Best Armor Design in 2019

[Lucky]

So I heard that wrapping armor around 3x3 wheels yields some of the strongest ship hulls. I was wondering if there was truth to this.

If you agree, elaborate on this design, how do you use it?

If you disagree, then what do you think, in the current state of the game, is the best approach to building the strongest ship hulls.

Thanks!

[Lucky]

I have also seen designs where people layered different armors as well as blast doors, is this a viable option?

[Nightwing]

It doesn't really make the armor stronger. Rather, it increases armor redundancy in the ship.

[xF4LC0NxPUNCHx]

I don't know how damage is calculated in this game and if/how it propagates from block to block, but I wonder if the theory behind using wheels in between armor layers acts as a sort of "spaced" armor, or rather if there is something about wheels where they don't take damage on the wheel "face" ? I'm sure someone has tested this at some point in time, I may tinker with it tonight if I remember to.

[RoofCat]

The very idea of creating flying tanks is ill advised. Like flying turtles.
Doable, sure. But the not so great way fights in SE work in general together with realistic propulsion and fuel requirements and contradicting nature of fortified buildings made flying makes it all just not as great as the idea itself.

Railguns, armor block torpeds, warhead chains, gyroscope hacks, grinders and welders behind walls, door block sandwiches... all that crap was invented 3+years ago. You are in search for holy grail which doesn't exist and even shouldn't considering the first part.

Also consider this - if you do manage to hide from everyone and make an impenetrable shell - congratulations! You have just made yourself loneliest person on earth and put in a lifetime prison. Achievement unlocked!

[Lucky]

@RoofCat. I am not sure I fully understand what you are attempting to say. I don't believe my post had anything to do with hiding from everyone or making an impenetrable shell. I was just interested in understanding what the current state of hull designs was in the game and what would provide a strong hull for battles.

My intent is to build ships I can take into battle, the exact opposite of hiding, and provide a reasonable amount of protection so that my ships are not obliterated in seconds.

[fabricator77]

The best defence is to have more guns then the enemy.
That said, having a full layer of blocks between the outer armour, and any vital systems is a must.

I've experimented with larger blocks and damage resistance, on one hand they do take a lot more damage, but a lot of damage in a small area will wreck the entire thing. Also wheels have limited contact areas, so consider the risk of another gyroscope incident.

[Karmaterrorᵁᴷ]

For me the name of the game isnt making my ship extreemly well armoured.... but avoiding getting hit in the first place.

I like to throw decoys out one way or another and let them keep enemy turrets busy. My fave systems are either grav launched just like a grav gun. But with a weak grav field so they stay relativly close. Or have a rotor spin up with a couple merges on it and let centrafugal force dispurse them for me.

For the times i do get hit i have small areas of my ship with decoys behind lots of armour. They are set up with welders and projectors so they can rebuild themselfs if completly destroyed. This is a tactic you can also use on your weapons to keep them alive longer during a fight.

So yeah for me armour itself is less usefull than stuff like launching decoys or self repair systems, these give you much more staying power in a fight :)

[LiterallyKey]

If mechanics haven't changed and I remember correctly, the reason for wheels is to eliminate damage by armor deformation.

If I remember correctly, armor deformation can do more damage then anything else. For example, if you have light armor covering heavy armor, when the light armor deforms it will deform into the heavy armor block, which can damage and/or put holes in anything under it. This used to be avoided by simple using space armor, but since wheels cant deform and are still pretty beefy, you can use them to fill the space and add additional protection.

You can also use gyroscopes connected onto internal stuff, to add "functional" armor. They are super beefy and are a great last resort. The problem is that that 1: have only one connection point and because of that 2: if not mounted properly, they can end up being disconnected, causing them to fling around causing flight weirdness and internal damage.

As I said, the wheel armor and deformation thing may not apply anymore, but I hope it helps. I will be doing some armor tests once I get the time.