Engines

[Hotdogcrisis]

Do you install more powerful engines on top of the old ones and then throw the old ones in storage? You don't sell them or discard them?

[Strexxin]

I sell the old ones and replace with the new, why take up storage space unecessarily?

[Rithrin]

In the beginning of the game I was holding onto all my gear, but as I got to later stages in the game I realized that I never swapped back to any of my old stuff with a few exceptions. You will upgrade your boat and make more spaces available to place lights, engines, etc, so sometimes after an upgrade you might be able to slot an old piece. However, by that point you should also have unlocked much better items to equip.

And the things that I did swap back to were very cheap by that point in the game. The only things I'd recommend holding onto are unique pieces, and really only for collection purposes.

[Tantalus]

It depends on the number/configuration of my engine slots and which engines I have unlocked. Some combinations of lower-level engines will work out to be equal to some combinations of higher-level engines, so it's not always worth it to buy a better engine.

Here's an example: let's say your boat has a 3 wide by 2 tall space for engines. In that space, you could fit: 3 Improved Outboard Engines for a total speed of 47.4 kn, 2 Refined Outboard Engines for a total speed of 52.6 kn, or 1 Twin Prop Engine and 1 Improved Outboard Engine for a total speed of 52.6 kn (let's assume you don't have the other engines unlocked yet).

In the above case, if you already have two Refined Outboard Engines installed, there's no point in buying the Twin Prop Engine even though it's better - as you can see above, you'll top out at the same speed once your slots are full.

So which engines are best? The Engine Stack is the absolute best engine in the lineup - it gives the highest amount of speed per slots taken out of all engines (11.2 kn/slot). The Twin Jet Drive Engine comes in second (10.5 kn/slot), and the Jet Drive Engine is third (9.5 kn/slot). That means that as soon as you can, push to unlock the JDE: two of those are better than an Improved Outboard Engine, three of them are better than a Refined Outboard Engine, and four of them are barely better than a Twin Prop Engine.

Edit: one other thing worth mentioning: better engines do not give your boat better maneuverability, and time does tick while your boat is turning (even if it's sitting still). As a result, I'm not sure having the best possible engine setup is entirely worth it. It's absolutely awesome for the open water, but tight spaces become an issue. I've even run aground while undocking at Greater Marrow (unless I turn in place first) several times because my boat is too fast and can't turn quickly enough.

[BlackAura]

One other thing to consider is damage and your engines being taken offline. I know I wasted my research points early going for the Twin Prop Engine. In hindsight having Jet Engines I could just interchange as I upgraded would probably have been better.

Pros:
- Jet engines are the best per 1x1 space
- If damage takes a Jet engine offline, I assume it only takes the single engine offline.
- As you're upgrading and moving stuff around the Jet engines are the easiest to interchange into different patterns

Cons:
- Sure you're not getting the output you can get with the larger sized engines, but .... when you take damage those engines are just gone until you fix them. Jets you should only lose a smaller number (unless all your damage goes to the engine slots)