Power unlocks worth having?

[Nutter]

So far i've unlocked and stored a set of Prismatics, 8 Lances and this week will stock 8 Pack Hounds. Yet to play with a Prismatic build.
Lances are ok, I have 2 on my miner along with 3 class 2 standard which suck a rock dry in 8 seconds.
Looking forward to a Packhound Piro show this week...

Which leaves me wondering which power mod to unlock next, suggestions with benefits welcome.

Cheers

Nutter o7

 

[Deleted member 182079]

The modules I used most are Prismatics (only on certain ships though, the downsides can outweigh their benefits on others) and Pacifiers (focused shotgun). I do have a few packhound modules stocked also, they can be hilarious in small doses but I don't use them too often. Most recent acquisition are APA's and they're ok I suppose, but if I'm honest apart from Prismo's and packhounds all the other modules I could live without (the ones I tried at least) and have sold many of them again (lances, enforcers, imp hammers) as I found them more gimped compared to the 'normal' versions of those weapons.

I am quite tempted to give the Cytoscrambler a try though, seems quite novel to me.

Edit - always thought they were called crypto lol

 

[Ashnak]

Depends on what you want to do. Lances are often not considered worth the effort, and personally I prefer bi-weaves (with Guardian boosters).

What I got (long ago, for my alt) were the Enforcers and the Pacifiers. He's currently back in the bubble, distributing mugs and having pledged to the pirate lord for Cytoscramblers. I'm still debating with myself whether I should stay for Packhounds.
Apart from that, Advanced Plasmas are (for me, PvE focussed) no improvement over Pacifiers, and since I can't hit with rails, I don't think I'll queue up for Hammers. I think I'll rather spend some time unlocking further Guardian modules (and I definitely want that XG-8 Javelin).

 

[o2thaZ]

Hammers or cyto's

 

[Deleted member 182079]

Depends on what you want to do. Lances are often not considered worth the effort, and personally I prefer bi-weaves (with Guardian boosters).

What I got (long ago, for my alt) were the Enforcers and the Pacifiers. He's currently back in the bubble, distributing mugs and having pledged to the pirate lord for Cytoscramblers. I'm still debating with myself whether I should stay for Packhounds.
Apart from that, Advanced Plasmas are (for me, PvE focussed) no improvement over Pacifiers, and since I can't hit with rails, I don't think I'll queue up for Hammers. I think I'll rather spend some time unlocking further Guardian modules (and I definitely want that XG-8 Javelin).

Yeah, I've gotten a taste for weaker but faster-charging shields of late, especially on my smaller ships. Only run Prismos on my mining and trading ships now (and on my Vette although it really needs two SCBs for that, I currently use one slot for collectors to speed up mat gathering).

The Imp Hammers (rails) were quite disappointing for me - the heat build-up is too substantial for me - tried it on a Courier and while it can work with some choice engineering, it felt underwhelming in terms of firepower (my poor aiming skills are another source of frustration). Mining lance is only useful if you want to save prospectors; due to their 2km range you can 'probe' roids from afar, but then if you do surface mining you're likely doing it in a big ship with lots of cargo space.

I do recommend the Guardian weapons if you're into xeno combat, they're all fun in their own ways, although I find the SLFs near useless as they're made out of paper and (some/all?) can even run out of ammo - guess not that big a deal as they usually pop well before that happens.

Shock Cannon (human trader) can be fun for a meme build but again heat generation is crazy and you run through ammo too quickly.

 

[Ashnak]

The Guardian SLF is just for the looks - I'm not yet confident enough in my management skills to actually trust an NPC pilot over, let's say, a Guardian shield booster in the same slot. Plus, my current setup (dual stick, VR) doesn't yet have the buttons for fighter control - but I'm working on that.

 

[Zannry]

Pacifier Frags, Imp Hammers, Pack Hounds, Enforcer Cannons, Adv. Plasma and Cytos are all good and fun.

 

[CMDR Tobias Burakowit]

Don't waste your time with the mining lances, they were my first power unlock and boy do I regret it.

They have the strip capacity of a level 1 mining laser but have equal distributor draw to size 2's, and MORE HEAT THAN SIZE 2's. (Perhaps more). "But it's 2km range!" Yes but you should be up close and personal anyway, otherwise your limpets have to cover more distance therefore you fill up your cargo more slowly and their lifespan is less efficient.Not to mention you'll be pausing your laser fire all the time due to overheat.

The only point in mining lances is to 'prospect' a rock without using a limpet by seeing its contents. But then you're wasting mats because a limpet prospected rock has more yield.

 

[Nutter]

Thanks for your suggestions, would I be right that all the weapons are 'fixed' and small apart from the Large Pacifier which is also fixed?
I wanted to strap some fun stuff to my corvette, the Cytoscrambler could replace my two front smalls for shield removal I guess.
Also what about the Containment Missile? Hits harder than a Standard FSD interrupt and the effect is longer?

