Are some techs/wepons useless?

[Triumvir Emphy]

the lowest level phased shields don't have equal points to the previous level normal shields, he might be refering to the drop from one level to the next.

[JLXC]

Yeah THAT is annoying as heck! You go from 300 point normal Shields to a huge DROP in points phased shield, and when you use the Latest Tech button you now have to Switch back and forth so those DUMB low level phased shields do not end up on a ship! This is incredibly annoying for a ship tinker like me, forcing me to page through page after page of gear just to pick the "Good" shields.

[Suicide Junkie]

Why not mod, and have the techs go:

- Shield I
- PS I, & SR I
- Shield II
- PS II, & SR II
- Shield III
- PS III, & SR III
etc.

You can add the requirement that phased shields need an equivalent phased energy level, and you'll still get something at each shield tech level.
Plus, the increase in shield strength won't be so steep.
I would also recommend making phased shields equal or slightly weaker than normal shields, since they protect against more weapons.

[DirectorTsaarx]

quote:

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Originally posted by suicide_junkie:
I would also recommend making phased shields equal or slightly weaker than normal shields, since they protect against more weapons.

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Actually, phased shields only add protection against Phased Polaron Beams. All the other shield-skipping weapons will skip both normal shields and phased shields.

[Triumvir Emphy]

The point of different weapons is also cost, nobody here in this thread has said anything about cost, just how effective one weapon is compared to an other.

If you are metal heavy but have a severe lack in organics and radioactives, maybe Duc's are the best weapon for you, if you are radioactive heavy maybe nullspace weapons are it.

this game still is a game of economics, hence so many weapons that seem to be useless.

[Suicide Junkie]

quote:

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phased shields only add protection against Phased Polaron Beams

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Still, PPBs are fairly easy to research, and they absolutely devastate normally shielded ships.

My bro, had a fleet of 4 Baseships with 2.5K shields, and 500 ablative armor. Unfortunately, with one standard shield in the mix, his legendary 50% fleet got wiped out, and even after three Save/Reload Tactical tries against a smaller force, he was defeated badly.

Losing a bit of shield strength is well worth protection against PPBs, but if your enemy is into other weapons, you can get better defence using (my modded) normal shields

I really wish there were shields that could block the specialty weapons. Then you could have low hitpoint protection against everything, or high hitpoint protection against some.


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As for cost, the reason why nobody cares about weapon prices is that the cost of engines, ship control & defences greatly outweigh the price of weapons.
Using a cheaper weapon system will only save you a modest percentage of the total ship cost, but your slightly larger & cheaper fleets will end up impotent and die in droves.

[This message has been edited by suicide_junkie (edited 20 March 2001).]

[Marty Ward]

Also one of the beauties of this game is that for every defense there is a counter and vice versa. I have yet to see the perfect fleet.