[PvK]

Originally posted by oleg:
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I was thinking mostly about drone carriers when I suggested "star unstable" throught. However, effective troop transport should use cargo bays instead of starline modules because of much higher damage resistance and lack of defence bonus. Extra space of cargo bays 3 will come very handy for troop transports !

"Sorry Sir, we can not load any more tanks, Ministry of Defence contracted to use cheap cargo bays only"

That sort of thing is said almost all the time in the actual military. The army with the fanciest uniforms usually loses. Going cheap also tends to win wars (see Sherman tank, etc.).

I understand the theory but in practice I don't think it applies, because the AI is not good at loading up troops or fighters (or I assume, drones). So in practice, it is better for the AI to waste 20 resources on a 50kT empty cargo bay, than to waste 200 resources on an empty 70kT cargo bay. Even if it would use the extra space sometimes, it's not really worth spending 10 times as much for cargo storage unless you are a smart human player who is really going to take advantage of it.

I could add a different tag though for "high-tech cargo storage".

I mentioned size of ECM because its higher size takes over the space of two engines, thus making Proportions' drone less effective than standard.

Oh, I see. That's true in theory, but that's only for mega-high-tech components, which are expensive as well as large and hard to research. I have put AI hints in 2.3 that allow it to choose efficient models in terms of size and price.

On the advantage side for Proportions drone effectiveness, having only 2-4 engines instead of 6 also makes them longer-ranged, especially smaller ones. You could also put efficient engines on them to get longer-ranged (but slower) and cheaper drones.

If I am not mistaking, you are going to make max. drone engines 2,3 and 4, as it was intended, right ? Drones are fun to play with !

Yes, that's correct.

PvK