As I watch, I wanna note something on Elite Field Modulation. I'm definitely a little biased cause I like shields but definitely can see what you mean on how some of the effects aren't as good as they might seem. However, one of the main use cases I'd argue for Elite Field Mod is for dealing with your AI. In my experience, the AI can be *very* hesitant to drop shields, even when it could or should, resulting in a "stare off" where two ships aren't really doing anything because they aren't far enough apart to drop shields, but are too high flux to really want to engage. In this scenario, EFM is allowing them to at least dissipate some hard flux, rather than none at all. At minimum, it gives your ships a little more survivability and an edge flux-wise, at best, it can let your ships dissipate enough to dive back in for the kill, when it otherwise would have been stuck in that high-flux dance forever The alternative option is of course, shove it on a Safety Overrides ship for a pseudo-fluxshunt on anything, and go ham, but that's for my flagship and not for the AI I think hah Either way, I fully expect this is the spot where I am told I just suck at Starsector and there's better ways to mitigate ships doing the shielded safety dance, but hey, that's why I'm watching these videos!
I mostly agree with your picks, this list is very representative of which skills make the most impact on officer AI behaviour in majority of circumstances. While technically outshined by hardened shields mod it is worth noting that Field Modulation works IN CONJUCTION with it providing great results. The thing with AI i observed during gameplay and testing is it "notices" and utilizes strong suits of it's defence. Ships with heavy armor and impact mitigation tend to armor tank with more confidence, and hit-and-run high tech ships (HT-frigates, Aurora, etc) tend to be more "ballsy" with harder shields, more capacity and speed, EXTENDING THEIR ATTACK WINDOWS. Thus by increasing defence you also increasing offence, and any HT and hybrid protection ship benefits from field modulation quite noticeably. Not to mention, effective shields multiply defensive flux (no diminishing returns) and work really well with Elite Field Modulation bonus on ships with relatively high dissipation (Executor, Aurora, Paragon).
The hull tanking stuff is lackluster, except on invictus where an officer purpose built for it is amazing. 50% repairs of that hull size is a ton. Stacked 2x 50% maneuver on it lets it turn way better, and the hull is high enough that bulkheads/blast doors (further conserving crew) are legit investments...it's a devastating ship when it is also almost impossible to keep offline via EMP. IMO a more entertaining ship to use than onslaught for low tech, the DP premium hurts but it's there for a reason. I'm mixed on field modulation for shield ships. The AI doesn't toggle its shield optimally or even close, so it's basically a straight boost to capacity for the AI that stacks (multiplicatively sadly) with hardened shields...and given the AI's behavior of backing out based on flux amount, that smaller bonus gets applied to multiple flux bars pretty often (in contrast to armor boosts etc). You really start to notice a difference when you have hardened + field modulation + elite systems expertise + high CR. This is one where I think other abilities have more potential, but in AI hands this one gets closer to max potential than alternatives. The modulation + elite systems expertise combo slides from shield ships into a phase ship nicely... I don't think I've ever taken elite ordinance expertise outside of player skill where you eventually just elite any skill you pick. Practically any opportunity cost overpowers it.
One thing I'll note is that like how some weapons are more useable on certain modded ships, some modded ships become absolutely broken with elite field modulation. Specifcally the RAT Aboleth can be built with that skill as its core and dissipate literal 300k+ damage through shields over a battle without ever dropping them.
I always learn a little something extra than just the tierlist. Like the maneuverability thing. Had no idea that's how it actually worked - always thought it was turn rate and may had some dealings in strafing. Thanks for the tips on these!
