During battles with the Luddic Path Holy Armadas, I noticed that they have Sunders in their fleets. I think this is very strange, even though they have other midline ships (Brawler LP and Hammerhead), how could they acquire such an advanced ship and why would they even use it?
Part of the confusion arises from the fact that I don't quite understand the LP's views on the use of energy weapons in general. Some clues are found in Energy Weapon Mastery skill description, "The eye of an angel was found in the small places, hidden there by merciful God in the first moments of creation. Thus its secrets were laid bare for the ignorant and cruel to loose terrible, fiery wrath. We lament." So, not terribly fond of energy weapons, then?
However, upon consulting the wiki, I was surprised to find that the Paters do have access to a wide range of energy weapons, including autopulse lasers, which they naturally use on the aforementioned Sunders. Funny thing is, they don't even have that many ships with the appropriate mounts, with the exception of the Sunder (2 small universal on brawler LP, one medium energy on Venture LP, 4 small hybrid on Hammerhead, 2 large hybrid on Prometheus mk 2).
Well, I suppose, as in other cases (like the use of AM fuel), they hate it, but recognize that it may have its uses, and use the "lesser evil" to destroy the "greater evil", or something like that. Still, the question of them getting their hands on Sunders and advanced energy weapons remains open.
Therefore i suggest:
1) Give LP their own version of Sunder with quirks, maybe some sort of scavenged Lidar array, instead of high energy focus system (and ill-adviced modifications hullmod, naturally)?
2) As an alternative, perhaps some new haphazard ship should be introduced? Something that could fulfill a similar fire support role, but based on a more affordable civilian hull? I think something like a salvage rig with a large energy weapon strapped to it would fit in well with their vision.
3) Even if we assume, that Pathers consider energy weapons a neccessary evil, there are little ways for them to obtain it, other than salvaging or smuggling. Maybe let them lean more into some sort of easily accessible miner systems, with introduction of large mount mining weapon? Something like extraction beam, which allows them to pull smaller ships closer, and halting or slowing larger vessels, so they can actually hit it with Hammer torpedoes. Might create a bunch of balance issues though. Or just let them strap scavenged and re-assembled Thermal pulse cannons, considering they are already (somewhat) in the game.
Now, some of the above probably belong to suggestions, but I really wonder how much Luddics are willing to compromise on the use of forbidden technologies.
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Topic: On Sunder, Luddic Path and energy weapons (Read 1148 times)