Armor Thoughts

capnq · #1 May 27th, 2001, 12:39 PM

I use regular Armor a lot, to fill in leftover space in hulls that can't hold another shield or weapon. I think it adds more survival value than the backup control bridge. It also works against mines and unstable warp points, which shields don't. Small Armor also seems to help units survive more than Small ECM, from the little I've experimented with it. I don't use the advanced armors much, and mainly use Stealth Armor if I do research it that far.

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Cap'n Q

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the
human mind to correlate all of its contents. We live on a placid
island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was
not meant that we should go far. -- HP Lovecraft

rdouglass · #2 May 27th, 2001, 07:11 PM

I use armor a lot in early games, but not so much in late games. However, I still use some on EVERY Attack or Scout ship, especially ones I want to ignore the damaging Warp Points (shields do not protect). I agree With Marty W - the defensive bonuses for later armor is very attractive. IIRC it does stack so you get 30% defence with both (Scattering and Stealth).

Suicide Junkie · #3 May 27th, 2001, 07:32 PM

Still, that 30% bonus comes at the price of 80kT of space!

four (unmodded) shield regenerators would give you 80 regen per turn: enough to ignore dual CSM 5!

Marty Ward · #4 May 27th, 2001, 07:39 PM

Yes but 30% off may keep you from being hit at all by a Heavy mount wave motion gun! The less chance of being hit the better I feel.

Suicide Junkie · #5 May 27th, 2001, 08:02 PM

Or, you could use the 320 regeneration you get before they reload to totally ignore the WMG.

I would suggest you take 2 regenerators and the stealth armor (not scattering).

You then regenerate 160 hitpoints and have a 15% bonus, with 10 space left over.

People always seem to vastly underestimate the value of shield regenerators.
If you can survive longer than 6 turns after being hit the first time, regenerators get you more hitpoints than additional shield generators!

Taqwus · #6 May 27th, 2001, 10:47 PM

It's not just the PPBs that justify armor -- IIRC, a heavy-mount Shield Depleter can take out 450 pts of shielding per turn at range 7, in a pretty compact package. I'd say that's worth defending against.

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-- The thing that goes bump in the night

Marty Ward · #7 May 27th, 2001, 11:13 PM

But you survive much longer if you are not hit at all!
But that is the beauty of this game. There are counters for almost everything. If you are against a crystal race any armor is useless. If you are organic,armor is great. If you are against shield depleters armor is great.
That's why I love this game!

[This message has been edited by Marty Ward (edited 27 May 2001).]