For elite PD it is worth noting it also affects HMG firing range, which allows using it in builds without SO as a main kinetic damage source AND PD weapon
A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one! Glad to see you delving into the more bigger picture choices like officers and hopefully fleet stuff. Lovely as always to hear that smooth voice for 45 minutes
Minor note on the Helmsman elite skill, it can be really good on AI controlled ships if they have low rate of fire weapons and no shield/shield shunt. The 0-flux speed boost is a lot and even if it only flickers on and off every second it still increases the ships speed a lot. Its obv a bit niche, far from all ships can make good use of it but Enforcer, Manticore or even Vanguard(Needlers) along with midliners like Centurion and Brawler for example can have good weapon loadouts with some downtime between volleys and the 0-flux speed when they approach and disengage can make them really slippery. Though sometimes the AI seems to just forget what it is doing and you get a Centurion literally trying to face tank a capital ship with enough firepower to nuke 10 Centurions instead of just like, moving out of the way of the shots? This seem to be something any non-shield ship can end up doing, wish I knew how to prevent it.
That's a great observation, but wouldn't that be REALLY niche? Like you mentioned Manticores, but do you put shield shunts on manticores? Because I love Manticores but they aren't that survivable even with shields.
@@cowforceseven7328 I use them as escort for larger ships and often paired with a Enforcer for additional PD and damage type the Manticore lacks, like anti-armor. But yeah a Manticore with Heavy Armor, Armored Weapons and built in Shield Shunt has 1350 armor. Put a Hellbore/Storm Needler and 3x Needlers on it and you get a Manticore poking in and out with around 160/180 speed spikes when it flies in or disengages, the speed difference is depending on if it has the Escort Package buff(capital) or not. There is a fair bit of synergy with elite Helmsman, Escort Package and if possible, built in Aux Thrusters(even more 0-flux speed and turn rate boost! almost 200 with EP capital buff I think?). Imo the speedy Manticore is able to survive better than a slower one with a shield but I think Cruiser/Capital escort is a big part of what makes it work since it avoids a lot of damage just by not being the main target and having a big ship nearby to 'scrape off' anyone getting a bit too close and insistent.
my brother just dad energied the shit out of us by giving us the tier list we NEEDED instead on wanted lol. honestly having top notch officers in the correct ships can turn a strong fleet into an unstoppable force. i like running missile officers with conquests and gryphons and watching an endless stream of locust and harpoon missiles just steamroll the enemy. some mark ix's to make sure those shields cant breath and its over.
Point Defense Elite's range bonus to PD weapons does affect wings launched the officered carrier, I sent you a video on the Fractal Softworks forums showing this.
Looks about right except for Elite Gunnery Implants at C. There are other ways to get ECM, it has a cap, and like you already pointed out you usually don't want Gunnery Implants on frigates that are going to benefit the most from it. It's a really niche use where you're using it on a frigate officer, who either wants Gunnery Implants or is willing to sacrifice a skill just for the Elite bonus, you don't have other sources of ECM, there's no other Elite bonuses that are better, and you don't mind wasting a story point you'll never get back.
I personally find the skill extremely strong when you use AI ships since all skills are elite by default. If you dont run radiant you could instead run a ton of glimmers. The base skill helps if you run a beam build and the elite skill gives the full 4% ecm! Its definitely niche but its really strong in some fleets
Hmm. Not sure I agree with the PD reasoning. It also affects dual LMGs and HMGs, turning them into a pretty serious medium range VERY flux efficient damage dealing option. This is particularly true for the more slower ships.
You should make a tier list of moded ships/weapons. There is not content like that. Obviously I talk about the most popular ones (iron shell pretty please?) as there are too many to feature each one.
EWM is D tier unless you're using frigates only I hate how it caps out at 1000 range most bs nerf, this ruins beam loadouts even though they are already bad enough
I've found beam loadouts quite effective. IMO strongest build on executor uses them due to its bad dissipation + good ship ability. Also got forlorn hope on this patch using 4x HIL, 2x graviton beam, 2x HVD. Unfortunately, EWM does not contribute to the latter (can't use skills in menu missions). You could try to force it with high scatter, but there's an obvious problem. "Close to the enemy with high flux" isn't a condition fast, maneuverable ships want to deliberately encounter...but it is also a condition the enemy will prevent you from meeting with slow ships. I think EWM best use case is for ships that dive + fire antimatter blaster(s) + get out. It has some use on player ships, and you can get SOME value out of it on AI officers using high tech fleets (AI often has some flux + will fire some energy weapons < 1k range), but I have yet to see this amount to a highly impactful skill in practice. I appreciated having elite EWM in that neural + augmentation setup I tried where I gave 2 executors +16% damage dealt and -16% taken in addition to all the elite skills, but EWM was only a tiny contributor in that build. Still had some value and was worth taking, high energy focus on top of all those damage boosts could even rip through remnant shields.
