Ship Modules and Crew Capacity

[DragonRanger]

I’m currently running the Sledgehammer with the 2 Power Core Tuners and Tuned Emitters among other modules. With the Thermal Disruptor tearing through Shields I just use a Machine Gun Turret and Missile Bay to take care of the Armor. With the 2 PC Tuners and the Thermal Disruptor disabled, that lets me fire continuously without worrying about energy drain at all since the Energy Regen cancels out the weapons’ Energy consumption.

 

[Theron]

On the clydesdale its limited by one fixed gun (Em turret) and I installed a Machinegun turret. On all other ships I tend to run Emturret and either all MGturrets or Missle turrets.

So low(ish) Energy spenders. Makes sense.
I'd rather not micromanage that much, personally.
I'm considering Capacitor Vampire instead of Capacitor Bank, because it forces the enemy to charge instead of firing at you, and you get your normal Energy recharge.

I'm experimenting with Thrust Vectoring System. 3 are enough to get Aegis to ~100 Evasion, which all but guarantees the Thermal Cannon will miss, and makes the Machine Gun very likely to miss.
On a Clydesdale, it's enough to get ~80% which really increases survivability, even with no other upgrades.
Reflexes do increase Ship Evasion, by the way.

Does anyone know what Thrust does? The Auxiliary Thrusters do increase Evasion (+12.5), but not as much as the Thrust Vectoring System (+20).

 

[null_blank]

So after some thinking, since there are only two weapons on the Clydesdale, going with Power Core Tuners seems way more effective since just installing two of those can keeping the MG Turret firing indefinitely. With the Full-auto weapons it seems more important to be able to fire every turn.

 

[Theron]

Accuracy, Evasion, and Weapon Count (There's no 'module' upgrade for these)

Accuracy: Sensor Suite (+25), Hardened Systems (+12.5), 1/4 Aim
Evasion: Thrust Vectoring System (+20), Auxiliary Thrusters (+12.5), 1/4 Reflexes

I don't think there's a way to increase max weapons, although there is the Shield Disruptor Gadget.

 

[BasedBuckNasty]

The Aegis is pretty nice. Comes with a standard loadout I favor. Get crew capacity up to eight with modules, so I can have my favorites. Harden and increase (+2) the shields that goes with its installed shield recharge. Increase agility or thrust to get evasion up. Add extra missile turret, missiles just flying everywhere. Ignore shitty armor because the evade is decent and even if I do get hit the machine gun does like 1 damage. Make Aegis missile cruiser. Profit.

I kind agree with the weapon hardpoints stuff brought up earlier in thread. Turrets being the exception, since they are far more potent. Ships could be limited to a smaller number of hardpoints depending on size or whims. Turrets remain the same with requiring a slot for installation (if you want eight laser turrets go nuts). Make turrets stronger and hardpoint weapons weaker, or whatever. I mean the power supply is already a pretty good balance anyways.

Now, I just need to patent my Steele Tech flying mass driver.

Your Ship: Clydesdale K7
The Clydesdale K7 comes from an unlikely source: Steeletech. Victor’s company may not operate extensive ship foundries like KihaCorp or Aegis, but it has taken to producing in-house vessels to serve its own industrial interests. The Clydesdale, much like its namesake, is a heavy, plodding thing designed to shift cargo using its own bloated mass. In Rusher hands, it does all that and more. The copious interior space allows for near infinite customization via upgrades or the presence of a small army of support staff. Many foolhardy captains have made the mistake of underestimating the venerable K7, to their own detriment.

Shields: 3750 (+0)
Shield Def: 20 (+0)
Armor: 7167 (+0)
Armor Def: 50 (+0)
Max Energy: 200 (+0)
Power Generation: 55 (+0)

Agility: 15 (+0)
Sensors: 70 (+0)
Systems: 20 (+0)
Thrust: 40 (+0)

Accuracy: 92.5 (+0)
Evasion: 43.5 (+0)

Module/Crew Capacity: 12 (+0)
Bonus Crew Capacity: 2 (+0)
Weapon Capacity: 2 (+0)

Modules Installed: Redundant Plating, Redundant Plating, Redundant Plating, Redundant Plating, Heavy Armor, Heavy Armor, Coil Cannon, Power Core Tuner, Power Core Tuner, Sensor Suite, Sensor Suite, Auxiliary Thrusters.


