Ship special optimizations

[SirEmi]

Ship special optimizations:
   A ship can only have one optimization performed. Optimization can be removed / sold at 50% the purchase cost.
   
   -> Scout ship optimization -50% navigation time, -50% Fuel Cost, Shuttle x20, Frigate x30
      - Jump drives tuning and optimization. Unfortunately, it only works on small ships.
      
   -> Freighter optimization +50% cargo space. All hulls, x10 cost
      - Optimize cargo bay space.
            
   -> Improved Weapons
      - +65% weapons. HeavyFrigate x15, BattleCruiser x30, BattleShip x45
            
   -> Improved Shields
      - +65% Shield. HeavyFrigate x10, BattleCruiser x20, BattleShip x30
            
   -> Improved Armor
      - +65% Armor. HeavyFrigate x10, BattleCruiser x20, BattleShip x30
   
   -> Interceptor. +80 km/s combat speed, +25% combat speed, +45% dodge. Shuttle x150, Frigate x300
      Combat engines tuning and optimization.
                Additional thrusters and micro-wormhole generators are installed on the hull of the ship, granting lightning speed and maneuvering and making the ship able to dodge incoming attacks at near light-speed velocities. The added strain to the ship hull integrity makes it hazardous to use on bigger ships, so it only works on small ship types.                

   -> Assault bomber
      - +200% weapons, +200% shields, +200% armor, Shuttle x250, Frigate x500
                An improved weapon payload delivery system, utilizing a sophisticated micro-wormhole delivery system.
                The system becomes unstable when affected by the gravity of a bigger ship, posing a potential hazard.
                Best used to deliver precise radiological / nuclear strikes.
                Modified experimental shield and armor improvements.
                Can only be installed on small ships to minimize the risk of catastrophe.

   -> Reinforced hull
      - +33% Shield & Armor. +200% Manpower Hitpoints. All hulls, x40 cost
               Extra layers of protective plating for armor modules and extra shield capacitors. Boarding pods also reinforced.
               Can support all ship types.
   
        -> Boarding ship optimization
               - +50% marines / personnel attack, +300% Manpower HP. Cruiser x30, HeavyCruiser x60, LineShip x90
               Reinforced / improved boarding pods, heavy arsenal storage including personal shields and more powerful weapons for personnel / marines.
               Can only be mounted on specific ship hulls that support the extra armory extensions.

   -> Factory ship
      - 3x times more manufacturing bays. All hulls, x12 cost
                Additional manufacturing bays are mounted on the hull of ship.
                Compatible with all ship hull types.

        -> Camouflage system
             +20% dodge. All hulls, x25 cost
             Holo projectors are installed on the hull of the ship, projecting the space around the ship and confusing targeting systems.
             Electronic and anti-scanner systems are improved.
             Compatible with all ship types.
   
        -> Mother ship
              +75% cargo, -25% navigation time. Leviathan, x45 cost
              Cargo bay modules are optimized with additional ship hangar bays.
              More navigation computers are installed for faster wormhole computation.
              The mother ship optimization is only supported by the Leviathan ship design.

Speed(km/s)   Dodge
10         50%      Shuttle       II       4    $46,000
9         45%      Frigate       III            8    $104,000
8         40%      HeavyFrigate    IV       13    $188,500
7         35%      Cruiser       V       20    $320,000
6         30%      BattleCruiser    VI       26    $455,000
5         25%      HeavyCruiser    VII            38    $722,000
4         20%      LineShip       VIII            47    $963,500
3         15%      BattleShip       IX       58    $1,276,000
2         10%      Dreadnought    X       70    $1,621,500
1         5%      Leviathan       XI       87    $2,150,000
.25         0%      Titan          XII            100    $2,597,000


Ship optimization Mark I to X:

Mark    Cost
I           10%
II          20% (removes previous Mk at 50% cost)
III         30% (removes previous Mk at 55% cost)
IV         40% (removes previous Mk at 60% cost)
V          50% (removes previous Mk at 65% cost)
VI         60% (removes previous Mk at 70% cost)
VII        70% (removes previous Mk at 75% cost)
VIII       80% (removes previous Mk at 80% cost)
IX         90% (removes previous Mk at 85% cost)
X          100% (removes previous Mk at 90% cost)


Dodge Matrix module (special module, very rare and expensive, Mk I / 1% dodge)
   -> It executes a mini jump when the ship is targeted. The reaction is instantaneous, and if successful, the ship is jumped across the battlefield via a mini wormhole, avoiding the incoming attack. The mini-jump procedure is highly unstable, and doesn't always work in the heat of the battle.