You did an officer skill list after we praised you for inclusion of demonstration gameplay clips because it doesn't require one. Don't think we didn't notice this you lazy bum.
good tierlist on the account of me having hundreds of hours and still picking my officer skills based on vibes
"This guy seems like a Field Manipulation and Energy Mastery guy."
Energy Mastery on a dude with Heg uniform? Not in my fleet!
@@impersonal6959 counterpoint Onslaught TPC build
Lmao, same
Truuue heg needs the dual armor skills otherwise they arent a real officer
It's funny how all of the skills ended up on a higher half of the list. Makes you really appreciate the unseen power an officer gives to a ship
As I watch, I wanna note something on Elite Field Modulation. I'm definitely a little biased cause I like shields but definitely can see what you mean on how some of the effects aren't as good as they might seem. However, one of the main use cases I'd argue for Elite Field Mod is for dealing with your AI. In my experience, the AI can be *very* hesitant to drop shields, even when it could or should, resulting in a "stare off" where two ships aren't really doing anything because they aren't far enough apart to drop shields, but are too high flux to really want to engage. In this scenario, EFM is allowing them to at least dissipate some hard flux, rather than none at all. At minimum, it gives your ships a little more survivability and an edge flux-wise, at best, it can let your ships dissipate enough to dive back in for the kill, when it otherwise would have been stuck in that high-flux dance forever
The alternative option is of course, shove it on a Safety Overrides ship for a pseudo-fluxshunt on anything, and go ham, but that's for my flagship and not for the AI I think hah
Either way, I fully expect this is the spot where I am told I just suck at Starsector and there's better ways to mitigate ships doing the shielded safety dance, but hey, that's why I'm watching these videos!
THIS.
The thing about AI being hesitant to drop shields is very true, that's why elite field mod is subtly more useful that it might seem.
Wake up babe, new BIGBRAINENERGY tierlist!!!!!
Caught you in the wild gamer
@Synthetic_geth NU UH!!!
I mostly agree with your picks, this list is very representative of which skills make the most impact on officer AI behaviour in majority of circumstances.
While technically outshined by hardened shields mod it is worth noting that Field Modulation works IN CONJUCTION with it providing great results.
The thing with AI i observed during gameplay and testing is it "notices" and utilizes strong suits of it's defence. Ships with heavy armor and impact mitigation tend to armor tank with more confidence, and hit-and-run high tech ships (HT-frigates, Aurora, etc) tend to be more "ballsy" with harder shields, more capacity and speed, EXTENDING THEIR ATTACK WINDOWS. Thus by increasing defence you also increasing offence, and any HT and hybrid protection ship benefits from field modulation quite noticeably. Not to mention, effective shields multiply defensive flux (no diminishing returns) and work really well with Elite Field Modulation bonus on ships with relatively high dissipation (Executor, Aurora, Paragon).
18:54, Never noticed before that this quote is fictional in universe.
Thank you for these, I am taking a break from starsector and I will get into again once a big update is out!
The hull tanking stuff is lackluster, except on invictus where an officer purpose built for it is amazing. 50% repairs of that hull size is a ton. Stacked 2x 50% maneuver on it lets it turn way better, and the hull is high enough that bulkheads/blast doors (further conserving crew) are legit investments...it's a devastating ship when it is also almost impossible to keep offline via EMP. IMO a more entertaining ship to use than onslaught for low tech, the DP premium hurts but it's there for a reason.
