Do Laser and Kinetic Wrap Around to Awesome?

[Salvagebot 1.0]

So when Laser and Kinetic fall off the shield and weapon defense specializations is it because they are subsumed by the next weapon type, i.e. "kinetic" is "blast" is "thermonuclear" (but not the other way around; it makes sense if you think of knight's kinetic armor versus tank ballistic armor -- tank ballistic armor protects against anything knight armor could stop but knight armor doesn't do squat against bullets or tank shells), or do the "stock" weapon types actually wrap around to awesome once nobody bothers to defend against them anymore? (Maybe like jet fighters in "the missile age" finding themselves vulnerable to guns in close-in dogfights? That's not exactly what I'm asking but it's close.)

There are an awful lot of enemy ships out there that don't bother to protect themselves from obsolete weapon types -- unless those weapon types are so obsolete they're covered by one of the more advanced defense types?

[PM]

As armor and shields rise in level, they eventually become immune to low level damage types. Level X armor is immune to laser and kinetic.

[RPC]

Actually, that would be a cool mechanic to play with though (on my first playthrough I stuck with a laser weapon for way too long...)
Maybe there could be a class of level resistant armors that are weak to early game weapons?

[FourFire]

I originally thought this too (and it might be pretty cool to try out in a mod or something)
There is a chart over damage modified by level but I can't find it.

[Vachtra]

I hadn't though about it before but I've only seen immune on one armor type that I can think of. It's not obvious by looking at the armor that it's immune to certian types after a specific level.
Besides level X is there a list? Even looking at the code doesn't reveal this.
Level 8 worldship armor plat seems to be immune pretty well though.

[FourFire]

I found the chart: http://wiki.neurohack.com/transcendence ... _curves101,

[Vachtra]

I don't see a chart...

[Cygnus.X1]

http://wiki.neurohack.com/transcendence ... curves1.01

I wasn't even looking for that, but there you go

[Vachtra]

I see it! Thanks.

Yeah, I would never have gotten this from playing the game. In game level seems to only be relevent for where you can buy it and how much you should expect to have to pay. Nothing in game, except for how it actually works, conveys this to the player especially since armor seems to have adjustments listed that aren't really the actual adjustments but the adjustments to the level adjustment.

Do weapons have a similar curve due to level? So a level 10 laser, although it won't penetrate level 10 armor, does a ton more damage than a level 1?

[Amilir]

The values listed in game ARE the actual values. No lies. The formula may not be totally obvious, but that's not so important. More important are the resistances the armor does NOT display, like radiation or laser at lvl 7+.

[Vachtra]

Ah, that's probably why I thought it it wasn't showing that part. I don't remember higher armors even listing laser and kenetc resistances.

[PM]

Do weapons have a similar curve due to level? So a level 10 laser, although it won't penetrate level 10 armor, does a ton more damage than a level 1?

Weapons do not have a builtin progression like armor or shields. However, the stats set to standard weapons generally follow a pattern that can be observed.

[RPC]

Hi, thanks for the idea:
http://xelerus.de/index.php?s=mod&id=1199
If you don't like the curve, you can change the ArmorDamageAdj curves and make new ones for more levels.
Good luck!

[Vachtra]

Great idea. I was hoping something like this would come about.
Some enemy with ion, thermo, blast and particle immunity gets taken down by a turbolaser!
It's the whole superpowerful enemy just wasn't thinking about the cold scenario all over again.

[Salvagebot 1.0]

So is "Wrap Around to Awesome" a meme yet, or should I not light my victory cigar just yet?