Suggestions on building a ship.

[MaceX]

I am looking on some suggestion on ship and their load outs. I am kind of looking at all around useful. I am looking at a ship with the 42 crew so that I can cover most events and reduce rep loss. I feel like I am at a point where I am going to want to do more combat than escape. I don't do a whole lot of trading outside of the refueling and final destination trade. Right now, I have really only been attacking non faction ships. Atleast in my current state, I find myself taking out the enemy fastest most often through boarding attacks than fire fights. Although I am doing both.

So I am looking on some ship choices and their load outs. I am good with all factions. So I should be able to get any faction specific components or ships.

[Füchsingeist]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2362584284

Here you go, that's my old captain. Medium torpedo bay will be switched to plague ward. If you don't need much cargo, switch one L hold to a fuel tank, or to large barracks (default L, iirc). In latter case you'll get 2 M components - for prison wards/lux cabins/orbital ops/fuel reclaimation or tanks. 1 S passenger cabin can be easily switched to a defensive module then.

EDIT: weapon choice is for mid-close range combat plus AA.

[JimmysTheBestCop]

The Broadsword is often over looked so here is a build using that ship I just whipped up from a captain. I kind of ran out money so it's not even fully upgraded. All of the large slots (enginesm, warp, cargo) could use an upgrade and the mass reducers could be switched around as well.

But you will destroy enemies from 5 and 4 range really quickly. Especially if you have an talents on board that can boost damage and critical

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2362632886


edit
sorry i launched the game in full screen that is why the pic is really wide my native is 5120x1440

[Gilmoy]

7/42 ships are a fun tier. Basically, all of them are good, can stomp terrox xeno ships at the hardest level, and have enough slots to give you cargo capacity, peoplemoving, and mission specialists. Their "slow" speed of 9/9 or 15/10 is a minor downside, but you compensate by fearing no enemy ship and strolling wherever you like. I usually have 20+ missions stacked up, waiting while I salvage

I've had success with Sword BC, Cautela Titan, Broadsword Class, and Warhammer Class. They're almost interchangeable. You can build them all using the same principles:

0. Plan to rip out and replace ~30 components (per ship). You can do it over 3-5 sessions. Make your plan up-front.

0.A) Copy down, on paper or in an editor (or spreadsheet), all 30-34 components, 1 per line, double-spaced.
0.B) For each component, immediately write down your planned Ultimate Upgrade for that component. All upgrades are strictly 1-for-1, so you might as well follow that from the start. You can include faction-specific components from multiple different factions in your wishlist.
0.C) Now sort your list into priority order, based on (a) your budget, (b) how soon you want to fly, and (c) your local zone's faction. All faction-specific components not locally available naturally sort to the bottom of your list, grouped together by faction, and then probably in descending order of cost. Later, you'll use Transfer Ship to move your ship to their drydock, and batch all of 1 faction's upgrades in 1 stop.

During this planning, you can rotate your ship components. New 7/42 ships always put Barracks in (L) and officers in (S), which is the worst-possible design. Overwrite those and put them where they belong. (On the plus side, AI ships of these sizes will retain this worst-possible layout, so already your ship is more efficient.)

1. For ship-fighting with a boarding emphasis, it suffices to have 2-4 guns, covering some overlapping weapon ranges. You do want a gun at range 2 or 1, so that you can keep dinging the enemy ship while you board repeatedly. You can rely on Navigator T15 Flash Charge to always start at range 4, and omit any range-5 torpedoes.

Generally, pick your engine first. All of them are good. Pick one you haven't played yet :)
+ Traveler gets you the best map speed (of 15 at mass 9000). It puts you in the default -4 RP range change tier, so you may want to go for the -4 RP monster guns.
+ Chaser has a very nice -3 RP range change, which dovetails easily with weapon mixes that cost 2-3-2, so that you can fire two weapons for -5 RP.
+ Dual-Field is better than a free Adv. Mass Dampener 4, which means +1 (M) component to be anything at all. You get the slowest possible 9/9 speed/agility, but it's not terrible.

