Deck

Revision as of 22:03, 16 March 2018

Deck is one of ten basic ship statistics that controls capabilities in the game. It represents the total space available on our ship for mounting active equipment.

We begin the game with a small amount of Deck space to install ship modules in. As we progress in the game, we get opportunities to add more decks. There is no known limit to the number of decks we can reach and no known way of reducing or losing decks once they are added other than by resetting our account and starting over. As we advance in the game, our deck count is also used to determine if we can start certain Missions and to determine the magnitude of the effect of certain Abilities.

It is important that you do NOT confuse Deck with Cargo. Deck space is used for installed equipment such as Weapons, Sensors, Hulls, etc. Cargo space is used for storing things such as uninstalled equipment, minerals and artifacts.

Adding Decks

Decks can be increased using Rank Points, using specific artifacts or by using purchased Galaxy Points to obtain Ship-Bot artifacts.

Several Artifacts can be used to increase deck size, the current list is:

• Ship-Bot (+2 Decks)
• Lazuli Parts Vault (+2 Decks, +10 Hull, +10 shield)
• Prototype Engineering Bay (+3 Decks, +10 Engineers, +25 Scientists) - only 5 available

Additionally many players use Rank Points from the Artifacts that grant them to purchase additional decks:

• Rescued Prisoners (+3 Rank Points)
• Rescued Stryll Prisoners (+6 Rank Points)
• Rescued Stryll Captives (+7 Rank Points)

Early in the game the easiest way to add Decks is by using Rank Points. As your artifact production increases, using Ship Bot artifacts generally becomes the preferred method. Eventually you will reach the point where all your ship modules fit and you collect excess Ship Bot in cargo. The cost benefit of using GP is dubious at best; you are likely better served using GP for other things. In the end the method and rate of deck increase are a personal choice and can be heavily influence by your play style and the Ship Strategy you pursue.

Basic Ship Build Strategies (LSB, SSB, MSB)

A greater deck size allows you to keep more (and more powerful) equipment installed at the same time, allowing your ship to be deadlier in combat, more efficient in scanning, heartier in battle, etc. Likewise, researching a weapon capable of destroying a planet doesn't do you any good if you don't have enough space to mount it.

In addition, paying for the repairs from installing and uninstalling equipment to suit your purposes can be costly over time. Hence, you can save credits by adding decks to keep as much equipment installed as possible, without switching the ship's configuration. This would be considered a larger ship build or LSB.

NOTE: In order to fit the maximum number of the best researchable module of every type, you will need a deck quantity of 2565.

A smaller ship with fewer decks should be harder to target and hit then a large ship. So the game gives smaller ships a relative advantage by capping the amount of damage other ships can do to them.

• The PVP damage cap formula is the LARGER of the following two possible formulas:
  • Decks / 2
  • (Rank + 19) / 2

A ship that minimizes their damage cap using either formula is considered a small ship build or SSB.

Hence, it is possible to build ships with fewer decks that limit the per-hit damage taken from all other ships no matter what their size or attack value are. Then by adding crew instead of equipment the small ship may even attack for more damage than it takes. However, as the smaller ship increases in rank, the damage cap increases proportionally until eventually the smaller ship is taking more damage while still having a relatively limited number of decks available.

A medium ship build or MSB tries to balance between the SSB and the LSB. They get the benefit of the lower damage cap, but still suffer the costs of switching modules to suit different tasks. Using a formula for damage cap rating of [(rank + 19) / decks], a 'true' SSB would have a 100% rating, anyone with at least an 85% rating would still generally be considered SSB, while anyone with higher than a 40% rating would be considered a MSB (medium ship-build). any ship with lower than a 40% rating would be considered a LSB (large ship-build).

Note that you can start as an LSB, and gradually transform into first an MSB, and finally an SSB, by just not adding any more decks as you rank up. Which build you prefer depends on your in-game objectives.

Ship Classifications

Upon reaching preset deck sizes your ship classification automatically changes i.e. 150-199 decks is "Heavy Frigate" whereas 200-249 decks is "Light Cruiser".