Cosmetic only, no in-game effects.
What is a Caustic Sink Launcher?
- Thread starter Hooplah
- Start date
Oh that's hilarious. Literal pay-to-lose!Cosmetic only, no in-game effects.
Certainly a bug, yes. Maybe related to the hitcheck changes they had to make so that shipkit parts are solid for on-foot characters? Of course I think someone would have noticed before now if shipkit strikes were multiplying damage dealt from other sources.
That's because they are all online in your fire group. With a normal heatsink luncher it can be bound to a control in the options/controls not using the fire group.Then when all are online only one is ejected and when it runs out move to another one. The Devs didn't provide this control binding with the new caustic launcher. An error or on purpose? You decide.
So if you get slimed, the Caustic Sink does not terminate the effect, it just serves as a time barrier before you deploy decon limpets or overheat.
The on the fly reloads are costly.
I picked up my pair of caustic sinks thinking they would absorb the damage potential of a given slime (possibly needing multiple sinks), but they have no impact on the sustaining effect.
Enzyme missiles do about 80 HP for a full DOT burn - so I assumed there might be a similar mechanic at work with the CSs.
Thargoid slime essentially does unlimited damage unless actively mitigated.
There needs to be some in game science done on the cost effectiveness of Caustic Sinks per HP vs. Repair/Decon limpets.
Heat sinks essentially function as damage avoidance tools, so replacing that functionality with extra ablative HP may not be practical in AX combat.
Scratching my head on why I went through the trouble to get these.
The on the fly reloads are costly.
I picked up my pair of caustic sinks thinking they would absorb the damage potential of a given slime (possibly needing multiple sinks), but they have no impact on the sustaining effect.
Enzyme missiles do about 80 HP for a full DOT burn - so I assumed there might be a similar mechanic at work with the CSs.
Thargoid slime essentially does unlimited damage unless actively mitigated.
There needs to be some in game science done on the cost effectiveness of Caustic Sinks per HP vs. Repair/Decon limpets.
Heat sinks essentially function as damage avoidance tools, so replacing that functionality with extra ablative HP may not be practical in AX combat.
Scratching my head on why I went through the trouble to get these.
I disagree. A caustic launcher stops caustic damage when detected and your hull remains 100 percent while active. When ejected another one comes online and the ship is clean. Then add a 7D repair limpet controller with 64 limpets in my Imperial Clipper and one limpet repairs hull damage 12-15 percent not caring about the caustic damage even in a Malestrom. In a xeno combat planetary CZ I haven't tried them. The repair limpets at times can also remove light caustic damage but don't count on them. It is a combination of modules to be effective. If a player flies poorly and gets very heavy caustic damage the caustic launcher might help them to survive. Meanwhile the Devs are never going to give us one module that resolves all in GOD mode.
Last edited:
If I'm understanding you correctly, the sink continues to fill up even after you removed yourself from the source of corrosion?
Seems that way. If you fly through a caustic cloud in the Maelstrom, and fly out, my sink continued to fill until I used a decon limpet.
Could be I was impatient. Should be researched though...
If you get splattered with goo from a missile or fly through a caustic cloud, the caustic effect remains, slowly degrading your sink, until the next one comes online. The next one will fill up and so on until the caustic DOT is removed.
I agree that your ship does not take caustic damage during this time.
Once the sinks are exhausted, your hull will degrade from a single application of the caustic DOT.
The caustic DOT will not stop until you have applied a burn or decon limpet. (my experience)
So the sinks are temp HP only, they are not a means to terminate the caustic effect.
Maybe I'm wrong?
A basic 3E Decon limpet controller will repair 70 HP as well as terminating the caustic effect. Seems like they are a better deal without the unlock cost. In addition, popping a heatsink with a low synth cost may allow you to avoid damage from an enemy entirely. It's a tough set of trade offs to consider. Maybe someone that is an actuarial meta specialist will communicate what I am thinking better.
My experience t was that a certain amount of caustic per unit time was "sunk", which may or may not be enough to keep me from getting damage. For instance, a caustic missile, scout cloud, or outer maelstrom might be 2 points, while the cloud from a Interceptor or deeper in the Maelstrom might be four points. Considering that baseline, the CSL seems to be able to eat about 1 point per second, which is fast enough to make the 2 point damage negligible and the 4 point damage nearly so. Now, does it stack? I have NFI but it feels that way sometimes.
I get the impression that the frequency of the flashing on the green effect on your hull health bar represents the amount of caustic you have, and thus the rate of depletion of hull points, and the amount of work a decon limpet would need to do to clear it. I've definitely noted that one 3B Xeno decon limpet can handle a scout's cloud effect, but I often need two or more if I slide into an Interceptor's cloud.
Will they be useful in AX combat? I'm not much of an AXman so I don't know, but my instinct is that if I'm flying my Krait (4 util slots) it's not displacing a standard HSL if I have decon and repair limpet controllers onboard. I have them on my AX Beluga, but that's a free-for-all with beaucoup utility slots.
I get the impression that the frequency of the flashing on the green effect on your hull health bar represents the amount of caustic you have, and thus the rate of depletion of hull points, and the amount of work a decon limpet would need to do to clear it. I've definitely noted that one 3B Xeno decon limpet can handle a scout's cloud effect, but I often need two or more if I slide into an Interceptor's cloud.
Will they be useful in AX combat? I'm not much of an AXman so I don't know, but my instinct is that if I'm flying my Krait (4 util slots) it's not displacing a standard HSL if I have decon and repair limpet controllers onboard. I have them on my AX Beluga, but that's a free-for-all with beaucoup utility slots.
It will act as a decon limpet, absorbing damage and cleaning up your ship (while obviously absorbing caustic slime) - if it's not full already
No, the caustic sink will keep filling up until all caustic sources/stacks have been removed and then the bar will stop filling up.
If you fly deep into the maelstrom and/or get hit with caustic generator gas/explosions, you can build mutliple stacks of corrosion (watch how fast or slow your hull damage bar pulses). When gathering materials for the launcher, I once got a very heavy stack. It took 2+ decontamination limpets to remove all the caustic goo. I was totally in the clear - no new caustic damage being applied - and watched the first limpet go through it's whole cycle (with the hull bar pulse only slowing some) - and then had to deploy another, and then a third, which removed the last bit while being 5 seconds or so into it's cycle. Then I had to wait for that stupid limpet to finish so I could switch over to the repair limpets to repair the hull (which had dropped to 30%) and this was on a ship with 22.6% caustic resistance (here is the build)!
So if your caustic sink is still filling up, you've still got caustic goo it's trying to soak up/neutralize. When it gets it all, it will stop filling up.
This^ is exactly my experience.
It is effectively temporary caustic hit points. No cleansing effect at all.
This item is sort of like a hull reinforcement that only protects against caustic effects. You repair it by synthing extra ammo.
You can effectively repair a hull reinforcement (total ship HP) with a repair / decon limpet.
The question is exactly how many HP does a Caustic sink ammo unit have? Could this be tested with an enzyme missile?
Is the damage avoidance from a Heat sink a net positive or negative in AX combat relative to a caustic sink?
I've definitely seen cleansing, like when a sink gets full and there's overflow to my hull, my hull will corrode until I drop that sink and as soon as the new one is online, my caustic load will drop again.
That is just a transfer of the corrosion from the hull back to the sink. The sink will continue to fill until you decon or burn off the corrosion effect in my experience.
Did your caustic sink continue to fill after you discharged the full one?
Yep, every time. In fact I'm kind of bad at jettisoning them before they're full, so there's always some overflow for the next sink to start on.