2. If you want to fly ASAP, your launch-critical components are: crew/officers, passengers/prisoners. Sort those upgrades to the top of your list, and do them first.

3. The usual method is to queue all upgrades, go on another mission-tour, and come back in 1 year. If this is your 1st 7/42 ship, you may need to repeat this 1-3 more times to earn the money for all of the upgrades.

Generally, (L) are for cargo and peoplecargo. If you don't have enough (L) slots (esp. Sword and Titan), you may need to downgrade passengers or prisoners to (M).

(M) are for officers. Consider a mix of Combat Medical Clinics (CMC) and the new Annexes, plus maybe 1 Armored/Shielded Officer Suites. CMCs are good for Medical rating, which has 4 benefits:

+ standard dice for in-flight Doctor skill tests
+ Treat Wounded and Medical Ward blanket-cover the entire crew
+ Treat Wounded, Medical Ward, Life Saver et al., and ordinary death saves all restore nearly maximum HP
+ enables Generous in Service

(S) are for defense, and some offense. Write in enough DPMs (Javat) and C-Taks (Zenrin) to be competitive. Your target numbers (in Combat Log during a ship fight) are high-100s in your Defense die rolls. That will consistently beat humans, and compete vs. terrox.

(S) offense isn't critical if you don't mind boarding 6-8 times per fight, but you can squeeze in 1-3 (S) components on any of ISM 4 (Cadar), Railtrak (Steel Song), Targeting (Moklumnue), or similar.

Almost any weapon mix will work, if you're never getting hit. Fit your weapons to your range change RP cost, cover all ranges 1-4 (and 5 if you wish), and then you can rely on crippling the enemy ship with debuffs, while you sit at range 1 and do whatever you like.

4. Your crew are orthogonal to the ship-building process, but they're a huge part of your overall ship-fighting strength. Briefly, trim down your ship crew to barely cover your skill pools (to 200%, to max out your in-flight skill tests), and stuff the extra berths with +Command guys. A 7/42 can have about:

15 ship crew (Crew Dog, E-Tech, Gunner, Engineer/Mechanic, Navigator, Pilot/Pirate)
10 mission specialists (Bounty Hunter, Explorer, Smuggler, Spy, etc.)
15 Command crew
02 bunks empty, to double-conscript

That's a viable mix. The 15 +Command crew at L20+ add +200 Command, which is +40.0 to your Defense die rolls, which vaults your ship hull from mid-40s to low-90s. Stack +Defense% from DPMs and talents, and that's how we get to the mid-140s to beat terrox. The simplest way to get the +Command crew is from an FDF Commander Contact, but any Contact who randomly rolls the Decorated Vet trait will also hire them out.

~~~~~~~~

I don't post specific ships, because I tend to think generically. Following this method, my design choices look thus (and anybody could reproduce them):

1. Gee, I've never seen the 9000 Chaser/Traveler/Dual-Field engine in action.
So my first three 7/42s have 1 of each I conclude: They all kick ass, in different ways.

2a) Grand Lux Suites (De Valtos), Fuel-Cargo Hold (De Valtos), Hauler Hold (Javat)
2b) Interrogation Ward (Steel Song), but most of my 7/42s drop prisoners down to (M)

The Grand Lux may start out life (in the same turn you buy the ship) as a Salvage Bay 2 or 3, until you can scamper to a De Valtos shipyard.

3) Combat Medical Clinics, and gee, I've never seen a Navigation Annex before, etc.
4) Tier-7 (or 6) weapons. It shall fit my range change RP cost, then have high cripple%, then be the biggest weapon available.

For your first 7/42, if money is tight, you can live with dirt-cheap tier-4 weapons for 1-3 mission tours. They're perfectly viable, as long as your defense + crew are solid. Tier-7s are a luxury, and sort to the bottom of your list. Later, when you have $13M saved up and nothing to spend it on, you can sort them to the top of your 3rd ship's design, and do them in the same turn you buy it.

5) Fuel capacity. 9000 engines guzzle fuel at -4 or -5 per AU, but you tend not to notice that. Get 250-300+ fuel capacity, and you can fly 50-60 AU or double-jump (not both :), which is similar to any small ship. You do pay a couple $k per refueling, but a big fing ship earns big fing income, so you'll come out way ahead. Early on, you may need Fuel Tanks or (S) Reinforced Fuel Pod (Alta Mesa). Later, your upgraded cargo holds suffice.

6) Defense usually comes last. I always plan 6-8 total of DPM 4 + C-Tak IV, but they take 1 full mission-tour-stop each at a Javat and a Zenrin. If you're eager to fly, do your launch-critical components first, in about 10.0 weeks, then fly with your ship 3/4 not done yet, with 10 tier-1 weapons + 6 Officer Cabins not yet overwritten, and play as a Skip mouse for 1-3 years. The ship can earn its own upgrades.

7) Mission components. I always include 1-3, because I don't need more guns. Pick whatever looks fun, or to fit a Challenge's theme.

