I might be dumb but
with Converted Fighter Bays Hull Mod doesn't the salvage stay the same even without the drones because it's a hull mod BUT with multiple bays don't I get a HUGE supplies maintenance discount?While not a major issue on the vanilla Drone Tenders with their 12 Crew Compliment and 45 capacity, low OP, and only one bay, I get a massive discount (-15% per bay) on the bigger hulls, turning them into the crew transports with salvage buffs that have almost zero cost of maintenance to top it off.
I think the Reaver is the biggest offender here since his "extra crew needed" is not a downside but an actual benefit.
When I put it on a Reaver I get 100 Cargo space and gain 88 crew space due to the 40% discount And with an S-mod I get -30% of the supply costs/day. I don't get the penalty for my Carrier Group and Fighter Uplink skills because of the extra bays as well so that's an additional benefit. Even if you slap Additional Berthing for that yet another extra 150 crew (since it has a decent capacity as it is) the daily price goes up only by a smidge, otherwise that 20 survey reduction from Survey Equipment looks fancy. I slapped Cargo Holds on top since it still has 400 capacity worth investing into.
(With Bulk Transport and Makeshift Equipment) This thing:
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Costs me (7.88/-7.12) Supplies with Berthing. Without it and let's say Survey Equipment or Sensors it's just permanent -0.2/day (5.25/-9.75) but I get 150 less crew capacity.- It requires 88 crew to maintain while having 600 capacity (450 without Additional Berthing).
- Has 1088 Cargo capacity with all the buffs due to innate 400.
For story point, I get 1/2 of an Atlas, a Salvager with extra benefits, and a Valkyrie troop transport in one ship. All for a price of less than 1 Supply per day and only one ship slot taken.
Not by much, but it seems a bit imbalanced.
I don't know if the Salvage Carrier has a lot of crew capacity and crew requirements, or if it has 4 bays like the sprite suggests but if it does, then Converted Fighter Bays provide me with an 80% discount on the crew, so it becomes a crew transport with all the salvagers benefits, but even if it's like a salvage rig it still can carry 200 extra stuff, AND with an S-mod that's -60% discount on the Supplies maintenance.
I think the Salvage Drones hull mod should be incompatible with the Converted Fighter Bays same way you cannot put Safety Overrides on a Monitor with a Flux Shunt, since that -15% discount per bay on an S-mod can get out of hand..., all that aside from the logic that a without salvage drones it still salvages as well as with them while having less crew.
The combo is just imbalanced on bigger hulls that have a lot of crew, that's the reason why the salvage rig doesn't have drones.
The downside is if you've picked Carrier Group and Fighter Uplink skills; a nomadic salvage fleet kind of makes sense to be carrier-focused with swarms of the tiny fighters yet both those skills suffer from extra bays unfortunately. thus Converted bays is my go-to.
But aside from those two skills the bays with useless drones are a benefit since they serve as a discount option and extra cargo and crew space!
The best way to do it would be to change the bays with Salvage Drones to not be counted by the game as Fighter Bays if it's possible.
The easiest and most fun solution; Remove the bays from the ships entirely and turn the Salvage drones from a fighter bay into an integrated/special weapon for the ship. Perhaps as a torpedo and add a lore description that in times of need the drones with their frontal cutting equipment, sturdy frame, and targeting systems serve as poor makeshift kinetic torpedos that can be sent to distract and target enemy ships' most vulnerable points? Turn them into a kinetic version of an even slower Salamander with more HP but kinetic half of the damage instead, perhaps even place them on top of the bays at the start of the game to see them neatly sitting and primed to be launched from them.
That's how I'd do it to balance it, counter the OP Converted Bays mod, and also be unique. They would serve no purpose but to saturate PD, distract smaller vessels chasing the salvagers, and crash on either shields or hopefully engines.
That's how a salvager and a junker would fight in space - throw his cheap replaceable junk toolbox and a bunch of scrap at the assailant hoping it distracts him or makes him trip, and then start running for your life.
