Utility components are devices that can be installed on military ships to enhance their defensive capabilities and thus increase their survivability in combat against enemies.
Small, Medium, and large utility components increase the durability of a ship by providing extra hit points. These come in three forms: shields, armor, and hull.
Shields form the first layer of hit points of a ship. They have inherent regeneration of 1% of their base health per day. All shield techs except Psionic Barriers, Psionic Shields and Dark Matter Deflectors can be obtained through normal research. Psionic Barriers can only be acquired via The Doorway event; Psionic Shields can only be acquired as a psionically ascended empire through the appropriate Shroud Event; Dark Matter Deflectors can only be acquired through reverse-engineering Fallen or Awakened Empire ships.
Pros |
Cons
|
- Effective against most energy weapons.
- Inherent regeneration makes them sustainable out-of-the-box for operations away from base.
- Cheaper 合金 cost than armor.
|
- Vulnerable to kinetic weapons.
- Penetrated by guided weapons, strike craft, and some exotic energy weapons (Disruptors, Arc Emitters, and Cloud Lightning).
- Advanced shields require Strategic Resource to make.
- Consumes power.
|
Component
|
Small |
Medium |
Large
|
Description
|
Cost |
Power |
Shields
|
Cost |
Power |
Shields
|
Cost |
Power |
Shields
|
Deflectors |
5 |
15 |
50 |
10 |
30 |
125 |
20 |
60 |
300 |
Energy deflector screens can stop a limited amount of incoming enemy fire before overloading. Their main drawback is that they consume large amounts of power.
|
Improved Deflectors |
7 |
20 |
65 |
13 |
40 |
160 |
26 |
80 |
390 |
These updated deflector screens are capable of soaking up even more punishment before they overload.
|
Shields |
9 |
25 |
85 |
17 |
50 |
215 |
34 |
100 |
510 |
These new shield generators represent the next generation of energy screens, replacing the older deflector technology. They offer significantly better protection.
|
Advanced Shields |
9 0.25 |
35 |
110 |
17 0.50 |
70 |
275 |
34 1.00 |
140 |
660 |
An updated shield generator that produces an even stronger energy field. Only sustained enemy fire can penetrate this barrier.
|
Hyper Shields |
12 0.33 |
45 |
145 |
22 0.66 |
90 |
365 |
44 1.33 |
180 |
870 |
These reinforced and hardened energy shields are incredibly powerful. The protection they offer is second to none.
|
Dark Matter Deflectors |
16 0.25 |
55 |
185 |
29 0.50 |
110 |
465 |
57 1.00 |
220 |
1110 |
These deflectors utilize dark matter to deflect incoming projectiles in a way that seems to utterly defy the laws of nature.
|
Psionic Barrier |
7 |
0 |
65 |
13 |
0 |
160 |
26 |
0 |
390 |
These barriers are generated out of pure psychic energy by a cadre of psionic specialists. They will be able to stop some incoming fire, like our Energy deflector systems, but without the prohibitive power consumption.
|
Psionic Shields |
21 0.11 |
75 |
240 |
38 0.22 |
150 |
600 |
74 0.33 |
300 |
1440 |
These extremely powerful shields are generated out of pure psychic energy by a cadre of psionic specialists. Their powers are further augmented by large arrays of psi emitters.
|
Armor forms the second layer of hit points of a ship. All armor techs can be obtained through normal research except for Dragonscale armor which must be obtained by defeating the Ether Drake.
Pros |
Cons
|
- Effective against kinetic weapons.
- Does not consume power.
- Does not require Strategic Resources to build.
|
- Vulnerable to energy weapons.
- Penetrated by some exotic weapons (Disruptors, Arc Emitters, and Cloud Lightning).
- Lacks inherent regeneration (but can gain it through some exotic sources).
- Cost more 合金 than shields.
|
Component
|
Small |
Medium |
Large
|
Description
|
Cost |
Armor
|
Cost |
Armor
|
Cost |
Armor
|
Nanocomposite Armor |
10 |
50 |
20 |
125 |
40 |
300 |
Reinforced nanocomposite hull plating can provide an extra layer of protection that could be the difference between life and death in a combat situation.
|
Ceramo-Metal Armor |
13 |
65 |
26 |
160 |
52 |
390 |
A combination of different metals and ceramics that result in a strong armor without sacrificing flexibility.
|
Plasteel Armor |
17 |
85 |
34 |
215 |
68 |
510 |
Plasteel is an elastic material that combines many of the qualities of plastics and metal. It is relatively cheap to produce and can be used to augment ship armor.
|
Durasteel Armor |
17 |
110 |
34 |
275 |
68 |
660 |
This strong yet flexible material is capable of withstanding severe punishment. It serves well as ship armor.
|
Neutronium Armor |
22 |
145 |
44 |
365 |
88 |
870 |
This incredibly dense and strong material can resist firepower that would turn armor made of any other alloys into slag.
|
Dragonscale Armor |
29 |
185 |
57 |
465 |
114 |
1110 |
The Ether Drake's scales are made up of multiple layers of unique mineral nanostructures. Unorthodox manufacturing techniques allow us to closely emulate these self-repairing structures.
|
Hull is the last layer of a ship's hit points; the ship is destroyed if the hull points reach 0. All ships have some inherent hull points; this can be increased with these Plating components.
These can be acquired either by completing the Crystalline Entity event chain, by reverse-engineering destroyed Crystalline Entities, or through searching an abandoned ship left by Caravaneers.