~~~~ Explore ship (2020 November Challenge) ~~~~
(M) Resource Processor (Javat)
~~~~ intel ship ~~~~
(M) Depth Scanner Omega-X (Rychart)
(M) Multi-Signal Array (Rychart), Quad-Goltha Scanner (De Valtos) if you spawn that vignette
~~~~ salvage ship ~~~~
(various)

~~~~~~~~
Ironically, this process leads you to a final ship design very much like the ones mentioned above. They might have too many guns at range 3 and win by hull rupture, which does not appeal to those of us who board for loot. But the rest of the ship will look similar, for the same reasons.

I don't cover carriers, so I omit the Obsidian Carrier, and all small craft.

[MaceX]

I have been trying to understand all of that, but think I got something that holds. Not sure all what you call Command Crew. I just hit the new era. Any ship builds that hold vs Jyeeta? I see plenty of post on crew combat suggestion but not much in the way of ship combat. I find myself either over run by boarding crew or my ship getting destroyed before I can even get close enough to board them.

[-Moonlight丶301]

Originally posted by MaceX:

I have been trying to understand all of that, but think I got something that holds. Not sure all what you call Command Crew. I just hit the new era. Any ship builds that hold vs Jyeeta? I see plenty of post on crew combat suggestion but not much in the way of ship combat. I find myself either over run by boarding crew or my ship getting destroyed before I can even get close enough to board them.

Ships vs Jeeyta atleats have 11 smal slots, 5k mass.

1, total command skill around 150-200
2, buy 4,5 defense matrix 4 ( javat special )
3, buy 2,3 something can dodge small craft
4, recommend fight at range 3,4

[Gilmoy]

Originally posted by MaceX:

1. Not sure all what you call Command Crew.
2. ... not much in the way of ship combat.

Your #1 is correlated with your #2

+Command crew are guys whose primary skill is Command.
That means Military Officers (from FDF Commander, or any Contact with the right trait)
and Commanders (from Starport Commander, or Era IV Coalition Commander).

[MaceX]

Are fighters or boarding ships worth anything on builds?

[JimmysTheBestCop]

Originally posted by MaceX:

Are fighters or boarding ships worth anything on builds?

Like carrier builds? They work and are fun. Probably aren't the most efficient builds though but ton of fun sending out 5 bombers on a death run.

[Tomcat]

Originally posted by MaceX:

Are fighters or boarding ships worth anything on builds?

I would say having one or two wings around is ok if you are bored but you have less "all around useful" options when you use craft. It's expensive, it takes away from components, and it wing stats don't contribute to the ship pool.


===================

The biggest ships lets you do as many things as once but the problem is that time goes by really quick if you don't optimize the fuel for it. My favorite components help make traveling cost effective and is easy on the time reqs.

Javat Water reclaimation for jump cost and engine safety.
Performance hyperdrive to reduce warp time. (varies based on mass size)
Alta mesa engineering annex to also reduce warp time. (In a way, this also frees up mass as these parts are low mass)
Compact bridges for mass reduction and engine safety.

The rest of the slots can be used for whatever you want. I'm a fan of boarding and using torpedos.

EDIT: I mean missiles, not Torpedoes)

[Geordy]

Why do you guys use torpedoes? Dont 3 of them use 9 RP? 4 missiles should be the way to go?

[climbingeastofwinter]

