Best Upgrades for Newer Players Tables

[tenbsmith]

Edit: The table in this post reflects some of the feedback provided, but not all the ideas will fit well in one table, so check out some of the other tables lower in the thread, they may better match your style.

This table contains one man's opinion of the most useful upgrades that don't require unlocking. The exception being the easy to unlock Water-fuel Tank. This comes from the perspective of a pirate/bounty hunter, though it seems to me it could apply across classes. Flattery, feedback and flames welcome. Happy to update the table.

The bulleted entries suggest decision cut-points for upgrades where you must choose one or the other. The cut points are based upon pre-upgrade ship stats. The cut-points assume that after the percentage is applied the decimal is truncated, NOT rounded--which seems to be the case based upon my limited observation.

Structural	-Dreadnought Arch: +6 Armor, more Encounters
	-Cargo Prow: +16 Cargo, Resist Ramming, less resistance Boarding, more Encounters when landing
Combat	-Heavy Bulkhead: +2 Armor, Resist Boarding
	-Weapon Cabinet: +25 Weapons Storage
Interior	Cargo Vault: +12 Cargo, Fewer Encounters Water-fuel Tank: +25 Water-fuel Storage, Fewer Encounters
	-External Crew Pod: +15 Crew, +10 Cargo, more Encounters
	-Mercenaries: +15 Shalun mercenaries, Boarding Combat bonuses, increased Fuel consumption
	-Advanced Bridge System: Pilot and Combat bonuses
Armament	<9 Torps -- ARES Missile Control: 16 Torps, replacement less available and more  >9 Torps -- Torpedo Control Pod: +20% Torps, +Accuracy
	-Sail Command Probe: +4 Sails, Pilot bonus
	-Hyperion Superstructure: +5 Armor
Propulsion	<23 Sails -- Nano-Solar Sail Coating: +6 Sails, replacement less available and more $ >23 Sails -- Advanced Sail System: +25% Sails, Fewer Encounters
	-Titan Components: +5 Engines, Combat bonus medium/low range, replacement less available and more $
	-Prow Gun Batteries: +5 Guns. small Combat bonus after closing
	-Smuggler's Hold: Protects 97% of Contracts--Passengers & Packages--if searched

Prow Lance Battery excluded because one rarely wants to use Torps after closing, guns or boarding are better. This assumes that the first turn of combat is not consider to be 'following a closing action.'

[xdesperado]

For Structural Upgrade I'd recommend the Cargo Prow over the Dreadnaught Arch.
The starting ships have very limited Hold space and that +16 cargo is a big boost. Also adds some resistance to ram attacks which is a favorite tactic for low level pirates.
The extra Encounters the Dreadnaught Arch generates means your more likely to have damage to repair. Finally Armor repairs are only available on Faction Worlds you have ranks with and Independent worlds, making the damage harder to repair early game.

For Interior Upgrade the Cargo Vault is a good choice especially before a player unlocks the Water-Fuel Tank. Helps with the limited Hold size of starting ships and helps reduce encounters which will help the new player stay alive to unlock the Water-Fuel Tank.

The extra crew with the External Crew Pods is nice but the new player needs to be aware that they'll get more encounters. Also they'll need to raise skills a bit more to get the W-F consumption down.

Just my opinion but the Advanced Bridge System is a waste of money on starting ships.

Propulsion Upgrades the Titan Components are a much better option than the Prow Gun Batteries. You can repair them at any space port you can access, while the guns can only be repaired on faction worlds you have rank with or Independent worlds. Also the Titan Components give a bonus to all actions at medium or lower range, while the Prow Guns only give a bonus when closing. Means the Titan Components can help you try and escape as well as assist you in attacking.

Smugglers Hold is also a good choice for new captains. Lets you surrender without losing your contract most times. Means less negative rep and less chance of getting killed, while still allowing you to make the needed money and gain needed rep.

Armaments Upgrades I'd recommend the Torpedo Control Pods for ships with 10 or more Torps. That gives you at least 12 Torps which is more than you should need early game, and gives a bonus to accuracy regardless of your actions.

In addition to completing 1000 Suns as quickly as possible I'd recommend that new players complete the Doom reaper I & II awards ASAP to unlock the Escape Shuttle. Getting the Escape Shuttle will greatly increase the life expectancy of any captain since they will no longer have to ride the ship down in flames.

[slayernz]

Sail Command Probe: +4 Sails, Pilot bonus

I've found the Sail Command probe about as effective as trying to line a public loo with toilet paper before sitting down. They sure flap around a bit, but make such a small amount of difference that you're better off just leaving the slot free for future opportunities. The Titan Components, on the other hand, certainly help when it comes to improving your edge in encounters. They do drain a bit more fuel though, and remember that in combat, each engine requires 1 crew member to operate efficiently (same goes with guns). so if you have 35 crew, 20 engines, and 20 guns, you're going to be less efficient than only 15 engines and 20 guns.

