What augmentations are best?

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Addicted
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Re: What augmentations are best?

Postby Addicted » Tue Oct 02, 2012 8:58 am

2 x Autoreloader is amazing when you're packing the big guns. Was rolling with Halbard, Burst III and Fire Bomb and it was one of the easiest runs Ive done.

I do like the Medi-bot dispersal thing though. Had that on my Zoltan A last night along with pre-ignighter and again very little trouble all the way through. Excellent for those boarding moments when you've just got squishy zoltans hiding in a corner room whilst you suffocate the enemy out.
Haspen
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Re: What augmentations are best?

Postby Haspen » Tue Oct 02, 2012 9:00 am

Pre-igniter is my fave... Even if I have seen it in, maybe, 2 runs out of around hundred I had already. RNG just hides it away from me all the time.

I also like Scrap Recovery Arm and Auto Re-Loader and Long Range Scanners. Many, many solar/asteroid deaths averted by the latter.
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mastercats
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Re: What augmentations are best?

Postby mastercats » Tue Oct 02, 2012 2:37 pm

scrap arm and scanner..... but if i see another scrap arms... <.< well scanner i'll take my chances. :P
AngleWyrm
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Re: What augmentations are best?

Postby AngleWyrm » Tue Oct 02, 2012 11:20 pm

Long Range Sensors is one of the best buys available. For 40 scrap you can guarantee you will never land near a sun, choose to engage a ship instead of maybe wasting fuel, and avoid asteroid fields until your shields can withstand them.
Pershonkey
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Re: What augmentations are best?

Postby Pershonkey » Sat Oct 12, 2013 5:39 pm

In my opinion, drone recovery arm is one of the best. Especially on the Engi ships, being able to deploy your drones with next to no fear of running out of parts. By far my easiest run was when I had a DRA, 2 Combat Is, and a Combat II along with 2 Ion IIs and a Burst Laser II. Whenever I'm lucky enough to get this, it's worth shifting my strategy to allow drones. I love this augment.
The pre igniter is almost always great to have, but can be pretty pricey early in the game.
I've never really liked stealth weapons that much, when I cloak it's to dodge something, and the sooner cloaking is over the faster the countdown starts, which allows me to dodge the next volley sooner.
Even late in the game, the scrap arm is a great way to fill an extra slot or two. (Or three, I once had 3 scrap arms the entire game due to a lack of other augments. Needless to say, I had all systems fully upgraded and extra scrap.) Since you can make well over 500 scrap in S7 even on unlucky runs, assuming you have an extra augmentation slot, it can still be profitable, not to mention the ~200 scrap you can get in S8.
I still don't know why I like the long range scanners, as I have no problem with fighting ships near suns/asteroid fields/ion storms. Maybe it's being able to see which beacons have ships, the blue events, or just being prepared for where I'm going to fight, but 30 scrap seems like a fair price to pay for it, if you have a free slot open.
Before reading this, I'v had no particular love for the automated re-loader, but I'll really have to try it out again since everyone here seems to love it.
Not too many of the ship specific augmentations are that good. The Engi medbot dispersal can be quite useful with fending off boarders, putting out fires, and just not having to worry about putting your crew in the medbay, and crystal vengeance can sometimes be useful if your ship gets hit a lot, which it shouldn't be. The Zoltan shield can be somewhat useful, but it begins to outlive its worth, and I still feel bad selling it, because it's a huge part of the Zoltan ships. Mantis pheromones, drone reactor boosters, titanium/rock plating and slug repair gel all seem to be more useful as scrap in your hold, so I'd suggest selling them if you don't like them much.
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5thHorseman
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Re: What augmentations are best?

Postby 5thHorseman » Sat Oct 12, 2013 8:01 pm

I've been meaning to do this for some time, and your necro of this post gave me the gumption to do so.

This is my personal list, and will likely cause disagreements. Within each tier there is no sorting. I consider everything in the same tier to be too similarly ranked.

God Tier (I'd sell something I'm using to buy these, with extremely few exceptions):
Automated Reloader - Faster recharge means you fire first. Every round. And then sometimes fire twice.
Long-Ranged Scanners - Knowledge is power. This plus the human brain is a scrap machine.
Zoltan Shield - You can't buy it, but I can't imagine ever selling it. If you could sell it for 180 a 4th shield would probably be better but for the price, it's way more useful on your ship.
Damaged Stasis Pod - You can't buy it, and frequently the weapon is better. But in the right situation it can be an amazing pickup.

