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[Princess_of_Evil]

A ship can be restored from a "pieces of radioactive slag that drifted in solar winds for a century" state, i don't think microforges actually care about specific things they make. Think less "current year steel plant" and more "an extremely fancy 3d-printer".

[Brainwright]

Yeah, I've always thought most structure was printed out in a honeycomb arrangement that would be extremely rigid in the large scale, but softer in the small scale.  All with a skin of hardened armor.   It would a fairly hard structure to "destroy," even if you put a thousand holes straight through it, and it would be pretty easy to patch up.

It would be a completely different sort of engineering compared to current shipbuilding, which is a steel skin stiffened by bulkheads.

I like the game too, but that doesn't mean you have to jump to irrational arguments to justify certain systems. For example in the real world a facility that produces 1/4 inch steel is identical to the facility that produces 1 inch steel because it's the same facility. The press that cuts the steel is the same press, and all of this assumes the ship taking reinforced bulkheads necessitates adding a "forge" instead of it being a drydock operation. But let's say you're right, there's no way in holy guacamole that a targeting computer takes up more space than a "forge", but the OP costs would indicate otherwise.

This is just grossly not true.  No one can produce the 16 inch steel plate we used to armor battleships in WWII.  The technology just doesn't exist anymore.  Even on the human scale, sheers are used to cut thin metal, and abrasives or torch cutting is used for steel that is actually rigid on its own.

Adding a targeting computer isn't just a matter of finding a place to plug in your gaming PC.  It's sensors, both primary and many redundant, run throughout the ship.  It's coolant for a computer that is likely much more powerful than normal.  All this has to run while being shot at, so that means crew training and damage control priorities that drag response time from other systems.

By the way, OP has been a good stand in for the cost of crew training and procedure that comes with some substantial piece of tech.  It is never specified as purely power requirements or space, and the weapon and hullmod design has been consistent enough so that it all balances out so that it still looks like spending more OP is pushing the machine and the crew to the limits.

[PsychoThruster]

Justify it all with whatever story you want, I don't care. I'm sure a clever lad like you can concoct a great reason building in heavy armor reduces mobility, but keeping it temporary doesn't tax the engines.

[Brainwright]

Justify it all with whatever story you want, I don't care. I'm sure a clever lad like you can concoct a great reason building in heavy armor reduces mobility, but keeping it temporary doesn't tax the engines.

Eh, you're just splitting hairs.  I'm sure a clever lad such as yourself could think of a good reason it shouldn't be that way while keeping with the aesthetics of the game.

I'll wait.

[PsychoThruster]

Weak.

[Alex]

Cool it, please. See: the forum rules regarding treating other posters with respect.

[Guilty]

And maybe stick to the topic?

I still didnt hear a sound reason on why would you build in the SS instead of just having it as a hullmod for 10 OP and build in something els.

Do you consider it to be worth it, Alex?

[Alex]

I think sometimes, yes. The extra 15% armor from s-modding costs more than the original 15% armor from the base hullmod, but, in no particular order:

1) It also doesn't remove your shield, which IS technically a penalty (though let's not focus on that too much)
2) Due to how armor works, the second 15% is more impactful than the first 15%
3) And, finally - as I think others have mentioned - it's a question of what else you're going to spend the OP on. 15% more armor on an Onslaught for 15 OP is still a very good deal. Sure, there may be some better deals defensively (e.g. Reinforced Bulkheads) but you might pick those up alongside this, not instead of it. And then the question is, what other s-mod bonuses is it competing against, and is it better than those alternatives? I think the answer there will depend on the build.

[Vanshilar]

I still didnt hear a sound reason on why would you build in the SS instead of just having it as a hullmod for 10 OP and build in something els.

Eh real quickly, several posters already gave you the reason. For example:

The more armor you have, the better armor becomes. Armor both absorbs damage and reduces damage taken. More armor also means more residual armor, increasing effective hull amount.

The extra 15% armor from built-in is going to provide more protection than the first 15% armor from the regular hullmod. I don't have my spreadsheets in front of me right now but you can think of it as having a quadratic effect. Whether or not it's worth it depends on what other options you're considering, but if you're going all-in on armor (no shields), yes it may be worthwhile.

[robepriority]

Yeah armor is exponential.

The higher the armor is the harder it is to do beyond minimum damage to reduce it.
It's why the invictus has the ablative armor that caps its reduction.
At certain points, reapers won't even dent it.

I would even say that the s-mod needs to not provide an armor bonus because it's basically a must-pick for lowtech cruisers and caps.

[Siffrin]

Since when was shield shunt ever a "must-pick"?

[Selfcontrol]

Shield Shunt is fine imo.

It's not a bad hullmod (unlike High Scatter Amplifier which utterly sucks except on 2 ships) and it's not a mandatory hullmod either. It's more powerful on a few ships, but it's good enough on its own that the player is allowed to make fun or thematic fleets and still clear all current content ([SUPER ALABASTER] will be a bit more of a challenge, but they are still doable).

[Daynen]

building in SS may not seem like a lot more armor but for balance purposes you have to consider that SS can be used WITH those other armor sources.  Even the squishiest ship can become startlingly solid when you take all the armor buffs and give it a defensive officer.  Allowing too much more armor would quite literally make some ships unkillable...and that would be no bueno.