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« on: May 22, 2023, 11:59:37 AM »
I sometimes take elite helmsmanship purely for the small top speed increase on my flagship because it's just one story point for the player, but I think the zero flux speed bonus aspect is not a very good, and I think this elite skill is almost never worth the opportunity cost on an officer.
Personally, I almost never use elite damage control or combat endurance because I always pilot fast high tech ships where taking hull damage can and should be avoided, but I think it's fine as a more niche option for high hull/armor ships. I feel like there are usually better options for limited AI elite skills as well, unless I have gone for cybernetic augmentation, which I think is way too much of a story point sink to be worthwhile 90% of the time.
I think elite impact mitigation is in a great spot because it fits perfectly with the sorts of ships that want the skill, but isn't so strong as to be an auto-pick.
For elite field modulation, I feel like the hard flux aspect is pretty bad. AFAIK it only kicks in if you have no soft flux built up, but if you are even modestly overfluxed, that will not happen until you are out of combat, at which point you can just drop shields or vent (and you can often drop shields in combat if you have good armor). Same issues as elite helmsmanship IMO. Maybe it is ok with fortress shield, and slightly better for the AI that is not always optimal about dropping shields, but I have a hard time imagining how it is really worth the opportunity cost of elite skill on a non-phase officer. The phase aspect is good but fairly niche. I guess it being a niche phase elite skill is fine overall, but I wish the hard flux aspect was more meaningful (and also for the s-mod that gives that). If it gave a small amount of hard flux dissipation on top of base dissipation at all times (like 5% or something), that would be way better, maybe too good though.
I feel like the PD skill in general is in a weird place. I only really take it if I want the elite effect, but now that I need to s-mod IPDAI to get the combo, the skill feels very niche in general, although the elite aspect is pretty good.
Elite target analysis is fine for the player, although not usually my first pick for limited officer elite skills. Overall boring but not bad.
In terms of elite ballistic mastery, I actually found it VERY noticeable when playing against it in a fast high tech ship. It makes it much much harder to dodge shots and generally terrorizes small fast ships and fighters. Still not necessarily a top priority for me though, but something I would take for the player or on an AI core somewhat frequently.
Elite system expertise definitely feels random and not really a first choice for any ship IMO. I've only every picked it for a bit of extra PPT on frigates if I have nothing better to take.
Elite missile spec is very good, maybe too good given how prominent missiles spam is becoming.
I think elite gunnery implants is a bit underpowered for the player but not fundamentally bad, because the player tends to have to go for bigger ships due to limited officers. However, I have used it to decent effect before. If you are doing officered frigate stuff with wolfpack tactics, it can be good, and I think the best use case is if you spam cheap gamma AI frigates (I usually do this alongside a beta radiant). In that case you can pretty easily dominate EW from just elite gunnery implants, and in combo with the EW skill, you can compete with remnant fleets EW. Elite gunnery implants is also frequently where enemies are getting a lot of their EW from, so changing that would substantially alter EW balance in general, making it trickier to balance.
I think elite energy weapon mastery is very good, and I almost always take it if I have the skill. EWM in general is quite good on fast brawler high tech ships, but less so with large energy weapons. I wish the range restriction was relaxed a little, but that is another topic.
Elite ordinance expertise is solid IMO, although a bit boring. I think it's especially valuable for shield reliant ships that don't have the hull/armor to survive otherwise.
Elite polarized armor is one I value less, because I tend to pilot fast high tech ships that can easily and safely vent (and have high base dissipation), but I can see how it would be more valuable for other ships.
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