Pros |
Cons
|
- Few weapon weaknesses (Energy Torpedoes, Matter Disintegrators, Mining Lasers).
- Does not consume power.
- Does not cost 合金.
- The only layer that matters against bypassing weapons.
- More hull allows for greater chances of emergency jump, thus increasing longterm survivability.
|
- Fewer available percentage bonuses.
- Hull damage reduces ship performance.
- Most non standard weapons come with a bonus against hull in addition of the armor or shield bonus.
- Only Null Void Beam suffer from penalty against hull
- Lacks inherent regeneration (but can gain it through some exotic sources).
- Must use 稀有水晶 to build.
|
Component
|
Small |
Medium |
Large |
Description
|
Cost |
Hull
|
Cost |
Hull
|
Cost |
Hull
|
Crystal-Infused Plating |
0.25 |
110 |
0.50 |
275 |
1.00 |
660 |
An alloy of elements harvested from the ultra-hard Crystalline Entities lines the inner layers of this plating, improving hull integrity.
|
Crystal-Forged Plating |
0.33 |
185 |
0.65 |
465 |
1.30 |
1110 |
Modifications to the process of forging the crystalline alloy further improves its durability.
|
Auxiliary modules go in Auxiliary slots and have a variety of effects. Regenerative Hull Tissue can be acquired by defeating various spaceborne aliens. Nanite Repair Systems can be acquired after defeating the Scavenger Bot. Orbital Trash Dispersers can be acquired via the Racket Industrial Enterprise. Enigmatic Encoders and Decoders can be acquired by defeating the Enigmatic Fortress.
Name |
Size |
Cost |
Power usage
|
Effects
|
Description
|
Reactor Booster |
|
5 |
|
+20 Power Generation |
Additional power generation systems increase the ship's reactor output.
|
Improved Reactor Booster |
|
10 |
|
+50 Power Generation |
The discovery of fusion power allows for better reactor boosters to be fitted onto our ships.
|
Advanced Reactor Booster |
|
15 |
|
+100 Power Generation |
The discovery of antimatter power allows for highly advanced reactor boosters that can greatly enhance ship reactors.
|
Regenerative Hull Tissue |
|
20 |
|
+0.5% Daily Hull Regen +1% Daily Armor Regen |
These bacteria are imprinted with the ship's structural design and will attempt to restore hull integrity should it be compromised.
|
Nanite Repair System |
|
10 1 |
|
+1.5 Daily Hull Regen +2% Daily Armor Regen |
A highly effective hull auto-repair system comprised of billions of microscopic nanomachines was found among the smoking remains of the Scavenger, and has been repurposed for our uses. Whether the Scavenger pilfered this system from an ancient derelict, or was originally constructed with it remains unknown.
|
Shield Capacitor |
|
10 1 |
20 |
+10% Shield Hit Points |
These capacitors store surplus energy which can quickly be transferred to reinforce a ship's shields.
|
Afterburners |
|
4 |
10 |
+10% Sublight Speed +5% Evasion |
Afterburners provide additional combat speed for the ship.
|
Advanced Afterburners |
|
6 |
20 |
+20% Sublight Speed +10% Evasion |
These improved afterburners provide even more combat speed for the ship.
|
Auxiliary Fire-Control |
|
10 |
10 |
+5 Chance to Hit |
By installing an auxiliary fire-control system our ships can afford to make more advanced calculations, increasing accuracy.
|
Orbital Trash Disperser |
|
10 |
10 |
+25% Orbital Bombardment Damage |
This component overwhelms planetary defensive grids with trash data by spamming them with millions of minute, high-velocity projectiles. Ships equipped with this component cause more damage during orbital bombardment.
|
Enigmatic Encoder |
|
20 |
20 |
+20% Evasion |
The Enigmatic Encoder scrambles flight path data according to some indeterminable design before feeding it back to fleet command.
|
Enigmatic Decoder |
|
20 |
20 |
+5 Chance to Hit +5 Tracking |
While producing average results in standard tests, the accuracy of Enigmatic Decoder's prediction algorithms seemingly increases as the target's flight path grows more erratic.
|
While shields have inherent regeneration, armor and hull do not. This means that, by default, damaged ships cannot be restored to full fighting capability without returning to a starbase, which limits operations far away from said starbases. Therefore, securing at least one source of hull and armor regeneration is useful, especially for lengthy offensive operations. Options include:
- Regenerative Hull Tissue, and its upgraded version, Nanite Repair System, can be slotted to any ship, making it one of the most reliable sources of regeneration. However, the regeneration rate does not scale with hit points, they both take up a precious auxiliary slot and the Nanite Repair System requires very valuable Nanites in order to function.
- The Nanobot Cloud aura can be fitted to Titans, with effects slightly stronger than Regenerative Hull Tissue. Of course, this again takes up a very valuable slot that could have been used for something else.
- The Engineer admiral trait gives hull and armor regeneration, but this cannot necessarily be counted on for any particular admiral to have.
- 噬殺蜂群s have inherent hull and armor regeneration.
- Psionically ascended empires may have an option for hull and armor regeneration as a Shroud boon. However, this cannot be counted on to be an option at any given time.
- A Juggernaut accompanying a fleet can act as a mobile starbase, repairing allied ships.
- Capturing an enemy starbase and using it as a forward base allows you to repair and upgrade inside enemy territory.