Distraction buoys or scrap recovery arm?

[EmeraldMegalith]

Both of these augmentations allow the player to amass more resources through the course of the game, and they cost about the same (50 for the arm and 55 for buoy). Recovery arms boost the scrap gain directly, while the 1 jump delay given by distraction buoys roughly translates into one extra encounter per sector. What I want to get some public opinion on is when you have to choose between the two, which one would it be? I can see advantages for both augments, for instance:

Arm
-Scrap is awarded in almost all instances, so the 10% increase is always applicable
-The effects of multiple scrap recovery arms stack
-The arm comes into effect the moment it is installed, whereas the buoy needs to wait until the next sector to kick in
-Scrap recovery arm has a blue option to mine asteroids
-The scrap bonus applies to encounters in sector 8, where the buoy becomes completely useless

Buoy
-The extra encounter given by buoys can yield other rewards in addition to scrap (missile, fuel, drone parts, etc)
-Delaying the rebels by 1 jump can mean the difference between being able to complete a quest and having to leave it unfinished
-Buoys can be sold after the player reaches sector 7 without losing any benefits (i.e. they don't need to be kept until the end)
-In sectors with bad beacon layout, 1 extra beacon visited is more than a 10% increase in exploration

What do you think?

[Skinny Pete]

Scrap recovery arm. It's just more reliable.

I'd at least consider getting either of them, though.

[FDru]

Bouys are more valuable if you can get them early in the game (sectors 1-3). You will want to make sure you sell them in sector 7 though. It's probably not worth getting them anytime after sector 5 if you want to make sure you break even.

Scrap recovery arm is useful even if you find it in sector 7, though you might need to actively try to fight more in sector 8 since you would need to get 500 scrap to break even if you aren't going to sell it. Otherwise it's a good buy anytime.

[shelwyn]

Scrap Recovery Arm

"Allows the ship to collect 10 percent more scrap from any source."

It rounds down, and extra arms stack additively (before rounding).
If you had the arm and got 19 scrap, you would get 1 extra scrap because 1.9 isn't a full two. If you had 2 arms, and get 15 scrap, you would get 3 extra scrap.
Provides a blue event option which involves mining an asteroid field.
Cost: 50 scrap


The blue option for this item can come as early as sector 1 and can easily net 30 scrap (the reward range is 18-41 scrap pre-bonus). Since it is quite easy to collect hundreds of scrap in sector 7 alone, this is often still profitable if purchased as late as sector 6.
For the scrap arm to pay for itself, you would have to collect 250 scrap with remainder rounded down before the bonus or 275 after, or in other words, you would have to get enough scrap for the scrap bonus to be equal to the sale price minus the sell price. (500 and 550 if you fail to sell it before the end of the game) This assessment, of course, does not account for the blue option you gain for having the scrap recovery arm.


Distraction Buoys

"Leaves a false signal at sector start to delay Rebels 1 jump."

Not stackable.
Only works at the beginning of a sector, so it's never useful right away.
Cost: 55 scrap
Advanced Edition only.

[mode: walk the plank]

Mathematically speaking, they are both of somewhat equal value, if you say "x = average amount of scrap gained from an event" then scrap recovery arm would increase that to 1.1x. If for example, you say that you get x about 6~7 times per sector, then that's about 6.6x~7.7x normal scrap gain with scrap recovery arm. Butt, distraction buoys may give you another chance to get scrap, increasing that chance to about 8~9 times per sector but you get 7x~8x scrap instead. Also not to mention that not every new beacon you jump to will give scrap in the end and that the extra jump you get can give you resources other than scrap. So then it comes down to which sector you have this dilemma. Surely you wouldn't pay 55 scrap to get 1-2 jumps if this was sector 5/6 (depends on difficulty as well) but anymore than 3 can be debatable

[7656119806636060331204519]

Buoy's are one of the worst ever, and scrap arm is one of the best if not the best

[slappy_d0]

Scrap arm by far. Don't forget you can sell it for 25 scrap so you really only need to grab 250 extra to break even which is really easy in the second half of the game, plus there are related blue options for it.

To be clear, the alternative is not bad, but it is less of a known quantity. You can count on the arm to give scrap.

[DarkTwinge]

Scrap Recovery Arm only nets you 7.5% extra scrap in practice because of how it rounds, not 10%. It has the benefit of doing something in Sector 8 and working immediately once acquired instead of only at the beginning of the next sector. They also have a fairly solid and reasonably common blue option.

Distraction Buoys net you one additional jump per sector which is approximately 8.8% additional scrap. It only starts working the sector after you buy it and does nothing in Sector 8. Depending on the sector layout it's possible for the extra hop to be meaningless as well, though this is uncommon. The hop can also potentially help you hunt down especially desirable events, such as Zoltan Peace Envoy or Rebel Flagship Construction. The extra hop will also cost you 1 fuel.

They are quite comparable overall and largely do very similar things. I wouldn't generally recommend buying either on Hard because 50 scrap now is way more important than 70 scrap later, but either is usually worth keeping if you find one. Buying them on Normal would often be advisable.

[Paradox]

Both are worth it. Buoys are not as obvious an advantage, but exploration almost always yields more than scrap.

[CachoTognax]

yeah an added sector may mean finding a weapon pre igniter floating in space(yup happened to me), but usualy rgn is not with you, a reabile source of advantage is a blessing, it basicaly sets the game difficulty one step lower as far as reawrds go, and an extra jump could mean death by a ship witch counters all your defences!

[anarcher]

Nice necro, flakkers. Next time check the last post time and if it's more than two months, don't bump the thread.

[FDru]

Originally posted by anarcher:

Nice necro, flakkers. Next time check the last post time and if it's more than two months, don't bump the thread.

If the information is still relevant then what's the problem?

[Ruinae Retroque Rursus]

Originally posted by FDru:

Originally posted by anarcher:

Nice necro, flakkers. Next time check the last post time and if it's more than two months, don't bump the thread.

If the information is still relevant then what's the problem?

Eh, sometimes it's just better to let sleeping automated scouts with Breach Missiles lie.