I am a r187 Vygoid hacker, and I'm trying to decide at 190 which chain I want to do first.
If I do the lazuli chain, it will only be to the 2 more NPC slots.

If I do the drannik chain, It will be to unlock the drannik race for the +40% attack to NPC's.

I think I'm leaning more towards the Lazuli chain, mostly because it would take less energy, and the sooner I get the 50 parts manifest the better

Do the lazuli chain get the slots then move on.

the lazuli parts runners are easy to find... i did that entire mission in one day.... (to compare... in that time i only got about 10 or so dark iso-runners)

In some ways 40% NPC damage still cooler than 50% hull but yeah as you've said, Lazuli mission chain is good with nice exp ratio, cool artifacts and specially additional 2 NPC slots. I've just became Drannik after 1 months dumping almost all of my energy for it, the exp ratio is lame and the artifacts are...not too cool. But it's worth, 40% does amazing!

Yeah, I wouldn't finish the lazuli chain. Especially not the lazuli alliance part. I just need the two extra NPC slots

I'm Lazuli and I really like it, Drannik may be great for NPC hunting but it's usefulness ends there. If you go lazuli that +50% hull is good any time you go into combat, not just part of it. So if you plan on doing serious NPC hunting then Drannik is for you but otherwise I would say Lazuli is a better all-around option.

personally ive tried a bunch of different slots. my main two priorities are Npc hunting and invasions. therefore i chose konqul fixer, id much prefer the 20% attack across the board, which includes bases invasions and npcs, and of course the 30% extra hull is very nice too.