area-of-effect on each bullet I believe; the Shotgun's area of effect on each bullet is marginal. I've definitely seen Disruptor Ammo used with the HMG, maybe even about as often as with the Particle Beam. I don't remember ever seeing it used with the Shotgun.

quote: I've definitely seen Disruptor Ammo used with the HMG, maybe even about as often as with the Particle Beam. I don't remember ever seeing it used with the Shotgun.

quote: These two considerations don't really blend together when trying to make a consistent numerical ratio. Possibly they could both have x1 (which also makes for an elegant module description: "convert half real damage to slow") but this already stretches it.

Well, both of you have been more involved than I've been, so I imagine you would know better than I would. I'll defer to you.

quote: The beam having x2 more slow than real damage is consistent with regular units with disruptors such as Moderator (this would also be why it modifies reload time I guess, these tend to fire slowly). I think this is worth keeping.

quote: Feel free to propose a better set of values though.

A good number of disruptor-equipped units are skirmishers: the Moderator, the Buoy, and the Rapier -- even the Goliath, to a degree. The general idea behind skirmishers also fits in with what Disruptor Ammo currently does: slower rate of fire and lower damage output.

Maybe it wouldn't be a terrible idea to take it a step further? If Disruptor Ammo also increased the range but lowered the fire-rate of all three weapons, then Disruptor Ammo might be another solid skirmisher-style commander option?

Hum? "Skirmishing Commander breaks the role" is not the conclusion I would've drawn from my own experience. I'd always seen Commanders as relatively fragile for how much metal you can dump into them; and, without a good riot weapon, easy to swarm.

Still, it's possible that it's more of an issue than I realize, and I'm just terrible about over-extending.

Maybe Disruptor Ammo will be balanced one day; maybe it won't. I really only asked why Disruptor Ammo is the way it is, and that question is being answered well.