My Input Regarding Balancing Combat and Reparation/Defensive Features.

I posted this on the Space Engineers group in Reddit, however I was informed to post this here:

Hello KSH

With the recent push for more combat related updates, I truly do hope that you keep in mind balancing combat and reparation/defensive game features. I have always thought that Space Engineers has been lacking when it comes to warfare content (turrets being the big one), and I'm very thankful for the implementation of more handheld weapons. From what I am perceiving, this must all be an effort to increase PvP and PvE interactions in the Space Engineers community, which is understandable if I am correct. All I ask for, is that you put equal focus on features that provide more station and ship reparation/defensive abilities. For me personally, I tend to avoid combat at all costs, secluding myself and the rest of my faction in a very remote location far from anyone. The main reason why is because I dread the tedious process of repairing ships or stations, especially since we build very large ships. I know that some who may read this would recommend just tearing down the ship and rebuilding it again with a hologram and wall of welders, or building a repair drone and fly around the ship and weld things. I have no complaints with tearing down and rebuilding a SMALL ship, however, when it comes to a large ship, the process takes too long, especially in a wartime environment. As for the repair drone, it could be helpful for exterior repairs, however the larger ships we use are completely compact, there is no space for even the smallest of repair drones to fit into the spaces, plus spot repairs take an inordinate amount of time. To sum up the repair processes in Space Engineers in my opinion, it's simply far too tedious and time consuming.

Now to explain what I'm getting at with the whole balance idea, there needs to be features that would encourage players to actually engage in combat, simply adding more weapons alone will not do the trick. There needs to be more options for players to quickly deal with repairs, or even prevent the need of repairs in general. For repairs, I hate using this example, but the best example I can think of is the Nanites mod. With that mod me and many others find it enjoyable to engage in combat, as the nanites reduce the time and work required to get a ship or station up and running again, thus guiding us into battle again. Simple "shape conforming" shields, would be an excellent addition. I find that the constant encounters with drones gets old really quick when you have to keep doing all these repairs. If a ship or station is big enough and powerful enough to have shields, then it's focus should be on larger threats and encounters, and not the annoying drones that crash into your ship/station once disabled. The reason why I say "shape conforming" shields it's purely for aesthetics, Best example I can think of is like how in Star Wars, most ships don't have a giant, ugly bubble around them as a shield.

To sum everything up/TLDR:

I believe there needs to be focus on game features that reduce the tediousness and time of dealing with the aftermath of combat. By just adding more weapons to Space Engineers, It would enable more destruction, and discourage players from engaging in any combat at all, thus effectively killing the PvP/PvE community, specifically the ones who primarily play Survival mode.