Right now, as things stand, the game is about single hull size fleets with, for the most part, bigger is better.
There are some uses for smaller hulls and some players avoid the min/max and build their fleets according to their wants anyway. All good there in single player.
But I've been trying to come up with changes to the system using mods that can be researched and placed on hulls to specialize those ships to be useful and desirable additions to fleets of big bangers in general play and possibly multi-player.
If anyone wants to participate in this, probably pointless, brain farting, I ask that we keep suggestions limited to already existing game functions, such as (but not necessarily limited to) auras, weapon tuneup and stand off ranges/maneuver.
For starters, I'd like to see a general reduction in weapon's range to allow for more maneuver and better function of the stand off functions to add to smaller hull survival of specialized ships in mixed ship fleets.
Ideas so far:
Elint/Anti-elint Cruiser - modules that can turn a cruiser into an Electronic Intelligence (elint) *or* Counter Electronic Intel (anti-elint) ship. A cruiser could be moduled to be one or the other, but not both in same ship.
Elint would generate an aura that increases the targeting and tracking of the weapons in the fleet due to better processing of the signals and radiations from enemy ships to better lock down their location, speed and direction of travel, plus having onboard computer resources that serve to better predict how an enemy ship may maneuver to avoid fire.
Anti-elint would be a mod or mods that counter or cancel elint in the opposing fleet. Power and success based on tech levels researched in the opposing mods from the opposing fleets as well as possibly number of ships in elint vs anti-elint in opposing fleets.
Cruiser carrier - make cruiser the only hull that can host flight decks. Only other weapon mods allowed on cruiser carriers would be point defense.
Destroyer - only ship hull that can use torpedoes or missiles.
Primary Point Defense - make picket destroyers much more capable at their picket duty as well as a module that allows for actual picket behavior (moving to position to place themselves between the airborne/missile threat and the main fleet or spreading out through a fleet for general threat counter.
Corvettes - module(s) that allow for corvettes to serve as armor/shield repair to other ships engaged in battle via short range aura. An AI module that causes corvettes to move next to the ships their repairing for the duration of the repair.
Add in an AI change that allows smaller ships to "cover" behind the larger ships when not directly engaged in their duties for protection from fires.
That's what my limited brain could come up with.
Better ideas are out there in y'all's heads.
There are some uses for smaller hulls and some players avoid the min/max and build their fleets according to their wants anyway. All good there in single player.
But I've been trying to come up with changes to the system using mods that can be researched and placed on hulls to specialize those ships to be useful and desirable additions to fleets of big bangers in general play and possibly multi-player.
If anyone wants to participate in this, probably pointless, brain farting, I ask that we keep suggestions limited to already existing game functions, such as (but not necessarily limited to) auras, weapon tuneup and stand off ranges/maneuver.
For starters, I'd like to see a general reduction in weapon's range to allow for more maneuver and better function of the stand off functions to add to smaller hull survival of specialized ships in mixed ship fleets.
Ideas so far:
Elint/Anti-elint Cruiser - modules that can turn a cruiser into an Electronic Intelligence (elint) *or* Counter Electronic Intel (anti-elint) ship. A cruiser could be moduled to be one or the other, but not both in same ship.
Elint would generate an aura that increases the targeting and tracking of the weapons in the fleet due to better processing of the signals and radiations from enemy ships to better lock down their location, speed and direction of travel, plus having onboard computer resources that serve to better predict how an enemy ship may maneuver to avoid fire.
Anti-elint would be a mod or mods that counter or cancel elint in the opposing fleet. Power and success based on tech levels researched in the opposing mods from the opposing fleets as well as possibly number of ships in elint vs anti-elint in opposing fleets.
Cruiser carrier - make cruiser the only hull that can host flight decks. Only other weapon mods allowed on cruiser carriers would be point defense.
Destroyer - only ship hull that can use torpedoes or missiles.
Primary Point Defense - make picket destroyers much more capable at their picket duty as well as a module that allows for actual picket behavior (moving to position to place themselves between the airborne/missile threat and the main fleet or spreading out through a fleet for general threat counter.
Corvettes - module(s) that allow for corvettes to serve as armor/shield repair to other ships engaged in battle via short range aura. An AI module that causes corvettes to move next to the ships their repairing for the duration of the repair.
Add in an AI change that allows smaller ships to "cover" behind the larger ships when not directly engaged in their duties for protection from fires.
That's what my limited brain could come up with.
Better ideas are out there in y'all's heads.