Organic armor fix

[Rich04]

My concern is with all the weapons that 'ignore' armor. They are as common as flies in human games and seem to be ever increasing in modified AI's.
What I would like to see is a reason to keep using OA all thru the game. Scattering and Stealth provide bonuses, Crystal provides shield boosting even vs weapons that ingnore armor making secondary weapon fire easier to defend against.
OA's ability is useful for a while in the beginning but as soon as large fleets of 50+ ships show up (common in the few PBW games I have played)its armor is shredded like a cats claws on toilet paper. (Or the ship is gutted anyway by weapons ignoring armor.)
This is why I think it needs 'something' more than regen to make it unique/useful.
Perhaps adding this ability at higher Organic tech levels. (They go up to six anyway.)
The Living Ships idea is great. Though it is starting to get pricey. (Perhaps giving OA the repair ability if you only take both.)
There is another mod out there (Zippy's I think) that gives repair to OA. It doesn't seem to imbalance things. Repair bays are still more efficient.
As for ships repairing each other. That seems natural, one creature helping another. Transfusing vital fluids between ships, extending repair feelers etc.
Farscape has done this on occasion with the mother helping its offspring heal.

[Suicide Junkie]

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My concern is with all the weapons that 'ignore' armor. They are as common as flies in human games and seem to be ever increasing in modified AI's.

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We have:
Null-Space - low damage, slow reload. Buckytube Gel soaks up this damage very well.
Ionic dispersers - ships have up to 40 engines, and LCs usually get 15 or so. Ships are much more resistant to these weapons in P&N2. If you are still worried, use durable or premium engines.
Tachyon weapon disruptors - add some level 3 BuckyTube Gel or a tachyon damper, and your ship will be safe
Shield Disruptors - Use Hardened-Mini SGs, or the Heavy SGs. No worries. Level 2 BuckyTube gel helps here, too.

Did I miss anything?

ISTM, with Organic armor and some buckytube gel, you're sitting with a very tough ship.
Ion attacks are half as effective (relative to unmodded SE4 or P&N1) on LCs, and even weaker against larger ships.
The BT Gel will take quite a few hits from any other "fancy damage" weapons before too many internals are lost, and the organic armor protects well against normal damage.

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OA's ability is useful for a while in the beginning but as soon as large fleets of 50+ ships show up (common in the few PBW games I have played)its armor is shredded like a cats claws on toilet paper

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Big fleet actions will definitely get organic armor toasted.
What you want in that situation is a bunch of Plasma Armored ships which can soak up 14HP/KT (or 20HP/KT for premium armor) before being annihilated during the initial volleys.
With enough PlasmaArmor ships, your fleets will be whittled down to the point where the organic armor will be effective.

[This message has been edited by suicide_junkie (edited 21 August 2001).]

[Will]

I believe he's speaking of the Crystalline weapons, ie Shard Cannon, that are stopped by shields but not armor. I haven't seen P&N2 yet, but if P&N1 is used as a reference, Shard Cannons aren't too much of a threat in the latter stages of the game because of the HSGs, and the overall toughness of ships. A battle between a ship with heavy shield depletion/shard cannons and a ship with more "standard" weapons would largely be an even match (probably one favoring the "standard" weapon ship) because the "standard" ship has much more weapon power.

[Rich04]

Of course SJ your counterpoint is to use other armor/components to make up the 'deficiencies' of OA. Something other armors do not have to do.

Why was it you thought that OA needed to tone down its regen ability?

[Suicide Junkie]

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Why was it you thought that OA needed to tone down its regen ability?

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As it was, OA would store up way to much regen points before ships could open fire. If the ship survived the battle, it could get 35 HP/KT.
With the halving of the regen, it gets a max of 20Hp/KT, and stores only enough points for one complete refresh by the time weapons are in range.

Basically, with regen set as high as it was before, a ship would run out of stored regen only under rare circumstances.

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I believe he's speaking of the Crystalline weapons, ie Shard Cannon, that are stopped by shields but not armor.

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Right. For Organic Armor ships, see the Null-Space entry.
You can also use shield regen to block some damage, while the BTG stops another big chunk.

NOTE: when using BTGs, be sure to have at least a few backups of critical systems, because a lucky shot can still pop your bridge. Having an AuxCon can help, and that can be further backed up by a MC.

[This message has been edited by suicide_junkie (edited 21 August 2001).]

[Rich04]

Well I am certainly willing to try it out your way.

P&N is my favorite 'tech' mod currently. Devnull used to be but I dislike so many of his current tweaks that I never play it anymore. Fixed until broken I say.

I think Living Ships need a little more bang for the buck. What is it currently 750 racial points? (I am currently having a great game with the 500 point Version. So I have not switched to the Lastest Version yet.)

How about making Living Ships cost 1000 racial points and giving OA the repair one component ability if one takes Organic as a racial trait with it? At 2500 points it would be pretty reasonable.

This would make for an interesting combo. IMHO.

[Suicide Junkie]

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How about making Living Ships cost 1000 racial points and giving OA the repair one component ability if one takes Organic as a racial trait with it? At 2500 points it would be pretty reasonable.

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Actually, I was thinking of doing it the other way around, by making the LS's HOs provide armor regen of 1pt/turn.
Thus, even if all of your OA is wiped out, if you're a living ship, you can still make use of the regen you've stored up.