Fixed Equipment: EM Turret.

 

[Felaeris]

Accuracy: Sensor Suite (+25), Hardened Systems (+12.5), 1/4 Aim
Evasion: Thrust Vectoring System (+20), Auxiliary Thrusters (+12.5), 1/4 Reflexes

I don't think there's a way to increase max weapons, although there is the Shield Disruptor Gadget.

Thanks so much!
I've updated the spreadsheet accordingly. Also, H.Sys and A. Thrusters give 1/2 their Stat value as Evasion and Acc. respectively.
This may or may not make H. Sys and A. Thrusters possibly better in fringe cases.
Additionally, the wiki is wrong! HP values were slightly off and the Aegis has a whopping 40 Systems not 20 as the wiki claims.

With the new statblock, the Clydesdale is tremendously garbage until you can fly it to Tarkus.
Then, for my own amusement, I decided to actually compare the Statblocks against the Casstech Z14

An unmodded Clydesdale has a lower combat performance than the starting ship. Even with the non-fixed weapon on the Casstech unequipped.
An unlucky player could, on leaving Myrellion, die before reaching a shipyard. (Comparison is on Sheet 2 of the linked spreadsheet.)
It doesn't help the Clyde also has the lowest Thrust of any given boat.

[Edit: Now that I have a better understanding of crew/modules/weapons all drawing from the same pool. I may need to reassess crew count thresholds]

 

[BasedBuckNasty]

Thanks so much!
I've updated the spreadsheet accordingly. Also, H.Sys and A. Thrusters give 1/2 their Stat value as Evasion and Acc. respectively.
This may or may not make H. Sys and A. Thrusters possibly better in fringe cases.
Additionally, the wiki is wrong! HP values were slightly off and the Aegis has a whopping 40 Systems not 20 as the wiki claims.

With the new statblock, the Clydesdale is tremendously garbage until you can fly it to Tarkus.
Then, for my own amusement, I decided to actually compare the Statblocks against the Casstech Z14

An unmodded Clydesdale has a lower combat performance than the starting ship. Even with the non-fixed weapon on the Casstech unequipped.
An unlucky player could, on leaving Myrellion, die before reaching a shipyard. (Comparison is on Sheet 2 of the linked spreadsheet.)
It doesn't help the Clyde also has the lowest Thrust of any given boat.

Yeah... b-but I was gonna make a LDC (large dick collider) pun out of it. ;_;

You shoot your coil cannon and hit the modified Z7! (H: -547)
Shekka shoots the modified Z7 with an EM turret! (H: -111)
Shekka shoots the modified Z7 with an EM turret! (H: -122)
Shekka shoots the modified Z7 with an EM turret! (H: -122)
Shekka shoots the modified Z7 with an EM turret! (H: -97)

Your ship’s reactor generated more energy (E: +55).

The modified Z7 minimizes its power load, presumably attempting to recharge its capacitor banks.


I shall call him... SS Collidesdale. ( trust me I tried to work horsecock in there somewhere... it just, you know... WOULD'NT FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT YEEEEEAHHHH!!!!!)

 

[Theron]

Armor/Shield/Accuracy/Evasion data from the game are unreliable, since they get a bonus from Steele's stats. Unfortunately, the Public source code hasn't been updated, so we can't get the actual base values. The best we can do is a Steele with 0 in all stats.

