Hello,

first, thank for reading,

Regarding game mechanics many people (that actually able to use mathematics) think using only deck in the damage formula is limiting the game-mechanics a lot :
- modules have diminishing return : indeed, the more modules you equip the less it reduce/increase damage per unit. Considering hull, defense it is even worse.

- Artifact have increasing return : indded, the more artifacts you equip the more it reduce/increase damage per unit. plus they lower modules efficiency ....

- Small Ship Build: they are annoying at low levels, like invulnerable and bullying people with no merits; sure urban legend pretend they are weak later, but if they are patient and let artifact kick in (and also posses strong artifact production) they can become your worse nightmare.

- Mod are useless : yes! mod are useless! if you reach high enough artifact and are patient enough; in end game you will feel that your deck is a burden more then an help !! equiping modules take deck, which in return increase the damage you take, while artifact are 100% safe and convenient. sure it take time or a lot of AP, but it can be done

- EMP bombing make mod even more useless : one's defense can be totaly annihilated with a few EMP bombs, letting enemy hit your for your damage cap! therefore a small deck build will be in advantage against a max deck build.... basicaly a SSD legion could easily own a normal legion should they purchase/pile EMP bombs (which they should have plenty since SSD are not stupid people and have huge AP!)

- some mod are even more uselesss : if you are smart enough to use damage formula, and check some modules efficiency, you will notice that the more base defense you have, the less they are usefull, to a point that investing in deck to equip them would mean you'd take more damage!

Investing in deck should be profitable in the long term, not a pain in the a**!

just for reference: check this topic where one of the top player with high knowledge of the game want to go the SSD route
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=23742&start=0

My suggestions are :

1) change the formula, for EXAMPLE : ((rank + 16 )*3 + deck)/4

for reference at level 200
a ssd with base (10) deck would have 165 damage cap
a normal ship with 1000 deck would have 412 damage cap
a big ship with 2000 deck would have 662 damage cap

at level 500
a ssd with base (10) deck would have 400 damage cap
a "normal" ship with 2000 deck would have 887 damage cap
a maxed ship with 4400 deck would have 1487 damage cap

at level 1000
min cap : 764 dmg, max cap: 1862
at level 2000
min cap : 1515, max cap: 2612

OR / AND
2) make damage formula this way :
damage cap = rank or deck/2 (instead of (rank+16)/2)

OR / AND
3) give % bonus to late game modules :

for example : Light thetacron would give +1% attack bonus each up to +6% on best weapon

because having STATIC value on attack, defense, hull, shield modules give them diminishing return while artifacts item have increasing return!
note: one more weapon/defense/hull tier could be added respectively +7%,+8%,+10%

OR / AND
4) limit EMP/Disarm bombing to 50%
it shouldn't be possible to reduce one's defense under 50%


before answering, please post your ship build so we all see you are NOT biased
i am myself running a low deck ship, swapping modules around depending on my needs.

About small ship build:
they will usually be strong compared to player of same level(as they are likely to slow lvl as well)
BUT, they are weak compared to players who started around the same time as they did.
At least that's if they don't use CC or have some high ranker feeding them planets etc

4400 is not the max deck. there are enough module to go to the 5ks, but it's rly not worth it

About EMP/Disarm
There is no need to fix. Keep in mind, those debuffs also give diminishing returns AND cost energy to use. Using 100 then kill a ship in 10 shots is certainly no better than using just 5 and kill it with 20.

attack module doesnt need a change, it could be worthwhile to increase your attack even if it increases ur damage cap more.
However, I do agree with you in term of defense, shield and hull modules. (cloak/scan goes the same route as attack)
As it is, I've got 8 or more artifact-build ship modules uninstalled on my ship, because they are just not worth it. Theortically speaking, there will come a point where any increase to damage cap due to the effect of deck increase will make any and all non % bonus defensive module useless.
That is rather absurd.

Unfortunately, the proposed modifcation to formula, while fixing the "small ship build" problem, doesnt really fix the diminishing return problem
Even if each deck only increase dmg cap by 1/4, there will be a point when all the modules become a burdon (imagine you get 1,000,000,000 hull from duranium bracket, 100,000,000 defense from android helmsman. even if a module gives 1000 hull/deck, the increase in hull will be only 1/million while increase in damage cap will be 0.25/(let's say 5000, rank 7kish?) which is bigger
In fact, the proposed formula makes it worse in this aspect, because there will never come a point where adding deck does NOT increase your damage cap.

As for the % bonus proposation, I'm a bit afraid of it getting out of hand. Cause there are also other modules that also becomes completely useless (dark thruster, crimson plating etc) and if they are not also "fixed" then this proposation really didn't do much.... yet if they are, it seems like it's all gonna spin out of control

Personally, I feel the formula should make deck have a diminishing effect on the damage cap starting from when it reaches somewhere around 2000-2500, which is where most people stop adding decks due to the diminishing return of further modules.
I can't really think of a proper formula that doesn't include "max, min" calculation atm, but that's what i believe to be the best solution over all.
On a random note, realistically, dmg cap should correlate to deck^(2/3) as opposed to deck. because a ship is a 3D object, hence increase in the stuff you can hold is shared in 3 directions. yet for any incoming fire, only 2 dimensions matter.(example, a 1x1x1 ship is 1 deck, have a damage area of 1. a 2x2x2 ship is 8 sized, have a damage area of 4)

2100 deck since lv 300ish, never a small ship.
haven't incrased my deck for 100 ranks or so, for obivous reasons

well, when i find out a collosal star destroyer, instead of being impressed i think in my head : "LOOSER" ...

it should not be the case...

all this is just example, could be modified tweaked, take 1) and 3) or 2) and 4...or any combinaison or do you have a solution??

everybody agree that damage_cap is a disease to this game, i try to offer some solutions

You sacrifice a lot of things when you run a small ship build(like energy, scan, cloak etc.). Yes, you have a strong ship in pvp, but it takes a lot of time to reach high ranks, and that leaves you with less production than most of the people, who started at the same time. So basically that looks like a fair trade to me. If you dont want to waste energy killing these people.. just dont

So many things I have to say...
Wish I wasn't on mobile.
commenting so I remember to reply.
Just a question what is your rank?

Yes, there is an issue. Most of us have to suck it up which stinks. Is is especially apparent when you are battling a base.

i believe the damage cap is half your decks, OR your rank+10
might be wrong but meh
going for a small ship is just another play style, personally im trying to install everything i can. people with small ships cant fit any scanning or cloaking for their pvp, meaning no crits and they get found easily. most wont get any shield either until mid level range (150+)
its not an issue, just an aspect.