Had an amusing idea for using docked shell ships as armor

[StormWing0]

Not totally sure how this would work if at all but the general idea is to take advantage of the rail docking system by having a main ship that is shelled by what could only be called exo-armor ships that fit right into place as if they were built into the ship by default.

Was reading the updates about the HP system and thought this up. Now ignoring AOE being maxed out on an attacker they'd have to kill at least one or more of the exo-armor ship sections first before they could get at the core ship. Each section would be self powering and shielded if able but can draw the shielding and power from the main ship if you need too. The funny thing is all the shell parts could be easily DC'd if you need to make a fast getaway. Another thing is the main ship's core can't Overheat if no damage reaches the main ship so outside of someone AOE Nuking you into oblivion you'd be way harder to kill than normal.


In any event is this even possible to pull off? Using a shell ship(s) to shield the main ship. Also this could come in handy for other things as well but not sure what.

 

[CyberTao]

People have been playing with the idea, and there have been positive results. The main downside is that it would be a "high maintaince" ship by today's standards, probably wont catch on for mass use until shipyards (much like modular ships and rails).

 

[Crashmaster]

IMO the main downside would be the percentage of the main ship you would need to devote to thrust in order to move around a significant coverage of docked armor.

This idea was excellent back when chain-docked entities did not count towards ship mass but I think it needs thrust-sharing across rail-docked entities to work great now.

 

[CyberTao]

IMO the main downside would be the percentage of the main ship you would need to devote to thrust in order to move around a significant coverage of docked armor.

Docked armour does not need to be heavy, it's mostly throwaway plates that would only absorb maybe 1-3 shots on average. You could basically make it out of Basic hull, which is the lightest (and most effective in terms of armour per mass, just takes up more space). I honestly dont think the mass 'gain' would be that much, unless you were just strapping plates on a ship that was not designed to use plates.

 

[godmars]

It's possible and already has been done. The main issue is what crash master mentioned. With the new update to missiles in dev its a bit better since your rails all wont be instantly destroyed the instant a missile hits you sub 50 shields..but if you care for maneuverability I would only use sparse amounts of adv. armor and mostly std armor or maybe even basic

 

[Reilly Reese]

The biggest concern apart from these is the sheer number of entities and the collisions that would occur when you decide to eject all the plates while in motion. Collisions are one of the fastest ways to put a server into a hang.