 

[Felaeris]

Yeah... b-but I was gonna make a LDC (large dick collider) pun out of it. ;_;

You shoot your coil cannon and hit the modified Z7! (H: -547)
Shekka shoots the modified Z7 with an EM turret! (H: -111)
Shekka shoots the modified Z7 with an EM turret! (H: -122)
Shekka shoots the modified Z7 with an EM turret! (H: -122)
Shekka shoots the modified Z7 with an EM turret! (H: -97)

Your ship’s reactor generated more energy (E: +55).

The modified Z7 minimizes its power load, presumably attempting to recharge its capacitor banks.


I shall call him... SS Collidesdale. ( trust me I tried to work horsecock in there somewhere... it just, you know... WOULD'NT FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT YEEEEEAHHHH!!!!!)

Glorious.

Armor/Shield/Accuracy/Evasion data from the game are unreliable, since they get a bonus from Steele's stats. Unfortunately, the Public source code hasn't been updated, so we can't get the actual base values. The best we can do is a Steele with 0 in all stats.

Well, that complicates things. I hope that doesn't also affect the percentage of secondary stat gains from H. Sys or A. Thrust. That would really complicate things.
However, a knowledgeable Steele of a fixed stat value (read anybody) should be able to compensate a deficiency with a module to better capitalize on their stat bonuses.
At the very least I know the Aegis has 40 Sys and not 20 Sys!

I did more number crunching. The Aegis and the Sledge actually are really, really close in stat values.
Close enough that I'd rather have the storage space. (Less than 1 module difference) This holds true even if you run with 0 A. Quarters or you max out on them

What really stood out to me, however, is how far the Clyde actually falls behind its compatriots.

Because of the way A. Quarters works, you will always use it over an 'empty' slot for a crew. So all 'crew' thresholds are at even values. 1 crew is the same as 2 crew, et al.
A fully modded Clyde with 0 to 2 crew (due to 2 bonus on Clyde) is 1.1 modules less combat effective than an unmodded Sledge (Laser cannon + S. Disruptor)
This also applies to an Aegis with 1 mod (Missile Turret+Booster+Whatever.)

For X Crew Value, the Sledge is fractionally better than the Aegis at all levels.
The Sledge cannot hit 15-16 crew. Period
The Aegis cannot reach 19-20 crew.
Finally, the Clyde can claim a hollow victory for the 18-24 Crew size.
No matter how you attempt to configure the Clyde, it cannot outperform the Aegis or the Sledge.
The Sledge will always be fractionally better than the Aegis... but it's so marginal most will take the storage space.

The numbers for the Clyde are 8 modules behind its two brethren at all crew levels. That's how far behind its stats are. That's the incredibly high cost of your storage space.

tl;dr It doesn't matter how many A.Quarters you take. You're still better than a Clyde.

 

[Theron]

The Clydesdale is for those who can't bear to be without their waifus/husbandos and don't want to use/know about the Clowncar cheat. Or if there's profit in hauling stuff in the future.

The Slegehammer might be even better than you think because it only takes 2 Thrust Vectoring System(s) to push it over 100 Evasion, at which point you don't get hit enough to matter. Throw on 1 Tuned Emitters (boy is that wierd), and Machine Gun fire will only do single digit damage/hit.

Still, ship combat is really easy. Like I said upthread, I was able to fight my way into Zheng Shi with a stock Aegis. It really doesn't matter what you use right now.

I'm pretty sure it's base stat + equipment + f(Steele's stat). As far as I'm aware, Accuracy and Evasion are Aim/4 and Reflexes/4.

Shield and Armor are calculated using the base value, Steele's stat and level, so as you level up, your bonus actually gets smaller if you don't keep your stat maxed.

Max Shield bonus is (Base + Upgrades) * 0.25
Max Armor bonus is (Base + Upgrades) * 0.1
Minimum is 0, obviously.

Edit: The Ships table on the wiki has been updated to reflect a 0 stat Steele.

 

[Felaeris]

The Clydesdale is for those who can't bear to be without their waifus/husbandos and don't want to use/know about the Clowncar cheat. Or if there's profit in hauling stuff in the future.

