Ship Builds & Load Outs What's the point of upgrading Life Support?

[althaz]

Hey, I'm new here, so please forgive me if this has been discussed before (although a search yielded nothing), but what's the point of upgrading life support beyond "D" level (which I do solely for the weight reduction)?

I understand that the Life Support module gives you a longer oxygen supply...but so what? Are people setting Life Support to a lower priority so it's not running in combat or something like that? For me, every ship I've had I've fitted the "D" module. It's lighter and doesn't draw too much power. Is this maybe a combat survivability thing and I've just been lucky not to have run out of oxygen before when getting hit?

Thank-you in advance to anybody who can shed light on this topic .

 

[Fire70]

You pretty much answered you own question, it gives you a long supply of oxygen. I would also imagine there are some weight differences between classes as well that would affect your jump distance.

 

[Arsen Cross]

I personally see several advantages to upgraded lifesupport.

There are a few obvious things to consider when picking your life support module:

• Weight
• Power Consumption
• Oxygen Reserves

Most people always go for D class due to the lower weight which directly increases speed, maneuverability and jump range. I feel that this is because your oxygen reserves aren't used very often.

What isn't really talked about is the advantages and limitations of the various durations of oxygen levels. Allow me to share how I view these variations by outlining a couple "laws" I've noticed from the life support modules.

• Life support reserves are only replenished at stations. You can confirm this by powering off your life support module letting about a minute or so deplete, then turning the module back on, and off again. Your oxygen reserves will remain at their previous level.
• Life support reserves are only used when the module is either powered off, destroyed or your canopy is busted preventing your life support module from generating breathable atmosphere in your crafts cabin.
• Auto Field Maintenance units can not repair a life support module without powering it off.

For combat high grade life support can be valuable in ships with vulnerable canopies. If you have an E or D class life support, typically getting your canopy blown will result in you needing to retreat depending on how far you are from the closest station. Half of a typical trade route can take anywhere from 2-5 minutes and that's a good estimate for how far most people will be from a station in civilized space.

Because of the fact that I play in Open, and fly a large ship with a vulnerable canopy (Python) I use an A-Grade life support module. I have actually had this investment pay off directly in combat preventing me from having to make myself vulnerable by fleeing against an inferior opponent because my canopy was blown. Having 25 minutes of breathing room completely eliminated panic from the equation of combat when my canopy was blown, allowing me to keep my cool, finish off my opponent and then head home casually.

For exploration the benefit is not as high. The only real benefit from a high end life support module is that since the module does not replenish its own reserves while powered on you are limited to how much time you can spend repairing the life support module in space with AFM's. Arguably the benefit of a higher grade life support module is eliminated by the fact that your powerplant can not be repaired in space.

Anyways, that's my 2cr.

 

[Alex Brentnall]

For me the big issue on life support is later on. When your ship costs 5mil Cr to rebuy you'd be annoyed if you died due to only having 7.5minutes of life support instead of 25. (Cost, weight and power are minimal on Life support anyway compared with other systems).

However, for exploring and low value ships you are correct, fit a D class and forget about it.
As above, not heard of it being disabled in combat since it doesn't replenish apart from at stations.

 

[althaz]

Thanks for the responses, guys.

@Alex - Disabling it in combat (if you use an A-level module) would give you an extra couple of percent wiggle room - might be useful if you are power-starved in combat (most ships) but don't fight for long enough periods to use up your 25 mins of air (20 mins of fighting still leaves you enough air/time to get 50 light years or so to a station).

I guess I tend to bail on combat if my canopy gets blown in which case the 7.30 from a D module is plenty. Sounds like I might as well stick to D until maybe I can afford a much more expensive ship (assuming something more expensive than my target Vulture becomes desireable - currently not a big fan of the FDL, Python, 'Conda or Clipper, though I may pick up an Asp eventually as my second vessel).

 

[Arsen Cross]

I had considered disabling my life support to allow more modules to be powered during combat but ultimately decided against it. Once you get into high value ships that time, as Alex outlined, becomes valuable. I for one have a 13.7m rebuy and eating my life support during combat for an extra 0.18 power (difference between A & D ratings on class 4 life support) is negligible.

That 0.18 on small ships, with small powerplants can be a pretty big deal, but if upgrading life support to A grade isn't hurting you too much in terms of ship performance the power cost is easily negated by module priorities.