Demigod Tier (Something keeps them out of the God tier, but they're better than the Great Tier):
Weapon Pre-Igniter - FANTASTIC augment hurt only by its price. But it can turn your ship into an overpowered beast.
Scrap Recovery Arm - FANTASTIC augment in sector 1, with diminishing returns to sector 8. Probably not worth it in sector 7 or later and not worth giving up something else in sector 6.

Great Tier (I try to buy these whenever I have the chance, most of the time):
Shield Charge Booster - Solid buy that should be kept until you have to trade it for something higher in the list.
Engi Med-bot Dispersal - You can't buy it but I never sell it. Micromanagement nightmare averted.
Slug Repair Gel - Same as the Med-bots. Great on a scannerless ship.

Good Tier (I'll buy these if I have the scrap, and keep them if I get them free):
Stealth Weapons - Situational, of course, but on a ship with cloak AND Ion 2, it's fantastic.
Drone Recovery Arm - Situational as well, but it's really nice to be able to toss 3 drones out in a fight and not worry that you only have 5 in the hold.

Meh Tier (I'll usually sell these unless my ship happens to benefit from them):
Mantis Pheremones - Let's see, scrap or ability to run a little faster? SCRAP.
Drone Reactor Booster - Same as above, only for drones. SCRAP.

Bad Tier (These are worth far more in scrap than benefits. I sell them instantly):
Reverse Ion Field - Way to situational to be useful. Sell it.
Titanium System Casing - 50 scrap for this piece of garbage? TAKE IT.
Rock Plating - Ditto.
FTL Recharge Booster - If you're running from so many fights that this is a good idea, you've already lost.
Adv. FTL Navigation - If you're jumping back to so many previous jumps that this is a good idea, you've also already lost.
FTL Jammer - Actually useful, but it's SO rare that they get away that I never feel like it's needed.

Terrible Tier (These ones hurt you. Sell them right away):
Repair Arm - I'll take care of repairing on my own, thank you. And I kind of wanted that scrap.
Crystal Vengeance - Ah, the single best boarding ship in the game has a weapon that fires into a random room on the enemy ship, but only if you get damaged? What could possibly go wrong? Any strategy that requires you to take damage is a bad strategy.
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UltraMantis
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Re: What augmentations are best?

Postby UltraMantis » Sun Oct 13, 2013 3:33 am

Why no love for some augs? :(

Reverse Ion Field - Won me a game or two. Completely neuthers the firece IonBlast2, also handy against the boss.
Titanium System Casing - There's a reason it's there. Get greedy and sell it too soon and your Nesasio will cry. I agree that 15% is not enough though. But if you're playing shieldless you need every % you can get.
FTL Recharge Booster - Nothing wrong with having a super quick escape option. I would'nt buy it though. Agree that it's marginally usefull.
FTL Jammer - Would never buy, but allways enjoy having it for a while. They. Will. Not. Flee. :D

Repair Arm - Unbelivably underestimated aug. You have no clue when you'll be able to repair again. :( With this you never need to fully repair your ship, just get it to 50-75% HP. The arm will keep it in one piece. Earning fewer scrap? You allways get meager scrap early on, and tons in sector 7 and beyond. Most of the stores and items sold are random and the small diffrence in scrap is unnoticeable.
Hands down one of the best augs, and everybody rages that it actually takes some of your scrap. Late game stores cost far more if you need repairs, and they're never as convenient as having a repair store on your own ship.

Weapon Pre-Igniter - Disagree that this aug is hurt by it's price. It's worth having at any price though i prefer free. It's really hurt by your weapons. There is little point having this if you don't have weapons that need preigniting. Said weapons are usually not my favorites because of longass cooldown.
Scrap Recovery Arm - Disagree about diminishing rewards. Highest rewards you get are in sectors 7 and 8 so this thing can pay for itself in a jump or two. Buying it in sector 1 actually hurts. 50 is the price of lvl2 shields, and you need a bunch of other upgrades as well. 50 scrap early on is quite precious. In theory, you'll have more scrap overall if you buy it early, but in practise you could ignore it, buy a repair arm and have a much better game. What? What is this "bias" you speak of? :lol:

Stealth Weapons - should be in God tier i think. It's ridiculousy usefull as long as you have a cloak, unless you have mostly beams and only one non-beam weapon. Even then, it's worth it for the ability to fire weapons whenever it suits you. It costs 50 scrap right? Bargain. Buy when you see one, because you wont see another one, they're rare.

Obviously my views suit me and are biased and your mileage may vary.
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Iranon
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Re: What augmentations are best?

