Last night I was once again looking at base designs to see whether they would be capable versus waves of fighters, and thought that I had overlooked the shield and armor penetrating Null Space Projector NSP. But here is a comparison versus Ripper Beams RB to blow away my own base design with 3000 shields, 750 armor, and 4310 damage in a single salvo engagement.
NSP must hit 4310, MM shoots 420 so you need 11. Cost is 44000 0 44000 at 2200/3850.
RB must hit 8060, MM shoots 350 so you need 23. Cost is 18400 0 14270 at 1840/3220.
So RB cost is 41% same 32%, while space is 84% and damage absorbed is 84%.
The RB blow away the same enemy in a single salvo engagement, at less than half the cost, slightly less space, and are cheaper for damage absorbtion by a factor of two. At range 9 or less (versus 11 for NSP) RB RULE!
Now the only problem is an enemy armed with NSP at range 11 blowing away your RB only equipped base. That's why you must also have the PPB and APB, which outrange the NSP.

The only other thing I can think of to make NSP attractive are those organic and crystalline armors that feed damage back to shields. If you cannot blow up the ship in a single combat turn, then this could cause a big problem. Could the experts on these armors give their opinion on RB versus NSP here ?

[This message has been edited by LCC (edited 12 June 2001).]