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Author Topic: [Guide] Officer Skill Builds  (Read 29891 times)

TaLaR

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Re: [Guide] Officer Skill Builds
« Reply #30 on: November 10, 2018, 11:08:50 PM »

Shields are important even for ships like Onslaught. Having Hardened Shields + Defensive Systems 2 can easily mean difference between shrugging off Tachyon Lances (or at least stalling) vs getting slaughtered one-sidedly.

Plus, with AI as is, they will always let the opponent drive up shield-flux to about 80%, even when armor-tanking + using flux for weapons is clearly a better option. AI won't properly use officers/variants that sacrifice shields for better armor (unless you install shield bypass hullmod).
« Last Edit: November 10, 2018, 11:17:03 PM by TaLaR »
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Megas

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Re: [Guide] Officer Skill Builds
« Reply #31 on: November 11, 2018, 05:58:58 AM »

Harder shields are great for any ship with shields, not just high-tech.  If anything, it offsets the damage perks other enemy ships will have that would otherwise put too much hard flux too quickly on the shield.  And if the enemy does not have damage boosters, then enjoy your buff shields.

Defensive Systems 1 (or whatever level that gives the perk) for more efficient shields is good for low-tech ships when trying to minimize flux upkeep and squeeze out much flux efficiency as possible to help support Mjolnir.
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Thaago

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Re: [Guide] Officer Skill Builds
« Reply #32 on: November 11, 2018, 05:47:43 PM »

I like Hard Shields on AI ships for the reasons others have pointed out, but don't like it on my flagship if I can fit more firepower/offense on.
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Schwartz

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Re: [Guide] Officer Skill Builds
« Reply #33 on: November 12, 2018, 01:29:35 PM »

Always stoked to read more theorycraft. Yep, I assumed Evasive Action to be better purely because 50% to DR has been proven so powerful in the past (along with the 50% opposite from Target Analysis). Happy to be proven wrong, but yes as others have said.. pick both armour skills. The 50% maneuverability buff should not be discounted as that's pretty useful on its own, but it's more of an utility-class bonus, like Ordnance Expertise's projectile speed.

On shielded ships with Defensive Systems, it's a bit of a toss-up still if you also want to double-dip with armour skills. On a front-shielded Medusa or Aurora I'd pick EA in a heartbeat. On frigates and other agile ships that are not so front-locked it's probably IM. But generally for player-controlled ships I prefer to stick to one defensive type and getting more damage and offensive skills instead.
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Aeson

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Re: [Guide] Officer Skill Builds
« Reply #34 on: November 12, 2018, 03:47:26 PM »

Always stoked to read more theorycraft. Yep, I assumed Evasive Action to be better purely because 50% to DR has been proven so powerful in the past (along with the 50% opposite from Target Analysis). Happy to be proven wrong, but yes as others have said.. pick both armour skills. The 50% maneuverability buff should not be discounted as that's pretty useful on its own, but it's more of an utility-class bonus, like Ordnance Expertise's projectile speed.
It's harder to quantify than a direct damage mitigation bonus and is a bit dependent upon what ship you're flying, but I would say that a maneuverability bonus is, or at least can be, a very powerful defensive bonus for most ships. Being able to turn more rapidly makes it easier to interpose a front shield or in some cases an omni shield between the ship and an incoming attack, bring the greatest possible number of PD weapons to bear against missiles or fighters, take a hit on relatively undamaged armor instead of in an area where the armor's almost completely gone, or even avoid an incoming shot completely just by rotating the ship without changing course or speed. It might be more useful for the player than for the player's officers and quantifying how much of an effect it has would be a lot more involved than putting a number to a direct damage mitigation bonus (especially as it's not necessarily equally beneficial to all ships or equally effective against all weapons), but that doesn't mean that it's not a powerful defensive bonus.
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FooF

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Re: [Guide] Officer Skill Builds
« Reply #35 on: November 12, 2018, 05:56:44 PM »

Always stoked to read more theorycraft. Yep, I assumed Evasive Action to be better purely because 50% to DR has been proven so powerful in the past (along with the 50% opposite from Target Analysis). Happy to be proven wrong, but yes as others have said.. pick both armour skills. The 50% maneuverability buff should not be discounted as that's pretty useful on its own, but it's more of an utility-class bonus, like Ordnance Expertise's projectile speed.

On shielded ships with Defensive Systems, it's a bit of a toss-up still if you also want to double-dip with armour skills. On a front-shielded Medusa or Aurora I'd pick EA in a heartbeat. On frigates and other agile ships that are not so front-locked it's probably IM. But generally for player-controlled ships I prefer to stick to one defensive type and getting more damage and offensive skills instead.

Helmsmanship 1 and EA 1 are must-haves no matter what build I'm playing. Maneuverability and acceleration are absolutely essential. Even if you don't go all the way to EA 3, 1 point is definitely worth it.
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TheWetFish

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Re: [Guide] Officer Skill Builds
« Reply #36 on: November 12, 2018, 06:01:27 PM »

Maybe the wiki is outdated.


Wiki CR page updated and it's due for an overhaul soon as well
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Nawyria

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Re: [Guide] Officer Skill Builds
« Reply #37 on: November 15, 2018, 12:35:23 PM »

In light of some of the discussion in this thread, I've updated the guide. Major rating changes include placing more importance on Shields via Defensive Systems and shifting priority from Evasive Maneuvers to Impact Mitigation for Armour-based ships. I've also split up the Battleship category into a low-tech (emphasizing Armour) and a high-tech (emphasizing Power Grid and Range) variant. Lastly, for each officer skill I've rated and colour-coded each separate level and I've added a numbers-based rating for a more fine-grained approach.
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