How do you design and pilot your ships?

[Hurshana]

I have never really engaged with ship combat, I usually just try to escape from every encounter.

Curious what people put on their ships and how they balance defenses, the number of damage sources + types, crew capacity, and how they actually pilot them in combat.

At a glance the Sidewinder seems like the best to customize a ship around--it's the highest on a bunch of a different stats and the ones it's not it's either second-best or only mediocre. And, of course, it's kind of free which is nice because most ships are crazy expensive unless you're grinding credits.

Only downside I think is that it comes with no built-in weapons.

When I am forced into combat I usually just watch enemy energy--if it's high I evade and once it's lower I shoot. Generally avoid trying to recharge.

 

[Theron]

Missile Turrets are very Energy efficient, and their Accuracy bonus stacks, as far as I can tell. They're also good vs both Shields and Armor.

Currently, Modules/Gadgets don't take Crew space. They did in Flash, so it might be a bug. Weapons are independent, too.

I use either the Sidewinder or MS-XI, depending on character. My favored setup is a couple of installations of Hardened Systems + Shield Vampire, then Missile Turrets and Power Core Tuners. Shoot until the enemy has about 2500 left, then Vampire. The Cyberdale can be instantly defeated by opening with Shield Vampire. You have enough Accuracy you'll hit a Cloaked Spearhead more often that not.

Sidewinder in particular is good with the Holographic Mirror System. High Agility makes the decoys more likely to avoid attacks.

 

[XBoxMaster131]

I just spam the battle option until I win.

 

[Hurshana]

Missile Turrets are very Energy efficient, and their Accuracy bonus stacks, as far as I can tell. They're also good vs both Shields and Armor.

Currently, Modules/Gadgets don't take Crew space. They did in Flash, so it might be a bug. Weapons are independent, too.

I use either the Sidewinder or MS-XI, depending on character. My favored setup is a couple of installations of Hardened Systems + Shield Vampire, then Missile Turrets and Power Core Tuners. Shoot until the enemy has about 2500 left, then Vampire. The Cyberdale can be instantly defeated by opening with Shield Vampire. You have enough Accuracy you'll hit a Cloaked Spearhead more often that not.

Sidewinder in particular is good with the Holographic Mirror System. High Agility makes the decoys more likely to avoid attacks.

So you just stack all missiles?

 

[Theron]

So you just stack all missiles?

Basically. You could have different weapons for Shields and Armor, enabling them depending on the stage of the battle, OR just use Missiles, since they're reasonably effective against both,

Turrets need Crew to operate, but I assume you have enough.

 

[Off The Record]

Sidewinder
x8 Thrust Vectoring System
x2 Capacitor Banks
x1 Laser Turret
x2 Coil Cannons

If the hostile ship has shields remaining, then turn off the Coil Cannons and blast 'em using the Laser Turret. If the hostile ship has no shield remaining, then turn off the Laser Turret and blast 'em using the Coil Cannons. If you have less than 140 energy at the start of your turn, use a Capacitor Bank.

My ship has never suffered a scratch.

 

[Hurshana]

Sidewinder
x8 Thrust Vectoring System
x2 Capacitor Banks
x1 Laser Turret
x2 Coil Cannons

If the hostile ship has shields remaining, then turn off the Coil Cannons and blast 'em using the Laser Turret. If the hostile ship has no shield remaining, then turn off the Laser Turret and blast 'em using the Coil Cannons. If you have less than 140 energy at the start of your turn, use a Capacitor Bank.

My ship has never suffered a scratch.

I like the strategy.
I presume that there's a hard cap on ship evasion, how much do you think you're getting with 60 + 80 there?

 

[Theron]

I presume that there's a hard cap on ship evasion, how much do you think you're getting with 60 + 80 there?

Thrust Vectoring System adds Agility, which is separate from Evasion and stacks. I think. It can be hard to read the code.

Spoiler: Code

this.speed() / 2 + this.agility() + this.shipStatBonusTotal(E.j.Evasion)

Shield Vampire, Shield Disruptor & Capacitor Vampire automatically hit. They force a Systems vs Systems check instead.

 

[Hurshana]

I was just going off the wiki which says it's speed/2 + agility. But if there's no cap then you'd only need 2 Thrust Vectors on the Sidewinder to achieve 100% evasion.

 

[Theron]

You're forgetting about enemy Accuracy.

 

[Hurshana]

Oh yeah.

 

[Off The Record]

Shield Vampire, Shield Disruptor & Capacitor Vampire automatically hit. They force a Systems vs Systems check instead.

I wouldn't worry about Shield Vampire, Shield Disruptor, or Capacitor Vampire though. Those don't touch Armor/Health. Losing Shields means nothing if the hostile ship can't actually land a hit on you after. And Capacitor Vampire only delays their loss. But since Capacitor Vampire is a once per fight module, you can just use up your own Capacitor Bank to immediately recover energy then get back to blasting.

I presume that there's a hard cap on ship evasion, how much do you think you're getting with 60 + 80 there?

My Sidewinder has 120 Thrust and 190 Agility, so 250 Evasion, but my Ship Stats in-game tell me its actually 266. The wiki says your Steele's stats actually contribute a little, and the math does add up.

I do concede that eight Thrust Vectoring Systems might be redundant. But I haven't cared enough to test how many I can trade out before I start getting hit again. But there isn't an incentive to increase other stats anyway. Not Systems, for the reasons above. Not Armor/Health or Shields because the Sidewinder isn't getting hit. And not Sensors, because I haven't seen the Sidewinder miss yet. I guess I could grab another Capacitor, but I don't need it. I never need more than two. If anything, I wish I could fit more weapons on the ship.

Edit: Nevermind I did the math. The hostile ship with the highest accuracy is Teeyal's MS-XI. It has a total Accuracy of 135—well below 266 Evasion. So there you have it. I'm not sure how hit rate is calculated, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't miss replacing at least x3 Thrust Vectoring Systems (-60 Agility/Evasion) for other modules.

 

[Theron]

I wouldn't worry about Shield Vampire, Shield Disruptor, or Capacitor Vampire though. Those don't touch Armor/Health. Losing Shields means nothing if the hostile ship can't actually land a hit on you after. And Capacitor Vampire only delays their loss. But since Capacitor Vampire is a once per fight module, you can just use up your own Capacitor Bank to immediately recover energy then get back to blasting.

1. I was including them for completeness. (Teyaal is specifically geared to negate the Sidewinder's 'weaknesses'.)
2. I first got a Shield Vampire when testing Teyaal (in the period where she'd attack you even if you weren't flying the Sidewinder) and felt like being cheeky. I liked it enough to keep it.
3. Shield Vampire can instantly defeat the Cyberdale if used in the first round, since she surrenders if she has no Shields or active Holograms.
4. You're assuming the player is using the Sidewinder, which is extremely good, but hardly the only viable endgame option. MS-XI for example, can't get nearly as high Evasion. The ability to do ~2500 Shield damage and restore mine at the same time is very useful.