Ship Upgrade Technology "Tree"

[hotpoo]

For those of us that still fall well into the newb category, one of the biggest challenges is choosing the right upgrades for our vessel. I'm under the (probably misinformed) assumption that selecting certain upgrades for your ship locks you out of other upgrades (like selecting +6 sails vs. +25% sails). Likewise, certain upgrades only seem to become available until I have chosen something else.

If this is the case, would it be possible to display some sort of in-game "upgrade tree?"

It's very possible that I am completely misunderstanding the upgrade process.

[absimiliard]

There's not really a "tree" for upgrades like you see with technological advances in, say Civ or MOO.

Instead your ship has a limited number of "slots" that can each take an upgrade. Once you fill that slot it's full forever, so you don't progress up a tree.

When you check upgrades in a star dock you will see the upgrades divided into broad categories. An example would be "Interior Upgrades", this category contains things like extra crew quarters and water-fuel tanks.

Which upgrade you want in each slot will, alas, vary wildly depending on what sort of things you do and what the ship being upgraded is. So a low-sails ship might take a sails upgrade to reduce water-fuel consumption in deep space. Conversely a pirate might say "Screw sails, I need Titan Engines so I can close with my target and gun them down!". A merchant might well debate sails, but in comparison with extra cargo space.

So there's no "right" answer, though there are surely wrong ones.

-abs

[hotpoo]

Hmmm... Are these slots defined in more detail somewhere? I.E. Number of slots available per ship type, slot "cost" per upgrade, etc?

This should likely be detailed somewhere in the UI (ship upgrade details screen, or Star Dock).

[absimiliard]

Theyr'e detailed in the game. If you go to your status page, hit the ship tab, then the upgrades button it'll show you all your slots. (there are 5 IIRC)

Prices can't really be codified. Some upgrades cost more than others, and I believe cost is tied to a bunch of planetary economic factors and your rep with the faction in question.

You can see all of the available upgrades from the star dock though, though I think not their associated costs.

Beyond that . . . . I'll bet ehkamp has a document somewhere with the formula, and Cory doubtless knows the code.

-abs

[hotpoo]

Ah, sorry. By cost, I meant to say number of slots taken. I'm assuming, based on your statement, that each upgrade only costs a single slot. Do all ships only have 5 slots, or do larger (or special) vessels have a greater number of available slots?

I totally missed the available slots info in the ship details screen. I'll check that out later. Thanks!

[absimiliard]

Nope, all ships get the same five slots. Each upgrade takes one slot, said slot being the one in whose category it is found for sale in the star dock.

Having said that, I hear Cory's new release comes with ships with some slots already filled in when you buy them (so a ship might come with Prow Sails or an upgraded gun deck), but I haven't seen any yet.

Bigger, and more powerful, ships do differ in one respect from weaker ones where upgrades are concerned . . .. . they cost a lot more. So an upgrade that's $3000 on the Vae Victus will be A LOT more on a Jango class cruiser, like maybe even more than $30,000 though I don't think I'd like to be quoted on that precise number if you don't mind.

-abs

{edit} Grammar, it had to be grammar. *sighs and prepares to climb down into the pit filled with grammar since that's where his hat is*{/edit}

[oldalchemist]

I seem to upgrade the same way each time:
Ancient Reactors
Heavy Bulkheads
Water Fuel Tank (or Exo Pod)
Titan Components
Omni Stealth Array (My bounty hunters seem to kick the bucket before I can get a Predator Tracker)

My criteria for picking a base ship is usually Engines, Guns, Sails, Armor, Hold, Crew.

[slayernz]

Funny - I typically get:
Ancient Reactors
Leviathan (I can never seem to find the escape shuttle)
Water Fuel Tank
Advanced Sail system
Omni Stealth (although I swear it makes absolutely no difference to my rate of encounters).

I pick a ship that has: Sails, Engines, Hull, Hold, Guns, Torp, Crew, then Armor.
My current favorite ship is the Overlord Class ship:
Hull = 22
Armor = 13
Engines = 28
Sails = 44
Crew - 65
Hold = 65
Guns = 28
Torps = 12
Speed = Med
Agility = High

The high number of sails means my fuel consumption is only 0.014 in the red zones, and 0 in green. There are more than enough engines to help me in combat, and the hull/armor is enough to take some direct hits if I come across Aliens and need to flee "cough" strategically withdraw.

[oldalchemist]

I'm flying the Pride of Rychart right now with the reactors, bulkheads, water tank, titans, and OSA. It's a freakin' sweet ride.

The Javat Atmo Jammer is another engine hog. Holy moly. It looks like a lima bean but handles like a greased piglet.

[slayernz]

I'm gonna have to get one of them there pride ships.

[Dwayne]

Would be nice to be able to remove upgrades so that a new upgrade could be chosen.

I do understand the need to limit the upgrades though so I would keep that in if it were up to me.

[oldalchemist]

The Pride of Rychart is nice, but I'm a big fan of the Honor of Javat, too.

[Cory Trese]

A long time ago a developer made a choice that upgrades did not need to be removed. The developer (and long time ST RPG player) enjoyed having multiple customized ships so much he felt that removing an upgrade was a frivolous feature. He proceeded to take tons of shortcuts that made removal of upgrades nearly impossible in the DB.