Requesting MORE Solar Armor

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shanejfilomena
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I am a HUGE fan of Solar Armor, especially since I Mine so much, I consume more credits in fuel then I often make in some systems.

the greatest Solar Armor I once used to use was from a Mod ( don't remember the Mod unfortunately, I often find myself looking in Mods for it though, I do miss it ): it was like level 4 or 5 , 135 Hp, basically a Solar Blast Plate.

I would NOT like to see a Solar version of every kind of Armor, but maybe a Rare or Very Rare Armor for a few levels.

Solar Armor can NOT always be counted on to keep you from running low if you are running high powered equipment, but it's was always nice to Mine a system once cleared - shutting down everything I am not using and just relax before going on to the next system where the credits or Rins will help upgrades or the eventual fuel needs once I turn everything back on..
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Yukine
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I might be alone on this but a higher level solar armor would make a big chunk of the game a tad too unbalanced completely bypassing the need for fuel. Finding a solar panel array and installing/replacing at stations as needed is already a viable way to refuel and save credits when using an 100mw reactor, even when its enhanced. I'm not even sure you HAVE to remove it but I never felt like taking the risk of it getting damaged in battle and the slot is better used for other devices when in combat, even so I was still saving a good chunk of credits until I needed to upgrade to a 250mw, which by then your dependency on actually having to purchase fuel should already be at a minimum.
shanejfilomena
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Yukine wrote:I might be alone on this but a higher level solar armor would make a big chunk of the game a tad too unbalanced completely bypassing the need for fuel. Finding a solar panel array and installing/replacing at stations as needed is already a viable way to refuel and save credits when using an 100mw reactor, even when its enhanced. I'm not even sure you HAVE to remove it but I never felt like taking the risk of it getting damaged in battle and the slot is better used for other devices when in combat, even so I was still saving a good chunk of credits until I needed to upgrade to a 250mw, which by then your dependency on actually having to purchase fuel should already be at a minimum.
It was just a thought that I thought it might be possible others might have thoughts on
I appreciate that you added to the topic & while I do not disagree with you at all,
It was Just a thought I had..and , again my thoughts aren't very popular - as usual...

I'll go back to my rocks now ... :)
Flying Irresponsibly In Eridani......

I don't like to kill pirates in cold blood ..I do it.. but I don't like it..
PM
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I do like faster higher-level solar-powered options. I use solar armor for at least half of the entire game. Stuck with solar armor means I get the biggest, baddest shield I find, install it, and rely almost totally on shields for defense... at least until Ares positron cannons (or jumpdrive or CSCs) show up. Meanwhile, I sit on stars as long as it takes to refuel. If it is too long, I will switch to another program and work on something else.

I hoard fuel as either commodities to sell or as fodder to feed the Teraton fabricator.

Solar panel array needs to charge faster. It is much too slow beyond the earliest systems, after I get a reactor bigger than 25 MW.
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relanat
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I've been thinking about this. I like solar items too, but rarely use Solar armor past Rigel and never past St Kats because it has so little blast resistance.
No problem putting the solar property on different armors but, to my thinking, there needs to be a tradeoff to get it.
Possibly, based on the arbitrary thought that solar cells need to be rigid, any armor with the solar property would need to lose any impact or matter resistance. So kinetic, blast and thermo would need to be downgraded.
And maybe laser fire could boost the charging rate!
Also very little damage to a piece of armor would destroy the solar property or drop its effectiveness drastically. Such damage could only be fixed at stations, not by the player.
Something like that.
Armor repair barrels, patches and devices could fix HP but not the solar property. Armors could show a red '-Solar' property when damaged. And maybe you couldn't use any of the 'coating' coatings, as opposed to the 'nano' coatings, because they would block the sunlight.

My personal opinion is that solar is a bit overpowered in the early game (compared to what is was) since George upgraded the solar effect to nearly the whole system when he improved the graphics a couple of versions ago. Previously you needed to be near the sun to get any realistic reactor charging. But I usually leave a solar array installed until I need the device slot.

And a larger, more powerful array would work but perhaps with a time delay while it deploys before it starts working and another delay while it folds up and restows itself. Vulnerable to damage and highly vulnerable whenever it isn't protected by shields. It could be very fast charging but only if you could deploy and protect it. Something like that.
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gunship256
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I like solar items too but would rather use looted fuel that spend a device slot. I can afford to do that because I run without shields as soon as I can get a patcher arm or access to Domina's Restore power, which can repair armor when no shield is installed.

I've been thinking that the solar devices in my mod are overpowered, but hearing about how people are using solar armor, maybe they're okay. Solar armor has such a high recharge rate that it takes a lot of solar arrays to replace four solar segments, and even if those arrays don't use device slots, they do use cargo space and will get damaged if the hold is too full for them to uninstall.

