The Gunnening (gun upgrade questions)

[jar]

Let me start by saying that this game is fantastic; I am loving the immense depth and customization. My PC and console games are in a corner collecting dust.


My questions concerns the assignment of crew to guns and engines. This was discussed in an older thread, but I'm hungry for more detailed information. It will be easier if I lead with my current setup:

Serpent Tooth (going for Hardcore Elite)
upgrade: Extended Gun Decks (+7, reduces crew req, acc bonus at medium range)
upgrade: Prow Gun Batteries (+5, combat bonus on closing)
cargo hold: 30
engines: 24
crew: 40
guns: 33

I'm currently playing as a level 8 zealot who murders anything and everything not allied with De Valtos (I take extra delight at destroying Steel Song ships ;D). Most of my combats go like this: 1. lead with torpedo, 2. close to medium range, 3. shred armor, 4. close to short range, 5. turn 'em into swiss cheese.

My thoughts are as follows: I want to upgrade the size of my cargo hold to go on longer range missions, but I'm worried about my crew being too small (the crew and cargo size upgrades I'm looking at occupy the same slot.) Is my current crew size optimal? Should I consider increasing it? How much does the Extended Gun Decks upgrade reduce required crew to operate guns by? Is there a rule of thumb for combat-oriented crew sizes?

[Alex Fury]

Well, one of the easiest ways to increase cargo space fast, depending on WHAT you want to haul, are the four specific +25 holds. (water/fuel, electronics, records, weapons). But those are unit-specific. Outside of that. I think the largest is a +20 flat-out.. and a +20%, which is only useful if you have a LARGE hold to begin with.

Personally, I go for the water-tanks (25 water-fuel), makes it nice to always have 25 even with a max-hold of Explore-loot.
the Records hold (I think the extended gun decks +7 guns is same-slot), is good, for spies, and for explorer as records help with exploring.

I just recently bought the Spear Cutter, which is now probably my favorite. Green movement is infinity (0.0000), red is about .9
Hold means I can explore and harvest (and loot) to my heart's content. I also have the weapons-cabinet (+25 weap) and Advanced Bridge System.
Altogether it makes this ship a beast for hunting, blockading and overall exploring, letting me go cross-system on one fill-up with room to spare in the hold for anything I loot from attackers.
While the guns are a bit low for a solid attacker, with good tactics, piloting and the upgrade boosts, I don't have a problem. (given, haven't fought an alien yet)

16 hull
16 armor
32 engine (37 with the titan components)
42 sails (46 with sail command probe)
44 crew
140 hold (!!!!!!)
16 guns (23 with the extended gun decks)
7 Torps

Personally I prefer the lower-crew ships. Less crew means easier to get infinite movement on green 'dots' of space. Also, since I rarely duel/board (torp then aimed engine), I don't need a lot of back-up there from crew in melee as it were. The gun improvements and engines means that I control ranges. (and 25+ piloting skill)
This ship DID cost a pretty penny. With trading in a Rim Freighter (Rank with planet-govt was 20), and starport expansion rumor.. I had sails and engines, and about 30 water/fuel... but couldn't pay for the extra guns I needed after the upgrade. had about 35 credits left. Just took a quick explore nearby and that paid for the rest.

[Cory Trese]

"How much does the Extended Gun Decks upgrade reduce required crew to operate guns by?"

By one more than the EGD upgrade adds guns -- it adds +7 Guns but the overall net Crew optimized point for your guns after installing EGD is 1 less than it was previously.

The starting Crew stat for the ship is "optimal" for that Crew. If the specific ship has lower starting Crew but same count of guns, it has a higher "efficiency" score which drives up the price, rarity and boarding defense score.

With both EGD and PGB upgrades installed you will be slightly out of optimal for your guns -- with 40 Crew it is 18% sub-optimal -- so in this case I would recommend a slight Crew upgrade if you can justify it.