Enemies lean into Defense meta more

[resistor]

I think enemy ships should lean into the defense meta more with more skill booster components (with either a Pilot focus for short range or an Elec focus for long range, but perhaps randomly choosing either focus for ships that fight in range 3).

Enemy ships, both human and xeno, never feel like they pose any threat late-game once the player ship is fully upgraded even on Impossible.

This would also make small craft more useful, because they ignore enemy defense dice by using a hit percentage score instead, which would make them a counter against dodge tanks.

Edit: To be clear, I mean we should see enemy dodge tanks in mid/late-game. Enemy ships that can spin on a dime early-game would probably be too rough.

[thanatos1311]

i have encountered enemy with skill boosters since the ai builder got an update a bit ago, however i agree about the more agressive player modeled designs being something the computer should use

[fallen]

Well, we've continued to improve the AI based on the player designs. It has gone through 3 major upgrade passes this year. The second one was too harsh and the third one focused more on difficulty and the AI gaining specifically over time.

We'll keep working to improve! However, a fight where both ships just sit there and have no hope of hitting each other sounds a bit dull.

[Kayfabe]

I'm going to bump this thread rather than make up my own topic since ultimately we're talking ship balance.

I'm all for customization but I think it might help if builds aren't so extreme in the first place. For example, if there was some way to implement diminishing returns for Assist mods of the same type that could be pretty nice. I think in an ideal world pure dodge tanking should be a tactic best suited to situations where you choose your targets carefully--I'm cool with well-equipped pirates in fast ships being nigh invulnerable to freighters and capable of running away from most everyone else but it'd be nice if slugging it out with other warships rewarded layered defense types a bit more because you can't expect to dodge so consistently.

Another thought: What if Gunnery mattered more, particularly for boarding setups? I often find that boarding ships are among the easiest to aggressively optimize since the presence of a crack boarding crew lets you treat treat gunners and weapon systems like an afterthought at best and utterly replaceable at worst. It'd be cool if there were Point Defense weapon systems that contributed to defense and/or Boarding rolls so you don't automatically feel like a sucker for not firing your Gunners the second you get your grubby mitts on a Zartar Fang.

[fallen]

Thanks for the suggestions! As you can, we're making continued progress on evolving and improving the meta and we'll keep working to improve.