On Outfitting: Part 5, Systems and Payload
15 May 2021Kissamies
On previous parts we have covered weapons, defences and essential systems. Now is time to handle what's left. Avionics and payload, mostly. My general rule is to use either the lightest D-rate or the best performance A-rate, but there are some exceptions you will see below. There is also the engineering to discuss.Sensors: My most commonly used sensors module is D-rate engineered to have long range. That has the best range to mass balance and the power usage is reasonable as well. I have used A-grade lightweight a few times on multipurpose ships that have spare power, but the range is poor compared to previous option. A, long range is an option to pure bounty hunter ships that come with undersized sensors, such as the Alliance Chieftain and its brothers. If the sensor range doesn't matter at all, D and lightweight is the obvious choice.
Scanners: The first thing to know about scanners is that their power usage goes up exponentially, doubling with each grade, while the range goes up linearly, adding 500 meters per grade. The A-grade scanner consumes whopping 3.2 MW of power and that's never worth it on my builds. Some people consider the kill warrant scanner (KWS for short) useless, but it still adds some nice credits and it's useful for my BGS manipulations to get bounty vouchers for the lesser factions in the system sometimes. I usually go for B-rate, sometimes C, always with fast scan mod. Manifest scanner is used to see if the cargo is worth pirating. I naturally use it on my very few pirate ships with same options as KWS above. With the chasing ships to another systems gameplay being as it is, the wake scanner is not worth for its intended purpose (at least for NPCs), but it is nice for getting engineering data materials from the wakes. I carry it on my multipurpose vessels when I can spare a slot. Always D-rate, engineered with fast scan on fast ships and long range on slow ones.
Life Support: The general option is D and lightweight, but with grade 5 engineering I have access to the A-rate lightweight isn't that much heavier. I use it in combat ships and also exploration vessels. Back in the day you were doomed in the Black if you lost your canopy, but in these days you can synthesize more oxygen to limp to safety and there is a huge difference between having to do that every 7 minutes or 24. I have actually had my life support destroyed before with the cockpit canopy intact in couple of my hull tank ships, and that has made me consider if reinforcing the module or simply not using any mods at all might be a better option for those. Haven't tried it yet, though.
Limpets: We already discussed the repair and decontamination limpets in part 3 and here's the rest of them. I have used all of them at some point, but most of them not much and my opinions may not be so informed or solid on all of them. My engineering for all of them is lightweight, when available.
- Collection: The most useful of the lot. Applications in mining, piracy and collecting salvage. I often have them in my materials collector and mission runner ships and even bounty hunters sometimes. A-rate has the best limpet longevity, and B-rate has best range. I usually go for A for miners and pirates and B for mission/opporturnistic collectors. Recently I have started to think that D might be best for the latter especially if I can fit a big controller that has decent range anyway.
- Fuel Transfer: I keep a controller in reserve in case I need to help a friend. Some distress call USSes also require this. I think it's A, but in the hindsight might as well be a D. Targets needing fuel should be cooperative and not run away.
- Hatch Breaker: For piracy obviously. 1A or 3A, though having multiple limpets doesn't make sense for my pirating style.
- Prospecting: Miner's tool. I have always used 3A.
- Recon: There was a time I stole materials from installations. I think this functionality should just be added to the Hatch Breaker.
- Research: Mainly for scraping samples off Thargoids. Works also on some space fauna, but dissapointingly few of them. That's why I don't bother carrying one in my explorers.
Frame Shift Drive Interdictor. Seen often in my bounty hunting and the odd escort ship. A rated and as big as I can make it once I have placed more vital components. The power usage is no problem, since it's a module only used in supercruise, so it is only used when hardpoints are retracted and there's power to spare. I defer to the popular wisdom and always engineer it for wide angle in these days. My Corvette has some ancient legacy long range engineering I haven't bothered to change, but that one is more of a conflict zone clearer anyway.
Cargo Racks. I prefer to have round tens. It looks neat and is easier to calculate how much is still needed for wing source and return missions. One quick trick for that is to use one cargo rack two sizes smaller for every rack, or one size for two. I also tend to use the corrosion resistant versions because there's no downside. Realistically they really come in handy only when exploring the 'Goid bases and taking trophies. Perhaps for exploration too, just in case.
Passenger Cabins. I haven't formed a solid theory for using these, but in general I use Saud Kruger ships for passengers and have 1 size 6 luxury cabin so I can do any VIP mission that may appear. Then I use rest of the cabin space for bulk passengers. However, it's odd how may VIP's are content with economy cabins and how common first class is for bulk passengers. I think that might require some balancing.
Refinery. Can't mine without it. I have usually preferred bigger ones than people generally carry. At first it allowed me to keep all sorts of minerals in the bins and later on it gave me some slack between the minerals and limpets filling up my cargo space. Now it's not quite as important for me to get a big one. Whatever I can fit. Always A-rated though. I don't bother engineering it.
Pulse Wave Analyser. Essential gear for my multiminer ships, and none of my ships are pure laser miners. That would be boring. As high rate as I can spare power for.
Mining Hardpoints. As a multiminer, I like to have all the tools and tend to choose my mining ships accordingly with enough hardpoints. Still, I also like to have as many Mining Lasers and the WEP focused capacitor can handle and the limpets keep up with. Sub-Surface Displacement Missile is my favorite and I like to have it as medium when possible to get enough ammo. Abrasion Blaster only comes as small, so not much choice there. Seismic Charges are same but Medium.
Heat Sink Launcher. Often found on ships that use fuel scoop a lot, especially explorers. As my ships tend to run cool, these are for emergencies only. One launcher only and lightwieght. Other use is combat. To be used with shield cell banks or to throw off a Thargoid's aim. In latter case I pop them off like candy and have many launchers. In former just enough to cover the banks, and perhaps just eat the heat damage for the very last one. Either case, ammo capacity is the mod for this usage.
Xeno Scanner and Shutdown Field Neutraliser. Both present in my large AX builds. One or both will be omitted in smaller ones. The scanner is useful for targeting the interceptor hearts and identifying the scouts so you can shoot the more dangerous ones first. The neutraliser is nice for avoiding shutdown, but you can ride it with your flight assist off, or take cover in your wingmate's neutraliser bubble.
Flight Assists. Docking computers can be used to turn your attention to something else while the ship is docking. Planning your next move, for example. I think it's not worth a slot. I don't mind people using it, but I like to tease them about it. Supercruise assist is useful, not for its intended use but because it can be used to drop off from supercruise without as much slowdown. Standard equipment for my cargo and passenger ships and sometimes seen on other ones as well.
Detailed Surface Scanner. Obviously in my exploration ships, but it's pretty common for my multipurpose missions runner types and even bubble shuttles. The main reason I don't have the supercruise assist on more ships, I'd say. I like to scan planets even when I'm not out to scan planets.
Planetary Vehicle Hangar. Pretty simple, H is heavier, cheaper and uses less power, so I always go with G. Can put it to lowest power priority. Size 2 has 1 SRV, 4 has 2 and 6 has 4. I have never felt the need to have a spare SRV for my exploration ship because I can't fathom a catastrophic event that could destroy one from near full health and if it's on low health, I can simply repair it. At one point, I started using the size 4 hangar for my more dropship type mission runners for stacking the surface scan missions. Not that necessary there either, but I did it for anticipation of Odyssey. Perhaps when there is more types than just Scarab, there will be more reason to carry around more than one.