To make good use of fixed weapons I'd need a nimble smaller ship I guess

 

[Deleted member 182079]

The Guardian SLF is just for the looks - I'm not yet confident enough in my management skills to actually trust an NPC pilot over, let's say, a Guardian shield booster in the same slot. Plus, my current setup (dual stick, VR) doesn't yet have the buttons for fighter control - but I'm working on that.

Alright, in that case it will deliver

 

[Deleted member 182079]

Thanks for your suggestions, would I be right that all the weapons are 'fixed' and small apart from the Large Pacifier which is also fixed?
I wanted to strap some fun stuff to my corvette, the Cytoscrambler could replace my two front smalls for shield removal I guess.
Also what about the Containment Missile? Hits harder than a Standard FSD interrupt and the effect is longer?

To make good use of fixed weapons I'd need a nimble smaller ship I guess

APA also only comes in a size 3 - and yes all of them are fixed. Can't comment on the missile as I haven't unlocked it so far (and probably won't bother as its use case is too narrow for me, but then I don't really properly PvP).

 

[Misty_Dark]

If you are on the unlocking train, then why stop before you have got them all?

I simply made a list of all the modules and their pros and cons, and my potential use case for these modules. So I simply unlocked all the modules in the order of how useful they where to me. or how they fitted my game style, like I got Packhounds for "free", I pledged before I went exploring and spent quite some time time and credits (100 million) to rank up and turn all my exploitation data in with a huge boost payout. Not a very impressive exploration tour, netted me over 1 000 million credits...


I have unlocked Prismatics two times, as I simply needed more of these... they are quite fun to play around with.... mostly them on my traders, as I sacrifice some weight and powerdraw for more shields. and a few T extra on my Type 9 does maker any noticeably difference... and buying those class 8 prismatics is quite expensive, so I have only got two of these, one for a future Cutter Shield tank... and one for my Type 10.


And if you are into experimenting, most of the power weapons are fun to use, if you have no problem with fixed weapons. And since you can engineer these, you get to have to effects on these weapons!

[edit]
typos

 

[askavir]

One of the several reasons why powerplay was a is precisely this: how it actually encourages people to betray all the powers to collect the unlocks. On top of that, some unlocks are miles better than the others, so the "game" is rigged from the start.

 

[CMDR Tobias Burakowit]

Not all are size 1, Hammers and Packhounds are size 2. I also believe pacifiers are size 2.

Grom missles are size 1, cytoscramblers are size 1 too. I believe it was DTEA or Vindicator who demonstrated an anti-deadly anaconda build that was size 2 pacifiers and size 1 cytos, maybe a Cobra MKIII build.

 

[Deleted member 182079]

One of the several reasons why powerplay was a is precisely this: how it actually encourages people to betray all the powers to collect the unlocks. On top of that, some unlocks are miles better than the others, so the "game" is rigged from the start.

Indeed... the only way I participated in PP so far is module tourism. And the 4 week waiting time really drags. Plus, if you're seriously into PP, I can understand the frustrations associated with this - look at certain systems that are getting dumped with PP deliveries even though other systems would require them instead - but because they're closest to the HQ that's where everyone is dropping their 750t of unlock-module-dues.

 

[Deleted member 182079]

Not all are size 1, Hammers and Packhounds are size 2. I also believe pacifiers are size 2.

Grom missles are size 1, cytoscramblers are size 1 too. I believe it was DTEA or Vindicator who demonstrated an anti-deadly anaconda build that was size 2 pacifiers and size 1 cytos, maybe a Cobra MKIII build.

Pacifiers come in size 3 only.

 

[Vedmo]

Cytos are amazing. Not the best for every ship, but the ones that can utilize them well by staying close range turn a size 1 into a size 3 in regards to shield stripping.

I use them extensively on my Chieftain, Challenger, and any small ship with a size one. One added benefit for me, was they forced me to learn to stay right on top of my target and made me a better pilot, which opened up other weapon choices I wasn't utilizing.

 

[Crank Larson]

I've been wondering similar recently. I only earned the prismatic (and have been pledged to Aisling for years now!), but I don't really use them any more. The only ship that I still keep a prismatic on is the Cutter. My Chieftain has bi-weaves, and my Challenger normal shields (those are the ships I most commonly fly at the moment).

I've been thinking about going for the PP rails. For my three rails, I currently have two G5 plasma slug and one G5 super penetrator. Would the PowerPlay rails (hammers) be (significantly) better?

 

[Vedmo]

I have the Imperial Hammers and still use normal rails more often than them. They do more damage, but in a 3 shot burst. It bugs me to no end when I don't land the full burst, but I guess the other way of looking at it would be I might have completely missed with the one shot from standard rails and the burst at least let me do some damage.

I'd give them a slightly better.

 

[Drelthar]

You want.