The What, Why & How-to of Favorite Ships

[johndramey]

Fenikso - Posted my guide for the Tempus Fugit, let me know what you think!

[Fenikso]

johndramey - Nice! This explains how it never worked for me in the first place. It is not really combat ship and I think you described it very well. Thanks!

[johndramey]

Fenikso - Awesome! Glad you found it helpful, try it out and let me know if you can think of any improvements.

[Fenikso]

johndramey - Actually it does not match my preferred approach to early Quadrant visit as I have just realized.

[athios]

Slayernz Cruiser (a.k.a. Slayarz Cruiser)

Stats	Stock	Modded	Comments
Hull	29	29
Armor	22	22
Engines	62	62
Sails	36	50	Command Probe + Advanced Sails
Crew	120	182	Battleship Architecture
Cargo	120	144	Cargo Hold (+20%)
Guns	20	20
Torps	22	22
Speed	Medium	Medium
Agility	Quick	Quick
Other			Escape Shuttle
Bonuses			Resistance vs Board, Pilot bonus
Drawbacks			Increased W-F consumption

Play Style
I thought I'd start with play style first since whether this will be a good ship for you depends very much on how you play. I generally use only a single ship (i.e. not switching ships for different operations or long-haul flights). Activity-wise I usually focus on contracts, shortages, blockade/surveillence during stacked wars, and opportunistic pirating. Stat-wise I am primarily built for boarding, strong on Warrior and Stealth. Generally only torp against high-level low-sails enemies, always try to gun engines first, then sustained board if gunning doesn't work.

Why I like this ship
Strong hull and armor for protection. Plenty of engines even without upgrades puts you at a big combat advantage. Medium speed cuts your ship signature compared to fast ships. Pretty large crew size and cargo size. Enough guns to take out enemies efficiently, but not so many that you tie up your crew or accidentally destroy their ship. Plenty of torps for all Cadarians out there.
My dream ship has 100-180 crew, more than 100 cargo (the more the better!), 2:1 EHr and SHr, so this ship really fits almost perfectly.

Upgrades
Structural - Cargo Hold (+24)
You don't really need more Armor/Engines/Guns, so Cargo is a good upgrade.
Cargo Prow(+16) is also good, giving you Resist vs Ram/Board in exchange for penalty during landing.

Combat - Escape Shuttle
I like having a plan B in case I run into Aliens. High engines on this ship gives you the chance to successfully ram your enemy to escape.
Alternatives for non-boarding captains: Heavy Bulkheads
Alternatives for boarding captains: Weapons Cab, Attack Shuttles/Leviathan

Interior - Battleship Architecture (+62)
Before the upgrade, you only have 38 crew for boarding. With this, you now have 100, which is plenty unless you are fighting another large Cruiser/Carrier or Alien.
Alternatives: Advanced Bridge, or Mercenaries if you want an edge without driving up your W-F usage too much.

Armament and Propulsion - Sail Command Probe and Advanced Sails (+14)
Brings your Sail-to-Hull Ratio from 1.24:1 to 1.72:1 which will help cut your fuel usage, give you a smoother sexier torping experience, offer more cannon fodder protection during combat, and let you escape from combat easier. Note that if you buy SCP after getting Advanced Sails, you only get +13.
Alternatives: you can substitute the SCP with Predator Tracking Array if you like that ability. Hyperion Superstructure if you want crazy armor. Omni-Stealth Array may be a moot point given that this is a large-hull ship with >100 crew/cargo.

Final Comments
Bear in mind that the Slayernz Cruiser is meant to be a late-game ship. With it's larger hull, you will need at least 30 Pilot to use it efficiently. Pilot/Intimidate will also be necessary to handle the large crew during combat and space flight. Once you have the stats though, it is a very reliable and versatile ship. Even if you are not a boarding- or even combat-oriented captain, this ship gives you great protection. It also looks cool.
I usually carry 90 weapons with me, and still have room for >30 W-F/Luxuries and 15 Spice for a Pilot Officer. If I have a chance to buy a second Slayernz Cruiser, I'd probably choose to go with Heavy Bulkheads and Mercenaries instead, since reading up on some older comments from Cory lead me to believe they are a better investment.

[Cory Trese]

Great thread!

[xdesperado]

Jun 20, 2013 6:38:04 GMT -5 Fenikso said:

Serpent's Tooth

Attribute	Stock	Modified	Comments
Hull	12	12
Armor	7	11	Hyperion Superstructure
Engines	24	24
Sails	14	14
Crew	40	40
Cargo	30	46+25W+25W-F	Cargo Hold + Weapon Cabinet + Water-Fuel Tank + Cargo Pods
Guns	21	21
Torps	6	6
Speed	Medium	Medium
Agility	Quick	Quick
Other

My most favorite starting ship. I tend to start doing contracts and picking fights early on. I am also big fan of opportunity-piracy as it pays off very well. It is Quick and has a lot of guns so it is best utilized at short range shooting the hell out of merchants and smugglers.

