Thanks much! I'd say ranged (why get close enough for your opponents to hit you?).
Well, this game doesn't quite work like that, there's little difference between melee and ranged combat other than which perks work with what kind of attacks. In the case of Tech Specialists Charge Weapon is pretty amazing for melee techs and lets them outdamage ranged ones. That said Ranged techs are a very valid choice! Just make sure to pick the appropiate ranged perks (ie Overcharge, Gun Tweaks, Second Shot), and make sure to use only energy weapons since those are the ones the Tech gets a bonus to. Also bear in mind the main defense of the Tech are his shields, so you want to stack as many shield bonuses as possible. Armor and evasion aren't that important for a Tech Specialist.
The current best gear for a Ranged tech would be:
Ranged Weapon:
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Lash Cannon: Best in slot currently for a ranged Tech. Highest damage, good accuracy, drains enemy shields. It's got a hefty -10 to evasion but a Tech shouldn't care much about it since it's easy to counter with other gear, plus IIRC the negative evasion penalties don't apply to shield damage. It's a potential reward from the Host Sukichi sidequest.
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Apollo Plasma Rifle: Formerly best in slot, currently second best. Second highest damage in a ranged energy weapon, no significant downsides but no particularly strong points either. Purchaseable from Kattom Osgood in Uveto.
Melee:
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Tweaked Lava Saber: If you're a ranged tech you don't really care how much damage your melee weapons do, so instead you want to look for any defensive benefits. The Tweaked Lava Saber offers a small evasion boost but more importantly, an extra 15 points of shielding. Obtainable as a reward in Emmy's sidequest by giving her a piece of Kirkite, only if your Physique is higher than your Aim.
Armor:
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Modded Yellow Clothes: Current BiS for a Tech Specialist, they offer a hefty +60 shields, a 40% electricity resistance, and a not insignificant +12 evasion. Only obtainable through a fair amount of RNG related to Shizuya's interactions (Need to get the related Distress Call, then have to run into her ship, the Great Majin, parked in any of the hangars. Chat with her, then spar with her at least one, win or lose, chat with her again about her outfit and she'll offer to give you a copy if you beat her. Then you just need to spar with her once more and beat her to get this. Be warned, she's a pretty though fight.)
Since these can be a bit troublesome to get I'll mention a couple of alternatives in the meantime.
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Premium Armstrong Suit: Second best option for Techs, +20 Shields and +8 evasion. The only caveat is you're considered to be exposed while wearing it so you won't be able to move around in areas where nudity is illegal (only Tavros at the moment I think, but if you have to keep going back there it can be grating to keep changing your outfits just to move around). Sold by Liriel Armstrong in Gildenmere, Myrellion.
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SteeleTech Suit: Only +15 bonush shields and 2 evasion, but a very nice +30% resistance vs electric and burning. You can get this fairly early from Anno after you complete the Deck 13 sidequest in Tarkus. Probably your workhorse for most of the game until you can get any of the other armors.
Shields:
In general you just want the biggest shield available. Right now that would be the
Prototype Pirate Shield, which you can get from Urbolg in Zheng Shi. Beat him in a fight, then talk to him about his shield. As long as you have less than 150 shields (just go and purchase a Decent shield and equip it for the convo) he'll give it to you. The second best option you can get before that would be the
Reaper Mark 1 Shield from Queen Taivra's palace (defeat the Nyrean Princess, or defeat and kill Queen Taivra herself)
Underwear:
There's not much gameplay advantages regarding underwear, you can just wear what you like or feel sexy about wearing. There's a couple that give a bit of resistances but IMO they don't really make much of a difference. I personally go with stuff that has the highest sexiness:
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Magnetic Harness
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Hardlight Bra
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Hardlight Thong
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Savicite-lace panties
Accessories:
This is going to depend on wether you're a drone tech or not (Attack Drone perk at level 2)
Drone techs would want to use one of the two advanced drones, either
Tam-Wolf 2.0 or
Siegwulfe. TamWolf deals a bit more damage while Siegwulfe (non-bimbo version) gives you a small evasion bonus.
Non-drone techs can just use something to shore up weaknesses or resistances:
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Flash Goggles for blindness resistance.
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Light Jetpack for bonus evasion.
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Lightning Duster,
Myr Greatcoat, or
Salamander Longcoat for elemental resistances.
