Add Armor Requirements to Tanks below 10,000 gold?

[ycoseth]

I would also be in favor of lowering hull costs drastically.

Currently, the choice between a Hull and a new Tank is skewered towards new Tank, since a bigger tank also has more HP, but also better armor and better skills.

Let's stay you are in a LT and trying to decide on a Gold Hull:

LT + Gold Hull (5800)= 5k HP, 0-1 Armor, tier 1 skills
HT (5500) = 5.5K HP, 5 Armor, Tier 2 skills

The Hull is more expensive and a weaker choice. Same goes for mid-to-high transition:

HT + Gold Hull (10500) = 9.5k HP, 5 Armor, Tier 2 skills
Demon Tank (10000) = 10k HP, 10 Armor, Tier 3 Skills

It's rarely a good choice to get a hull and often just done in order to prevent farming (ie, you get a Hull as a tinker, or you get a Hull as a LT/Heli when someone gets a bigger tank), as reactionary move instead of extending the life of a tank you happen to like, which is I believe the intent of the hull.

I'd be in favor of making hulls cost 75% of their HP bonus, so Iron Hull = 750, Steel Hull = 1875 and Gold Hull 3000. Then it actually becomes an interesting choice.