[Sydney]

sounds really interesting.

The reinforced Hull option would be available for all hull sizes? then people will use that rather than the combat options and use the titan class hull and pack in more weapons and less shields and armour. Such a ship will out class any smaller ship with the combat optimization

How about providing 3 different combat specializations to those mid sized ships, one with weapons bonus, one with shields, and one with armour. And making the Reinforced Hull option just provide the Increase to Hit points, perhapes with an even bigger bonus to counter the loss of the shielding bonus.

Id also point out that some of the hull upgrades, eg the freighter upgrade on a tiatn class ship will be massively expensive, Not only in the direct cash cost, but you also have to factor in the opportunity cost of not using those funds for other upgrades while saving up for the upgrade. Its almost certain that i would go for investing my funds in upgrading my Cargo Modules to increase my transport capabilities rather than the Freighter specialisation. As i can do that in much smaller investment intervals.

I wonder if it would be possible to make these hull specialisations be applied in levels... ie divide it up into 10 levels. each level being 1/10th the cost, and apply 1/10th the benifit. If your wanted to you could make each level slightly more than 1/10th the cost but i wouldnt get too expensive or the cost will rule out that specialisation.

[Sydney]

Have been thinking about this some more. And One Specialisation in Particular in the list above looks to be way over powered

The Assault Bomber Assuming it just doubles the effectiveness of a nuke, not adds an additional 200% then this means that each nuke on board will do 100k in damage.

That is fantastic if you want to go out and annialate a station or two. Just put one of these little babies together, add a nuke or two, and then kablam, No more station.

And it doesnt matter how much weaponry the station has, or how much shields, The time/price to produce these and their nukes is significantly cheaper than what it takes to put the station together. The station needs too have a shield ration of 40:1 just to cover the potential damage. ie it takes 40 AdvSHG-1 to protect against a single NUKE-1 from this ship. The only option is to install your own nukes and hope the coin toss to determin who attacks first, goes your way.

Nuke defence systems are also not cheap to reasearch/produce, so its unlikely a station will be able to block the nukes, unless your lucky.

There has to be a balance between players ability to attack and there ability to defend. Adding ways to power us up and make us stronger on attack without an equal and opposite defence will not create a good long term playing experience.

Have you considered running some simulations using these proposed changes to see how they balance out?

[Morgwen Dubhspiriag]

Another I would suggest is the Science Vessel Optimization.

Additions for it could include
+s for research on the vessel
??

[JamJulLison]

While a science vessel one isn't a bad idea, only the newbies really need this. From what others have told me, after a certain point you get so many Research Points coming in that you have way more then you need.

[Teteeeeu]

I liked it. When it's gonna be functional ?

[SirEmi]

I liked it. When it's gonna be functional ?

Very soon. We'll start with a scout vessel optimization first and go from there.

[SirEmi]

Tactical example:

A Mother Ship optimized Leviathan jumps into an enemy solar system. It proceeds to jump to the nearest enemy outpost.

The cargo bays doors of the Mother Ship open and 3x Assault bomber optimized frigates, each holding 6x Railgun modules and 2x Combat Drive modules are released.

The mothership jumps to safe spot in system and the lightning attack commences! After the attack, the Mother Ship comes back to pickup it's fighters and move to the next target.

[JamJulLison]

Tactical example:

A Mother Ship optimized Leviathan jumps into an enemy solar system. It proceeds to jump to the nearest enemy outpost.

The cargo bays doors of the Mother Ship open and 3x Assault bomber optimized frigates, each holding 6x Railgun modules and 2x Combat Drive modules are released.

The mothership jumps to safe spot in system and the lightning attack commences! After the attack, the Mother Ship comes back to pickup it's fighters and move to the next target.

I had similar thoughts in mine actually to this.  Saves on fuel. Don't need as much cargo space.  Don't need any engines besides maybe an FTL and of course those combat drives. So you can focus more on combat features. That said you are at least going to need some good armor or good shields on them ships. Weapons alone won't help if the target as powerful weaponry of their own and good shields. What good will they be if they get blown away quickly. Also for a lightning fast attack you will need to spend QP.