Also, using up your crew in operations (gun and engine control) means less crew available should you be boarded (or want to board)

[ChocoCrowbar]

Jun 21, 2013 21:09:59 GMT -5 slayernz said:

Sail Each engine requires 1 crew member to operate efficiently (same goes with guns). so if you have 35 crew, 20 engines, and 20 guns, you're going to be less efficient than only 15 engines and 20 guns.

Also, using up your crew in operations (gun and engine control) means less crew available should you be boarded (or want to board)

So one should never have more Guns + Engines than Crew?

[slayernz]

As guidance yes, but if you have high pilot skills, then your captain is capable of operating things more efficiently. Still, by the time you've gotten high pilot, you've probably gotten a new ship, and most ships are well balanced with the crew to guns/engines ratios.

[tenbsmith]

I've updated the table.

Playing on challenging, I've found the extra encounters associated with Dreadnought manageable with good pilot, stealth, and engine to hull ratio. As you get to higher levels of difficulty, I can imagine how the added encounters would be more problematic and smuggler's hold more beneficial.

The Prow Gun Batteries, are generally not such a great optoin, but if you had the chance to take a ship with low guns and good engine to hull ratio, they could be useful.

As a Bounty Hunter at 87AE thinking of my next ship should, the choice should be informed by upgrades. I had been looking for a Fast-Quick ship, but now considering Fast-Medium provided Titan Components can boost me to Quick.
Water Fuel seems to be getting scarce, so looking for better mileage.

Good to keep in mind the need to for crew to man guns and engines when considering upgrades.

[xdesperado]

A ship that has quick agility before upgrades will always have an edge over one with medium that has engines added to increase its Engine to Hull ratio.

I seem to remember Cory stating that increasing sails or engines to reach the next category, doesn't actually change its base category.
So in effect a medium agility ship with extra engines that take it over 2-1 E-H is just an extremely agile ship and doesn't become a quick agility ship.

The upgrades are still worthehile and will definitely narrow the gap, but aren't as effective as getting a higher class ship to start.

Personally I prefer to give up some speed in favor of higher agility if I have to choose between them when getting a new ship.
That's because I prefer more of a Gun Bunny style than the Torpedo trasher. Torps have to be replaced which costs money and they will to often kill a ship outright instead of leaving me something to loot.

Of course if you favor Torpedoes for combat or are just looking to escape from as many encounters as possible a high speed ship will be a better choice.

tenbsmith the Cargo Vault Interior Upgrade adds +12 Cargo and reduces encounters.

[tenbsmith]

thanks for catching that error. I fixed the Cargo Vault entry and reordered things a bit so that Interior upgrades with similar effects were close to each other.

Lately, I'm using mostly guns. Maybe send a Torp during the first round of combat to soften up the opposition. Guns are working so well, I only board when I'm concerned that guns may destroy the opponent before I can loot.


I like Fast because I want to be able to disengage in one turn.

[Fenikso]

These are my favorites for combat oriented ship which do not require unlocks:

Dreadnought Architecture - +6 Armor. More encounters. Increases survivability of the ship and gives you more combat opportunities.
or
Cargo Hold - +20% Cargo. Nice addition for ships with already big Cargo.

Heavy Bulkheads - +2 Armor, resistance vs. Boarding. If you do not plan to board others.
or
Weapon Cabinet - +25 Weapons. If you do plan to board others.

Advanced Bridge System - Pilot and Combat bonuses. If you are more interested in Gun combat.
or
Mercenaries - +15 angry and effective Crew. If you are more interested / scared by boarding.

Titan Components - +5 Engines, Combat bonus.

Hyperion Superstructure - +5 Armor. I usually take this if I do not have Dreadnought Architecture already.
or
Sail Command Probe - +4 Sail, Pilot bonus. I usually take this if I have Dreadnought Architecture already.

[slayernz]

For me, I spend about 70% of the time in combat, 30% of the time hauling freight (Shortage rumors). I never board alien ships, and only do the odd contract here or there for a distraction. I spend long times destroying Steel Song random ships, so large fuel capacity is always useful, as is fuel efficiency (so >2:1 Sails to Hull ratio is mandatory). You can always ditch fuel for stuff you loot if you feel so inclined. I also go for many shortage rumors, and hate delivering less than 100 units.

Structural
I almost always go for either Cargo Prow (+16 cargo), or Cargo hold (+20%) depending on current size of cargo hold. I rely on heavily beefed up pilot skills to help reduce the need to increase the armor value.
Occasionally, I add the Databank, but that's for more specialized operation so doesn't fit the theme of the thread.

