The name is referring to the pain that the tip of a needle inflicts, and how fragile it is if fired upon by massive starships. I'm not necessarily describing the ship as a needle.
NOTE: I'm using the Velvet Hammer as a comparative base for this ship. My testing is done mostly by fighting against it.
v1 changes:
- The core is moved back one section (thanks for the suggestion: DarkenShroud, LordGarcia)
- Focused on beam-type weapons
- It might seem a bit overpowered because of the deflector shields AND matrices, but any successful hit down the center, from the front or back, will pretty much destroy the whole ship. This was an intended design characteristic. In addition, if you manage to destroy a section of the outer armor, that will be your gateway to destroying the rest of the ship.
- Beamers actually fire 6 times in a row before reloading for the illusion of continuous fire.
- Railguns are the same, with 3 shots.
- Added armor plates to the sections shielding the beamers.
- Most outer plating parts have more HP than normal.
- From my testing, puts up a good fight against the Velvet Hammer mentioned above. Sometimes one of them completely destroys the other while taking minimal damage, sometimes it's close.
v2 changes:
- Added armor plates to sides and front.
- Elongated front section for proportionality and a few more turrets: 2 more mining lasers, and one triple-shot mass driver (so far it's pretty weak) which is the ship's only frontside offensive turret.
- Compacted armor plates in the beamer turret region
- Nerfed beamers to 90 dmg and lowered range.
- On par with the Velvet Hammer most of the time.
v2b changes:
- SORRY! There was a small parenting error with one of the wing-things. New download is up.
v2c changes:
- Sorry again, there was a small discrepancy with the armor section arrangements on some parts.
- Rearranged some armor plates in the main battery section
- Added one layer of armor plating to the front
- Boosted the outermost layers of armor on the main battery section by 500 each; testing proved it a minute improvement
- AI range set to 1250 to make better use of long-ranged weapons
- Moved around some of the turrets that were out of place, which caused me to misplace some of the armor around the starboard main battery (did anyone notice it before? Or was it just my BluePrint file?)
- Increased acceleration to 0.04 from 0.03
DOWNLOAD: Needlepoint_v2c
Broadside AI
Please give constructive criticism and suggestions! Thank you!
Plans for v3:
- More weapons balancing
- Some kind of backstory
[/b]The firstborn of this company would be no experimental, patrol craft. Ambitions soaring, Earth-based Madness Megacorp, known for its terrestrial weapons development, announces a full, Monitor-class battleship utilizing state-of-the-art beam weaponry and defense systems: the MMC-M001IIb Needlepoint. Quick and precise, six arrays of beam weapons deliver a substantial amount of damage to any target's exposed areas, giving the Needlepoint its name. With three arrays on each side, the Needlepoint fights broadside and is capable of long-range bombardment, while a full compliment of drone bays and gatling pulse guns enable short-range combat. Multiple particle guns provide a tough point-defense system, however they are but a small part of the Needlepoint's unique defense. This Monitor-class battleship benefits from a triad of defense technology. First, an outer shell of multiple armor platings provides a tough shell to absorb tremendous amounts of damage. This is complemented by an array of deflector shield emitters. Areas in danger of damage are instantly shielded by these devices, rendering them invulnerable to all but the most powerful of assaults. Last of the triad, a set of four nano matrices constantly repairs damaged sections of the hull as well as weapons systems. With Madness Megacorp's full research team developing improved variations to this starship, and then creating whole new designs in time, the space-faring population will soon notice a difference.
Strengths and weaknesses:
+ Strong beam weapons that can be precisely aimed for maximum damage to unshielded areas
+ Combined fire can overpower weaker hull sections being shielded by deflectors or Aegis
+ Hull/deflector shield/nano matrix combo maximizes lifetime without imbuing immortality
+ Point defense array can destroy most small rounds before contact, and can deal with most waves of drones, except the largest masses.
+ Close-range or point-blank fire by gatling pulse guns can overpower unshielded armor fairly quickly
+ Stronger in groups, when nano matrices from all ships can be used together
- Shielding system is slow to update when different sections are being targeted by the enemy
- Rear armor is weak
- Core is highly exposed from the rear and fairly easily reached from all other sides
- Armor is generally very weak after the main hull is penetrated
- Target's deflector and Aegis shielding cannot be penetrated easily, due to the lack of explosive conventional or plasma weaponry
- Very slow ship
More later.