Small component slot torpedo systems cost 2 reactor points to fire and tend to have a high rate of inflicting a crippling effect that causes component damage per turn; when I use torpedoes, I do so because they guarantee that if I find myself in a situation where I cannot close distance or escape from an enemy, I still have a means of engaging my opponent and inflicting both 'when you hit with any weapon' debuffs and the associated crippling effects for the torpedo weapon class.

They're obviously not the be-all-end-all weapon, but I use them in the early game because they are pretty convenient when you're first starting out.

[Tomcat]

Originally posted by Geordy:

Why do you guys use torpedoes? Dont 3 of them use 9 RP? 4 missiles should be the way to go?

(EDIT: IN THIS POST, PLEASE INTERCHANGE THE WORDS MISSILE AND TORPEDO)

Missiles are for crippling. Torps do more hull damage. Torpedos can still cripple (though its rare) and they can fire in 5-4-3 range. Missiles do too little damage and waste time but if you care about having your opponent intact for whatever reason then go missiles. I guess if you want their cargo or if you are going for one of those ship stealing abilities.

In the beginning, I typically dismiss all but one gunner and also strip away all my weapons since starter weapons are kind of crap. I use a boarding build that has focuses on dodge. Beginning game is about command + piloting since smaller ships benefit from piloting.

By the time I kitted into my end game all offense torpedo build, I don't bother boarding anymore.

With the right setup, you can end most encounters in 2 rounds. The tankiest ships like the Red Xeno probably takes like 4 rounds.

Jimmy gave a template but my version has like double the amount of offense components. Mine only works if your crew is leveled high enough that it can help it dodge and run with command + electronics dice. Most of your crew should be like E-techs and Military Officer/Commanders. The trade-off for being so powerful in combat is that I'm playing more risky in having less specialists and relying more on luck with everything non-combat.

If you want more specialists to help with things like spying or insta-winning against those annoying events that happen during space travel. Then you can fire some command crew but you would then hve to compensate that with higher defense to offense ratio in terms of components.

The worst thing that can happen to you is being super unbeatable and then getting your engine knocked by a space event. You run into someone super hostile with a busted engine and it's an instant game over if they want to execute you.

Or your crew just leaves you from getting dinged by too many space events and suddenly your ship is like so much weaker since crew takes time to level up. There's mitigation ways around all this but I'm digressing too much now.

[JimmysTheBestCop]

The right build missiles explode mostly all enemies in 1 turn and you can fire from 5 without even moving. They pretty much always hit once you are in your end game ship. Even the supreme Xeno mothership I think its only 2 or 3 turns.

If you have 5 lvl 3 torpedoes you can pretty much disable 75% of all enemy ships pretty quickly.

So there really is no right build there are many many that work fine or are just a bunch of fun.

But the worst thing is to have the same build in consecutive runs. Always change the ship build up and even your captain role. Variety.

[Geordy]

I still dont get it. Jimmy's screenshot shows three lvl 7 torps in the medium slots (which I agree weapons should be in). That's 9 RP whereas the engine only provides 8. In his last response he speaks about 5 lvl 3 torps which is what - 10 RP? Something doesnt add up.

[Trese Brothers]

Easy Talents to add RP.

Big ships can get 12 RP.