Well here I am, waiting for an aircraft that will take me somewhere else where all I'll be able to see is more sand. So I started thinking about an old game I played, and it seems like a fairly sound idea for addition to VO. It worked in identical fashion to how I will explain it below.

Options for variations on ship armor:
-Standard
Exactly what your ship has right now. No modifiers.
-Reactive (explodes outward toward incoming ordinance)
Pro: Half damage taken from missile weapons (swarms, gems, flares)
Con: Double damage taken from collisions, costs more.
-Reflective (mirrored to reflect as much light as possible)
Pro: Half damage taken from energy weapons (neuts, gauss, agt)
Con: Double damage taken from missile weapons, costs more
-Hardened
Pro: Half damage taken at all times
Con: Twice as heavy, expensive

Three more varieties I came up with that were not in aforementioned game:
-Patched
Pro: Substantially cheaper
Con: 150% damage taken.
-Carbon
Pro: Undetectable on radar
Con: Double damage from energy weapons due to combustibility, 150% from all other sources because it really isn't armor. Radar invisibility lost when ship takes damage, and temporarily while firing. Expensive. Cannot be equipped on any chassis larger than 7000 kg. Aerna seekers are able to detect carbon ships normally due to their specialized nature.
-Light
Pro: Half the weight
Con: Double damage taken

Not all armor varieties should be available everywhere. Any given variety with the exception of standard and patched should only be available from one faction similar to the specialty ships of today. Competitors like Valent and Axia might sell the same thing in the spirit of competition of course. I don't see the Itani ever mounting hardened armor or the Serco ever mounting light. Reactive armor is in use today, so it could be made more widely availible. Stations that dislike a pilot could show it by only offering a 'patch' repair job and at the price of standard armor. Some ships seem to have custom armor built in already; see moth XC. Finally the stealth that people whine for would come to VO, but at a heavy price; I don't see very many people mastering it. I'm also salivating over the challenge of hitting an enemy freehand. Not all ships should be able to mount all armors. With this change, a lot of variety is added to the game. By no means would all of the above need to be added together. I can see some of them causing controversy. That said, it could also be very popular...

Okay, no cloaks. It would unbalance the game. Otherwise, good idea.

Uh, radar concealing "carbon" armor != cloak. You can still visually detect the ship, you just won't have warning that he's in the sector. I like it.

Somehow, instead of being really excited about how awesome this is, I'm a bit depressed because I know the devs won't put it ingame.

But, it's so awesome :3

While we're dreaming, can we get light/heavy/med armor levels? Or how exactly does that fit ingame?

Geez zam, you're a real downer recently.

Growing up really sucks :P

Meh, I've seen enough of these threads to realize that honestly, the developers don't have time to put most of these suggestions into place. They're good ideas, but at no place in the near-distant future will the developers be able to implement them.

i wonder how this could be implemented otherwise it gets the [Stamp of Approval]™

Zamzx is right though...these forums have tons of great ideas...nothing changes...ever. its a bit frustrating at times.

but they are really great ideas...though i still say, who cares if the games balanced? its a fairly realistic from a physics point of view...so why not take the next step in realisim? getting rid of the "balance" would make it much more realistic. look at the television, the papers...hell look out the window, life is NOT balanced.

but life is not fun that is why we play video games /sarcasm

balanced= fun

"Zamzx is right though...these forums have tons of great ideas...nothing changes...ever. its a bit frustrating at times."

Nearly every bit of this last update began as a player suggestion, including the hive changes.

*** Vendetta 1.8.11
- Slight optimization to client when there are a lot of bots in the sector. (ie. BS and central hive sectors)
- All supporting sectors for Hive Bastions are now constrained to the same system as the Queen
- Hive Collectors shuttle back and forth between their Settlement and their Queen
- When the last Bastion in a system is destroyed, all other Hive Skirmish missions in that system end immediately (as successful).
- Mac version defaults to using texture compression for video cards with 128 megs of memory to try to fix texture thrashing problem.

