Newcomer / Intro Whom to pledge to first?

[Cohen the Worrior]

Professor Exigeous just released another great lecture on prismatic shields.

I understand barely half of it and will have to look it through a couple of times, but what I did understand is I need to pledge to a power.
So whom should I pledge to first?
I have a Vulture, an Asp X and a Python currently on a rescue mission.

Any advice is welcome.

Гo commanders

 

[Northpin]

To no one unless you have a specific need, although a special case could be made for prismatics and to a much lesser extent the mining lance
For example Prismatics are used extensively in PVP and in very few niche cases of PVE.
So except for PVP, they have little use and if you dont PVP you can skip them entirely and replace them with normal A-rated for general, not-often-in-combat pve usage or for Bi-weaves for the combat oriented types.
The mining lance can be used to poke asteroids at longer ranges, but even so, it has quite some drawbacks.

Everything else is more or less fluff

Yea i know people will say Packhounds, but they are rather nice for the show and not as much for everything else.
Their total damage (assuming that all mini missiles hit the target) is lower than of a seeker, but they have this tendency of setting off each other before hitting the target.

However, if you do intent to pursue them, let's say out of academic interest, keep in mind that:

• there is a weekly tick, on Thursday, that triggers the PowePlay turns (PP is turn based and each turn takes a week to complete)
• you need to stay pledged to a Power for at least 4 weeks to unlock the modules
• you also need to be rank 3 with that power when you reach the 4th week - that is you have to acquire 750 merits in the week before.
• to acquire merits you need to destroy ships pledged to another power in their control systems for 30 merits a ship or to go in a PP Combat Zone and kill highly engineered ships for 10 merits a pop (and nothing else) or to ferry fortification materials - 750ton for a price of 7.5 millions credits if you try to do them at once in a T9 or a Cutter.

All in all, if you ask me - they're not really worth the effort (tho i do have some of them) - at least not in the early phases of the game.
IMO reserve this activity after you really find a use for them.

Your priorities as a new player would be to unlock engineers and the guardian modules (FSD Booster and maybe Guardian Shield Booster, but other modules are useful too)

 

[Para Handy]

I once pledged to the brainwashers to help a friend in game.... I unpledged after about an hour. Absolutely no interest whatsoever in any of the goodies.

 

[GroG79]

Agreed. They are just nice to have.

Packhounds look awesome and can negate point defence. This can be a reason to unlock them as to replace the missiles on a ship you have
Prisms as above; undersizing is what makes them shine (unless you do pvp)

I also like Advanced plasma - A step up from the normal ones but harder to use (slower)
And then there is the imperial hammer - Also more difficult to use but when used right very deadly
Enforcer cannon I like! Fixed only tho
Pacifier frag cannon - A bit better then normal frags
And last on my list the grom bombs. They reboot FSD drives IF you can make them hit


So mostly combat related; except the mining lance which is useless

 

[Ashnak]

Let me see. I never was one for Plasma or Rails (but I'm learning slowly), and I simply don't like the Disney Princess. What I got:

• Enforcer Cannon. Size 1 fixed multicannon that is punching above its weight with a low power consumption
• Cytoscramblers. Size 1 fixed burst lasers that punch like a size 3 beam - but only against shields
• Packhounds. Just for fun. Yes, they don't punch that hard - but they also overwhelm point defense. ANd using them for planetary missions that require a discrete power failure... nothing says discretely that you p*****d someone off like a dozen 'hounds converging on your generator
• Pacifiers. They do what it says on the box. Think Detritus' Piecemaker. Granted, unengineered and on paper they're even worse than regular frags, and they only come in fixed. But there are two numbers in these stats that really make a difference: faster shot speed and a much tighter spread. My favourites, unfortunately not really useful in CZ or wherever there's too many friendlies around.

 

[Go'Gen]

All in all, if you ask me - they're not really worth the effort (tho i do have some of them) - at least not in the early phases of the game. IMO reserve this activity after you really find a use for them.

How about using Prismatics purely to save one bigger slot?
I have all A-shields engineered to G5, but would love to put smaller ones for same effect and have bigger slot freed for ie. bigger cargo module. Example: Feeling quite uneasy with 6A shield (though G5 ThermRes+HiCap) in cargo Cutter and imho Prismatics would help here.
What's your opinion?
o7
PS
Never been pledged to anyone so far.

 

[[PS4] Lorenzo Waringos]

I've never really paid attention to the great powers, only to get some modules, I am getting more interested though. I need to read up a bit. The way I'm going to choose is by deciding who I hate the most out of the leaders then pick their nemesis as frankly, they all look a bit sketchy to me.

 

[Deleted member 257907]

Professor Exigeous just released another great lecture on prismatic shields.

I understand barely half of it and will have to look it through a couple of times, but what I did understand is I need to pledge to a power.
So whom should I pledge to first?
I have a Vulture, an Asp X and a Python currently on a rescue mission.

Any advice is welcome.

Гo commanders

I just did my first powerplay module for Li Yong-Rui.
Li Yong-Rui controlled space gives 15% discount on all in-stock ships and modules.
and you get pack hound missiles afterwards which are not too expensive to buy many of.
Prismatic shields I heard you need a few billion credits to buy a couple of the larger prismatic modules. the pack hounds are size 2 and cost about 500k so i bought about 20 modules and then left the powerplay faction to unlocking next powerplay module. ill need to first earn a lot of money before unlocking prismatic makes sense.

 

[Northpin]

How about using Prismatics purely to save one bigger slot?

That's the niche case, but you can use an A rated instead

My Anaconda is a such case
My Sightseeing runner was also like that, but i eventually dropped the shields completely and added another cabin

Edit: My Cutters were planned with a 6A prismatic too, but my Miner Cutter is running a plain 6A while my Hauler cutter is running shieldless for 784t cargo capacity.

 

[Northpin]

Li Yong-Rui controlled space gives 15% discount on all in-stock ships and modules.

This is always active, you dont need to be pledged to LYR to benefit the discount

 

[Cohen the Worrior]

Thanks for the tips guys. So no rush to pledge then.