Do Cytoscramblers have to be Engineered in person?

[Scoob]

Hey all,

So, last year when I was playing (had a long break in between) I got myself some Cytoscramblers. Tried them out on various ships and they were quite a fun "laser shotgun" type weapon for taking down shields. Now, I thought they could NOT be Engineered as my pinned BP's for Burst Lasers (the Cyto is categorised as a Burst Laser) did not show. Basically, I'd open Remote Engineering and get NO options for the Cytoscramblers at all, despite having the efficient option pinned.

Only just now, while watching a Youtube video, did I see someone who'd Engineered their Cytoscramblers and realise that it must be possible. So, this leads the question: If REMOTE Engineering does not list the Cytoscramblers, do I need to be at the Engineer in person to be able to Engineer them? Is / was this a bug or oversight with the Engineering of this particular weapon? As far as I'm aware, they've been in the game for AGES at this point.

Note: All this was done last year, perhaps over a year ago at this point, maybe the year before, and I was unable to remotely engineer the Cytoscramblers on any of the ships I'd fitted them to. I've not tried again since returning to the game recently, but then I'm not flying ships using Cytoscramblers, outside of one quick test where I still thought they could not be engineered.

With Engineering possible on Cytoscrambers, assuming it works when I visit the Engineer, what Engineering would people recommend? I thought long-range, to counter their current very limited range, but having so much weapon spread, they likely be unable to hit anything at that increased range.

I plan to test this next time I'm in-game, hopefully later today, but perhaps not until the Weekend, hence asking here.

 

[CaptainPugwash]

Hey all,

So, last year when I was playing (had a long break in between) I got myself some Cytoscramblers. Tried them out on various ships and they were quite a fun "laser shotgun" type weapon for taking down shields. Now, I thought they could NOT be Engineered as my pinned BP's for Burst Lasers (the Cyto is categorised as a Burst Laser) did not show. Basically, I'd open Remote Engineering and get NO options for the Cytoscramblers at all, despite having the efficient option pinned.

Only just now, while watching a Youtube video, did I see someone who'd Engineered their Cytoscramblers and realise that it must be possible. So, this leads the question: If REMOTE Engineering does not list the Cytoscramblers, do I need to be at the Engineer in person to be able to Engineer them? Is / was this a bug or oversight with the Engineering of this particular weapon? As far as I'm aware, they've been in the game for AGES at this point.

Note: All this was done last year, perhaps over a year ago at this point, maybe the year before, and I was unable to remotely engineer the Cytoscramblers on any of the ships I'd fitted them to. I've not tried again since returning to the game recently, but then I'm not flying ships using Cytoscramblers, outside of one quick test where I still thought they could not be engineered.

With Engineering possible on Cytoscrambers, assuming it works when I visit the Engineer, what Engineering would people recommend? I thought long-range, to counter their current very limited range, but having so much weapon spread, they likely be unable to hit anything at that increased range.

I plan to test this next time I'm in-game, hopefully later today, but perhaps not until the Weekend, hence asking here.

Yes, they can be engineered just like normal burst lasers. You can also pin the blueprints

 

[Scoob]

Yes, they can be engineered just like normal burst lasers. You can also pin the blueprints

Good to know, I wonder why Pinned blueprints weren't working for me then? I can freely remote-engineer any of my regular Burst Lasers, but the Cytoscramblers are never listed. Will try again when I'm back on my Carrier - the cytoscramblers are all stored there.

 

[Elpapo]

With Engineering possible on Cytoscrambers, assuming it works when I visit the Engineer, what Engineering would people recommend? I thought long-range, to counter their current very limited range, but having so much weapon spread, they likely be unable to hit anything at that increased range.

Indeed. Long range would be bit pointless on these. Spread makes them miss anything that is not T9-T10 if more than 1km.

Overcharged or efficent, gives it nice boost, while OC does a lot more dmg, its more taxing as well for distro, efficent on otherhand, does less dmg than OC, but its way more distro friendly. Not like these weapons are demanding on distro in first place as being only class 1 weps, so anything with distro size 5 or higher wont be bottleneck by it.

Some cmdr like put internal impact or Rapid fire mod, to increase dmg even more, but that extra spread from these makes it so wide, that even at point-blank range, some shots can miss smaller ships, thus not recommend is adding anything that increase that spread more than it is.

As for experimentals, I would make these either oversized to get bit more dmg, or scramble spectrum to make random malfunctions on target.

 

[Felix DiCestria]

Mine have long range (~2km) and can hit perfectly fine. They go well with Frag cannons (though the lack of range will allow a considerable number of escapees) or Pacifiers.
Mine were all engineered by Broo in person though I'm pretty sure I have the option to engineer them remotely.

 

[Non Grata]

Mine have long range (~2km) and can hit perfectly fine. They go well with Frag cannons (though the lack of range will allow a considerable number of escapees) or Pacifiers.
Mine were all engineered by Broo in person though I'm pretty sure I have the option to engineer them remotely.

What can you hit beyond 500m with them?

 

[Felix DiCestria]

Eagles, Vultures, Cobra mk4s, DBS, pilots after tasty cargo...

 

[Vedmo]

Indeed. Long range would be bit pointless on these. Spread makes them miss anything that is not T9-T10 if more than 1km.

