Been thinking about the Big Hate a lot and the more I do the more I realize there is no reason to ever craft it above basic.
I’m not necessarily trying to say that the Big Hate is too strong overall, it’s a criminal weapon and can only be used in the wasteland. But more so, the worst case mind to damage ratio for the basic mechanics is either nearly the same as or way better than the best case mind to damage ratio for the proficient and master mechanics.
Because at Proficient you spend 5 mind for a maximum of 60 damage (6 shots for 5 damage, doubled to 10 if its the right target) or mind to damage ratio of 1-12
For 5 mind you deal 50 Damage at minimum (mtd ratio of 1-10) with the big hate, using one less shot.
At master, you spend 10 mind for a maximum of 60 damage, this is the same as the proficient except it’s easier to trigger. This is a 1-6 mind to damage ratio. That is, the best case scenario for the master mechanics is strictly worse than just spending 6 mind on individual shots with the basic mechanics.
The crafting for it is not that bad, the basic can be done by buying a 1 currency item off the criminal buy list, and the arsenic poison is very easy to make (Unless the print on the database is showing items that don’t currently exist as crafting requirements)
However, it still doesn’t make sense to me that the basic mechanics’ minimum damage is nearly as much as the proficient mechanics’ maximum, and just as good as the master mechanics’ maximum.
I’m not going to speculate on a ‘solution’ or a ‘fix’ but I would be curious to see what other people think about the item from the standpoint of the power progression of its crafts levels.