The Nano Ripper and you...

from GalCiv2 Forums
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?
10,662 views 5 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
Just guessing, but perhaps it is a benefit of the "Creative" race trait?

Tony
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
Going through the XML files it seems that all you need is to research "Singularity Driver IV".

The big drawback with this cutie ofcourse are the immense (more than 4times) costs.
Siege of Centauri
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
You get it after you research Singularity - one of them, im not sure if its 4. And yes, the cost is *immense*, but if you have the facilities, it's a potential game winner - until the god damned AI adapts. Which it always does
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
Ha! Just like the Borg (which in a game is a good thing. I like having to redesign my fleet of ships that have been terrorizing the galaxy for years because the Torians are now using armor plating)

Its not too powerful if the AIs are already using armor
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Man.. that item is a game breaker. I have yet to lose a single game once I've developed that weapon, regardless of what the other civs have created. I think it needs to be nerfed, or moved higher in the tech tree.