I'm mixed on field modulation for shield ships. The AI doesn't toggle its shield optimally or even close, so it's basically a straight boost to capacity for the AI that stacks (multiplicatively sadly) with hardened shields...and given the AI's behavior of backing out based on flux amount, that smaller bonus gets applied to multiple flux bars pretty often (in contrast to armor boosts etc). You really start to notice a difference when you have hardened + field modulation + elite systems expertise + high CR. This is one where I think other abilities have more potential, but in AI hands this one gets closer to max potential than alternatives. The modulation + elite systems expertise combo slides from shield ships into a phase ship nicely...
I don't think I've ever taken elite ordinance expertise outside of player skill where you eventually just elite any skill you pick. Practically any opportunity cost overpowers it.
thanks for making this content exclusively for me
One thing I'll note is that like how some weapons are more useable on certain modded ships, some modded ships become absolutely broken with elite field modulation. Specifcally the RAT Aboleth can be built with that skill as its core and dissipate literal 300k+ damage through shields over a battle without ever dropping them.
You did it to yourself. A big game like this on top of the fact you're really good at tier list has created a demand ^_^ God I loved your fighter one.
Y'know, this whole time I thought elite Combat Endurance picked the LOWER of the two values, not the higher. And I still felt it was pretty good.
I always learn a little something extra than just the tierlist. Like the maneuverability thing. Had no idea that's how it actually worked - always thought it was turn rate and may had some dealings in strafing. Thanks for the tips on these!
For elite PD it is worth noting it also affects HMG firing range, which allows using it in builds without SO as a main kinetic damage source AND PD weapon
The children yearn for more tier lists
A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one! Glad to see you delving into the more bigger picture choices like officers and hopefully fleet stuff. Lovely as always to hear that smooth voice for 45 minutes
Minor note on the Helmsman elite skill, it can be really good on AI controlled ships if they have low rate of fire weapons and no shield/shield shunt. The 0-flux speed boost is a lot and even if it only flickers on and off every second it still increases the ships speed a lot. Its obv a bit niche, far from all ships can make good use of it but Enforcer, Manticore or even Vanguard(Needlers) along with midliners like Centurion and Brawler for example can have good weapon loadouts with some downtime between volleys and the 0-flux speed when they approach and disengage can make them really slippery.
Though sometimes the AI seems to just forget what it is doing and you get a Centurion literally trying to face tank a capital ship with enough firepower to nuke 10 Centurions instead of just like, moving out of the way of the shots? This seem to be something any non-shield ship can end up doing, wish I knew how to prevent it.
That's a great observation, but wouldn't that be REALLY niche? Like you mentioned Manticores, but do you put shield shunts on manticores? Because I love Manticores but they aren't that survivable even with shields.
@@cowforceseven7328 I use them as escort for larger ships and often paired with a Enforcer for additional PD and damage type the Manticore lacks, like anti-armor.
But yeah a Manticore with Heavy Armor, Armored Weapons and built in Shield Shunt has 1350 armor. Put a Hellbore/Storm Needler and 3x Needlers on it and you get a Manticore poking in and out with around 160/180 speed spikes when it flies in or disengages, the speed difference is depending on if it has the Escort Package buff(capital) or not.
There is a fair bit of synergy with elite Helmsman, Escort Package and if possible, built in Aux Thrusters(even more 0-flux speed and turn rate boost! almost 200 with EP capital buff I think?).
Imo the speedy Manticore is able to survive better than a slower one with a shield but I think Cruiser/Capital escort is a big part of what makes it work since it avoids a lot of damage just by not being the main target and having a big ship nearby to 'scrape off' anyone getting a bit too close and insistent.
32:00 ipdai give all weapons 100% target leading as well, according to the notes on starsector wiki
my brother just dad energied the shit out of us by giving us the tier list we NEEDED instead on wanted lol. honestly having top notch officers in the correct ships can turn a strong fleet into an unstoppable force. i like running missile officers with conquests and gryphons and watching an endless stream of locust and harpoon missiles just steamroll the enemy. some mark ix's to make sure those shields cant breath and its over.
i'm pretty sure you can make a tier list about anything starsector related and we will watch it
Hottest portrait tier list
Another objectively correct tier list!
