How different the game would be without shields

[LoBlo]

So I'm playing the game and loving the complexity and logistics but am getting good at my strategy and wanting more complexity and challenge.

And there are lots of ways the AI/Game isn't as challenging as it could be. For example, the AI rarely masses mega fleets of 80+, where I do routinely as a human player. But it got me thinking, if the AI did that, then all wars would be just one big, enormous, winner takes all, battle as an immovable swarm of battleships stormed through all the major colonies and laid waste to the finances of the enemy. Its what I do routinely.

But what really allows me to do this? Well, mostly it's that my ships can soak up damage into a renewable hit buffer called "shields" that auto-replenish and takes no repair. Because of shields, I can tank any colony defenses and before I've finished jumping to the next target be back at 100% health.

Its why game strategy is sooo completely different that historical ocean naval combat. Naval combat doesn't have shields and takes really damage from mines, missiles, and hits that require port repairs and cripple ship capability.

But the magical "shields" prevent the annoyance of actually have consequences from taking enemy fire.....

... so how different would the game be if there were no "shields", just armor. There would of course have to be changes in the hitpoint values of armor, but that's easy to model.

I think the changes would be complexity. Range would become much more important to weapon strategy in order to pepper damage to the enemy without taking any yourself. CIWS would be greatly disadvantaged as ships would take irreversible damage while attempting to close the gap and require port repairs. Giant fleets would be less effective as it would cause enormous repair ques that would impede a giant fleet from moving onto the next target. Logistical support in terms of dock bays and repair ships would become much more important to the logistics of all out warfare.

I wish the team would support an expansion that entertained this concept. I think the game would be a totally new warfare experience with more complexity, and fun.

Cheers.
LB