Are hull reinforcement packages and armour pointless?

[Rubbernuke]

I've been fighting the Feds in Lugh and have tooled up my Asp with as much armour and shielding as I can fit. But from combat all I can conclude is that its pointless to fit hull 'boosters' and upgrade the armour on ships.

Perhaps this is down to the Asps flawed powerplant location (and that I play Ironman so I run when I get to 85% hull), but once a number of ships (Asp, Anaconda, Cobra etc) lose shields even with all the armour in the game they get destroyed in the same time as an unarmoured one does. Even with B components my modules get damaged really easily. The only ship I would feel safe in right now with no shields would be the Python as it takes an age to take out their reactor.

I'm tempted to remove all the hull boosters and just have reflective armour, and be a bit more agile. What do you guys think- does anyone use lots of armour or do you rely on shields?

 

[Space Trucker]

I've been fighting the Feds in Lugh and have tooled up my Asp with as much armour and shielding as I can fit. But from combat all I can conclude is that its pointless to fit hull 'boosters' and upgrade the armour on ships.

Perhaps this is down to the Asps flawed powerplant location (and that I play Ironman so I run when I get to 85% hull), but once a number of ships (Asp, Anaconda, Cobra etc) lose shields even with all the armour in the game they get destroyed in the same time as an unarmoured one does. Even with B components my modules get damaged really easily. The only ship I would feel safe in right now with no shields would be the Python as it takes an age to take out their reactor.

I'm tempted to remove all the hull boosters and just have reflective armour, and be a bit more agile. What do you guys think- does anyone use lots of armour or do you rely on shields?

I've noticed this myself on my conda. loaded up with hull reinforcements and didn't notice a difference when taking damage. Maybe they're broken at the moment?

 

[rupok]

I've been fighting the Feds in Lugh and have tooled up my Asp with as much armour and shielding as I can fit. But from combat all I can conclude is that its pointless to fit hull 'boosters' and upgrade the armour on ships.

Perhaps this is down to the Asps flawed powerplant location (and that I play Ironman so I run when I get to 85% hull), but once a number of ships (Asp, Anaconda, Cobra etc) lose shields even with all the armour in the game they get destroyed in the same time as an unarmoured one does. Even with B components my modules get damaged really easily. The only ship I would feel safe in right now with no shields would be the Python as it takes an age to take out their reactor.

I'm tempted to remove all the hull boosters and just have reflective armour, and be a bit more agile. What do you guys think- does anyone use lots of armour or do you rely on shields?

Once your shields are down its time to run. Also the asp armour is pretty bad.

 

[Bertak]

Armour doesn't protect subsystems so it is worthless IMO. Shields go down get out asap.

 

[Rubbernuke]

Thanks for the responses, it confirms my feelings as well with no shields = run.

rupok> on a stock Asp yes, but with max boosters I have more armour points than an Anaconda!

 

[Wicz]

Armour doesn't protect subsystems so it is worthless IMO.

I sincerely hope this isn't true?

What is the point of armour exactly FD?

 

[Rubbernuke]

I sincerely hope this isn't true?

What is the point of armour exactly FD?

I can see why this is in theory, but I really wish we could buy combat rated subsytems that were tougher, or that we fit plating that covers vulnerable spots.

 

[Surly_Badger]

it's standard:
shields=absorb absolute value of damage -until gone-
armor=reduce percentage of damage

 

[Bertak]

I sincerely hope this isn't true?

What is the point of armour exactly FD?

Armour only protects hull.

 

[Terry Bruge-Hiplo]

I sincerely hope this isn't true?

What is the point of armour exactly FD?

I imagine if there were no armour protection, a lot of subsystems would go pop a lot quicker.

The kind of armour type you choose seems to make a noticeable difference to how quickly your ship's health goes down, but I haven't really noticed any benefit from the reinforcement packages yet. Maybe that's to be expected if you go Military grade or higher?

 

[Rubbernuke]

armor=reduce percentage of damage

But this is what I struggle with: its like driving a titanium car with glass wheels. Never have I tested my armour as the subsystems are so fragile it makes its existence pointless.

 

[Wicz]

Armour only protects hull.

And where are the subsystems if not within said hull?

 

[LawHunter]

Since the powerplant/frame shift drive/shield generator are inside the ship: armour should protect.

It does not.

All the armour upgrades do is increase our repairs/buy back cost and lower the jump range.

It would make better gameplay if these internal systems only recieved damage when a percentage of hull has been damaged. 50% maybe?

Everyone must use the same tactic of targeting powerplant and jobs a good 'un.

 

[Derath]

It has an impact but not on direct subsystem hits, I wouldn't say its wasted on an asp as i wouldn't personally target an asp powerplant unless it had armour, because the base hull is so weak you might as well just shoot its giant floating cubeness

Edit: However, I don't run armour on any of my ships as i'm still stuck in the hull damage = a failure mentality, and i can't take the speed reduction for putting armour on (and its incredibly expensive)

 

[Terry Bruge-Hiplo]

Since the powerplant/frame shift drive/shield generator are inside the ship: armour should protect.

It does not.

All the armour upgrades do is increase our repairs/buy back cost and lower the jump range.

It would make better gameplay if these internal systems only recieved damage when a percentage of hull has been damaged. 50% maybe?

Everyone must use the same tactic of targeting powerplant and jobs a good 'un.

You make a good point, and I like your idea. Have some rep.

 

[Bertak]

I imagine if there were no armour protection, a lot of subsystems would go pop a lot quicker.

The kind of armour type you choose seems to make a noticeable difference to how quickly your ship's health goes down, but I haven't really noticed any benefit from the reinforcement packages yet. Maybe that's to be expected if you go Military grade or higher?

If this is true it is broke because I have tested it and see no protection for subsystems. Don't believe me? Go to a conflict zones where AI are all using armor. It takes a ton of damage to kill their hull yet you can take their subsystems just as quick with armor as you can without.

 

[Jorlin]

I already pointed this out in Beta 1.2

It can't hurt to fit a bit of armour improvement.
But, especially on medium and larger ships, it's absolutely useless to stack them.
Even against NPC who don't target subsystems, the random hits on modules will take you out way before the hull is down.

 

[Vampyre111]

I tried the shield boosters and they seemed to help. It looked like they put a purple ring around my shields. Once it was broken, the shields started going down at normal rate.

 

[Terry Bruge-Hiplo]

If this is true it is broke because I have tested it and see no protection for subsystems. Don't believe me? Go to a conflict zones where AI are all using armor. It takes a ton of damage to kill their hull yet you can take their subsystems just as quick with armor as you can without.

Yeah, I know what you're saying. I was just imagining that if you had, say, a thermal weapon tearing up hull to get at a subsystem, the subsystem would start getting cooked pretty quickly, even if it were just from the heat build up on the hull covering it? If so, putting more layers of metal between the hull and the subsystem would slow that heat damage?

 

[Bertak]

Yeah, I know what you're saying. I was just imagining that if you had, say, a thermal weapon tearing up hull to get at a subsystem, the subsystem would start getting cooked pretty quickly, even if it were just from the heat build up on the hull covering it? If so, putting more layers of metal between the hull and the subsystem would slow that heat damage?

I agree it should work that way but doesn't.