With the faction changes coming, it would be nice to see the ability to downscale ship armor to reduce weight for better handling and acceleration, or to to the point that some could receive infiniturbo.

Example: Give the option to downscale the SCP armor to the point that it's more nimble and can infiniturbo. This would make it a combat capable interceptor. It's very combat capable, but it's not an interceptor.

At this point, someone is going to chime in that the SVG is a great interceptor, which it is, but compare it to the X1, which weighs less, has 3 ports, more armor and almost identical turbo drain, and it's not even a choice.

This would open up a lot of wiggle room for ship customization that the current models don't really provide. Rather than add new ships, or more vult variants, I believe customization is the way forward.

It could be handled in the ship configuration tab, make a sliding scale for ship armor % that translates to a number based on the original armor value. I imagine thrust, speed, etc are currently hard values, so it would probably require a fair amount of coding to make these values dynamic based on ship weight and thrust.

So....is it do-able?

Ships are made according to strict engineering specifications on an assembly line. You can't just go into the local Ford manufacturing plant and say, "Could I get that 10% lighter?" Additionally, each ship is designed with sensibilities of it's designer in mind. With the faction system being fixed, you actually have to make a choice. Do you want the better interceptor, or do you want the better armor?

I do agree that there should eventually be addons that can modify the abilities of a ship, but not in a manner that you suggest.

actually, I can remove components from my car and replace components to reduce weight. I don't care how they do it, I just want the option to do it.

Example, I can replace fiberglass components on my car with carbon fiber to reduce weight. I can use forged wheels, I can use an aftermarket exhaust, I can pull out sound deadening material. I can remove the passenger seat. Etc...

sounds like a new emerging market for corvus! bring it on +1

I have to agree with Savet. My car was too heavy so... I took out the passenger seats and replaced a a bunch of parts with lighter parts. I then decided it was to slow so I added a turbo charge, put in better fuel injectors and added two Edelbrock Nitrous Oxide tanks. And, as an after thought... I put in a light but sturdy roll cage. Its significantly faster and lighter now.

I think a better way however is to go the EVN route. Sacrifice armor/cargo/weapons/power to get power/cargo/weapons/armor. You want x, you sacrifice y. Its slightly more elegant than the OP and it cover more. It also addresses the severe lack of customization options. Which might in turn make up for the fact that with the exception of a few variants and one "unique" ship for each faction, that two warring nations have exactly the same ships.

I agree with Savet and Ryan. This can be implemented as modules for light/heavy ports or new equipment port.

At this point, someone is going to chime in that the SVG is a great interceptor, which it is, but compare it to the X1, which weighs less, has 3 ports, more armor and almost identical turbo drain, and it's not even a choice.

Imho, SVG is one of the best interceptors in the VO ;)

Please note that I wasn't against the idea in it's entirety. I was merely against creating some sort of variant base ship based on a slider before purchase. All modification should be after-market. As I've suggested in another thread, it would be nice if there were addons that could modify the statistics of the ships. I had proposed that these addons could be installed in existing S-/L-ports, but that specialized upgrade ports (U-ports?) could also be added to ships based on size and intended modularity. Through this system it should be possible to do as you request. But of course even my proposition wasn't even the first time the idea had come up. Just look at the Toys thread. The very first post in the thread has something like 100+ addon suggestions.

In terms of adding variety to the ship mix, I'll agree that we need some additional customization options. In terms of when, I'm going to say later(tm).

But still we should balance addons, so there won't be any overpowered ships. We can divide ship characteristics on the primary, secondary and tertiary and let pilots can upgrade only secondary and tertiary, but still downgrade primary. Or primary, secondary and tertiary characteristic influence on "cost" of the upgrades. If you want to change 1 primary stat, you need change 3x secondary. If you want to change 1 secondary, the price will be 3x tertiary..

e.g.

SCP:

Primary characteristics:
Armor
Thrusts

Secondary characteristics:
Turbo thrusts
Spin torque
Weight
Combat speed

Tertiary characterstics:
Cargo space
Max speed
Energy drain

X-1

Primary characteristics:
Weight
Armor

Secondary characteristics:
Max speed
Thrusts
Turbo thrusts
Energy drain
Combat speed

Tertiary characterstics:
Cargo space
Spin torque

I allways loved the "MechWarriors" way of customization.

You have minimum and maximum weight a chassis can support. The same chassis can be agile, only with engines, or sluggish with a bad heavy setup. Each chassis model have a limited hardpoints for mounting optionals.

-You choose engine, changing the speed. But the faster a engine drives, it gets heavier and increase power drain exponentially.

-You can choose how much armour, and what type: Regular, Reflective, best against energy, or Reactive, best against ordnance. More armour, more protection but weights more too. Regular is lighter.

-On each hardpoint we can mount weapons, ammo, heat dissipators, defenses, eletronics, etc. Some weapons requires many hardpoints.

Now there is the HEAT aspect. Energy weapons have "infinite ammo", but generates lots of heat. You need to dissipate that heat, or explode from overheating. Ordnance weapons generates little or no heat, but have limited ammo. That seems way too much fo rVO, at least now. But would add a lot of realism to game. Limits to energy weapons usage...

For VO, I'd like to see, in stages:

*Few Shipyards (stations) in grayspace offering customization:
-Special paintings, from flat colors to custom textures
-Extra "internal" ship port, allowing choose extra ammo, or equipaments without trigger (cargo blocker/spoofer, scanners, radar extenders, etc)
-Armour customization, from 3 levels (light, regular, heavy) to 3 types above (Regular, Reflective, Reactive)

I think this is what variants like the Corvus Greyhound were created for.
+1 for more player-controller customization, but it's been suggested countless times.

+1 to the EVN route mentioned. Sacrifice something to gain something.