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Author Topic: Hull Mod Guide  (Read 10948 times)

Starareo

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Hull Mod Guide
« on: September 10, 2016, 02:18:25 PM »

I just started playing the game and have a pretty good handle on it right now, but something I keep getting stuck on is what hull mods to use and when. Is there a general guide for them somewhere or can someone just give a rundown of the best hull mods in general? Thanks.
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Dri

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Re: Hull Mod Guide
« Reply #1 on: September 10, 2016, 02:56:26 PM »

Everyone is going to swear up and down about Augmented Engines/Unstable Injector, Integrated Targeting Unit, Resistant Flux Conduits and some might say Hardened Subsystems is a must for certain ships as well. Everything else is mostly to taste based on what type of role you're trying to get a ship to fill.

Some hullmods I don't think anyone ever really uses are Solar Shielding, ECCM Package and Flux Coil Adjunct/Flux Distributor.
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Gothars

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Re: Hull Mod Guide
« Reply #2 on: September 10, 2016, 03:34:00 PM »

I just started playing the game and have a pretty good handle on it right now, but something I keep getting stuck on is what hull mods to use and when. Is there a general guide for them somewhere or can someone just give a rundown of the best hull mods in general? Thanks.

Hi, welcome to the forum :)


The thing about hullmod is that their very purpose is to modify a ship according to its potential and your needs, so its hard to give general advice. For example, if you want a ship that is great at staying alive it might need shield hullmods, or armor, or speed upgrades, depending on where its strenght was. If you want advice for a specific ship and role, that would be easier to give.

But yeah, some hullmods that are useful for many (but not all) builds are integrated targeting unit and augmented engines.
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Dri

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Re: Hull Mod Guide
« Reply #3 on: September 10, 2016, 04:18:55 PM »

I should add that you don't need hullmods to make a good ship design. Maxing out vents and/or capacitors and then spending the rest on high quality weapons can be totally fine.

Experiment, bro!
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Ghoti

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Re: Hull Mod Guide
« Reply #4 on: September 10, 2016, 04:25:28 PM »

Well I can give you one tip.

Stabilized shields can sometimes be a way better deal than more vents.

An example is the Sunderer Destroyer. It has a shield upkeep of 200 flux per second. The stabilized shield mod on destroyers costs 6 OP and cuts shield upkeep in half, so you reduce your flux generation by 100 for 6 OP.

A vent costs 1 OP for 10 flux per second, so stabilized shields on a ship like the Sunderer is a very good deal. A lot of ships have high shield upkeep, and Stabilized shields is a no brainer.
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Screamlord Scrub Seeker™

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Re: Hull Mod Guide
« Reply #5 on: September 10, 2016, 04:58:58 PM »

Some hullmods I don't think anyone ever really uses are Solar Shielding, ECCM Package and Flux Coil Adjunct/Flux Distributor.

  ??? i use ECCM package on all my missile ships
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TJJ

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Re: Hull Mod Guide
« Reply #6 on: September 10, 2016, 05:40:58 PM »

Player ship with heavy armour? Stack armour mods (Heavy Armour & Armoured Weapon Mounts), never use your shield, and watch entire fleets explode before your might.
Flux-efficient shield? Max capacitors, and if you've got the OP, make it even more efficient with hardened shields.
Long range weapons? Make them longer with ITU.
Running a beam ship? Tactical Beams with Advanced Optics, IPDAI and Advanced Turret Gyros.
Back-line transport? Insulated Engine Assembly. (no other mod [besides Aug Engines obv] gives you a meaningful advantage in the campaign layer).

Almost* every hull mod has a situational usage (except Flux Coil Adjunct  ;D)
Even Flux Distributor has a (very niche) use; combine it with Safety Overrides (& maximum vents) for when you absolutely positively *have* to fire 5 Plasma Cannons continuously!
« Last Edit: September 10, 2016, 05:50:31 PM by TJJ »
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TJJ

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Re: Hull Mod Guide
« Reply #7 on: September 10, 2016, 05:47:31 PM »

  ??? i use ECCM package on all my missile ships

Yeah, I've found it to be just enough to make Pilum speed faster than the AI can handle. (obviously when also combined with Missile Specialisation 10)

Still not sure the effect justifies the 20 OP it costs my Onslaught.... but the design had 17 'spare' OP anyway, so I was only sacrificing 3 vents.
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Harmful Mechanic

