Utility slots - what's the most useful and why?

Alone Wulff

A
O7 pilots!

As per the title. Not looking for advice on 'best builds' so please try not to spam this thread with Coriolis builds. I'd just like to start a discussion on a topic that hasn't really been discussed since the last big update, that may prove useful for new players. I'm experienced in the game but haven't really built a small ship since 2017, when lack of point defence resulted in missile spams and having chaff meant more NPCs used fixed weapons. Has this changed?

Let's limit this to small ships with puny shields (Sidey, Cobra, Eagle etc) so shield boosters are effectively not very useful so can be eliminated - we're talking chaff vs point defence vs heat sinks. No engineering, PvE, bi-weave shield, all internals Hull, no SCBs.
 

Aashenfox

Aashenfox
Due to the nature of fast charge biweave shields and small ship maneuverability, there is rarely a a better option than a couple of resistance augmented boosters on a reinforced biweave, or a couple of heavy duty boosters (make them D or E rated for weight) on a thermal resist biweave. Chaff is good in pve, as is point defense, and that's about it for combat effectiveness. Heat sinks are of limited use in pve but can be very valuable in pvp for temporary disappearing acts. Traditionally you'll only carry a heat sink if you also carry cells (in pve).
 

Lightspeed

Lightspeed
I think if you are new to the game, and therefore in those smaller ships, chaff would be the most helpful for getting out of trouble with enemy fire.

Heat sinks tend to be for more specialised purposes. They used to be essential for exploration, but now that the FSD doesn't dump you in between two or three hot stars, and even the cruise control can keep you at a respectable stopping distance from a star, heat sinks are less important.

In terms of priority I would rate them as (from most important):

chaff;​
point defence;​
heat sink.​
 

bladebss

bladebss
Well.. I dissagree the having chaff means npcs use more fixed wepons. In my experiance this is not that case, they use some fixed and some gimbaled and some times all fixed or all gimbaled, even turrets some times and it doesn't seem to be dependent on your build its just rng.

Point defence is useful but it does not stop all missiles from getting thrugh and due to placement on the ship can be quite ineffective some times. You only need to get hit by 3 or 4 missiles in a small ship, especially if you havent got MRPs and its no more guns for you and time to leave any way.

But.. pack all your hit points into shields.. with the use of gardian shield boosters and 2 shield boosters in your utility slots and missiles wont matter untill you reach the very bottom of your hit point pool. Now this does leave you a bit vunerable to gimabled weapons but at least you have more shields to cope with it. A cannon with dispersal field will help with this..

No engeneering? Well who does that, exept peasants? Lol but i supose if your new and dont have access yet..

In the case of vanilla ships just slap a chaff and point defence on and call it a day as thats about as far as the options go. What would you want heat syncs for in a pve fight? Especialy as you have specified no scbs?

Double chaff if you keep running out and dont want to synth, or you want realy good chaff coverage against gimbaled weapons.

Double point defence might help against missiles a bit better than one but.. not much especialy as on most small ships the utility slots dont cover more than one side of the ship.

So one chaff.. and one point defence or double chaff..

Or one chaff and a kill warrent so you make more money quiker and can aford to get a bigger ship.
 
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bladebss

bladebss
In pve..? Silent running is of little effective use and is more of an escape tactice if anything. How long are you planning on staying in silent running during a fight with your 3-6 heat syncs? You cant realy shoot any thing in silent running any way. I you can count on the npc to still be shooting you and taking the time to recharge there shilds walst you sputter around in silent running.
 

Alone Wulff

A
bladebss said:
In pve..? Silent running is of little effective use and is more of an escape tactice if anything. How long are you planning on staying in silent running during a fight with your 3-6 heat syncs? You cant realy shoot any thing in silent running any way.
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You're asking me questions like I'm 'supposed to know' - many new players would not.

No engineering, small ships, new players - meaning low boost speeds, boost only available every ten seconds, absolute minimum shields, very low dps, hard fights against even lowest level NPCs. There is absolutely a need for silent running in PvE - if it works against NPCs - example: shields gone, 10% hull, need to get out asap. Silent running, heat sink, boost, jump out. New players won't be reacting fast enough to know exactly when to jump out, if they even know to have an escape jump plotted. Hence why the right utility modules are important - they could save a rebuy.
 

Drelthar

Drelthar
Manifest scanner
Frame shift wake scanner.

(This is actually what I have on my Cobra MkIII - I mean, it's a pirate vessel, but still)
 

Tarman

Tarman
Alone Wulff said:
You're asking me questions like I'm 'supposed to know' - many new players would not.

No engineering, small ships, new players - meaning low boost speeds, boost only available every ten seconds, absolute minimum shields, very low dps, hard fights against even lowest level NPCs. There is absolutely a need for silent running in PvE - if it works against NPCs - example: shields gone, 10% hull, need to get out asap. Silent running, heat sink, boost, jump out. New players won't be reacting fast enough to know exactly when to jump out, if they even know to have an escape jump plotted. Hence why the right utility modules are important - they could save a rebuy.
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MALFUNCTION MALFUNCTION

I doubt that if a rookie gets peeled down to 10% hull in an Eagle there's gonna be much else left functional on that ride either. That's waaaay too low a number to then start thinking about bugging out if you're already shredded to pieces. Any escape with that little ship left is usually called being lucky, not Just As Planned.
 

Stealthie

Stealthie
Not a big fan of chaff.

Dunno if it's more useful against lower-tier NPCs but I guess I just never meet any NPCs (or players) who are affected by it.

I stopped using SCBs so the only time I use HSLs is on exploration ships.
I always bung one (or more) PDTs on ships that are either cargo ships or aren't tanky enough to shrug off missiles.
I always fit a 0C wake-scanner on my scout/multirole ships for gather scan-date when there's an opportunity.
Mining ships, of course, get a PWS.
Other than that, I'm afraid it's SBs all the way.
 

Dagwit

Dagwit
Heat sinks break scans. No successful scan, no trouble.

If you're carrying crooked passengers or illicit cargo you should have a heat sink fitted. If you're trying to land at planetary bases, where you can be scanned multiple times, it's worth fitting two.

Even in silent running - I've been scanned in silent running while hacking megaship data terminals. Heat sinks always work, silent running just gives you better odds of not being scanned.
 
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