Pokey's Engine Mod Rebalance

A followup to my Weapon Mod Rebalance, same spirit. These sections don't have quite the same structural problems weapons did, so this took more judgement about what is "fun". Being honest with myself, they are probably a bit overpowered, but I like it this way.

The problem

Engine mods look like a menu of trade-offs. They are not. Three things cause this:

• []The forward-thrust trap. Boost speed and travel speed are multipliers of forward thrust, so a forward-thrust mod moves four stats (forward speed, acceleration, boost speed, travel speed) while every rival moves one. It also means some apparent downsides are actually upsides, which is the next problem.[/]

  []Downsides that are secretly upsides. Vanilla Nudger reads +45% forward, -25% boost, -25% travel, but because boost and travel are computed off forward thrust, the real result is +45% forward, +45% acceleration, and about +9% to boost AND +9% to travel. The listed penalty is actually a gain.[/]

  []Clean vs dirty duplicates. Almost every thrust stat ships twice: a weak "clean" version (about +5% to +20%, no downside) and a strong "penalty" version (+35% to +45% with a listed malus, which per point 2 is often fake anyway). The clean ones are just worse copies, so roughly half the Basic tier is dead filler. You should just never use Pusher.[/]

  What this mod does

  • []No RNG. Every value is pinned. What you craft is what you get, and rerolling is pointless. I dislike rerolling as a mechanic.[/]

    []Four clear archetypes instead of a wall of overlapping stats. Each tier gives one carrier per archetype, chosen so the mod's name matches its job, and everything else is parked at a token value so it is obviously not the pick.[/]

    []Higher tiers are always an upgrade. Every Enhanced and Exceptional mod carries a small forward-thrust rider (the "always-good" stat), so stepping up a tier improves your ship no matter which archetype you pick.[/]

    []Forward thrust is priced correctly. Because it leaks into boost and travel, the straight-line Interceptor is deliberately a modest number (Basic +10%) that is worth as much as a specialist's bigger single-axis buff.[/]

    []Bundles non-forward-thrust effects so they might actually be worth taking over moar speed.[/]

    The four archetypes

    • []Interceptor (speed): Nudger, Impeller, Slingshot[/]

      []Dogfighter (maneuverability): Sidewinder, Antares, Whirlygig[/]

      []Booster (boost): Afterburner, Delta, Atlas[/]

      []Voyager (travel drive): Overdrive, Vinci, Vikas[/]

      Compatibility & safety

      []Numbers only. No new wares or ships, it only re-tunes the existing equipment-mod table.[/]