Adding such powerful opponents with overpowered shields was a big mistake, in my opinion -- that completely ruins the balance of the game.
Well, it's your own mistake then. There are no such ships (like with triple front lasers) in Oolite. If you have them in your game, you have added them all by yourself through an OXP (that's why it's called Oolite eXpansion Pack).
And nobody else but you chooses which expansions you add to your game. Therefore the only advice can be: do it cautiously, and read the small print on the package (= readMe, or the OXP's Wiki entry), which will tell you more or less exactly what it is you that you are adding to your game. Nobody can take this responsibility away from you.
I do have a 'garage' of 'fun ships' and have occasionally taken a Cadeus out to an anarchy world just to see what it is like. The scariest ships are the Black Monk gunships. I swear one of them shot my ecm hardened missle out of the sky.
Yeah black monks are tough, I've been cooked more than once by them. I've totalled about 3. 2 in a straight fire fight (all be it fire fights that lasted 20 minutes) and one to the old "see you on the far side of the station" ruse.
Dragons are nasty to fight, they just suck up punishment like there's no tomorrow.
I am always happy to answer this question because, yes, there isone other ship available. It's called the BoaClassCruiser.
An authentic vessel in every respest, this attractively shaped spacecraft is adept as both a trader - and we all benefit from the occasional trade opportunity - as a robust and manœuvrable combatant (in combat) and as potent if not virulent eye-candy.
The toughest NPC opponents I've fought have been pirate Dragon M's. They're fast, relatively low profile, and incredibly tough. They can absorb more direct hit damage from conventional weapons than any other ship flying. It usually takes two missile hits followed by a hard mil laser barrage to bring one down. Not to mention having to lean on the ECM because of the amount of missiles they have to throw at you. And forget fighting one at close range, they have strong turrets.
Good tip there Wyvern. It's given my pirates another "Oh heck" ship alongside the Rattlers & Hydras
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