Feedback & Suggestions for Armor effects, AI chambers, and Update Streamlining - Dev Build 0.200.223

[petlahk]

Feedback/Minor Bugs

1. Chambers are being shutdown and the reactor is saying that RC is above 100% when RC is at exactly 100%
2. The "Ship Class" graph that shows a ship's mobility, defensive, offensive, mining, and support ranking does not currently work with the chamber system. It needs to be updated to take into account the chamber effects.
3. Reactor boost isn't increasing reactor recharge rate.

Suggestions

Armor Suggestions

1. It has been suggested in the past that armor not take armor block damage unless AHP is knocked to zero. Similarly, it has been shot down in the past as being like a second shield and thus is not wanted. Perhaps it might be worth it to consider adding this as a high-tier armor effect in the defensive tree. It would be behind a steep RC cost, but would still be an option. Afterall, the stealth tree gets perma-cloak and the defensive tree, while good, is still kinda lacking.

AI Suggestions

1. It has been frequently brought up in the past that the bobby AI module is severely lacking. In the past it has also been mentioned that it would be interesting to be able to make AI controlled, warhead tipped torpedoes. While I admit that this was possible with the bobby AI, logic, and push effect, it was never practical. Perhaps AI could be given a chamber tree with various upgrades that make it smarter, or allow it to do more interesting things. In addition to perhaps serving the purposes for a better AI, this might also help AI to fit in better with NPCs, whenever they might come.
   
   Various ideas for AI chamber tree:
   
   1. An effect that grants the AI the ability to use things such as scanner, FTL, and maybe even warpgates.
   2. An effect or effect tree that allows the AI to maneuver in different ways than the standard "face toward the enemy and fire my guns." It could perhaps have pre-selected emphases such as priorities toward fleeing, broadsiding, attempting to flank, ect...
   3. High RC cost top-tree torpedo effect please?

Streamlining Power System Switch

1. Once the power update comes many old ships are going to be woefully outdated. Of course, one way to update these ships is to ask the players who originally submitted them to update them. However, barring that, I have another idea for updating old ships to the new power system as follows.
   
   Firstly, allow some way for players to get their hands on the blueprints of the faction ships. I do understand that this will break the fun of discovering new ships, and figuring out what they're like. However, if you add a checkbox somewhere that opens up the blueprints and puts them in another blueprints folder then players could gain access to them and update them to the new system for you.
   
   That brings me to the second part of the suggestion. Allow the players to update the ships to the new power system. This would take the work off of your hands as Devs. Maybe you would still have to do some legwork such as adding a restriction that players cannot modify the outer hull of those ships and checking that by hand. Maybe more restrictions than that would be necessary. Either way, it would prevent you, as the devs, from needing to do it all yourselves.
   
   If this is a bad suggestion, maybe you should just have another ship design contest. However, I figure this might still be simpler.

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Edit 1: Added Bug #3

 

[Arcaner]

AI simply is lacking lacking with horrible path calculation, lag, general dumbness and I'm pretty sure an update is planned in the future.

 

[NeonSturm]

I agree mostly, but especially not on reactor-AI chambers.

I'd make a chamber on bobbies with server-blocks.