Here's my Evaluation of Discovery

[daedalus]

Maybe there's a way round this by reducing commodity prices, say dividing them by 10, so that something previously at $1600 would be $160. It would slow down trading.

10 million for an Osiris would then look expensive.

[snapback]1345[/snapback]

Just a note to say, regarding the above, that equipment prices (guns, thrusters, mines etc) would also have to be divided by 10 otherwise npc loot drops and stuff on wrecks would be too valuable.

Igiss, -

I'd like to see all the new ships (excluding the three new fighters and CSV) given a class 9 freighter rating apart from gunboats, cruisers and battleships which would be class 10. Maybe consider making the liners and the mining ship class 10 also, but certainly not trains and transports which should be more vulnerable.

Simply make the class 9 freighter shield a normal shield, but the class 10 a bit stronger, say 120k. I think 160k is too much. Maybe make gunboats and cruisers come with the class 9, but able to mount a class 10 (bought from somewhere), and have battleships come with the class 10. Get rid of the multiple shield strengths for each class and type, it's not necessary (i.e. the different ratings for class 10 graviton freighter shields).

That, as well as fixed guns and turrets which cannot be unmounted, would solve all the problems.

I'm also in favour of energy usage for the larger ships, but on a practical level I think this would be very hard to get right, to a point that everyone agrees on. It would be simpler to avoid it if at all possible. And I'm not confident it will stop a fighter firing a cruiser forward gun.

Other suggestions: Create an "uber-mine", like the Nova torpedo, which will hurt the larger ships. Can I suggest the name "Shredder"?
Increase codename gun damage (shield and hull) by 50%. These guns are too weak to be useful at that level.
Increase battleship normal speed to 100.
Slightly decrease gunboat forward gun damage (as in my suggestion above, they'll have the same shield level as battleships).

I still get the feeling that the Discovery mod is "almost there". With these fixes it will be.

---

Role-played characters:
daedalus - Liberty Navy
bandersnatch - Ruthless criminal possessed by a (huge) alien
Shredder - Small-time Kusari pirate, looking to join the Blood Dragons

"Bounty Hunters. We don't need that scum." - Admiral Piett