The Nano Ripper

[ZTrooper]

twice now, I've had this dandy little specialty mass driver weapon show up in my build menu, and I can't for the life of me figure out which combinations of technologies are required to make it available. Trust me, if you've gone down the mass driver weapon tree, you *want* nano rippers, you *need* nano rippers, you *must* have them.

Why? Well, they're the most powerful weapon I've managed to develop so far. While most all of my weapons developed right off the tech tree are damage 1, 2, or 3, a nano ripper is damage *8*. The tradeoff is they're about double the size of comperable weapons you have available. (i.e. a 3 point mass driver weapon takes like 6-8 slots on your ship, but the nano ripper takes 12 slots.) Double the size, for 2.5 times the damage of a 3 point weapon, or 4 times the damage of a 2 point weapon. Seems like a no brainer to me. However, I can't seem to figure out what the critical combination is.

Thus far, I'm guessing it's a byproduct of mass driver research, and/or one of the defense techs, like point defense. Also, though I have no proof, it might be a weapon available to neutral aligned civilizations. Anyone else got any ideas here?

[Kinjiru]

IIRC the Nano Ripper is simply the product of researching straight down the Mass Driver line.

They are pretty nifty though!

[ZTrooper]

straight development?

There's no "Nano Ripper" in the mass driver tech tree though. I'm thinking that it's a neutral alignment perk, but I haven't confirmed it. I think I had nano-rippers once, but I picked an evil alignment choice, and they vanished from my build screen, so I'm actually starting to lean in the direction of an alignment specific weapon. I heard there are some weapons and defenses that are exclusive to one alignment or the other.

[tetley]

Thanks for the tip. I've never researched the mass driver line long enough to find that out.

[Gyathaar]

This is what the XML says.. just says you need Singularity Driver IV tech

 <Weapon>
      <Name>Nano Ripper</Name>
      <DisplayName>Nano Ripper</DisplayName>
      <Class>G</Class>
      <Type>3</Type>
      <Size>9</Size>
      <SizeMod>4</SizeMod>
      <Cost>120</Cost>
      <Damage>8</Damage>
      <Model>SingularityDriver4</Model>
      <Description>Very expensive but deadly singularity driver derivative.</Description>
      <Category>Mass Driver</Category>
      <Tech_Requirement>Singularity Driver IV</Tech_Requirement>
      <Animation>WFX_NanoRipper01.X</Animation>
      <Explosion>explosion01.png</Explosion>
      <AttackSound>battle_singularity_attack</AttackSound>
      <ExplosionSound0>battle_explosion_small</ExplosionSound0>
      <ExplosionSound1>battle_explosion_small_2</ExplosionSound1>
      <ExplosionSound2>battle_explosion_small</ExplosionSound2>
      <DeflectSound>battle_armor_deflect_2</DeflectSound>
</Weapon> 

[tetley]

Where's that at? I need to look up the XML tech reqs for Trade. I'm having trouble getting Trade in the campaign.

[Gyathaar]

It was in:
C:\Program Files\Stardock\TotalGaming\GalCiv2\MetaverseData\E nglish\GC2Types.xml

[Kinjiru]

Originally posted by tetley
Where's that at? I need to look up the XML tech reqs for Trade. I'm having trouble getting Trade in the campaign.

Not all techs are available in the Campaign. At least in the early portion of the Campaign.

I don't recall if trade is one that is not (and I actually kinda doubt that it would not be).

[tetley]

I can't find Mass Drivers in the campaign either. But anyway, I was thinking I was missing Trade just because I didn't care to research all the diplomacy & influence techs. It's a war scenario. But maybe I'm wrong; maybe Trade just isn't there.

[Kekkonen]

The only downside of Nano Rippers is the cost -- a single one can double the manufacturing costs of a medium-hull warship.

[tASE]

You obtain the Nano Ripper when you reach Singularity Driver III or IV, with the EVIL alignement, isn't it obvious with that sort of weap. description
Anyway im having fun with my X-Capital Dreadgnoughts with 40 MD Attack and 10 Laser shields ... But im awfully rich (75,000 ; 100/wk 100% Manu.) , about 900 bc each ship, and around 9 bc maintenace cost, but still, i'm able to keep about 50 of them up + other ship types, nearing the end with a showdown me VS. Korx on a Huge map, gunna be tight...

EDIT: But i didn't go very far in the campaign, so maybe it's not available (i doubt it).

[LDiCesare]

You don't need evil or whatever, just get Singularity Driver IV as shown in the xml above.
Is there any weapon somewhat akin to it in the other branches? I didn't see any overpowered missile or beam in terms of damage/size ratio.

[Smokey the Pott]

Sup, new to the game here, but I've played 3 games and won 2 (both influence, could have sworn I turned influence victory off the second time). I'm currently dominating as the Korx, large map, one diff level above normal. Anyway, I've got xeno ethics, picked evil, and that unlocked Psyonic Shredder tech which branches off of Graviton Driver III. I see nothing about a nano ripper on my evil tech tree. As an aside, I've already gotten psyonic missiles (which rule, totally wiped out 2 civs as soon as I got this) and psyonic beam (which rule even more, wiped out 3 more civs after getting this!). Sadly, influence victory is going to rob me of conquest again, long before I'll get to mess with psyonic shredders. Pity.

Off topic.. are victory conditions you disabled, re-enabled when you load a saved game? I'm damn positive I turned it off.. sheesh.

[tetley]

I don't know about the victory condition thing.

But in the latest beta 4, Nano Rippers (in the mass drivers line--not missiles) are starting to actually look balanced now. I plopped 4 rippers and a few engines on a medium hull, and the result was a kick-butt ship with 20 attack (before mods) and 11 move. But it cost 700bc. 700bc!! If an opponent can get first attack and knock just one of these guys off, they can set you back quite a bit.

[Smokey the Pott]

Yeah read closer. I said there is psyonic shredder for evils in the mass driver branch, after graviton driver 3. There is no nano ripper for evils.