Upgrades
The biggest drawback of the ship on Impossible is the cargo hold as it drinks W-F like crazy. So adding cargo hold upgrades is my priority, the ship has enough of everything else.
• Cargo Hold
• Cargo Pods
• Water-Fuel Tank
• Weapon Cabinet – This is my favorite specialized cargo hold upgrade, as when you carry pirated Weapons you are safer against boarding. I also like to attract trouble and Weapons increase chance of enemy encounter.
• Hyperion Superstructure – For picking fights early on there is no thing like "too much armor".

It fits my overall aggressive strategy. Piracy! Fights! Danger! Trading? No thanks. I usually do some contracts first, buy Trade Permits with my favorite factions and then immediately turn to piracy. Carefully pick some easy fights with merchants or smugglers in faction space early and sell loot. When I can afford a few upgrades and improve my combat skills, I start full front piracy and move to more dangerous sectors as the loot becomes more profitable.

In combat I move to close range as soon as possible and fire my guns on enemy ship's engines. 40 crew armed with some Weapons can protect the ship from boarding attempts but when things go south it is just easier to run like hell.

Used a variant of this ship to earn the Hardcore Elite Award.

Tried a variety of different things but finally settled on the following set-up.

Upgrades
Structural - Databank
Combat - Weapons Cabinet
Interior - Water-Fuel Tank
Propulsion - Spybank
Armament - Cargo Pod

While I gave up some general cargo space and combat ability, overall this allowed me to make better use of the ship.

Had a Spy Captain and used my Survival to Glory strategy.

Getting the Spybank instead of Cargo Pods or other upgrade let me take better advantage of Gamma-Javat II's Electronics availability while reducing number of encounters and accidents. Also provided nice support to the Spying which was my primary XP source. (Cadar and Rychart hate her guts, but she had a chance to make friends with DeValtos early and is now Rank 21)

Because of that heavy reliance on Spying and the Spy Captains special ability the Databank made far more sense than other options.

Because she had some decent stealth, unlike my normal combat captains and was looking to avoid fights and play nice as much as possible I decided that the extra 10 cargo in the armaments upgrade Cargo Pod was the most usefull option and added a bit more flexability to the general cargo capacity.

Overall this becomes a tightly focused ship that works to support the Spy Captains special ability and fits a specific plan for utilization.

[Fenikso]

Jun 30, 2013 12:54:24 GMT -5 xdesperado said:

Used a variant of this ship to earn the Hardcore Elite Award.

Nice Serpent tuning!

I am now going for that award too with Zealot on Impossible. So I swapped some of the early bonuses for the ones I find more useful in later game.

• Cargo Prow (instead of Cargo Hold) - Better cargo bonus but reduces resistance vs. boarding. But I generally do not mind as I carry a lot of Weapons and have high Warrior score. And board first .
• Weapon Cabinet - We need guns. A lot of guns.
• Advanced Bridge System (instead of Water-Fuel tank) - Combat and pilot bonuses as I plan to use the ship longer.
• Titan Components (instead of Cargo Pods) - Combat bonuses again.
• Hyperion Superstructure - There is no thing like "too much armor".

This reduces my effective cargo hold by 25 and ends up with 46 W-F that I can carry. It is enough for me on Impossible when doing contracts and Blockades / Surveillance. This setup is worse for piracy but better for long term survivability (and gun / board, ask questions later strategy ).

[johndramey]

Ah, I mean to post about a couple ships and eventually get to the Vegas Class, just been busy with the AoP alpha, work, and planning the TA challenge. Sorry

[Deleted]

slayerz cruiser csse its best for ram. I hook it up with advanced bridge, titan components, battle prow, hyperion superstructure and escape shuttle for extra ram attack and defense strength. I have pilot and military officers with 12 spice for extra extra ram attack and defense strength. I have veteran for combat vs aliens. I invest super heavily in pilot because it does most orbital operations, wf consumption, advance, ram and gun. I am a zealot/spy hybrid, participating in every solar and intellegence war to increase my xp. When there are no solar or intellegence wars, ill particopate in bounty hunter wars by taking bounty or surveillence contracts with one or more of the parties involved. Ill also end shortages sometimes. For combat, oll advance to short and gun. Pilot is best for gun vs gun scenarios. if the enemy loses all of his guns and i can no longer gun, ill keep retreating till i get to medium and torp, and torp at short range. pilot plays a big role for torp vs board, and a medium role for torp vs advance. for super high level aliens, ill advance to short and ram, ram, ram. I have at least one spare slayarz cruiser in case i need to use an escape shuttle for ram. i also have xolar freighters scattered around the quadrent which i use for surveillence and blocksdes that dont require me to fly in red zones. xolar freighters have big holds and exelent fuel use, but are weak vs aliens, so i dong use them unless i dont have to go past red zones.

