Oolite Bulletins

I have 8 Pylons and they are loaded with what I like;
1. A 'Q' mine, just in case I can't run away.
2. Fuel tank, Never know where you'll run out of gas.
3. Shepherd, Bloomin handy when you want to refind something.
4. Re-progged Thargy fighters. Damn useful in a scrap. (Shepherd has saved me heaps in finding them again)
5 to 8. Miitary missiles. Yup they are expensive, though not as expensive a my ship.

Buy war bonds.
Get your discounts.
Then refitting and maintenance isn't so bad.

I'm fairy sure that every Cmdr. has their own preferances to pylon usage.
Just thought I'd ask

Fuel Tanks, Salvage missiles (mostly!), and occasionally a regular/ECM resistant hardhead/military missile.
I don't feel guilty using a 30 credit regular missile "just because"...against lone small craft pirates (Geckos, Kraits, Mambas, Sidewinders) that are less likely to have ECM.

Unless I'm using a cheesy hacked ship for testing, I'm normally using a Cobra 3, Python, or Boa 2...so my missile pylon slots are precious few.

Half the time my pylons are empty as I don't use missiles etc much - I'm a laser man. If any are loaded it'll be with normal hardheads and maybe a GalDrivePod as I seem to switch galaxies a lot these days.

I've just got the four pylons on my ship (my own balanced build), 2 slots have regular missiles and the other 2 slot have Shepherds... mostly my role is as an escort-scavenger & generally I only use missles to take down the hard heads coming my way.

At least one Q-bomb (sometimes two), two or three fuel tanks, and depending on what I'm doing, a couple of wormhole drones (I really ought to actually do something about sorting that WIP out properly). Then two or three ECM hardened missiles, and if there's a spare, it gets fitted with whichever of the above I think will be most useful for whatever task I'm planning.

I've thought about modifying my Cobra MkIII. Since the pylon mounted entry for equipment has been a game mechanism limitation and not how *we* would perceive the actual Ooniverse to work - I have thought about modifying my Cobra3 to increase the number of pylons and reduce the amount of cargo space - arguing to myself that if the Cobra3 can take a 15TC cargo expansion mod without changing the external appearance or dimensions of the ship it makes sense (to me) that giving up some of that modularity, swapping in fuel capacity (for injectors - I mostly run-away remember) while swapping out cargo capacity.

I will have to self justify it of course and still only carry four missiles (I don't carry Q-mines - far too arbitrary - and you can't kill it/change your mind once launched) - this will become especially important if I do start playing properly (as in "more often") again - upgrade to 1.75.3 and lose access to Save Anywhere (which means I will have to travel to the main stations - rather than just using Constores and Hermits - which is annoying because I've quite enjoyed planning my routes and taking the chances on the prices of only trading with systems I know will have a Constore - makes for a very interesting game - very different from the standard one - you really can make or lose a fortune on a single trade in a way that's pretty much impossible with the standard game)

No matter what ship I have, unless there's no pylons, I always keep %100 of my pylons loaded with hardheads.

Standard cobra mk3 has 4 pylons. I keep 3 with ECM Hardened Missiles for intense dogfights when I need some breathing space and 1 fuel drop tank cause dogfighting eats a lot of fuel and sometimes when you are all alone against 6 to 10 other ships the fuel injectors and the fuel tank are your new best friend. A hardened missile against a python in a large group is quite effective and can help keep the lasers cool for dispatching the little guys. This weapons load works good for a cobra mk3 that goes in for the dogfight but this may change as I have taken quite a shine to sniping recently for some strange reason.

A drop tank, a couple of nukes and/or Navy torpedoes, military missiles, and maybe a cargo shepherd.

1. Fuel Tank
2. Captured Thargon Defense System
3. Missile Machine
4. Stun Bomb
5. Stun Bomb
6. Buzz Bomb
7. Bug Bomb
8. Field Missile/Nuclear Torpedo (depending on where I'm at)

I have four pylons on my python class cruiser.

Most important is always a fuel tank, just in case my misjump analyser fails me for some reason, or I find I really need to inject after a long jump.

Second most important is the cargo shepherd, not only does it mark where you left that cargo that wouldn't fit in your hold, it also lets you catch those pods that try and escape at over 0.4LM (just drop it and they slow down real quick).

Three is normally a q-mine, for those times the navy sends me after a Thargoid fleet and I get there in time to use it before anyone else engages. Sure, it's probably not profitable, but if it works it saves the lives of countless navy and reserve pilots, and that has to be worth a few credits, surely?

Fourth is mostly a holdover from before I bought my autorepair system, and is a packet of repair nanobots, for those time when I've really mucked my systems up in a firefight.

The only ones that normally get used are the fuel tank and the cargo shepherd, and not even then most of the time.

My current loadout is a pair of fuel tanks, packet of chaff & the rest being Intercept Missiles (yep, overblessed with pylons atm - only carried the one fuel tank when in my Llama).
Missiles were chosen mainly as they are the ones I find most irritating when fired at me so I like to repay the compliment

Eldon wrote:

I have four pylons on my python class cruiser.
<snip>
Three is normally a q-mine, for those times the navy sends me after a Thargoid fleet and I get there in time to use it before anyone else engages. Sure, it's probably not profitable, but if it works it saves the lives of countless navy and reserve pilots, and that has to be worth a few credits, surely?

You go Thargoid busting in a thin-skinned Piñata Class Cruiser ? Much respect due for that

Makara wrote:

Eldon wrote:

I have four pylons on my python class cruiser.
<snip>
Three is normally a q-mine, for those times the navy sends me after a Thargoid fleet and I get there in time to use it before anyone else engages. Sure, it's probably not profitable, but if it works it saves the lives of countless navy and reserve pilots, and that has to be worth a few credits, surely?

You go Thargoid busting in a thin-skinned Piñata Class Cruiser ? Much respect due for that

In the intrests of honesty I should probably mention that in my ooiniverse PCCs can have military shields (they're not much of a cruiser without them). I've also run the neolite model through datscale.py, making it about a third bigger in each dimension (so it's actually bigger than a stock python now), and fiddled with the view positions to make aiming slightly easier (especially the side lasers).

Also I have almost reached the point where money is no object and I have everything available installed. I only worry about buying a new ship at the moment.

Only 4 pylons on my Cobby, and I usually carry 2 salvage droids for dredging and 2 hardheads when I really need to get my "message" through.

Would love to get some more pylons, though. I know plenty of situations when an extra fuel tank would come in handy, and I'd like some repair bots, too. Never have the pylons for them though...