The patch spider works so well that it seems like it's a bug.
It's extremely strange that armor that is so damaged a full dry dock cannot repair it presents no problem at all to the patch spider. A piece of armor can be completely destroyed with 0 hit points left, and the patch spider can still fix it.
Doesn't really make sense from a realism or gameplay point of view. From a realism point of view, if patch spiders work so well you'd think they'd just keep them around in the dry docks. From a gameplay point of view, things that are harder for a player to do should be more effective, but to repair armor with a patch spider a player just needs to press "b" and then activate it (while stowing it away when it's not needed the same way), while if the player goes to the trouble of flying all the way to a dry dock, it's actually less effective.
Patch Spider repairs completely busted armor (bug?)
Certain repair items can also repair armor too badly damaged for a station to fix it as well. A trick I've often used to recover "unrepairable" armor. Then once it's repaired up to a certain point, the stations are then able to repair it. Not really a bug, but more of a realism issue.
One way to explain it is that it isn't that it's impossible for the station to fix terminally damaged plates, just either not profitable or impractical. The stations seem to fix the armor instantaneously, maybe it's just that the patch spiders have more time and resources to fix the problem?
[schilcote] It doesn't have to be good, it just has to not be "wow is that the only thing you could think of" bad
I always theorized that armor patches, repair kits, and patch spiders are just temporary fixes usually. A patch spider, in my mind, crawls along the armor segments, analyzes what the armor is (or has it from the shipboard computer), and using nonsensoleum-powered methods, either creates a basic framework of armor or actually (gasp) makes PATCHES of it. Logically enough patches brings the armor back up to decently reparable status... and I think stations have lovely machinery that repairs quickly compared to slowly, hence the pricing.
My first mod, mostly done, still balance testing.
http://xelerus.de/index.php?s=mod&id=789
http://xelerus.de/index.php?s=mod&id=789
The patch spider, as a matter of course, uses liquid unobtanium to patch your armor. This is patently obvious to me, of course. This liquid hardens immediately into whatever material structure it is applied to.
The game balance answer, however, is that the patch spider takes time in order to work, and also, if left on the hull it can be destroyed by a random shot. So really it's not unbalanced.
The game balance answer, however, is that the patch spider takes time in order to work, and also, if left on the hull it can be destroyed by a random shot. So really it's not unbalanced.