So, Carriers....

[Wanderer]

What if, instead of an actual carrier, it built a repair ship equivalent?  Something like a fighting repair guardian?  It'd be about the equivalent of say, 500 ships, but could be priced by what it 'ate' to create itself.  It could even use the existing modular mechanics, allowing for a stronger version based on what it 'ate' to come into existence.  Treat it like a real 'carrier' instead of just portable armor.

This idea, however, might not be as valuable.  When I was dealing with some massive waves on an 8 homeworlder, I'd get 5-6 carriers packing over 4000 ships between them.  That's a massive removal for waves, so they'd have to be worth the replacement.

[keith.lamothe]

What if, instead of an actual carrier, it built a repair ship equivalent?  Something like a fighting repair guardian?  It'd be about the equivalent of say, 500 ships, but could be priced by what it 'ate' to create itself.  It could even use the existing modular mechanics, allowing for a stronger version based on what it 'ate' to come into existence.  Treat it like a real 'carrier' instead of just portable armor.

This idea, however, might not be as valuable.  When I was dealing with some massive waves on an 8 homeworlder, I'd get 5-6 carriers packing over 4000 ships between them.  That's a massive removal for waves, so they'd have to be worth the replacement.

Yea, I've also thought of letting the AI cash in excess piles of ships for "super guardians" that would go on the offensive like carriers.  Modules would be one way of stretching their combinatorial deadliness, as well.  But right now:

1) That's out of scope for a quick change.
2) It would be tricky to balance, which is fine since we have time and a very helpful community, but in the meantime things could get pretty wonky.
3) I don't want to get rid of carriers entirely, I'd rather have it have a x% chance of cashing in for an "exo carrier", y% chance of cashing in for 1+ "super guardians", and maybe even a low z% chance of cashing in for a "invincible so long as 1000 AI ships are on the planet" carrier like the ones we have now.  But again, scope vs time, etc.