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Re: Hull Mod Guide
« Reply #8 on: September 10, 2016, 06:19:23 PM »

It's better to maximize a strength than to shore up a weakness. Don't put Hardened Shields on a design that relies on armor, or ECCM on a ship with few missile slots. But Hardened Shields on an Aurora, or ECCM on a Gryphon? Yeah boy.
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Bastion.Systems

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Re: Hull Mod Guide
« Reply #9 on: September 11, 2016, 06:16:31 AM »

Extended magazines can double your damage output with weapons balanced by low magazine size (autopulse laser + needlers, hint hint)
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borgrel

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Re: Hull Mod Guide
« Reply #10 on: September 11, 2016, 06:26:14 AM »

expanded magazines increases magazine size by 50% not 100%!!!!!

and needlers dont have magazine size!
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Megas

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Re: Hull Mod Guide
« Reply #11 on: September 11, 2016, 07:20:00 AM »

Hullmods I consider mandatory for at least the vast majority of, if not all, ships...
I consider Augmented Engines mandatory on every ship with enough OP to use it, except Hyperion (because it teleports) in a fleet with bigger ships to slow burn down.  Combat and burn speed bonus are vital.  Unstable Engines is a very useful substitute when Augmented Engines is not available.

Nearly every ship built to fight should have Integrated Targeting Unit (or Dedicated Targeting Core if you do not have ITU).  You will want it to outrange the enemy.  AI will try to kite from further away if it can.  Possible exceptions:  1) Carriers that can mount Heavy Mauler and/or HVD; they have few enough OP that they may not be able to afford everything they need.  2) Missile boats with no assault ballistic or energy weapons.


Other useful hullmods...
Resistant Flux Conduits is very useful.  If you have maxed vents, this is a cheap way to speed up venting more.  It also reduces EMP damage taken.  Combined with Damage Control perks, the ship becomes mostly immune to EMP.

Stabilized Shields is another flux use discount option when vents are maxed.

If your ship relies on Tactical Lasers for PD, then Integrated Point Defense AI and Advanced Turret Gyros are a must.  Tactical Lasers are not PD capable by default, so need IPDAI to enable PD for Tac Lasers.  However, Tac Lasers turn a bit too slowly to track, which Advanced Turret Gyros fix.  IPDAI is also handy for some ships (with Ordnance Expert 5 and sufficiently high Gunnery Implants) that want to use IR Pulse Lasers or Railguns as hybrid assault/PD.

Accelerated Shields is useful for Paragon or other capitals with omni shields.  Omni shields for capitals deploy very slowly.  It is also useful for Hyperion, which will make shields appear almost instantly, very handy after teleporting.

Extended Shields is handy to give ships with 300 frontal shields full 360 shields, such as Hyperion, Hammerhead, and (maybe) Sunder.  Also useful for Tempest, whose 90 degree omni shield is not quite big enough to cover the Tempest sufficiently.

Front Shield Emitter is a great way to provide 360 shields to a ship with 180+ omni shields, such as Centurion and Scarab.

Advanced Optics is useful for extending range of PD Laser or Phase Lance.  Phase Lance with Advanced Optics is the only medium assault energy weapon with more than 600 range.  Combine that with light needlers or other long range kinetics and you have a solid attack combo.

If you want your Hound or Cerberus to fight in battle (instead of being merely a faster freighter), then Front Shield Generator is a must.  Without it, small shieldless ships are not viable in combat due to long-range beams and missiles.  Unfortunately, this is not enough to fix Hound and Cerberus, it needs better flux stats and other stuff, and you will need to grab every last source of OP to make them work, which means endgame build.

Hardened Subsystems is very useful for frigates or any ship built to solo fleets.  If you attempt to solo fleets with any ship, it is practically mandatory, even for capitals.  However, if your ship cannot afford everything, Hardened Subsystems is often one of the first things I cut.  Hardened Subsystems is less useful if you usually deploy everything in fights.  However, frigates will want it for endgame fights.  Two or three minutes is not enough time for endgame fights.