Point Defense Elite's range bonus to PD weapons does affect wings launched the officered carrier, I sent you a video on the Fractal Softworks forums showing this.
I have been asking for this!
It seems you are ready for the tournament 😀
Looks about right except for Elite Gunnery Implants at C. There are other ways to get ECM, it has a cap, and like you already pointed out you usually don't want Gunnery Implants on frigates that are going to benefit the most from it. It's a really niche use where you're using it on a frigate officer, who either wants Gunnery Implants or is willing to sacrifice a skill just for the Elite bonus, you don't have other sources of ECM, there's no other Elite bonuses that are better, and you don't mind wasting a story point you'll never get back.
I personally find the skill extremely strong when you use AI ships since all skills are elite by default. If you dont run radiant you could instead run a ton of glimmers. The base skill helps if you run a beam build and the elite skill gives the full 4% ecm!
Its definitely niche but its really strong in some fleets
OFFICER tier list?! What a twist! Who could've seen this coming? Certainly not I! Nonetheless, I am quite pleased.
My favourite podcast, never been so early 😁
AWW YES
SMALL MUSCLE MASS
LETS GOOOO
the children yearn for more tierlists
we need Tier List of the Tier Lists !
Hmm. Not sure I agree with the PD reasoning. It also affects dual LMGs and HMGs, turning them into a pretty serious medium range VERY flux efficient damage dealing option. This is particularly true for the more slower ships.
Les gooo!!!
Man I love putting reckless officers in monitors or phase ships
OCCIFER SKILLS?????
The list we didn't ask for or want but NEED.
Ohshit surprise tierlist!
You should make a tier list of moded ships/weapons. There is not content like that. Obviously I talk about the most popular ones (iron shell pretty please?) as there are too many to feature each one.
YEA!!! YEEEES!!!! YEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ordinance expertise counts for fighters too? Happy odyssey noises all round
The only tier list that matters is Luddic path tier list.
Kanta dialogue tier list next? 🥺
EWM is D tier unless you're using frigates only
I hate how it caps out at 1000 range most bs nerf, this ruins beam loadouts even though they are already bad enough
I've found beam loadouts quite effective. IMO strongest build on executor uses them due to its bad dissipation + good ship ability. Also got forlorn hope on this patch using 4x HIL, 2x graviton beam, 2x HVD.
Unfortunately, EWM does not contribute to the latter (can't use skills in menu missions). You could try to force it with high scatter, but there's an obvious problem. "Close to the enemy with high flux" isn't a condition fast, maneuverable ships want to deliberately encounter...but it is also a condition the enemy will prevent you from meeting with slow ships.
I think EWM best use case is for ships that dive + fire antimatter blaster(s) + get out. It has some use on player ships, and you can get SOME value out of it on AI officers using high tech fleets (AI often has some flux + will fire some energy weapons < 1k range), but I have yet to see this amount to a highly impactful skill in practice. I appreciated having elite EWM in that neural + augmentation setup I tried where I gave 2 executors +16% damage dealt and -16% taken in addition to all the elite skills, but EWM was only a tiny contributor in that build. Still had some value and was worth taking, high energy focus on top of all those damage boosts could even rip through remnant shields.
Most logical next thing after that would be administrator tier list?
I never take combat readiness skill, when i already got 100% by the other 2 skills and small fleet
Is it nice, John Starsector? Is it good? Is it tier list?
Nyeh, so you're doing a tierlist caturday and stream sunday?
planet tier list next?
Fresh of the press Big Brain Video
soundtrack tier list?
Can we get an officer tier list?
I didn't ask, but this is exactly what i wanted
Skill tier list???
Where is this damn omega weapon tier list?
[REDACTED]?
Human flesh is inferior.
Only Omega alpha core reigns supreme 🤖🤖🤖
There are no infos when the next update will be, right?
it's done when it's done
Через час на трово
A gamer bait and switch??
Venting is sus.
finally^^
You did an officer skill list after we praised you for inclusion of demonstration gameplay clips because it doesn't require one. Don't think we didn't notice this you lazy bum.