Postby Iranon » Sun Oct 13, 2013 10:14 am

Reverse Ion Field and Titanium System Casing share a problem: Simply Increasing evasion chance is better (affects all kinds of hits, eliminates whole hits rather than just subsystem damage) and these augmentations don't overcome this through sheer cost-effectiveness.

If you're concerned about Ion weapons, try to get 2 Zoltans and put them in the shield room.
The only reason the Titanium System Casing isn't utter junk is that it's relevant against beam hits, one of the biggest threats for unshielded ships.

*

Only ones I really care for, roughly in order.

Zoltan Shield
Automated Reloader
Pre-Igniter
Scrap/Drone Recovery Arm (purely economic so will swap out eventually)
Shield Recharge Booster
Long-Range Scanners

Whether a Pre-Igniter will be better than another Reloader depends on the weapons.
Ion/Breach2 Bombs and Glaive Beam favour a Pre-Igniter, battle can be over before it begin.
2 Ion2 and a wimpy finisher is a valid engame loadout that favours another Reloader.
Smauler
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Re: What augmentations are best?

Postby Smauler » Tue Oct 22, 2013 9:42 pm

actionhero112 wrote:Weapon Preigniter is pretty hyped, I'm never all that psyched about it however, because I tend to try and get the crew teleporter to maximize rewards per ship asap, and the igniter doesn't help with that too much.


Have you ever used rockmen with fire bombs or fire beams? Drop a fire bomb immediately in the weapons, teleport your rockmen into the weapons, battle over. Pre-igniter makes a massive difference with this tactic, often meaning you don't need to do anything else.

actionhero112 wrote:Also it only really helps with long cool down weapons, like the pegasus or glaive beam. An automatic reloader is better for quicker weaponry, and battles that just take longer, like those towards the end sectors, where your weapons can't destroy a ship in 2 barrages.


I used to think that, now I just personally think the high power long recharge weapons are pretty useless full stop. 2 burst laser IIs annihilate one burst III, and there are loads of similar weapons to burst II, though not quite as good.

actionhero112 wrote:Automatic Reloader is always good. Sometimes 15% is all you need to get the edge over your opponent and fire before them, also it's far cheaper than the expensive weapon pre igniter.


Agreed.

actionhero112 wrote:Shield Charge Booster is decent for when you enter an asteroid field, or they have a combat/beam drone. It also just improves your defenses, which means you take less damage, which is great for diminishing your overall repair cost.


Having an extra level of shields is far more effective in any situation than the shield augment. I've never bought it, admittedly, but I think I had it on one run through.

actionhero112 wrote:Drone Recovery Arm is fantastic for deploying pretty much unlimited defense drones, which I love. Scrap Recovery is something I tend to pick up when I see it, just because it pays for itself.


Drone recovery is wonderful if you use drones for offence. If you only use them for defence, generally the recovery arm isn't needed. Scrap recovery, agreed... there's no point picking it up later on, though, really.

actionhero112 wrote:So yeah, I'll buy the Automatic Reloader, Drone Recovery Arm, Shield Charge Booster, Scrap Recovery arm and the Weapon Preigniter (When I have long cool down weapons).

I tend to never get the Ion Field Disrupter, FTL Jammer, Long Range Scanners, FTL Recharge Booster, Adv Navigation, Stealth weapons. I've never lost to Ion weaponry, and 20% isn't substantial enough for the investment. Rather invest in engines instead.


I like long range scanners - always being able to head for a ship and away from suns really helps, IMO. Also, you're lucky you haven't fallen to Ion weaponry. I met a ship with an Ion II and Ion I and 2 and 2 other weapons... those Ions will knock your class 4 shields away in about 20 seconds or so.

However, I agree the augment is probably not worth it, better to invest in engines.

actionhero112 wrote:My favorite is probably Engi MediBot Dispersal though. I tend to give the Engi event the 40 scrap and whatever other regents in order to get it, just because it's fantastic for repelling boarders and fixing the ship without worrying about fires and oxygen levels that much.


This is one of the augments I frequently sell. With boarders, I almost always herd people into the medibay by flushing the air (unless I have decent boarders, in which case it's generally not a problem). It is convenient, sometimes, though.

actionhero112 wrote:But to answer your question, the shield charge booster would be my choice, it's cheaper, and I already gave my reason for why I don't like the Ion Disrupter.


My answer to the OP would be neither, save up.
Iranon
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Re: What augmentations are best?

Postby Iranon » Wed Oct 23, 2013 1:55 pm

Shield Recharge booster can be better than another level of shields, especially against anti-ship drones. It also doesn't cost power; if I actually have fully upgraded shields I only use all 4 layers about a third of the time (preferring more evasion, but the reserve is nice in case shields take a missile/bomb).