It would be nice to have solar armor options so we don't have to resort to using mods to get the same effect in mid and late game.
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TheLoneWolf
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We require higher level solar arrays. And something like a solar spider.
gunship256
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TheLoneWolf wrote:We require higher level solar arrays. And something like a solar spider.
I have something like that here. Try it out and let me know how I can improve the mod.

https://forums.kronosaur.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=7482
PM
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I made a solar spider (not by that name) long time ago; it is in the Items912 mod.

It would be nice if we have better official solar items so that mods would not be needed. I suppose free refuel at CSCs takes that place, since it seems George tries to change some mechanics every three levels. CSCs are late in the game. By the time I get free refueling, the game is almost over.
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pip
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There was a mod way back when, which had something interesting for solar armour.
It had an treatment barrel that added the 'solar' property to whichever armour you applied it to.
I just can't for the life of me remember which mod it was. (Iirc it also had barrels for plasma, positron, and explosive resist.)

Something like that would be really helpful/convenient, and would reduce the clutter from having yet more variants of things.
Double helpful if treatments could be stacked on the same plate so you could use this in the early game without it being OP, but it's still scalable with the later reactors.
Extra 'realism' points if the output of the solar treated armour scales with it's condition.
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AssumedPseudonym
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 The Backroads adds solar and anti-disintegration coatings, but I haven’t dug into resistance coatings. Solar or solar-coated armor is only really useful fairly early on unless you’re patient, though — it takes a looong time to recharge a Koshiba with solar armor, let alone a Hyperion. Unfortunately, stacking multiple coatings on the same armor segment is currently not possible (though I might possibly could code around that; I’d have to experiment) except with multiple HP bonuses (which isn’t something that vanilla has, but now I’m considering it). As far as armor condition, though, I know that at least the reflective coatings become increasingly less effective as the armor it’s applied to takes more damage. I don’t think resistance coatings do, and I have no idea about solar or anti-disintegration or other oddball coatings. Note to self: Efficiency coating for powered armor, because lolwut…
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JohnBWatson
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PM wrote:I made a solar spider (not by that name) long time ago; it is in the Items912 mod.

It would be nice if we have better official solar items so that mods would not be needed. I suppose free refuel at CSCs takes that place, since it seems George tries to change some mechanics every three levels. CSCs are late in the game. By the time I get free refueling, the game is almost over.
The midgame, where no free fuel mechanic is dominant, is very generous with loot and other income sources, such as the Black Market and CH factory, and is started off by St. Kat's, which functions as a huge boost to the player's credits. I've always seen that as its effective free fuel mechanic.

I'm also wondering how a solar coating would work. A coating that regenerates armor quickly in the presence of a sun would be an interesting alien technology for part II.
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JohnBWatson wrote: The midgame, where no free fuel mechanic is dominant, is very generous with loot and other income sources, such as the Black Market and CH factory, and is started off by St. Kat's, which functions as a huge boost to the player's credits. I've always seen that as its effective free fuel mechanic.
Player still spends money for fuel, and reactors are not too big that a full set of solar armor does not refuel 100-250 MW reactors too slowly.

My midgame revenue sources...
* Buying military items from CW fortresses and selling them to Black Market.
* Cleaning out Ice Farms then selling as much helium fuel as they can buy.
* Farming Ferians.

I do not take advantage of all of the revenue options in midgame because some of the valuable commodities (especially items bought at ice farms) are fodder for the Teraton fabricator, which is where I can make high-level near-endgame stuff out of a pile of scraps, then sell for big cash or install on my ship.

I have no problem cleaning out my balance by buying upgrades I want or need, especially if I want to abuse the jumpdrive bypass.

I consider solar armor a viable, though tedious, way of refueling even to endgame (and I have refueled Hyperion reactors with solar armor before). Until Ares positron cannon gained shield-buster around the 1.2 days, I used solar armor all the way to about Dantalion.

Seeing how frequently George had fuel problems in the recent Eternity Port broadcasts was my experience with fuel when I first played the game. Money I earned kept getting spent on fuel and not dying. Could not afford to upgrade the ship, and had trouble keeping my ship fueled up. When I learned about solar items, I rushed to grab them. Now, I grab solar items as soon as possible, in every game. Once my armor is solar armor, I never take it off until when Ares positron cannons become common (and I avoid Sung citadels and Huaramarca).
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pip
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re: solar armour coating
Solar effect scales with the level of the armour it is applied to.
And leaves such treated armour vulnerable to EMP/Ion effects.

Possible?
PM
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I do not think so. Items can only take and hold a single enhancement code, and I do not know of any code that combines both photo-repair and an immunity/vulnerability.
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