Also, thanks to players who have contributed the following:
- Group management added to Buddy tab and tab is renamed to Buddy/Group.
- Added ability to optionally display numbers with either commas or spaces as thousands separators in the client interface. Added option to specify either none, comma, space.
- Updated some in-station hotkeys.
- Darkened capship's 'Ready Room' chat background colors.
- Darkened station's 'Bar' chat background colors.
- Player cargo lists are now sorted by name.
- There are now 9 pages of mission notes instead of 1.
- Added /clear command to clear the console.

Will custom armor be right around the corner? Certainly not, but it's fine to suggest it now. They could discussing future plan tomorrow and include it in the design specs. No reason to wait.

spare me the minor insignificant changes...the only change that means anything is TANGIBLE CHANGE...player onwned stations/cap ships, hell something other than one man fighters and transports. game takes place in the future and the only classification of ships are single pilot or capital ship? seriously, what is that? are the 3 races lazy or retarded? theres a war going on and theres no...

Battleship
Gun Cruiser
Guided Missile Cruiser
Destroyers
Guided Missile Destroyer
Frigate
Guided Missile Frigate
Radar Picket Frigate

just to name a few, guilds cant build/buy thier own stations. getting back to the OP here, theres limited armor, how about "defensive counter measures" for ships? electronic warfare? the ability to customize your ship to better suit your needs...(aside from the limited weapons/battery/mining beam and color) how about simply being able to hire NPCs?

how about any tangible change, any at all.

I guess you don't read the Newsposts. I do hope you are a paid subscriber.

i do read them from time to time, but just to be sure...i just read them. saw no TANGIBLE changes. saw no new ships/stations...nine new missions, which i still have yet to find in game...(though that could just be i dock at the wrong stations)

and yes I am a paid subscriber...if i wasnt id have no right to be this bitter towards the game.

seriously, dont you get sick of hearing "soon"?

(tm) ;)

The part you may have missed is how much work has gone into the intangible foundation of VO that will allow the larger changes people have suggested. The VO of old was hard-wired and inflexible, requiring recoding for the most unremarkable tweaks. They've been making things more modular and have been building tools to make smoother, more rapid changes (updates have recently been including many more small changes than before and have been less buggy). At the same time they've been building sub-systems to support the big changes that they've discussed.

We've been kept in the loop the whole time, so I don't see where the bitterness comes from.

I know, I know...soon. the mantra of this game. soon. since I found the game almost 3 years ago, soon.

soon, is starting to feel like a lie. thats where the bitternes comes from.

I know, I know...soon. the mantra of this game. soon. since I found the game almost 3 years ago, soon.

soon, is starting to feel like a lie. thats where the bitternes comes from.

http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/7/18599#232257

reign, please feel free to change my wording from "Maalik" to your name.

Challenging 'Soon™' is not the smartest thing to do. Just wait for it, or take a time-out.

comeback Soon™? :P

Alright, the problem I have with this is that this is going to be expensive. Ships can't just change clothes, it's a pain to add armor on and off, and the price should reflect that. It should also be priced by how many people are buying that item (since it takes time and manpower to retro fit a ship)

Taking armor *off* should also cost more, since you'd have to REALLY mess with a ship (literally take the skin off)

the problem I have with this is that this is going to be expensive. Ships can't just change clothes, it's a pain to add armor on and off, and the price should reflect that.

Hint: when a "custom" mod becomes popular enough, producers tend to develop means to offer cheaper, mass produced off the shelf products to fill that "custom" niche. If a pilot wanted to specify some precise armor to weight tradeoff, sure, it would be pricey and hard to do: you'd have to change a premade ship.

But once it's clear to TPG that there's a demand for general classes of mod (heavy, light, carbon armor, etc), some standardized ship will be mass produced to take advantage of that demand. It's how those slimy UIT bastids make their credits.

That said, I think price increases for mods is a great idea. Life in VO is already waaaay too cheap.