Ships PSA for explorers: Use B-Class AFMUs, because AFMUs have no mass!

[Helmut Grokenberger]

Hey there.

I'm not sure if I am stating the obvious, but I've read a few posts with links to explorer builds recently and noticed a common thread: People fit A-Class AFMUs, because A-Class is always the best. Right? Wrong. Other B-Class modules sometimes have one or more attributes that are better than A-Class, but always come with a huge mass penalty.

This isn't the case with AFMUs. The B-Class AFMUs are better in a few ways: Higher repair capacity and integrity, and lower power draw. And because AMFUs have no mass, there is no penalty. Plus they come at a fraction of the price of an A-Class AFMU.

So, for all the explorers out there: Don't fit A, fit B. And if you have an empty slot: Put an AFMU in it and power it off, it is basically free module repair capacity with no drawbacks.

Hope this helps.

 

[Helmut Grokenberger]

To add: Yes, the A-Class has a higher efficiency. But the difference in capacity times rating can be negligible. Depends a bit on the size.

 

[Kyle Stryker]

I disagree, the A is still better AFMU for explorers. It simply repairs more. The only thing you gain by going with B is it's cheaper, but explorer ships are not that expensive so there's little point in skimping unless you are a new player with a really tight budget.

 

[Treya]

B has a higher raw material capacity but the lower efficiency drags its effective repair capacity below that of A. Effective capacity is calculated as raw capacity times efficiency (repair per material stat), so e.g. for size 4:
4B: 5,900 * 0.023 = 135.7
4A: 5,400 * 0.028 = 151.2

Integrity is higher but that's of no concern really because AFMUs don't malfunction, so any integrity above zero is all that is needed. And in the (almost hypothetical) case it actually does reach zero there's the good old reboot/repair sequence to bring it back to life.

 

[baqar79]

I always run shielded B-class AFMU's on my ships for their additional integrity; though I only ever run a single AFMU in my explorer ships, so if I can't repair it on a long range voyage, I might as well have the most hardy AFMU available.

Of course a broken AFMU bought back to 1% via reboot/repair will work as well as one at 100% so it's more of a fictional assurance then a practical one. On the rare occasion that you might be overheating, the B-class AFMU will take a while to tick down to a broken state over an A-class AFMU, though such a situation probably won't happen very often (and you may find your hull hitting 0% before you AFMU does!).