Difference between revisions of "Utility Ships"

Latest revision as of 17:39, 4 April 2011

Utility ships are not a shipclass, like some may think. The designation, "Utility Ship" or more commonly referred to one of the subgroups, such as Travel Ship/ Base Management Ship/ Lulz Ship/ Bank Ship, is a widely applied term.

Utility ships are in common usage in Star Sonata and provide the statistics, such as incredible hull space, high speed, stealth, or just fun, that a combat ship cannot.

Travel Ships

Travel Ships are an integral part of Star Sonata. Also doubling as exploration and scout ships, Travel Ships are generally low visibility with high speed. However, most travel ships cannot tank a combat focused ship or some of the more powerful AI, and generally the higher Danger Factor you enter the more speed and stealth you require to be safe.

The key to designing a good Travel Ship is as follows:

Speed- You want a fast ship. Slow ships take a long time to travel in excess of 30 jumps and therefore make creating a travel ship impractical. Fast ships are harder targets for AI and players/ bases to hit and therefore survive better. Common Shields for use on travel ships are Phantomstreams, Jetstreams, Firestreams, Paxian Galactic Exploreres, and Paxian Sovereign Explorers. Each of said shields gives a decent speed bonus, along with low electricity consumption and high regeneration.

Stealth- Of course, speed isn't the only factor in designing a good travel ship. Stealth is important as it can allow you to slip by hostile AI and players without notice. Stealth is generally acheived by Augmenters such as the Hermes and Hera augmenters and their "+" versions, along with cloaks.

Size- Large ships make big targets. You need a small ship as it's much less likely for projectiles to hit a small ship going fast than a large ship.

Agility- Unknown to most people, agility is incredibly important. Most engines put on travel ships are NOT stealthy, and therefore the more time you thrust the more you are visible. Also, the faster you turn and accelerate, the less time you spend at a slow speed, therefor bringing your top speed up.

Common ships include the Locution, Ancient Scoutship, and Apprentice's Wards.

The most credit- efficient ship would be the Locution.

For a total cost of 300m credits, you should use

Liberty Shield Capacitor 3-4 Striped Emphasis Phantomstream GG12 Escape Pod Burns Plant 3 Hermes Augmenters Speedy Good/ Excellent Agility Augmenter

That's approximately 2 visibility and 250 speed.

A more expensive fit is an Apprentice's Ward with 3 Hera+ augmenters and a Paxian Sovereign Explorer. The cost for an Apprentice's Ward travel ship is around 4-5b if done correctly, but it has the advantage of having large hull space to transport things.

Base Management Ships

Base Management ships are important to maintain and establish galaxies. They carry base gear, supplies, and workers from other bases to a newly setup kit. They also can lay permanant drones and more base kits with full gear. Common Base Management ships include the Dark Freighter, Singularity Sphere, and Thatch. They are most often augged for holding capacity, although some Dark Freighters are used as transport ships, stealthy and speedy ships that can hold large amounts of materials.

Bank Ships

Bank ships are a huge part of the game. Since Userbases are vulnerable and you can't store things on AI bases, Bank Ships are where all your acquired items are stored. Bank ships are commonly ships such as Thatches and Singularity Spheres. They are augged for capacity and not used to transport items, rather hold as much as possible.

Lulz Ships

Lulz ships provide the comic releif of Star Sonata. Whether it's a Lion with 3 Minor Docking Augmenters and a Slipstream or an EFDN augged for stealth and speed, they're how the stresses of managing several galaxies and worrying about pirates are releived. Lulz ships can just look fun or actually be useful, such as a Panther Kitten or a Warrior.