I'm wondering if I should just finish this mission so I stop seeing data analyzers, I mean really, the research they give is now basically worthless as I've finished all research except hyper logistics level 2 and 3 and 200 RP a pop isn't going to put a scratch on 60M combined research, and because they're rank 200 it is impossible to 1 shot them, or even 2 or 3 or 4 shot them for THAT matter
at my rank (low 800s) they are a good 5-7 NPCS (chargers, runners, harvesters, extractors, siege cannons, and one or two more) that can all be 2 shot at damage cap which makes them far more efficient to kill than analyzers, so I figure getting rid of them should favorably raise the energy:EX ratio

I just killed one for experimentation sake. Unbuffed with no experience boost. 6 shots (minimum) gave me a 3.766 xp ratio. So buffed with a neural you can expect a 4.0+ xp ratio. That helps balance out the crappy ratio from Assassins and to a degree Flamehawks. I say keep them.

I'm going to get rid of them pretty soon; at rank 1300 or so it's pretty easy to get a higher experience ratio and the research isn't useful. There's a fair chance they bring down the rate of things that are useful, so it might be worth it to finish it now.

Never

If you have enough energy, you should clear the mission as soon as possible. For instance, Darth gets an XP ratio of over 4.0 on data analyzers, but I don't need a ratio anywhere close to that to autorank (3.0 is plenty for me, and only the assassin gives me less than that with a neural). If I hadn't cleared the mission, I could spend a higher fraction of my energy on missions, but a larger fraction of the energy I use on NPCs would be unproductive. Your long-term goal in NPCing is to collect permanent planet buffs.

Figure out what fraction of your energy you're spending on data analyzers. By clearing the missions, you'll increase the occurrence of all other NPCs by a corresponding fraction. You'll see significantly more Troop Carriers, Rogue Experimenters, Rogue LabPods, Blade Harvesters, Fabrication Plants, Crimson Scythes, and every other mission NPC by completing the mission.

After clearing the vault mission, I can autorank with 50% of my energy going to NPCs and 50% going to star chart purgers. If I hadn't cleared the mission, I'd be closer to 45/55, and of the 45, a significant fraction would be 'wasted' on data analyzers instead planet buffing artifacts. I figure that the net result is that by clearing the mission I earn about 25% more good drops per rank.

As Gorax said although in large quantities the research can add up, and even though they do have a decent XP ratio, they dilute the NPC pool, so it's probably a good idea to get rid of them.

For pure rankin' they arr good XP, but that means less chance of other NPC

got rid of 'em and never looked back. only reason te keep is if ye can't autorank without 'em

Auto-ranking without a neural is also a good goal as you can churn through that many more npcs per level.

What Gorax said. Once you don't need research anymore and once ratio doesn't matter much for leveling, get rid of em. I did, and have been happier for it. More assassins for planet buffs, more chargers with better xp ratios, no hold piling up with decrypters.

i asked my legion about it and was told that the data analyzers will stop but the mission after also has ships for you to disable

After you complete a cycle. It's not a randomly spawned NPC during the mission like the Data Analyzers.

Network of Secrets