thunderbolta wrote: Secondly, Flux wrote: In general, why compare only Big ship vs small ship? This discussion seems to me like "black or white". Where is the moderate built ship approach and the discussion of switch in ship build? Did anyone considered to have ship with 1200 decks early (rank 250) to mount all researchable modules, use the advantage in PvP/raids and progress to SSB till rank 1200 and focus on NPCs/missions/hacks? PS: If I missed on forum the link to MSB and ship build switch topic, please post me in commen the link. Thanks  Golgotha is a prime example of an MSB (there IS a thread somewhere). With ~2000 decks at rank 1000+ (iirc), he shows that a middle ship build can be the way to go. Switching between builds isn't really as easy as you make out though, as there is no way to reduce decks the only way to switch is if you have it planned in advance or hear about it in time. This is all well and good, and works nicely for some people. I went cold-turkey on decks some 50 ranks ago and am slowly transitioning into an MSB, but I look at many of the players my rank and I still have more decks than some of them. Certainly, I cannot go full SSB until rank 2,499, which is a looooong time away. For the next 300 ranks (minimum), I'm still going to be an LSB.
I'm currently in (and plan to stay as) a MSB. I managed to work it down to only what I saw as "essentials", but then the Merged Data Node came out and forced me to add another 20 decks to my build heh. Overall I would certainly recommend a MSB over any other type of ship build, due to my personal experience when combating SSBs (energy drains, but not necessarily "stronger" than a good MSB), and having been a relatively large build for my rank at lower ranks (where despite generally slightly higher stats, I would often be hit for more due to my increased decks).
Overall, I would say the pros and cons are:
SSB
- Pros: A huge energy sink, and certainly one to be tapped off a BT if hunting for badges. Good for those who solely wish to maintain a good record, especially as the damage cap limits ships of all ranks. The small damage cap will also aid in lasting longer on bases if you have the energy to maintain an attack (granted you have enough tactical officers to do significant damage), and guarding planets. These ships also typically have the lowest upkeep, due to a general lack of modules.
- Cons: Requires immense AP compared to similarly ranked ships if they wish to be anywhere near energy efficient in disabling their peers. If a SSB has only high AP for their rank, it is still quite possible that they will lose their hull faster than a very good similarly ranked MSB (although they would absolutely require more energy to be taken down by a high ranker or such). If you can't garner enough attack on the SSB, you won't be able to penetrate a good MSB's higher defenses granted by modules, and end up doing as much or less damage to them as they will to you. If you have an enormous amount of AP, this can be overcome by sheer number of tactical officers.
MSB
- Pros: A combination of a SSB and LSB. Typically you'll want just enough space (and perhaps a bit more) to install only the highest ratio modules for attack, defense, and hull. Depending on your style, your % modules may vary, but should always include the Merged Datanode, Kalvium Platings, Aegis Capacitors, and Velox Thrusters as a minimum. I personally will remove some defensive modules to install Surge Plexuses or Tetraseeker Targeters when I NPC/Base respectively, resulting in a temporary loss of only a few hundred defense for those modules' percent gains. This build allows you to configure your ship to whatever your current needs may be.
- Neutral: You don't have an extremely small damage cap, but it is smaller than a LSB's (and therefore more resilient), while being larger than a SSB's. Additionally, your upkeep is not as large as a LSB's, but not as small as a SSB's.
- Cons: You can't have everything installed all the time. Swapping modules in and out to transfer between attack (say for planetary invasions), turtling (hull/defense/shields, if you want to defend a planet and increase your durability), scanning, and energy builds (for rank ups or saving up energy) can wear on you, and is quite a hassle.
LSB
- Pros: You can have everything installed all the time. One of the best builds for convenience, as you can always have the maximum energy, defense, attack, hull, shields, scan, and cloak provided by modules at all times, allowing for easy completion of missions, finding of NPCs, or just general gameplay. You almost never have to move modules around, with the exception of removing relays before ranking (which could be eliminated, if you truly don't like it, by increasing your energy enough that you can autorank with relays on).
- Cons: With this convenience comes a higher damage cap, increasing the amount of damage you'll take in comparison to a lower decked ship. This higher damage cap means bases, planets, and other players all hit harder on you compared to if you had fewer decks. This is the least durable ship build overall, and you will likely have to use more restoration artifacts when combating bases, other players, or NPCs. In addition, these ships tend to be the most energy efficient to receive badges from, and also typically have higher upkeep due to the number of modules installed.
Of course, there are probably other pros/cons to each build that I have forgotten to mention. Honestly, the one you choose is based on how you want to play the game as an individual.
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I have 489 decks atm, currently rank 362, I dont plan on going over 500 decks for a while, just need enough for full perfect syncos and a few other things