Combat]
I've never really invested a lot into Combat upgrades ... later on, the escape shuttle is useful, but that is locked to begin with so ruled out.
For increased cargo, you can get the Cargo pod, but it only yields +7 cargo, which isn't very useful for one of only 5 upgrade slots. Once you have your pilot skill up a bit (and therefore can handle yourself in combat), there is nothing stopping you from getting the Weapon Cabinet, with its ability to store 25 more Weapons!
The Impact Shielding generator is helpful when starting out because it does help prevent against dreaded ram attacks (these aren't as common as they used to be, and beefing up on Pilot, and having a good Engines to Hull ratio also helps).

Interior
Unlocking the Thousand Suns award is pretty straight forward, so I'd argue the Water-Fuel tank is something you can consider here - and allows you to focus on carrying the maximum amount of goods for a shortage situation without fear of running out of fuel half-way through your trip.
The Cargo Vault (+12 Cargo) is the poor-mans WF Tank - you lose some of the benefits that a hidden ~25 tank offers, but gives you 12 more cargo hold all the same.
The Advanced Bridge System would be my only other choice here. Very useful pilot boost.

Propulsion
Advanced Sails (+25% sails) for when you have more than 24 sails to begin with, or Nano Sail (+6 sails) coating for less than 24.
If you are high on sails already and short on engines, the Titan Components (+5 engines) is actually useful.
The Cargo Pods here (+10 Cargo) isn't so bad as the Combat Cargo Pod, so if I am really short on cargo space, I consider this - but only if I have enough engines and sails to keep me efficient and safe.

Armament[/u]
This one I often actually leave unpurchased for the most part. Contrary to public opinion, this Cadar captain very rarely fires any torps, so upgrading the torps is a waste of money for me.
The Sail Command Probe is for me one of those things those aftermarket sales guys try and push onto you. "You really need these sails - we've added a pin-stripe on them and metallic paint so you will go faster. Yes, you won't actually get much in the way of additional fuel efficiency, but they LOOK GOOD!".

[Cory Trese]

Great thread guys.

[tenbsmith]

Until this thread, I thought hyperion superstructure added to hull, not armor, so I left it off my list because i thought it would reduce speed and agility.

[xdesperado]

While I mentioned it in my post of suggested upgrades above, I thought it might be helpful to do a seperate post on the subject.

When you first create a Captain, regardless of how experienced a player you are, that captain has certain limitations.

A big one in regard to upgrades is that until you have enough money and reputation with a faction to buy at least Rank 1, the Military Base side of Star Docks is closed to you except on Independent Worlds.

Repairs to Hull, Engine and Sails can be done on any planet you have access to the main Star Dock on.
Guns, Armor and Torpedoes can only be repaired or replaced in the Military Base section.

Buying an Armor upgrade on a Faction world without Rank means you'll have to go to an Independent to install it, same for guns.

While you can't increase your Hull size with upgrades to improve your defense, you can add Engines and Sails. Appart from making your ship faster and more agile, thus more capable in combat, they also make it harder to kill you as there are more of them to soak up damage.

Engines can be especially important defensively. Unlike Armor or Sails, if you lose all your Engines you automatically lose the fight.

[tenbsmith]

This post definitely made that clearer to me. I knew each piece of info, but hadn't put it together to see the advantage of focusing on engine/sail upgrades early in a captain's career and avoiding gun/armor/torp upgrades.

[Deleted]

Information not stated in-game:



Dreadnought Architecture (+6): Adds 6 armor and increases resistance vs ram and board. Increases encounters.

Battle Prow (+4): Adds 4 armor, helps for ramming and boarding, and increases resistance vs ram. Increases encounters.

Omni-Stealth Array: Decreases encounters significantly for deep-space travel. Helps for surveillance. Helps find merchants and smugglers for patrol.

Advanced Bridge System: Increases Pilot significantly for combat (good for advancing, gunning and ramming). Stacks with Pilot Officer.

Sail Command Probe (+4): Adds 4 sails and increases Pilot in deep-space (so less accidents and encounters). Doesn't increase Pilot for combat but the 4 sails will help for combat like 4 normal sails would.

Mercenaries (+15 Crew/Type III): Adds 15 crew and provides a bonus for boarding. Increases fuel consumption but not as much as Battleship Architecture.

Heavy Bulkheads (+2 Armor): Increases resistance vs board and. Decreases crew deaths for being rammed. Won't help offensively like other boarding upgrades but will help keep losses down more.

Artifact Isolation Chamber (-25): Stores 25 artifacts. Normally, each artifact increase accidents, attract aliens and can make aliens more powerful. This upgrade negates all penalties from artifacts for upto 25 units. Good for explorers or those who want to carry artifacts to increase the veteran officer's bonus.

Hyperion Superstructure (+5): Adds 5 armor which is stronger and can help decrease ship damage more than normal armor.

Smuggler's Hold: Prevents contracts from being taken by bounty and military ships when surrendering.

Attack Shuttle Bays: Helps for board transition. Extra bonus with large crews.

Type II upgrades help when pressing board at short range. Type III upgrades help when pressing board at zero range.

The bonus of an upgrade does not depend on where or when or in what order you got the upgrade.