FreeOrion

This isn't really a new thing, since shields and advanced damage control have been like this for a while. Simply put, since advanced damage control fully restores structure at end of turn, I feel like this tech is essentially outclassing the shielding techs. For shields, they will only regen if a ship isn't involved in combat that turn; however, advanced damage control will fully heal ships regardless of what they've been doing. This also makes armour plating generally better than shields late game (especially with crystal/neutronium plating), even though armour plating will compete with weapons for slots (both are external, while shields will go anywhere). Maybe the effect of advanced damage control is a little too powerful. To me, due to the fact that the fractal energy hull exists, it seems possible for an empire to just spam 400+ HP ships to defend/blockade certain systems with enough slots left over to dish out 120+ damage. I think this might unnecessarily draw out a game out too long. What do you guys think?

I haven't examined Shields vs Advanced damage control, but i do think that 27 slots is very excessive on the fractal or any other ship.

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Maybe lowering the number of slots on the fractal is a good idea. Most of the other hulls that can be unlocked around the same time have 6-10 slots, with the organic hulls having the fewest (bio-adaptive has 4 and ravenous has 5). Speaking of which, the bio-adaptive and nano-robotic hulls come with a special ability that does exactly what advanced damage control does. Once advanced damage control is in effect, all hulls effectively have this "unique" ability, so I think the tech is a little overpowered. The ravenous hull offers 5 more health and an extra slot over the bio-adaptive hull in exchange for a little stealth. It's also a lot easier to unlock compared to the bio-adaptive hull. With the tech in effect, there's essentially no reason to unlock the bio-adaptive hull anymore. I guess what I'm getting at here is that certain hulls are too similar to each other, and advanced damage control compounds this issue somewhat.