[size=+2]The Buckyballer's guide to Engineering[/size]
Now also with advice for Elite Racers
This guide aims to explain the concepts of engineer modifications when applied to racing. It will help your ship fly faster and jump further. Engineer modifications for modules other than those typically used in racing are not discussed in this guide.
Buckyball races usually involve starting at a particular starport, jumping to one or more other starports or bases and finishing at a designated dock. As such they favour lightweight ships with the best frame shift drive and fuel scoop. Buckyballing as a verb has entered the game's lexicon to describe travelling quickly from one point to another. Racers often fit high rated thrusters and power distributor to give them extra speed when docking and launching. Weapons and armour are almost never fitted to racing ships, and shields are generally considered optional.
Elite Racers are more focused on speed in normal space, almost never using the frame shift drive at all. To get the best speed from your ship simply requires keeping its mass low, so there is very little difference between the recommendations for the two types of race.
Fair warning: there is some science. You can ignore it and skip straight to the recommendations. The science is taken mainly from discussions on this forum. Except where specifically stated that the research was my own, I do not claim to have discovered or invented any of the information presented here.
For more Buckyballing advice please visit the Buckyball Flight Academy.
[size=+1]Update 3.0[/size]
Engineering had a significant overhaul in update 3.0.Specific changes between the original engineering implementation that of update 3.0 will be highlighted for the benefit of people familiar with the old method of engineering and/or who previously read this guide.
[size=+1]Grade progression and experimental effects[/size]
Under the old system your initial engineer roll conferred a bonus to one or more stats with a range of values determined by the grade of the modification. In most cases a roll would also apply penalties. A random number of secondary effects would then be applied, potentially moving the results outside the nominal limits of possible values.
A so-called "god roll" was the result of positive effects being pushed higher and negative effects being pushed lower then the advertised range of possibilities.
In the new system you must start by applying a grade 1 modification, then applying one or more grade 2 rolls. With each roll the positive attributes of the modification are guaranteed to increase. The negative effects are fixed per grade and will never increase unless you apply a higher grade modification, which you can only do after raising the current grade high enough.
Furthermore, secondary effects have been abolished. Instead most modules can receive experimental effects of your choosing. These effects apply fixed percentage boosts to specific stats.
Experimental effects are particularly interesting for racing because we can now choose to apply predictable benefits, most notably the Stripped Down effect which reduces module mass.
Experimental effects cannot be applied to unmodified modules. In some cases this guide will recommend applying a modification with no relevant benefits simply as a container for a useful experimental effect!
[size=+1]Should I convert my module?[/size]
In most cases, yes. Unless you were extremely lucky and got a "god roll" in the old system, you will receive a net benefit under the new system. This is because the range of positive effects is generally higher and the penalties are fixed per grade.
Furthermore, outside of the material cost there is no downside to continuing to reroll until the positive effects are maximised. The negatives will only increase when replacing the mod with a higher grade.
[size=+1]Essential modules[/size]
[size=+1]Frame Shift Drive[/size]If you modify one module, make it this one. [size=-2]Elite Racers: not this one.[/size]
[size=+1]The science[/size]
The four stats relevant to FSD jump range are:
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The formula to calculate the range that a given loadout can achieve is as follows:
The total mass parameter is the total mass of the ship including hull, modules, cargo and fuel. The fuel cost parameter is the amount of fuel that will be expended for the jump. Since we are concerned with the maximum range, we can interpret the fuel cost as the max fuel per jump of the drive, ie we will use as much fuel as we are allowed.
From this we can see that: optimised mass is by far the most important stat. For a constant ship mass, eg a fully laden ship, the range is directly proportional to the optimised mass. Furthermore, increasing the total mass to be shifted increases the fuel cost and decreases the range.
Larger increases to the drive's optimised mass are traded against a corresponding increase in mass of the drive itself. However, comparing the optimised mass and module mass stats shows that the benefit imparted by the optimised mass increase far outweighs the impact of the module mass increase.
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Example:
- Optimised mass: You jump further the more your total mass is less than this.
- Max fuel per jump: The more fuel you can spend on the jump, the further you go.
- Fuel power and Multiplier are hidden stats which affect the calculations.
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The formula to calculate the range that a given loadout can achieve is as follows:
(optimised mass / total mass) * (fuel cost / multiplier)[color=#cb7e07](1 / fuel power)[/color]
The total mass parameter is the total mass of the ship including hull, modules, cargo and fuel. The fuel cost parameter is the amount of fuel that will be expended for the jump. Since we are concerned with the maximum range, we can interpret the fuel cost as the max fuel per jump of the drive, ie we will use as much fuel as we are allowed.
From this we can see that: optimised mass is by far the most important stat. For a constant ship mass, eg a fully laden ship, the range is directly proportional to the optimised mass. Furthermore, increasing the total mass to be shifted increases the fuel cost and decreases the range.
Larger increases to the drive's optimised mass are traded against a corresponding increase in mass of the drive itself. However, comparing the optimised mass and module mass stats shows that the benefit imparted by the optimised mass increase far outweighs the impact of the module mass increase.
Drive | Optimised mass | Mass |
---|---|---|
A7 | 2700 | 80 |
A6 | 1800 | 40 |
A5 | 1050 | 20 |
A4 | 525 | 10 |
A3 | 150 | 5 |
A2 | 90 | 2.5 |
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Consider a Diamondback Explorer with a A2 power plant, D4 thrusters, A5 frame shift drive, D3 life support, D3 power distributor, D3 sensors and C4 fuel tank. The total mass of the ship when fully fueled is 307.3T. Given that an A5 FSD has optimised mass 1050T and max fuel per jump 5T, the ship's laden range is thus:
The range displayed in outfitting is 40.08Ly.