The Slegehammer might be even better than you think because it only takes 2 Thrust Vectoring System(s) to push it over 100 Evasion, at which point you don't get hit enough to matter. Throw on 1 Tuned Emitters (boy is that wierd), and Machine Gun fire will only do single digit damage/hit.
.

Made another sheet with 0 Stat Steele. The math holds. The Clydesdale is the primitive illusion of a waifu paradise. Even at 2 Crew, the Clyde is 7 modules worth of stats behind. It stays that way no matter how many crew members you pick up along the way.

Even if you take 18 Crew, the Aegis still surpasses the Clyde.
That means the Aegis has only A. Quarters (0 mods) and the Clyde has 8 Quarters with 4 mods to spare.
None of that matters, because the baseline stats of the Aegis are -so- good. It's still has a 7 mod lead even -after- the Clyde kits out.

Your counter-argument about being a Merchant King stands. If that's implemented, then that's entirely possible and the Clyde has a truly unique role that isn't replaced by A. Quarters.

I really, really expect them to buff the Clyde. It being 7 mods behind is glaring. I expected 2-3 behind at most before I started crunching numbers.
Granted I also didn't expect the Aegis and Sledge to consistently be less than 0.5 mods apart, but there you have it.

 

[Theron]

I was editing while you were posting.

TL;DR:
Accuracy Bonus = Aim/4
Evasion Bonus = Reflexes/4

Shields and Armor bonuses take into account your level, so they get weaker if you haven't been increasing that stat. OTOH, you get the max bonus as long as you're at maximum for your level:
Max Shield bonus is (Base + Upgrades) * 0.25
Max Armor bonus is (Base + Upgrades) * 0.1

The other thing I hadn't thought about is:
Crew are intended to have various benefits in and of themselves.
Anno is best merchant, of course.
Shekka repairs armor.
Paige will be able to decrease the already low encounter rate.
Kase will be able to increase storage.
And so on.
Also, not everyone will be able to do every task equally well, as they do now. I'd expect Ramis to do much better with turrets than most others, for example. It may well be that crew will be comparable to a module in various ways.

 

[null_blank]

One thing I did learn from this thread, with the exception of the Z14 never run a ship with stock equipment if possible.

 

[Athena]

Or if there's profit in hauling stuff in the future.

I had never even considered this before, but wow, now we could someday have items that you can get easily on one planet where it might be worthless, that you could sell at a large profit on another planet. And here I just liked it because I tend to hoard...

 

[4ky]

It's a little weird that Advanced Quarters is not for sale on Tavros. I see no reason why such an early access could ruin the balance.

 

[Couch]

Because it's a video game and that means more powerful things are available later in the game than less powerful things. This is why the World War 1-era shotgun you found on the ground is more powerful than the centuries-old laser pistol you found in an old locker, which is more powerful than the custom-tooled state-of-the-art rifle you bought from a modern vendor.

 

[Evil]

It's a little weird that Advanced Quarters is not for sale on Tavros. I see no reason why such an early access could ruin the balance.

From a practical standpoint, Tavros is more a staging area. Its probably where someone buys their first ship. Maybe some one or two man clunker. And not every Rusher is going to have a fully stocked harem in their ship. To be honest, I could see Advanced Quarters being installed in old warships that have been sold to private hands, when they don't need as many crew, rather than on old scout ships or cargo haulers.

 

[SeriousBlueJewel]

Ships and Ship weapons are done as far as i can tell
https://wiki.smutosaur.us/TiTS/Ships
https://wiki.smutosaur.us/TiTS/Ship_weapons

 

[Somebody Else]

I think advanced quarters should be available on Tavros for a few reasons.

First, Tavros is the staging area for the rush. Assorted rushers will really want to make sure they have the space needed for their crew.

Secondly, the only method of keeping an old ship right now is buying a burner ship on Tavros to trade out for your new one while the old one goes into storage. Briefly removing crew only to immediately go get them back with the new ship is a chore.

