so is the update coming before Christmas ?
Hi, and welcome to the forum!
I'm more-or-less 90% sure (there's 10% uncertainty there) from my reading that altering Converted Hangars in that way is a reaction to min-maxing strategies that add Converted Hangars to (nearly) every ship in the fleet.
While I still have a lot to learn about the game in its most recent iteration, I'm approaching the endgame in my current run, and I feel I know enough now to guarantee that I'd never put the altered version of that mod on a ship for any reason. I can think of a whole lot more use for 25-30+ total OP on a cruiser than installing a single hangar bay that produces one wing of slow fighters or bombers that die twice as quickly.
Been playing around with this loadout in my current playtesting run:
I think this sort of general build has potential - bombers especially really give a combat ship a capability it otherwise wouldn't. Even if you just think of them in terms of being unlimited missiles - with extended range, to boot - the OP costs start to get fairly close what getting said missiles plus expanded racks, never mind that it doesn't need slots, and that it can be combined with other stuff the ship has to offer which normal carriers don't. And for bombers the penalties barely matter (hence the higher OP cost).
So for the Enforcer, it's able to provide consistent longer-range support, while being very much a brick, *and* having good punch with its torpedoes. Is it better than a Drover? Definitely not as far as just fighters go, but it's also cheaper, can hold up much better to being outnumbered, and has a decent shot at turning the tide with a few well-placed torpedoes. Haven't had *too* much playtime with it yet, though, just got that setup going today.
That said, yeah, it's definitely meant to be more a niche thing - something that changes how a ship plays entirely rather than enhancing its normal playstyle, if that makes sense. Sort of like SO in that sense. And it may indeed need a touch more balancing, we'll have to see!
(Edit: I should add, this is an early game build - my first ship past the initial "mercenary" start - so the choices are largely driven by what's available vs what would be exactly ideal.)