7.1 Destroyer Nerf

Part of the 7.1 rules change was introducing ships that you could always build, without playing a card from your hand. This was to help balance out that it now costs to draw a card. If you need a ship in a hurry, just build it! However, in my last test games, I've found that the Destroyers, as written in 7.1, warped the entire game, especially when paired with a Factory World.

To recap, Factory World originally made ships cost 2 less (including Destroyers and Scouts). By simply controlling a Factory World, a player could then produce a Destroyer for 1 credit. When they control three worlds, this is three Destroyers per turn. With 2 attack and 3 hull, that's very powerful. An opponent is immediately forced into playing defense, hoping to draw high-hull Science ships (they have the strongest defenses). While they can still hold off and win, it's much more difficult. In my last game, it was altogether impossible. Five Destroyers per turn, when at best the other player could build one OR draw a card.

I like the flow of the game enough to not mess with that yet. So the following changes were made:

• Factory Worlds now reduce Frigate cost by 1, and reduce Cruiser and Battleship by 2. This only applies in the system the Factory World is in.
• Destroyers now have 1 attack (down from 2).

This change should reduce the power of the Destroyer spam, but still allow something to focus on that if they so choose. They also still help on defense, which was their initial purpose. We'll see how this goes, and make further changes as needed.