Lets just put it bluntly: Hull polarizers are useless. I have never seen someone besides AI use them and even when the AI uses them i hardly care, holding down LMB will still do the job perfectly fine, just take a little longer than before.
My suggestions for a change where inspired by a post in Feedback, which can be found here.
[glow=yellow,2,300]The Issue[/glow]
A main reason why hull polarizers are not used is that it is simply better to have shields than to rely on hull. If my shields go down, I usually just retreat.
Also it is not very logical to make your ship vulnerable to a certain damage, as the user deep pointed out, no one would sell "armor, that breaks from fire".
[glow=yellow,2,300]My idea[/glow]
I would like to suggest a replacement of the current mechanic with something i think is much better: an adaptation system as well as an anti-oneshot-mechanic. I would also be happy to see them put in in two different upgrades, but a single one would be my preferred option.
The basical mechanic
Once a ship starts taking damage from a certain damage type, it will start adapting to that damage, taking less and less damage over time up to a limit. The speed of the adaptation could depend on the inflicted damage or the relative amount of health the ship has lost in comparision to its full health.
This mechanic should apply to shields as well as hull, but damage on shields should only count something like 25% in comparison to hull in regards of adaptation speed or the overall damage reduction to shields should be lower.
Of course this would need some kind of cooldown, for example a reset after 30 seconds of not taking damage or another mechanic.
An idea of a concrete implementation
The upgrades could look like this:
grey: adaptation to one damage type for about 25% damage reduction at max
white: adaptation to one damage type for about 30-40% damage reduction at max
green: adaptation to two damage types for about 40% damage reduction at max
blue: adaptation to two damage types for about 60% damage reduction at max
orange: adaptation to three damage types for about 60% damage reduction at max, additionally no single hit can ever cost the ship more than 80% of its total helath
red: adaptation to three damage types for about 80% damage reduction at max, additionally no single hit can ever cost the ship more than 60% of its total health
purple: adaptation to three (or four mabye?) damage types for above 80% damage reduction at max, additionally no single hit can ever cost the ship more than 40% of its total health
Example
A ship has a white upgrade equipped, so it can only adapt to one damage type at a time.
A ship is getting hit by a pojectile with energy damage. This first hit does its full damage, but the ship will start to adapt depending on the amount of damage done/the amount of health lost. The ship will take less and less damage from energy based projectiles with every hit it is taking.
The same ship is now getting hit by antimatter damage, adapting to this damage type but instantly being vulnerable to energy damage again.
[glow=yellow,2,300]The advantages[/glow]
By this, the polarizer upgrades would allow for more versatile weaponry as multiple damage types are needed to take down an enemy with a hull polarizer upgrade with the upgrade still being usefull to players.
A change like this would also be a big step in making small ships more usefull, because oneshots on small ships could be avoided with an upgrade like that.
Suggestion
Sir Charles
Lets just put it bluntly: Hull polarizers are useless. I have never seen someone besides AI use them and even when the AI uses them i hardly care, holding down LMB will still do the job perfectly fine, just take a little longer than before.
My suggestions for a change where inspired by a post in Feedback, which can be found here.
[glow=yellow,2,300]The Issue[/glow]
A main reason why hull polarizers are not used is that it is simply better to have shields than to rely on hull. If my shields go down, I usually just retreat.
Also it is not very logical to make your ship vulnerable to a certain damage, as the user deep pointed out, no one would sell "armor, that breaks from fire".
[glow=yellow,2,300]My idea[/glow]
I would like to suggest a replacement of the current mechanic with something i think is much better: an adaptation system as well as an anti-oneshot-mechanic. I would also be happy to see them put in in two different upgrades, but a single one would be my preferred option.
The basical mechanic
Once a ship starts taking damage from a certain damage type, it will start adapting to that damage, taking less and less damage over time up to a limit. The speed of the adaptation could depend on the inflicted damage or the relative amount of health the ship has lost in comparision to its full health.
This mechanic should apply to shields as well as hull, but damage on shields should only count something like 25% in comparison to hull in regards of adaptation speed or the overall damage reduction to shields should be lower.
Of course this would need some kind of cooldown, for example a reset after 30 seconds of not taking damage or another mechanic.
An idea of a concrete implementation
The upgrades could look like this:
grey: adaptation to one damage type for about 25% damage reduction at max
white: adaptation to one damage type for about 30-40% damage reduction at max
green: adaptation to two damage types for about 40% damage reduction at max
blue: adaptation to two damage types for about 60% damage reduction at max
orange: adaptation to three damage types for about 60% damage reduction at max, additionally no single hit can ever cost the ship more than 80% of its total helath
red: adaptation to three damage types for about 80% damage reduction at max, additionally no single hit can ever cost the ship more than 60% of its total health
purple: adaptation to three (or four mabye?) damage types for above 80% damage reduction at max, additionally no single hit can ever cost the ship more than 40% of its total health
Example
A ship has a white upgrade equipped, so it can only adapt to one damage type at a time.
A ship is getting hit by a pojectile with energy damage. This first hit does its full damage, but the ship will start to adapt depending on the amount of damage done/the amount of health lost. The ship will take less and less damage from energy based projectiles with every hit it is taking.
The same ship is now getting hit by antimatter damage, adapting to this damage type but instantly being vulnerable to energy damage again.
[glow=yellow,2,300]The advantages[/glow]
By this, the polarizer upgrades would allow for more versatile weaponry as multiple damage types are needed to take down an enemy with a hull polarizer upgrade with the upgrade still being usefull to players.
A change like this would also be a big step in making small ships more usefull, because oneshots on small ships could be avoided with an upgrade like that.
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