That's a very interesting idea, Taera. I'm sure we could make it work just as you outlined (or using shields instead). If I remember correctly (is the correct acronym IIRC?), "Mote in God's Eye" by Niven and Pournell had a system where the shields built up energy and if they were overloaded they collapsed, destroying the ship.
I wonder, though, do we really want to do it that way? I would like to use the AC theme as a general basis for the mod, but I would also like it to be a very fun Space Empires game as well. And one of the things that I don't find fun about SEIV is the all or nothing combat (two fleets enter, one fleet leaves almost entirely intact). I would much prefer to see something more evenly balanced. If you have a battle that's roughly equal (5 destroyers versus 5 destroyers) then the results should be pretty devastating on both sides (5 half-destroyed ships on each side, or 3 completely destroyed ships and 2 badly damaged ones). That's why I would prefer to have leaky shields and leaky armor, less potent training facilities (or none at all), and less potent ECM and Combat sensors (perhaps 1% or 2% per level instead of 10%). Of course, I am always willing to be persuaded otherwise...
PS. Another thing I don't like is mines (the AI can't deal with them, and human players easily overcome them), which I would like to eliminate entirely.
Re: Alpha Centauri Mod Discussion Thread
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