Since the switch to mostly unlimited ammo in recent versions, Expanded Magazines has practically become an Onslaught hullmod.  If your Onslaught dedicates most of its mounts to PD, then it will need firepower from the rest of its mounts.  Mjolnirs and a few Maulers alone may not be enough, but they are when backed by dual TPCs.  Onslaught that relies on TPCs for firepower will really want Expanded Magazines for those times when an extended burst is necessary.  Aside from Onslaught, Expanded Magazines is also useful for the relatively few ships that rely on multiple AM Blasters or Autopulse Lasers for damage.

Expanded Missile Racks can be handy for ships that rely on limited missiles for assault.  For example, Onslaught with four Annihilator Pods.  0.7.1 era Aurora loved this for Cyclone Reaper (which it cannot equip today).

Automated Repair Unit is a luxury, but very convenient.  When combined with Damage Control 10 perks, disabled engines/weapons repair so quickly that it no longer matters.  It also recovers CR more quickly out of combat, which is convenient, provided you can handle accelerated supply drain.

Quote
It's better to maximize a strength than to shore up a weakness. Don't put Hardened Shields on a design that relies on armor, or ECCM on a ship with few missile slots. But Hardened Shields on an Aurora, or ECCM on a Gryphon? Yeah boy.
Actually, putting Hardened Shields are armor reliant ships can be useful too, especially if you use one in a simulator-sized battle when you cannot afford to take unnecessary hits because of the sheer number of enemies.  Dominator and Onslaught can actually shield-tank somewhat decently (but still not great) with Hardened Shields.  Also few ships have both terrible armor and shields, namely Sunder and Conquest, and if you can squeeze Hardened Shields in there, it can make shield use less painful.

Of course, putting Hardened Shields are ships with already excellent shields, such as Paragon or Apogee, make them even better shield-tanking fiends.


As for hullmods to avoid at all costs...
Omni Shield Emitter is extremely expensive and cuts shield arc by half, making it almost useless.  Extended Shields gets applied before Omni Shield Emitter, which means you only get 30 more degrees from Extended Shields.  After all of that, you have much less OP to use.  Theoretically, it could be useful for Falcon and Eagle, with their 270 frontal shields, but they do not have much OP to spare for luxuries in the first place.

Flux Adjunct and Flux Distributor are extremely expensive, and by the time you unlock them, you can soon, if not already, access the perks that effectively duplicate their purpose, and you will not have enough OP to get double capacitors and/or double vents PLUS either of these two hullmods.  These hullmods might be useful if they were basics like Unstable Injector or Dedicated Targeting Core, but as they are, they are too little, too late.


Finally, Safety Override...
Safety Override radically changes the way a ship plays.  It gains speed and dissipation at the severe cost of shot range of non-missiles and peak performance and loss of venting.  This is not something to just slap on a ship and call it a day, you must configure your ship around this one hullmod.  A ship with Safety Override cannot kite at all.  It must get in the enemy's face and pound away until it (or you) dies.  Ships that can use machine guns use this hullmod best.  Safety Override is most useful during the early-game when your flux stats are terrible and during pursuit so you can run down fleeing ships more easily.
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Serenitis

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Re: Hull Mod Guide
« Reply #12 on: September 11, 2016, 07:32:03 AM »

Hull mods really need adding to the codex. (Eventually.)
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Megas

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Re: Hull Mod Guide
« Reply #13 on: September 11, 2016, 08:11:58 AM »

I should add the caveat that max vents, quality weapons, and (for ships with terrible flux capacity) a modicum of capacitors are very important too.  If OP is limited (like during early-game), you might be able to afford one, maybe two, hullmods.  Just get the basics covered.
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borgrel

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Re: Hull Mod Guide
« Reply #14 on: September 11, 2016, 08:40:57 AM »

Yes, hullmods DEFINATELY need a codex .....

Saving and buying a ship (and reloading) just so u can read a built in hullmod that uve never seen before so you can decide IF you want to buy the ship is a bit rediculous

As for hullmods to avoid at all costs...
Omni Shield Emitter is extremely expensive and cuts shield arc by half, making it almost useless.  Extended Shields gets applied before Omni Shield Emitter, which means you only get 30 more degrees from Extended Shields.  After all of that, you have much less OP to use.  Theoretically, it could be useful for Falcon and Eagle, with their 270 frontal shields, but they do not have much OP to spare for luxuries in the first place.

Megas ..... i think omni shield has changed since your last attempt at using it
Omnishield doesnt halve shield arc (anymore - i guess) its very useful on ships like nevermore (with its insanely vulnerable engines)
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