Actually, the integrity system seems intended to create a choice where none was before. There was no legitimate reason to settle for less than the single, optimal configuration. Yes, anyone could have chosen at any point to build an array with inferior efficiency, but there was no benefit to doing so such as a more resilient mining ship. Now - in theory - you can either go 50x1 and have a stable, safe mining array, or opt for something more "bleeding edge" (closer to 100x1) that mines faster but shatters when taking damage (which, by the way, if your miner is taking damage it's toast anyway, so I'm not sure how it's 'ruined' by being slightly less like armor than any other system elements which are already quite vulnerable to damage).
Salvage. Salvage/Beam. Salvage/Missile. Salvage/Cannon. Salvage/Pulse. That's 5 optimal configurations by my count and that's excluding going into double waffle configurations. Each one had an optimal configuration each with it's pros and cons. It was an interesting and varied system that presented choice and fun engineering challenges.
I might add the vast majority of player built miners I've seen have been sub optimal.... I'm always on players cases to fix the number of modules in their beams to lessen the load on the server.
I will concede your point that it gives you a choice between stable and unstable setups however I don't think it leads to the outcome you think it will. Players tend to want their cake and eat it too. This means that when they discover this mechanic, instead of choosing between 100 beams x90 modules and 100 beams x45modules they will instead, decide between 100 beams x90modules and 200 beams x45modules... that is not cool. I pretty much guarantee that players will choose a larger stable quantity of beams rather then fewer unstable beams. For the sake of server CPUs I'd rather players be using 1 beam of 90 then 2 beams of 45. Hence I believe this to be a bad mechanic.
Except... that isn't even actually what happens in the game right now. Not in actual testing.
Damaging a 100x1 salvage rod literally does nothing different than shooting a 50x1 savage rod does. Yes, there is a warning... but as of right now it's apparently just a scarecrow. The rod doesn't shatter. It doesn't explode. It doesn't cripple your ship. In fact, the remaining parts of the rod continue to function just fine. It doesn't even seem to take additional damage. At all.
If I'm not mistaken this has been mentioned by devs as something that is currently incomplete. Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure that's not how it's intended to function.
Also, if you compare the performance of a 50x1 rod against a 100x1 rod in a 100-block-deep sheet of mineral, you will see that 100x1 only slightly exceeds the performance of 50x1 rods. And by slightly I mean slightly. Repeated testing shows that a 100x1 rod held on target for a full cycle will dig down only 3 to 5 blocks farther than a 50x1, and that is on total dig depths of around 65 blocks for a cycle. 4/60 is in the neighborhood of 7%.
Therefore the tested reality (at the moment) is that 100x1 S-rods are of equal combat stability (because for whatever reason salvage arrays are supposed to be combat resilient) and mine a whopping 7% faster than 50x1 S-rods (but require 200% of the resources to build and demand the same proportional difference both in power and in mass to be carried.
Your methodology is flawed. Do not test different sized beams together. The game averages all beams fired thereby distorting your results.
Firstly, a 100 beam is 10 modules over max cap. 90 modules is the maximum effectiveness of 'new' salvagers.
Secondly. If you're testing two beams side by side and firing them both together., which it sounds like you are, then you're going to get funky results on the number of blocks mined. The system averages the number of blocks mined and spreads those blocks out amongst all beams that fired in an non representative way that doesn't adequately show what each individual beam mines on it's own or when it's in a group of other beams of equal size.
If you fire each beam separately or in a group where all other beams are equal in size then;
A 50 beam will mine 45 basic armour blocks. .9 blocks/module. (Sometimes 46 but only occasionally.)
A 90 beam will mine 82 basic armour blocks. .91' blocks/module (For small arrays. As # of beams approaches 350 the efficiency drops but this is consistent for all sized beams. See Note* below.)
A 90 module appears to be more efficient, it mines a fraction more blocks per module.
(Interestingly when I tested a 45 module the slight difference in efficiency was less and they both pulled closer to the same number of blocks/module on average. So a 50 beam seems to be specifically a fraction less efficient probably due to some rounding in the formulas somewhere, then again it could be my limited test numbers.)
If you fire two different sized salvage beams together then you will get the funky averaging that results in more blocks for the smaller beam and less blocks for the larger beam. Assuming you are firing a 90 beam AND a 50 beam at the same time using the same trigger then;
It averages out around 58-59 blocks for the 50 beam.
It averages out to around 69-70 blocks for the 90 beam.
Which I believe is what you are doing given the numbers you posted from your 'thorough' testing. A rough and ready averaging system has thrown your results out. It is incorrect and not representative of what each beam actually mines. This behaviour and the numbers above have been consistent and repeatable across all my testing.
Try setting up a test bed of salvagers that increment by 10 up to 90. Give them each a storage chest. Fire each one at a time and note how many blocks they pull. You will find they pull a number of blocks with very low variability. Normally +-1 block. Now fire them all together and note how many blocks they each pull... the results are very different. Each beams block pull will vary wildly, it's very inconsistent per beam but the average across all beams will still be relatively consistent.
Now reconfigure your test bed and make all beams 50 modules. Repeat the above tests. Do the same thing for 90 modules. Now you will see that each beam, fired on it's own and also fired as a group where all beams are equal will pull the same block count pretty much every time.
So... Do not test fire different sized beams together unless you want to get screwy results.
Note*:
An interesting thing I found in my testing. I was looking to see if there was a maximum effective cap on number of beams. Firing 90 module beams there was a slight decrease in (blocks mined / beam) for every extra beam up until about 350 beams. At that point the efficiency starts to increase. At about 350 beams the efficiency was around 78.8 blocks/beam. From there on up to 3000 it goes steadily up to 81.98 blocks/beam. So the bigger the array over 350 beams the better the efficiency. This was single player so results may vary when server latency comes into play.
So... I feel like the idea of integrity as forcing smaller salvage arrays is not only not reflective of the game as it functions at this time, but also doesn't actually reflect that even if it worked as theorized (where a 100x1 too additional combat damage) that this would make 100x1 S-rods non-viable or impossible to employ. If they were mining anywhere near double what 50x1 is I would probably be using them even if they were more fragile - at least on my heavy miners, though maybe not on the small salvage arrays like a combat ship might carry.
I believe you've got it backwards... Integrity won't force smaller arrays. It will force larger arrays of smaller beams.
When given the choice between;
- A stable array of 100x 45 modules.
- An unstable array of 100x 90 modules
Players will instead go for option 3. A stable array of 200x 45 modules.
More beams = more load = more lag =
EDIT: added to my complaints about new salvage beams as they used to be v's what they are now. I used to be able to get a very effective full sized salvage beam with only 18 modules. For a trade off. I could also get a full size salvage beam at 100 modules. And a full size salvage beam at 200 modules... Each one suited different ships... that choice is sorely missed.
