Hello, it seems the game is missing some details. For example:
Reactive Armor hardener
No variants
Drone Navigation computer
Only faction and Tech II variants
Auto-Targeting system
Only Tech 2, the other variants are seemingly none existent and otherwise doesn’t follow the meta module design
Micro Jump drive
No variants
Salvager
Only Tech II variant
What could the reasons be for the missing variants? Adding them would make the game feel more complete and looting ever so slightly more rewarding among other things.
Estimated time to add to game? A day or two i think
PS. There are possibly more modules without variants.
Because never have I ever seen someone complain about the lack of T1 or meta covert ops cloaks.
I don’t see what good it would add to the game to make it easier to produce such a module with T1 materials or get it as loot drop from NPCs.
In fact I think the existence of many meta modules may already be undermining the player industry. If anything I would say we need less of them, not more.
Players mine ore, refine and build ships and modules from them.
For every module that drops as loot from NPCs, players won’t need to do mining and industry to get those modules. Even worse, the leftover modules are scrapped for minerals to compete with mining.
If meta modules does not result in meaningful choices then the balance is wrong.
The established fitting choices seem to follow the same design:
Tech I (The worst option in terms of stats*)
Enduring (For better cap stability)
Compact (For making your fit work if CPU/PG is tight)
Tech II (Skill, CPU and PG intensive but good stats, usually more expensive than T1 & Meta)
Faction (Good/best stats, low skill requirements but rare/expensive)
The new meta modules should follow this principle and they wold give meaningful choices.
*Tech I items are just a filler for Tech II production in most cases it seems. Ideally Tech I items would be cheaper than their superior meta variants so they become a meaningful choice for fitting in more cases. But there is another thread for this discussion.
But take the salvager for example. It does not have an Enduring or Compact version. If introducing these dont give a meaningful choice the balance is either wrong or at least they will dilute the loot table so that other meta modules become slightly rarer.
It could also be that the modules are rather niche and don’t need meta versions.
For example if the module has no downsides it’s pointless to have a ‘restrained’ meta version. And if it doesn’t use capacitor the ‘enduring’ version isn’t possible either. ‘Scoped’ is also skipped if modules don’t act on someone at range.
Some modules are simply rather one-dimensional.
Take drone navigation computers for example. No capacitor usage, no debuff… it’s simply a big CPU cost for more range with T2 and a slightly smaller CPU cost for a little less range with T1.
There is no way a meta version will make this choice more interesting. You already pick either T1 or T2 based on how much CPU you have and how much range you want. The addition of a ‘compact’ meta module won’t make this choice any more varied or interesting.
At best it would make one or both of the other options irrelevant, which doesn’t add additional meaningful choices to the game and therefore is not really needed.
Even if a module is considered niche it should still have meta versions etc.
Drone Navigation Computer is a good example of a module missing a meta variant
For example your only option is the Tech I version until you have the skills to use the Tech II version or decide its worth the risk to use the faction version.
Compare this to for example the drone damage module :). Unfortunately there is not a meaningful price difference between The meta module and the Tech I variant in that case but that is an issue for a separate thread.
Reactive Armor hardener
Drone Navigation computer
Auto-Targeting system
Micro Jump drive
Salvager