With an Increased FSD Range modification increasing optimised mass by 43% and the module's mass by 40% the new optimised mass is 1501.5T and the new mass is 28T (up from 20T). The new laden range is:
Or 55.86Ly. Up by 39.37% which is close to the 43% optimised mass multiplier on the modification.
(optimised mass / total mass) * (fuel cost / multiplier)(1 / fuel power)
= (1050 / 307.3) * (5 / 0.012)(1 / 2.45)
= 3.4169 * 416.6667 0.4082
= 3.4169 * 11.7301
= 40.0806
= (1050 / 307.3) * (5 / 0.012)(1 / 2.45)
= 3.4169 * 416.6667 0.4082
= 3.4169 * 11.7301
= 40.0806
The range displayed in outfitting is 40.08Ly.
With an Increased FSD Range modification increasing optimised mass by 43% and the module's mass by 40% the new optimised mass is 1501.5T and the new mass is 28T (up from 20T). The new laden range is:
(optimised mass / total mass) * (fuel cost / multiplier)(1 / fuel power)
= (1501.5 / 315.3) * (5 / 0.012)(1 / 2.45)
= 4.7621 * 416.6667 0.4082
= 4.7621 * 11.7301
= 55.8602
= (1501.5 / 315.3) * (5 / 0.012)(1 / 2.45)
= 4.7621 * 416.6667 0.4082
= 4.7621 * 11.7301
= 55.8602
Or 55.86Ly. Up by 39.37% which is close to the 43% optimised mass multiplier on the modification.
A good rule of thumb is that an n% increase in optimal mass gives close to an n% increase in jump range.
[size=+1]The modification[/size]
For Buckyballing the recommendation is simple. You want the Increased FSD Range mod. Every time.
The higher the optimised mass (and in update 2.x the lower the mass) you roll, the better. In update 2.x look for a secondary effect boosting max fuel per jump. When comparing two mods, the one with higher optimised mass will usually be better. Check the formula in the spoiler section above to confirm.
For Elite Racers - or for any other race which does not require hyperspace jumping - the Faster FSD Boot Sequence should be applied instead. It is the only FSD mod which does not increase the mass of the FSD module itself. After applying a grade 1 Faster FSD Boot Sequence modification to a 2D drive you should apply the Stripped Down experimental for a net decrease in mass.
Experimental effect
Research by JonathanBurnage demonstrated that Mass Manager (+4% optimised mass) results in higher range for class 5 or higher drives, whereas Deep Charge (+10% max fuel per jump) is better for class 2, 3 and 4 drives.
The alternatives
Shielded FSD improves the integrity and heat management of the drive. Much more useful for combat ships.
[size=+1]Thrusters[/size]
Elite Racers: this is your top priority.
[size=+1]The science[/size]
Thrusters aren't hard to understand but they aren't particularly easy to explain.
Each ship has a base speed and base boost speed. These values are not displayed anywhere in the game, although they can be calculated and are reported on the online ship building websites. Fitting better quality thrusters increases your speed, as does reducing your mass. Your ship's final speed is derived from its base speed by a multiplier. As the name implies, the multiplier is simply a scaling factor applied to the base. It turns out that the same multiplier is applied to the cruise and boost speeds.
Each thruster has a minimal mass, a optimal mass and a maximal mass stat. You can't fit a thruster to a ship whose total mass is greater than the thruster's maximal mass, and you can't add modules to ships if doing so would push the ship over the maximal mass. If the ship's mass is at or below the thruster's minimal mass you will get the best performance. The optimal mass is somewhere in the middle.
Additionally, thrusters have minimal multiplier, optimal multiplier and maximal multiplier stats.
All thrusters of the same rating have the same multipliers. Thrusters of higher class have higher mass values across the board.
To make things more interesting, thrusters actually have three sets of mass and multiplier stats. There are individual values for top speed, acceleration and turn rate. However, standard thrusters have the same multipliers for each of the three sets and all thrusters of the same class have the same mass values for each set.
Things get interesting when we look at Enhanced Performance thrusters.
Each thruster has a minimal mass, a optimal mass and a maximal mass stat. You can't fit a thruster to a ship whose total mass is greater than the thruster's maximal mass, and you can't add modules to ships if doing so would push the ship over the maximal mass. If the ship's mass is at or below the thruster's minimal mass you will get the best performance. The optimal mass is somewhere in the middle.
Additionally, thrusters have minimal multiplier, optimal multiplier and maximal multiplier stats.
- The minimal multiplier is the multiplier applied to the ship's base speed when its mass is at the maximal mass value of the thruster; the ship will not fly slower than base speed * minimal multiplier with that thruster fitted.
- The optimal multiplier is the multiplier applied when the ship's mass is at the optimal mass value.
- The maximal multiplier is the multiplier applied when the ship is at or below the minimal mass value; the ship will not fly faster than base speed * maximal multiplier.
All thrusters of the same rating have the same multipliers. Thrusters of higher class have higher mass values across the board.
Rating | Min | Opt | Max |
---|---|---|---|
A | 0.96 | 1.0 | 1.16 |
B | 0.93 | 1.0 | 1.13 |
C | 0.90 | 1.0 | 1.10 |
D | 0.86 | 1.0 | 1.06 |
E | 0.83 | 1.0 | 1.03 |
Things get interesting when we look at Enhanced Performance thrusters.
Acceleration | Speed | Turn |
---|