Does upgrading pilots from A to S class really worth it?

[Heavyarms]

Just wondering what would benefit me more, upgrade an pilot from a to s class or start upgrading the royal multi-tool from C to S?

[amosdway]

the squadron pilots do nothing.. the amount of damage is pointless.. they are just eye candy
but if you want and "All S Class" save.. that's about the only reason to upgrade them

[Wile E Coyote, Super Genius]

Nah I have a C class and 3 S class pilots on all S class ships. Don't see the difference. They're equally unqualified.

[MechWarden]

Far as I can tell, other ships make for extra targets for enemies to shoot at. That said the one time I had a squad, in an Expedition, it felt like they were more in the way than helpful. Other helpful ships (squad or otherwise) do help at keeping the other guy's shields down or from recharging. Like anything else in the game, NPC vs NPC ship damage is mostly for show. You're 'the hero' of the fight, and nothing happens unless you do something; which is nice in a way, but is immersion breaking when you realize it.

Then again the Atlas is doing this all for you! So given that it makes a bit of sense, albeit kind of awkward.

[taniwhat]

You can get into SERIOUS fights in some situations, not only say fighting off ships attacking a freighter but with elite pirates piling in as well.

If/when that happens the squadron make very welcome meat shields because they soak a lot of fire you'd otherwise be taking.

I suspect most players avoid those situations but that one has happened to me a few times now and it is a life or death difference.

[Mr. Bufferlow]

What else are you going to use all that stash for? To a certain extent they feel like another minor cash vacuum to help reduce your every expanding wealth.

My experience is that having the full load of S class squad mates seems to have an effect of my ship's damage potential for the good and they do keep the NPCs busy until you can get to them.

They rarely get in the way but it appears shooting them by accident does not change anything. (At least in the current iteration)

I wish it was easier to get the exact squad you want with less game finessing. The easy answer for me was to use the Save Game Editor. I know there are some tricks to do that ingame, but it becomes annoying. Being able to create your own specific squad seems like it should be a feature. I would even like to name the pilots and the ships.

[Liralen]

After the combat update, I generally avoid combat if possible, but some missions require it. My main save doesn't need to do combat anymore, but I like playing Expeditions.

With respect to squadrons, I only choose to recruit only A or S class fighters, exotics, or solar (regardless of size of the ship, and easy to find in high wealth space stations).

Pilots who are rated S class are pretty easy to find on those types of ships, whose AI seem to be better.

Hiring them cost you nothing but time.

S Class pilots seem to make it easier to defeat enemy ships, although it might also because I'm getting better at learning the changes to combat, which are new to me.

However, I would never bother with upgrading pilot Classes.

[Phidyx]

Originally posted by Heavyarms:

Just wondering what would benefit me more, upgrade an pilot from a to s class or start upgrading the royal multi-tool from C to S?

Hi,

If you have already four pilots, remove the worst one to keep only three pilots to have one slot empty.

Speak to every pilot you encounter in space stations and when you find one S class, look at if the pilot is good enough for you and if so, engage him.

Then delete a C class pilot to have again an empty slot and find another pilot already S class. Like this you can have four S class pilots directly without needed to "upgrade" them :)

For your multitool you can find on youtube video showing you where to find a S class one, but better to upgrade your multitool than the pilots I think.

[Phidyx]

Originally posted by Liralen:

After the combat update, I generally avoid combat if possible, but some missions require it. My main save doesn't need to do combat anymore, but I like playing Expeditions.

With respect to squadrons, I only choose to recruit only A or S class fighters, exotics, or solar (regardless of size of the ship, and easy to find in high wealth space stations).

Pilots who are rated S class are pretty easy to find on those types of ships, whose AI seem to be better.

Hiring them cost you nothing but time.

S Class pilots seem to make it easier to defeat enemy ships, although it might also because I'm getting better at learning the changes to combat, which are new to me.

However, I would never bother with upgrading pilot Classes.