Module priorities are actually pretty cool too. I have 3 SCB's equipped to my ship, a 4A, and two 3A's. I can fully recharge my shields with the 4A by itself, or by using the two 3A's together. I however cannot run all three at once, and even if I do the SCB hotkey uses all powered on SCB's simultaneously (WHICH I LIKE!). Because of this I've engineered my module priorities to account for it. I toggle the power state of my 4A SCB and my two 3A's turn off automatically meaning I can switch between them with one click, instead of three. While doing this, my priorities still also handle all other systems in an intelligent way to ensure that I always have power to the systems I need at any given moment.

So in a nutshell, the power cost may be there, but in a multi role/large ship with the power output... running over your powerplants consumption is actually fairly easy with appropriate planning and foresight. As such for me, A class life support is an absolute must.

 

[FrankusSupremus]

Having the mega sized ones that go for 25 minutes does seem a slight waste of money/room. But upgrading at least a little is a good idea. I got into a small issue at a RES and had to haul ass out of there. I stupidly went back to the outpost I was basing myself in at the time without remembering that they didn't have repair facilities, so I had to scramble to get to a different station. And I got interdicted on the way! I got there and boosted through the letterbox to the point where I bounced off the inside of the far wall. I had THREE seconds of air left, so I considered it a worthwhile risk! If I hadn't bought a better life support system, I would have lost a TON of sweet, delicious bounty cash.

 

[Camisade]

I remember stumbling across this thread when I was new(er) to the game, and thinking, Yeah, I can absolutely see the benefit of investing in a module that'll provide longer breathing if my canopy gets blown. Now, I've reversed my thinking. I play PvE at this point, and my fights never take more than a few minutes (unlike the protracted duels I've seen in some Youtube PvP battles between skilled pilots). And I've realized that (if I'm not mistaken!) that you can use the ship's synthesis capability to generate/refill your oxygen supplies, using two very common materials that will almost always be available.

So unless I'm mistaken (and in that case, correct me!) a D-rated module, which is very light weight but "only" grants 7.5 mins of oxygen could easily last you as long as an A-rated module, as long as you ran quick synthesis-recharge once you ended the current fight and then every 6-7 minutes until you made it back to a station. Right?

Under that logic, I'll go with the D-rated module, have Bill Turner engineer it to get an almost 50% reduction in weight, and still never really have to worry about running out of air ...especially since I've never, ever, had a PvE fight result in my canopy being breached!

 

[Urazz]

Now that you can use synthesis to refill the life support, I find it to be pretty much pointless to anything higher than grade D life support. Unless it's for long PVP fights, you generally can get finish up a fight within the time you have on your oxygen with D rated life support, You shouldn't need anymore than one synthesis to refill your life support at the very most. Anymore than that and you are probably really far out from a station and are probably going to die regardless.

 

[shenkuri]

I have only been playing for a month but I can see the argument for Weight over time and as stated it truly does depend on your ship. I'm flying around in a fed dropship and a good 90% the first thing to go in a fight is my canopy and on a lot of occasions i'm 4 or 5 jumps from the nearest station and more I don't have the synthesis materials to make more oxygen but if your in a ship with a protected cockpit then yes D should be more then enough. so only real times I can suggest getting a A rank life support form experience mind you your may be different so this may not work but if your flying a lakkon or and federal version of a dropship I recommend not skimping on life support but if your flying a adder or something i'm not sure there canopies look well protected.

 

[dishduster]

Basically zero point. If your out exploring you'll likely have an afmu which allows repairing the life support and canopy if destroyed, beside out in deep space 25 minutes vs 7.5 minutes of reserves proberbly isnt going to make much difference, theres no stations for up to half a galaxy away barring carriers. If your in the bubble 7.50 minutes is more than enough time to get to a station.

Proberbly the only point is if you want to continue combat with a blown canopy or life support before going back to the station for repairs as others have said. But even this is pointless because you can just use an afmu here too. Also you can easily use synthesis to refill oxygen reserves in a pinch anyway so it really is pointless to have anything other than a D grade life support, that being the lowest weight of all grades allowing for (slightly) greater jump range, speed and manoeuvrability etc.

But every bit counts when making a super jump range ship

 

[DjVortex]

For combat ships: More o2 gives you more time to get to a station when your canopy breaks. (Of course most experienced commanders will synth more o2, but why do that if you have 25 minutes of o2 in the first place...)

Otherwise: If you ever completely run out of fuel, more o2 means the Fuel Rats will have an easier time saving you, especially if you are very far from the system's entry point. (Although in this case synthing more o2 can also help a lot.)

As the old adage says: There are two types of commanders: Those who have accidentally run out of fuel, and those who will accidentally run out of fuel.