I can't deny this mod has good sprites/audio and creative mechanics, but I can't enjoy it because the shield piercing weapons makes them not fun to fight (as a casual high-tech main).
I originally downloaded an older version of the mod because I wanted to play with the omega boss it adds, only to get my high tech fleet absolutely steamrolled by the shield-piercing missiles. Yes i'm sure it was the missiles that were the problem, my monitor flamed out in like 2 hits and died in 8 despite fortress shield being on. Savescummed and retried the battle a few times, still couldn't beat it despite no bonus XP due to battle difficulty so I assumed the mod was busted and uninstalled. Months later I had an argument on discord, one guy couldn't handle the fact I have a different opinion than him and resorted to insulting me to cope, some other guy suggested I was playing an older version of the mod so I reinstalled and experimented with the console mod.
I still believe it's absurd how quickly the large missiles can kill frigates with good shields, like a hyperion or a monitor. You could argue they're frigates and could just dodge them, but if they flame out to say a claw fighter or ion beam arc, there's nothing they can do besides die in like 4 barracuda hits regardless of effective shield HP.
They're also a massive threat to Paragons once their armor is down, since 1000 frag damage ain't exactly small. Especially when paragon's method of countering burst damage (fortress shield) doesn't save it, and it's weapons have far less range than the barracuda. You can literally solo the sim paragon with just a barracuda. If this isn't broken, I don't know what is. Nothing in vanilla has shield piercing arcs this strong, besides Ziggy motes, but that's a lategame boss not your average cruiser. Discord has also argued sim battles "don't mean anything", not only is that straight up wrong depending on how you use the sim, but outside of a sim battle meant to test something you won't have one weapon and unused OP on a cruiser.
Not to mention there are also modded high tech ships that may have bad speed and armor, making them even more vulnerable to shield piercing torpedoes. For example, the Arachne-class advanced destroyer from Ship/Weapon Pack. Made of dollar-store quality tin foil as most high tech destroyers, it relies on advanced targeting core to not melt immediately. Barracudas turn it into a joke.
Keep in mind I'm not biased against strong faction mods. I downloaded the Hiver mod because I wanted a stronger enemy to fight, and I didn't uninstall it because they're fun to fight. Their weapons are intentionally overpowered, they are a challenge, but they don't cheese high tech fleets.
If shield pierce was fully removed from this mod then I would probably fall in love with it, but I prefer high tech fleets stay viable in my runs. But honestly I'm not expecting any changes at all, it seems unnecessary because I'm the only person who holds this opinion somehow. I just wanted to put this somewhere because people on discord seems to lose their mind when I complain about something that ignores shields being a problem for ships that rely on shields as a primary defense.
I haven't fought the Omega Boss in a while, but I think all it's weapons are Omega Weapons, wich are OP and/or shield piercing to begin with.
The large missiles killing frigate with good shields ? They are LARGE MISSILES. And them being OP with Ion weapons/fighters just mean they synergised well together.
The Star Fed is not an OP faction. From my experience, once they are invaded, they tend to fall fast. Not LC fast, but fast non the less. They may have good weapons, but their ships are not that tough besides a few outliers.
If the missiles are that much of a problem, I can only advise to either not use the mod or invest in point defense.
One question though : Do you use Star Fed weapons yourself since you play High Tech ? Because I'd though you would be glad to use them.