Hi,

I went far enough to kill every ennemies in space and defeat their mothership but the problem in NMS is the fact they come again and again and again until it becomes annoying. So if i want to avoid them, I summon The Nexus or my motthership, and enter inside, which stops the endless ennemies arriving in loop.

[Mr. Bufferlow]

In my experience, the class of the ship has nothing to do with the class of the squad member. The only way to increase that function is to upgrade the squad in the freighter.

You can get S class ships, but if your squad person is C class, not sure it helps that much. You get some benefit from the existing stats for the S class ship, but if the pilot is not very trained....

[Liralen]

Originally posted by Phidyx:

Originally posted by Liralen:

After the combat update, I generally avoid combat if possible, but some missions require it. My main save doesn't need to do combat anymore, but I like playing Expeditions.

With respect to squadrons, I only choose to recruit only A or S class fighters, exotics, or solar (regardless of size of the ship, and easy to find in high wealth space stations).

Pilots who are rated S class are pretty easy to find on those types of ships, whose AI seem to be better.

Hiring them cost you nothing but time.

S Class pilots seem to make it easier to defeat enemy ships, although it might also because I'm getting better at learning the changes to combat, which are new to me.

However, I would never bother with upgrading pilot Classes.

Hi,

I went far enough to kill every ennemies in space and defeat their mothership but the problem in NMS is the fact they come again and again and again until it becomes annoying. So if i want to avoid them, I summon The Nexus or my motthership, and enter inside, which stops the endless ennemies arriving in loop.

Oh, yeah. I do that too. I also very rarely bother to fight pirate ships at all, since I can usually outrun them. I only bother when a mission requires it. If I've received a reward from killing them, it wasn't enough that I even noticed it.

Other than the freighter you can get for free after rescuing it.

[Ryvaken Tadrya]

Originally posted by Mr. Bufferlow:

In my experience, the class of the ship has nothing to do with the class of the squad member. The only way to increase that function is to upgrade the squad in the freighter.

You can get S class ships, but if your squad person is C class, not sure it helps that much. You get some benefit from the existing stats for the S class ship, but if the pilot is not very trained....

Notably the save file contains no information about the ship's installed equipment or class, only the type and seed to get the appearance correct.

[Liralen]

Originally posted by Mr. Bufferlow:

In my experience, the class of the ship has nothing to do with the class of the squad member. The only way to increase that function is to upgrade the squad in the freighter.

You can get S class ships, but if your squad person is C class, not sure it helps that much. You get some benefit from the existing stats for the S class ship, but if the pilot is not very trained....

I have to ask, why are you hiring C class pilots to begin with? It's pretty much a time balanced equation. You either spend the time upfront to hire S class pilots, or spend time on the back end to upgrade them.

Edited Note: of course, that's all a matter of personal preference, and I'm not trying to be critical. Just curious about your reasons.

[iaf.nga]

might consider hiring one if they stop blocking my line of fire 30 times per minute

[Heavyarms]

Liralen, I hired and have three A class pilots (one of them is in a S class ship). I just unlocked my fourth slot and will try to find a S class pilot for that. I was asking is it worth upgrading my A class pilots to S class or spend the nanites on upgrading a C class multi-tool (which is the new Royal multi-tool that only comes in a C class) to S Class.

[Liralen]

Originally posted by Heavyarms:

Liralen, I hired and have three A class pilots (one of them is in a S class ship). I just unlocked my fourth slot and will try to find a S class pilot for that. I was asking is it worth upgrading my A class pilots to S class or spend the nanites on upgrading a C class multi-tool (which is the new Royal multi-tool that only comes in a C class) to S Class.

Doh, my fault for not reading. Thank you for your very kind clarification.

I've never seen a Royal multi-tool, so of course, I don't know. But in general, I place a lot more importance on my multi-tool than I do my squadron, by far, if only to increase its maximum number of slots, so I have enough slots to buff it out.

But I'm a builder type, not a combat type. But I can say that even I can survive air combat with A Class pilots in my squadron, as well as land based combat with a basic A Class 24-slot rifle just fine.

So I suspect it doesn't matter either way.