Crew Combat Weapon Choices

[The Electrocuter]

First off, I'd like to say that I've been really enjoying STF. Been binge playing it for the last week, much to the detriment of my ST4X story ( ).

For most of my ship combat ops, I launch salvos of missiles and torps, then rush in for a combined rail, lance, plasma cannon, and missile barrage, before closing in for the kill on the decks of the enemy. I have an A5 armory in my Sword Battlecruiser (tentative name: Fuel Chugger   ), but I can afford to spend some hard earned credits on even shinier crew weapons for my CC squad. 

Looking at the level 7 choices for crew armament, I'm noticing that some of the lower level weapons have slightly higher damage, while having lower piercing (L.5 Mensin Sniper 69-110DMG, 98% piercing vs L.7 Dragon Sniper 77-124DMG, 90% piercing). How do those stats work with each other during crew combat, and which is more important?

Also, how does the higher level armor bought from contacts compare to armor from the A5 armory?

Thanks for the help.

[fallen]

A wiki page to help

About Piercing --
startraders.gamepedia.com/Armor

That page also includes all weapons lockers and at the very bottom all armors from contacts.

[The Electrocuter]

Mar 14, 2019 20:45:17 GMT -5 fallen said:

A wiki page to help

About Piercing --
startraders.gamepedia.com/Armor

That page also includes all weapons lockers and at the very bottom all armors from contacts.

Thank you very much. I searched the general wiki guide page, but couldn't find it there. Might have missed it though. Better at landing hits than finding stuff

[The Electrocuter]

Looking at the stats for the armor, the A5 armor (Interweave) and the level 6 contact armor (Meshplate weave) seem to be fairly similar, except the A5 armor has 10 more ballistic soak and 20 less impact soak compared to the contact armor. While the similar level contact armor had higher deflection compared to their A5 counterpart, in exchange for a soak reduction, the two above have the same deflection value. Is this intentional?

[fallen]

The Electrocuter - yes, that is all looking correct to me. While Weapon Locker armor have a clear and direct progression (better at every level), Contact weapon and armor often offer specialty focused variations that may or may not fit your build. Upgrading to A5 is no-brainer, should not need to think about it. You should evaluate the stats of any Contact weapon or armor and decide if it is what you want.