Overcharged or efficent, gives it nice boost, while OC does a lot more dmg, its more taxing as well for distro, efficent on otherhand, does less dmg than OC, but its way more distro friendly. Not like these weapons are demanding on distro in first place as being only class 1 weps, so anything with distro size 5 or higher wont be bottleneck by it.

Some cmdr like put internal impact or Rapid fire mod, to increase dmg even more, but that extra spread from these makes it so wide, that even at point-blank range, some shots can miss smaller ships, thus not recommend is adding anything that increase that spread more than it is.

As for experimentals, I would make these either oversized to get bit more dmg, or scramble spectrum to make random malfunctions on target.

Short range is another great option, get same damage bonus (slightly higher than actually) of OC as well as increased heat, but no increase to distributor draw. The most efficient CZ ship i have is a Chieftain w/ 3 cytos and 3 MCs, absolutely wrecks shields on anything then the MC's make quick work of power plants or help out with eagles and MK3s that are a bit more challenging to hit with cytos. I use efficient on that build just so I can spam 3 cytos w/ 1 pip WEP to free up pips for eng to help stay on target, but also run OC and SRB on other chieftains and challengers to great effect.

 

[CaptainPugwash]

Eagles, Vultures, Cobra mk4s, DBS, pilots after tasty cargo...

I even use them on my corvette;-)

 

[Vlad plus]

they work well for on Alliance Challenger for Orthrus-shield

 

[Northpin]

Short range is another great option, get same damage bonus (slightly higher than actually) of OC as well as increased heat, but no increase to distributor draw.

This

I have a DBS fitted with a pair of G4 short range Cytos with phasing - only G4 because that gives 600m range no falloff damage. And with the DBS i can pretty much stay in that range.
Those 2 g4 srb cytos are hitting harder than huge beams.

 

[Rubbernuke]

Phasing is fun because due to the flat damage caused by bleed you do a (small) amount of hull damage.

So, for a weapon that was designed to kill shields you have a version that does damage to hull as long as the shields are up

 

[Dillon Fallon]

Phasing is fun because due to the flat damage caused by bleed you do a (small) amount of hull damage.

So, for a weapon that was designed to kill shields you have a version that does damage to hull as long as the shields are up

Generally speaking, in a threat 7 pirate signal source my iEagle will have taken about 10% hull off one of those Anacondas with 2 efficient phasing cytos by the time the shields drop. Certainly worth it for when I'm having a bad aim day with sniping the powerplant.

 

[Scoob]

Some good information, but the point remains WHY I cannot remote-engineer them, yet I can with the Regular Burst Lasers I have. I even tried again, fitting some Cytoscramblers to a ship of mine, but they're not listed in remote engineering. Regular Burst lasers are. I'll need to double-checked the pinned BP, perhaps remove it and re-apply, see if that works.

Btw: I tried using Cytoscramblers vs. an Orthrus's shields, they were doing LESS damage (2x Cyto) than the 6x EAX MC's were... Bug? Should I try again?

 

[sidereal6]

Short range is another great option, get same damage bonus (slightly higher than actually) of OC as well as increased heat, but no increase to distributor draw

What I like about short range is the instant damage drop off. You’re either at 100% damage or 0%, and the hud gives you feedback to know you’re at 0%

 

[Rebel Yell]

Phasing is the way, considering that phasing damage isn't affected by distance.

 

[Non Grata]

Eagles, Vultures, Cobra mk4s, DBS, pilots after tasty cargo...

And what percentage of shots hit the target? The DPS gets decimated against small ships at that range.

 

[BetaToaster]

Btw: I tried using Cytoscramblers vs. an Orthrus's shields, they were doing LESS damage (2x Cyto) than the 6x EAX MC's were... Bug? Should I try again?

Two unengineered Cytos have 27.4 * 2 = 54.8 dps (a bit more because of negative thermal resist), 6 EAX MC have 15.6 * 6 = 93.6 dps, so totally expected. You're supposed to use the Cytos in addition to the EAX MCs.

My engineering advice would be G4 short range if you can stay within 600m (if 600m is no challenge, take Inertial Impact for extra hilarity). Otherwise G5 focused or low-grade long range to reduce/eliminate damage falloff. I don't think efficient is worth it, Cytos are very efficient already, so I'd rather have more damage. But if you really can't spare the distributor/power, of course go for it.

Outside of Thargoids, I always pair my Cytos with a corrosive weapon, which gives them 21 piercing (22 if focused), so they deal relevant hull damage. That makes phasing a no-go for me because of the dps loss. Scramble Spectrum is very hit-or-miss, but spectacular if it disables thrusters. Concordant Sequence and Thermal Shock are special-purpose, you'll know if you want them. The other experimentals are tiny buffs to various stats that won't make or break a build, pick whatever you think is most useful.

 

[Felix DiCestria]

And what percentage of shots hit the target? The DPS gets decimated against small ships at that range.

Enough to strip shields fast enough to cause them to attempt fleeing on a regular basis. Even used to work a fair number of times til I swapped the Frag cannons for Pacifiers.
It really isn't that hard to hit with a weapon that doesn't need to lead it's target.