We decided that we want to generally increase the power of hull extensions to make them more impactful on ship set ups, while at the same time, simplifying some of the current baked in complexity and generally balancing them relative to each other.
The current balance of hull extensions is really all over the place. The difference in power between the tech 20 Alien Hull Expander that just gives 26 hull space and the Divine Cargobay that gives 50 space and +10% capacity is huge. 26 hull space is certainly nothing to get excited about, and since most extensions are so weak, they tend to be used more as stat sticks than for their space. The goal of the new numbers is to give some of the very best extensions modest increases in values, but much larger increases to others, according to standard balancing formulas.
Zeus Expander
A lot of the space, weights, and even built in aug stats of extensions have all been amplified, hopefully giving more interesting choices when deciding on what hull extension to use. Since the baseline hull space that extensions give has been increased so much, I feel better about allowing extensions that give much less hull space, but give other benefits instead, like an extra weapon slot or some extra resistance. If you have to choose between an extra weapon slot and 150 space, it might be an interesting decision. Half a dozen new interesting end-game extensions have been added for next universe.
The other change, aside from general increases in power and balancing of stats, is making the extensions more straightforward. Currently, one extension might take 5 space but give 10, while another takes 10 space but gives 15, and it’s hard to know which one is better by glancing at it, especially since the hull space granted gets multiplied by capacity augmenters and skills. To simplify everything, the size of extensions have been homogenized, and the code has been altered so that extensions will always take 0 space while equipped, similar to sticky items. In addition, all the bonus space from extensions have been converted to constant bonus space, meaning that they don’t get multiplied by augmenters or skills. So instead of giving 26 space that gets modified, almost by mysterious amounts, by augs and skills, the new Alien Hull Expander gives 170 flat space, while taking zero space when equipped. What you see is what you get.
I’ve been careful with the numbers so that even the very best extensions on set ups with lots of trans mods and even some capacity aug stat will still come out more powerful than currently. Set ups in off-focus hull types will come out way ahead, while storage ships with all capacity augs may come out a little behind, but not by too much. I feel like aside from making extensions more interesting and straightforward, this will also open up some more unique ship set ups that were too limited by hull space before.
This isn’t set to come out in the next patch, but is on the test server and should be out in the patch after next.
