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Suggestions / External armor plates on low-tech ships, like low-tech Star Fortresses have?
« on: December 02, 2022, 10:58:00 PM »
Hi! I just read this post on the forums (https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=23745.0) and this post on Alex's development blog (https://fractalsoftworks.com/2021/05/28/a-tale-of-two-tech-levels/), and I see that someone has a problem with the Vanguard and how it performs as a result of having no shields. I know that there is a reason this suggestion won't work, but I don't actually know what it is: can low-tech ships have external destructible armor plates like low-tech Star Fortresses do, or like that one frigate in the Diable Avionics mod? I feel like having to chew through a layer external armor first would help with weapons like the Tachyon Lance that currently eat shieldless ships for breakfast, and it doesn't break the appeal of a shieldless, heavily armored super frigate.
To be totally honest--and this has nothing to do with my question, this is more just my personal observation--I think the whole "Low Tech" classification of ships in general has sort of a problem. I am completely and utterly terrible at this game so I am not going to say they are objectively worse than High Tech, but I will say that I feel like there's a reason more people make jokes about low-tech ships and talk about them as if they're worse and more expendable, alongside low-tech ships being the popular choice of ship type for crappy, "budget" factions like the Pirates and the Luddic Path(I know the pirates use versions of some high-tech ships like the Shade and the Wolf, but their capital is low-tech garbage). When I read on Alex's blog that high-tech ships aren't necessarily supposed to be better than low-tech, I was somewhat surprised because it seems like there's an almost universal understanding that they just sort of... are. Maybe it's just because I'm biased as someone that enjoys high-tech ships more, but the biggest low-tech capitals don't take up as much DP to field as the biggest high-tech capital, the most overpowered ships in the game are arguably even more "high-tech" than other high-tech ships, and from the little that I've seen people talk about in terms of what frigates work in the late game, I've only seen people bring up high-tech ships like the Hyperion, the Omen, and the Tempest. In my opinion, even what Alex said on that forum post about making the Vanguard cost less to repair after it gets destroyed speaks volumes about how low-tech ships are designed and used...
All that being said, of course, there's nothing wrong with just enjoying using low-tech ships more, that's just my 2 cents. But yeah, I know there's a reason armor plates wouldn't work for the Vanguard or other ships like it, but I would like someone to tell me what it actually is.
To be totally honest--and this has nothing to do with my question, this is more just my personal observation--I think the whole "Low Tech" classification of ships in general has sort of a problem. I am completely and utterly terrible at this game so I am not going to say they are objectively worse than High Tech, but I will say that I feel like there's a reason more people make jokes about low-tech ships and talk about them as if they're worse and more expendable, alongside low-tech ships being the popular choice of ship type for crappy, "budget" factions like the Pirates and the Luddic Path(I know the pirates use versions of some high-tech ships like the Shade and the Wolf, but their capital is low-tech garbage). When I read on Alex's blog that high-tech ships aren't necessarily supposed to be better than low-tech, I was somewhat surprised because it seems like there's an almost universal understanding that they just sort of... are. Maybe it's just because I'm biased as someone that enjoys high-tech ships more, but the biggest low-tech capitals don't take up as much DP to field as the biggest high-tech capital, the most overpowered ships in the game are arguably even more "high-tech" than other high-tech ships, and from the little that I've seen people talk about in terms of what frigates work in the late game, I've only seen people bring up high-tech ships like the Hyperion, the Omen, and the Tempest. In my opinion, even what Alex said on that forum post about making the Vanguard cost less to repair after it gets destroyed speaks volumes about how low-tech ships are designed and used...
All that being said, of course, there's nothing wrong with just enjoying using low-tech ships more, that's just my 2 cents. But yeah, I know there's a reason armor plates wouldn't work for the Vanguard or other ships like it, but I would like someone to tell me what it actually is.