Ship Builds & Load Outs Auto field-maintence unit question...

[Eminor]

So I can understand explorers having an AFMU - it can be a long way from the nearest repair station. And I very much doubt traders would have one.
But does anyone have one on their combat ship ?
Would it just be a waste of space - hogging a bay that could be used for shield bank ?
Or do people use one so that you can (potentially) stay out for longer in a RES or CZ ?
Your thoughts are welcome...

 

[Slyer01]

I think it would be a waste of space and power on a combat ship, at least for me. I usually run out of ammo before I take any damage, so it would never be used if I had one.

 

[Eminor]

Ah yes, forgot ammo might be a limiting factor as well. I run 2 Beams (vulture...), so ammo isn't a problem.
It seems the AFMU is also hampered by not being able to repair hull or power plant - 2 things that might have made it more useful for a fighter. Strange - wonder why it was hamstrung like that...

 

[CMDR Memphis]

I guess it depends. In Open when potentially facing lots of PVP and people targetting subsystems, it might be worth it. In PvE, no, because your armor will be usually down before anything else breaks. But even after repair, your ship is not fully combat worthy, so my feeling is that it is mostly for explorers

 

[Commander_Tin]

It seems the AFMU is also hampered by not being able to repair hull or power plant - 2 things that might have made it more useful for a fighter. Strange - wonder why it was hamstrung like that...

For hull damage, I bet the plan is that you will need to do an EVA to fix it. In other words, one of the features of the "walking around" DLC.

 

[CMDR Shane Kannigan]

EVA in conflict zones? So that they can shoot you and kill you? Also...wouldn't that consume life support oxygen? If your canopy os breached after you repaired you'd be screwed.

 

[Galiven]

Ah yes, forgot ammo might be a limiting factor as well. I run 2 Beams (vulture...), so ammo isn't a problem.
It seems the AFMU is also hampered by not being able to repair hull or power plant - 2 things that might have made it more useful for a fighter. Strange - wonder why it was hamstrung like that...

Reason it can't repair the power plant is because you need to turn the system being repaired off. If you disable the power plant then there would be nothing to "power" the AFMU. (At least, that's the game mechanics reason for it.)

 

[Kzak]

Unless auxillary power units are introduced, or AFMU variants that have batteries included at a much higher cost and mass than regular AFMUs.

 

[Frenotx]

I have 2 3A afmus on my dropship. My shielding is pretty weak, so I tend to rely on hull quite a bit. As such, module damage is pretty unavoidable. The afmus allow me to dust in the field longer, and also DRASTICALLY reduce my repair bills.

 

[PhoenicianSon]

So I can understand explorers having an AFMU - it can be a long way from the nearest repair station. And I very much doubt traders would have one.
But does anyone have one on their combat ship ?
Would it just be a waste of space - hogging a bay that could be used for shield bank ?
Or do people use one so that you can (potentially) stay out for longer in a RES or CZ ?
Your thoughts are welcome...

Combat is my main focus in the game. I would say to forget the repair module, you will very rarely need it, if ever. In combat, if your modules are taking that much of a hit, you are most likely not going to get away fast enough to even have an opportunity to use the repair module. If your ship gets that damaged, and you manage to escape, it is best just to hightail out of there and get the ship repaired in a local station.

The main reason is because you need to capitalize on SCBs, FSD Interdictors, and every space possible to support combat. Most importantly, these repair modules require an exorbitant amount of power even with weapons retracted. Just not worth it... I explore as well, and for exploration, it can be a life saver 1000's of ly away from any inhabited space. You would need to sacrifice a lot of your build to support that repair module, which just doesn't make sense for combat when you can easily repair ls away from whereever you are farming your credits, or hunting other Commanders.

 

[Morbad]

But does anyone have one on their combat ship ?

The size 1 slot on my FDL normally carries and AFMU. I almost never lose shields, and I almost never use the AFMU, but if the ship is crippled somehow, or the engines are shot out, an AFMU can repair non critical systems enough to swing a reboot repair that otherwise might not work, or restore functionality without the need for a reboot/repair (which is extremely dangerous in combat).

It's no a really useful piece of equipment in a typical combat ship, but there is nothing else worth putting in a slot of that size.