Engineers Ships New to Engineering: method questions

[Ser Xav]

Hi all, am new to engineering and have been reading and watching many of the guides.

I still have a couple of queries, so was wondering if you could help me out

1. Is it best to unlock all the engineers I want first, then revisit them with the ship I want to engineer? Case in point: I want to engineer a vulture but clearly this would be a bad ship to try to do the engineer unlock with. Poor range, poor cargo, etc. I imagine and Aspx or python are good to do the unlocking with. What’s the best method?

2. Once an engineer is unlocked, I can obviously upgrade the ship I’m in at the point of unlocking their capabilities. Can I store the modules at the engineer’s site, or can I transfer them somewhere else? Practically what’s the best way of managing this? Do I actually need to fly the vulture all the way back out to the engineer? Or fly the modules back? I presume it’s the modules being upgraded, not the ship? Ie I could engineer modules on a given ship, fly it somewhere else and swap them to another ship (assuming compatibility)?

Many thanks all.

 

[Para Handy]

1. Yes - do the unlocking in a sensible ship - I use AspX but Krait is good too.

2. I transfer modules to the Engineer's outfitting and modify them there as I want to include an experimental effect and they can not be done remotely on pinned blueprints. Also worth remembering that pinned blueprints for gimbal weapons will not work on fixed or turret and similarly lightweight (or whatever) on one utility mount thing won't apply to other types so lightweight heat-sink pin can't be used to give lightweight PDT etc. Obviously you can only modify equipment and weaponry that will fit on your ship so later you might take an Anaconda to engineer the larger modules etc.

You will soon get a feel for it and find a method that suits you. You are totally correct about not flying a Vulture to an engineer (but you could of course transfer one to a nearby shipyard-equipped station - but ships cost more to transfer than modules and modules can be transferred to the engineer's outfitting).

 

[sinisalo]

I could engineer modules on a given ship, fly it somewhere else and swap them to another ship (assuming compatibility)?

Yes, I do this a lot. For the Vulture, the AspX is a good choice for Engineering shuttle bed.

For core modules only the distributor will be an issue as the Vulture uses one class larger than the AspX. And putting a C4 FSD in the Asp might make it not so appealing. I think the Asp with a C4 FSD will get about as much jump as the Vulture. Probably a little more but not much. Still, it's a good idea and can save time and effort.

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

Hi all, am new to engineering and have been reading and watching many of the guides.

I still have a couple of queries, so was wondering if you could help me out

1. Is it best to unlock all the engineers I want first, then revisit them with the ship I want to engineer? Case in point: I want to engineer a vulture but clearly this would be a bad ship to try to do the engineer unlock with. Poor range, poor cargo, etc. I imagine and Aspx or python are good to do the unlocking with. What’s the best method?

They gate each other somewhat, so you will want to upgrade as you unlock them.
In particular, increased range will make the whole unlock process faster.
Many of the unlocks require some special task that is better in some ships than others.
Eg you'll have an easier time with the distance travelled unlocks with the Asp, but for combat ones the Vulture will be way better.
It's designed to make you play different aspects of the game.

2. Once an engineer is unlocked, I can obviously upgrade the ship I’m in at the point of unlocking their capabilities. Can I store the modules at the engineer’s site, or can I transfer them somewhere else? Practically what’s the best way of managing this? Do I actually need to fly the vulture all the way back out to the engineer? Or fly the modules back? I presume it’s the modules being upgraded, not the ship? Ie I could engineer modules on a given ship, fly it somewhere else and swap them to another ship (assuming compatibility)?

Many thanks all.

Most people end up using a parts taxi of some sort.
You can transfer modules between ships except for bulkheads.
You can also ship modules by themselves but you need an appropriate hull to modify them in, at the engineer's base.

 

[sinisalo]

Plus you can pin blueprints of course, so for example no need to fly the Vulture's FSD anywhere aside from getting the experimental.

You gain no access rep with remote engineering, so there's that. But Long Range FSD is a blueprint I bet most players have pinned.

 

[Ser Xav]

Ok thanks guys for the responses, very much appreciated. Clarified a few things for me definitely.

Bob, love the term ‘parts taxi’... and Sinisalo ‘engineering shuttle bed’ also makes lots of sense as a concept. I haven’t yet found any tutorial that explains the concepts in these terms, so cheers guys. Will let you know how I get on.

Currently in an Aspx with 200mil in the piggy bank, and wondering whether to get a krait or python to continue a bit of deep core mining, or, get either of those and fit out appropriately to go on a big engineering unlock run.

Ultimate aim is/was to get a super engineered res ship. Vulture, FDL or Mamba. But now tempted by other opportunities like exploring, mission running, BHing, etc ...

 

[sinisalo]

I like both the Krait and the Python, but chose to make the Krait my miner since I prefer the superior agility and visibility when amongst the rock chunks. The trade-off is you carry less back to the rock dealer.

FDL is my combat ship of choice, but you should try them all.

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

Krait MkII and Python are both excellent choices, and nearly identical in terms of internal compartments.
Sinisalo summed it up well.