Finally, if there's anyone who would be 100% behind a flying space brothel, it would be Ol' Vic. The old man probably would've insisted it be available for their heir.


Overall though, I think the dichotomy of crew members/ship upgrades isn't great. At the end of the day, crew members are content while ship stats aren't really. Forcing people to choose between them feels bad. If removed, there would still be the impetus to upgrade ships, same as there is with equipment. If needed for balance, 'battle station' slots could be added. Sure, you might have 20 crew members, but shoving all of them into your one turret firing bay isn't going to help.

 

[Athena]

I agree on most things except for the crew quarters. Crew capacity is already balanced by the fact that most crew members available before Myrellion require some credits to recruit. Sure, if you have Anno, you can recruit Kase for free, and both Mitzi and Azra will ask to join you the moment you land on Tavros, but two of those require that you complete some major quests on Tarkus. By the time I've completed all quests on Mhen'ga and Tarkus, I tend to be level 6, or at least close to it. Therefore I have a chance to encounter Zaalt, who'll have a quest that unlocks Uveto.

I also tend to have more than enough to afford a new ship. In fact, I can very easily purchase the Ova'Lek using just the money I get from doing the quests on Mhen'ga. After that, by the time I can afford to recruit more characters than I can fit on it, at least without a lot of grinding, I likely have already landed on Uveto.

 

[BasedBuckNasty]

This was always going to be easy for me. I played the shit out of Galactic Civilizations II. Now I just need to get the advanced miniaturization research complete.
My only real gripe is having to perma kick Bess/Ben if you want to go solo in the M Gruss. I fly the Aegis with my main because I need my chef, navigator, science girl, mechanic and security team of Ramis and Penny and of course my personal slut Sera (If I could dismiss Bess, then I could dismiss Penny since there is no reason to have an odd number of crew with how A Quarters works, which would free up one extra space for a upgrade).

I have a smuggler with a unarmed Ova'LEK who does just fine. The problem I see is that escaping requires two turns and the ship cannot suffer an electrical attack beforehand. Which is fine considering the current space born enemies and the ships 141 evasion.

 

[flying_moustache]

As for ships, I initally wanted the biggest freighter that can be bought, bullshit my way through combats and party all the way.
Then I got introduced to the Clydesdale, saw its stats and thought better of it. It's really just not worth the trouble.
The MS-XI is a solid second choice and barely needs any additional investment to rock space combat super hard. I imagine I would have to install a few combat oriented upgrades on the Clydesdale just to have a chance at future space combat content.

Right now, I'm running the MS-XI with the preinstalled Missile Turret, an additional MG Turret and as many Advanced Crew Quartes as I can cram into my ship.

Also, am I missing something? Is there any reason to use other weapons than Missile Turrets and MG Turrets? I suppose EM weapons get a decent bonus against shields, but the aforementioned are just SO energy efficient and hit pretty hard (4x times).

 

[BasedBuckNasty]

As for ships, I initally wanted the biggest freighter that can be bought, bullshit my way through combats and party all the way.
Then I got introduced to the Clydesdale, saw its stats and thought better of it. It's really just not worth the trouble.
The MS-XI is a solid second choice and barely needs any additional investment to rock space combat super hard. I imagine I would have to install a few combat oriented upgrades on the Clydesdale just to have a chance at future space combat content.

Right now, I'm running the MS-XI with the preinstalled Missile Turret, an additional MG Turret and as many Advanced Crew Quartes as I can cram into my ship.

Also, am I missing something? Is there any reason to use other weapons than Missile Turrets and MG Turrets? I suppose EM weapons get a decent bonus against shields, but the aforementioned are just SO energy efficient and hit pretty hard (4x times).

The second missile turret actually also provides a accuracy bonus, negating the need for a sensor module upgrade. It also does mixed damage, burning and kinetic all for just slightly more energy consumption. I can imagine things like accuracy will become more important as time goes on and unavoidable, unescapable boss ship battles and whatnot.