Im currently on lv 330 on impossible so I think that this is a good strategy to use with the slayarz.

[Deleted]

And... I just died from a bug. -_-

Last time I ever say my level on the forum for a still-alive captain. Like EVER

[Captain Midnight]

I love the Pirate Skylift. Whatever my starting ship, whatever my class, when I meet one in the early game it's trade-in time.

Favorite upgrades:

Ancient Reactors
Escape Shuttle / Weapons Cabinet
Battlecruiser Retrofit
Advanced Sail System
Hyperion Superstructure

[Captain Midnight]

I love the Pirate Skylift. Whatever my starting ship, whatever my class, when I meet one in the early game it's trade-in time.

Favorite upgrades:

Ancient Reactors
Escape Shuttle / Weapons Cabinet
Battlecruiser Retrofit
Advanced Sail System
Hyperion Superstructure

[absimiliard]

I'm with JohnDRamey, my favorite starting ship is without doubt the Tempus Fugit. But we differ a bit on why, and what to do with it, so I'll toss up my thoughts.

Tempus Fugit
Hull 9 9
Armor 5 14
Engines 18 18
Sails 18 18
Crew 26 36
Cargo 35 40+25W
Guns 12 12
Torps 4 4
Speed Fast Fast
Agility Quick Quick
Other Smuggler's Hold


Play-style: My most typical play-style is to be a pirate captain or bounty hunter, though I rarely do more than opportunity pirating until I've gotten it upgraded as my early game focuses on running multiple contracts in circular routes. Once I have some bucks I tend to start pirating more seriously, and my preferred method of piracy is bounty contracts to destroy someone. (i.e. surveil my target, go to get them, if they're a faction I'm friends with let them go and re-attempt, if a "legit" target board the hell out of them and then loot but not destroy, store the loot in a cache, repeat the process until I'm down to a few weeks left on my contract, then finish the contract and go sell my loot) But that's later in the game and I'll be on a new ship by then.

Why I like this ship: So early-game I'm a contract runner, and a boarder if I get into a fight. For these purposes the Tempus Fugit seems near ideal to me. It is Fast and Quick. It has a built in smuggler's hold. It has a low hull, and high armor. I emphasize those strengths, while building up my boarding skills. In particular I find that having a very high hull/armor ratio can make things very smooth, yes, you take some hits if you fight, but they mostly bounce off armor, and rarely do huge damage.

Ugrades:

Reinforced Prow: +2 armor + boarding bonuses.
Weapon Cabinet: Loads of undetectable weapons means I win boarding actions handily and have some space for weapons when I loot.
Battlecruiser Retrofit: +2 armor, +10 crew, and +5 cargo
Smuggler's Hold: Comes with the ship, and enables a smooth startup.
Hyperion Superstructure: "Armor, armor, armor" (+5)

Final Thoughts: I find that a 9/14 hull/armor ratio is surprisingly powerful. Early game a bounty hunter can be a fearful boarder with weapons, and a smuggler's hold plus the weapon's locker means you don't even attract any attention for a holdful of death and illegal passengers/cargo. If you do attract attention (or choose to opportunity pirate) you can take some hits getting in close, and then dominate. A pirate captain plays mostly the same, though I often gun-bunny instead of boarding, I still keep the weapon's locker though because 25 weapons in anyone's hands is a fearsome surprise early-game. By mid to late game not even your ridiculous armor will save you and it's time to move on to a new ship with more specific focuses.

[Deleted]

Just thought you should know, battle prow is everything reinforced prow plus more. It has twice as much armour, and has greater ram and board bonuses. I don't know why the reinforced prow's bonus is said in the game and not the battle prow/dreadnought, but the developer did put in the help under upgrades (not in the game when your get the upgrade though) that battle prow and Dreadnought give a " combat bonus", so as to at least make players curious.

Battle prow - adds 4 armour. increases ram attack, resistance vs ram, board attack. Increases encounters. Best armour upgrade for ram and board attack.
Dreadnought Architecture - adds 6 armour. increases resistance vs ram, resistance vs board. Increases encounters. Best armour upgrade for board defense. Adds the most armour, so for things where neither upgrade gives a bonus like being gunned, Dreadnought wins by default because of the extra armor.
Reinforced prow - adds 2 armor. Increases ram attack, resistance vs ram, board attack. Does not increase encounters. Best armour upgrade if you want to increase your ram and board strength without the increased encounters.
Structural Refit - adds 3 armour. Does not increase encounters. Best upgrade if you want to increase your armor as much as possible without extra encounters. It has more armour than reinforced prow, so for things where reinforced prow doesn't give a bonus, like being gunned, refit wins by default due to the extra armor.