 

[Theron]

I decided to determine how many unique items (and items in general) there are to determine just how valuable the Clydesdale's storage is.
Weapons, Unique: 27
This is taking into account the fact some are mutually exclusive.
I'm not counting most of the starting gear, since it can be bought. Interestingly, the Tech Specialist starts with a unique Scoped Pistol with the exact same stats as the one you can buy from Geoff.
Anno can sell a copy of her gun to you if you ask about it. Tech Specialists can't ask. You can buy multiples, so it's technically not unique.

Accessories, Unique: 8-9
Counting it here, since Weapons and Accessories go in Equipment.
Can't have the Goo Core and Ramshackle Power Armor at the same time.

Shields, Unique: 2

Equipment: 37-38


Armor/Clothing, Unique: 9-10
Depending on if the Frostwyrm Christmas event is repeatable. The item given depends on the number of children you've had with the Frostwyrm.
You can't have the Ramshackle Power Armor and the Goo Core Accessory at the same time.
11-12 if you count the unique upper and lower undergarments.

Wardrobe: 11-12

If you wanted one of everything...
Ranged Weapons, Generic: 63
Melee Weapons, Generic: 29
Accessories, Generic: 25
Shields, Generic: 12
Equipment: 129
Plus however many Gadgets.

Upper Undergarments, Generic: 30
Lower Undergarments, Generic: 36
Clothing, Generic: 24
Armor, Generic: 42
Wardrobe: 132

Toys: ~10

 

[4ky]

I just think that Advanced Quarters are more relevant for very small ships. Player may not be in a haste with the purchase of a new ship. In any case, the desire to change ship as soon as possible will become less painful. And after Mirellion, Advanced Quarters are no longer as important as a rather nice addition.

 

[Theron]

Advanced Quarters are more pressing for small ships, but they're still useful for larger ones. If you're min-maxing, you should never have crew not in Advanced Quarters, because it frees slots for other Upgrades, Gadgets and Weapons.

The only reason they're not as important is the MS-XI and Sledgehammer completely outclass the Casstech Z7 (the only enemy ship type currently in the game). Once there are tougher enemies, I expect maximizing those slot's effectiveness will be more important.

Of course, Advanced Quarters can only be bought on Uveto, which becomes available at about the same time as Myrellion (if you do Zaalt's distress call at level 6), or after.

 

[4ky]

Speaking specifically about capacity, I’m confused by the capacity of the Colt XLR. When I hear "cargo ship", I imagine something that can hold up to the brim of goods, and not a couple more crew cabins and storage drawers. Well, maybe the crew cabins are quite spacious to occupy the entire hull any size. But what about storage space?

 

[Theron]

The Colt XLR can hold 30 in each category, tied with the Aegis MS-XI, and only surpassed by the Clydesdale K7.

The full table, for comparison.

Future versions (August Public, if you're not a backer) will show storage capacity on the purchase screen.

 

[4ky]

Yes, but it is only 3 times more. In other words, several peoples can carry it all on themselves. It is quite enough for a personal pantry. But... is someone actually engaged in commercial transportation in space on such a scale?

 

[null_blank]

Been messing around with the Clydesdale and Aegis.

Unsurprisingly, Full-Auto is king. Don't care for the MG turret (at least for the Aegis) due to how Accuracy bonuses and malus's are cumulative. With that said, 3 Missile Turrets from the Aegis firing every other turn is more than enough to absolutely shred. I was actually surprised how quickly it got things done considering you need recharge every other turn to keep them all firing.

On the Clydesdale, I found it more important to keep at least one weapon able to keep firing every turn (a MG turret, the Missile turret costs too much to be sustainable even with a Power Tuner installed) than being able to field all of them (which is a paltry two weapons, one them being a fixed EM turret which is becomes far less useful after enemy shields go down).

tl;dr things learned: Massive DPS good, sustainable DPS good, sustainable massive DPS better
Max Power is going to be a sensitive stat in the future and I'm dreading future enemies with cap. vampires.