A guide for judging power-specific modules on their merits.
By CMDR “Q” Ryanmarc
Chief Engineer, The Fatherhood
Powerplay modules are specially modified versions of existing modules in the game. They are best thought of as “sidegrades” rather than upgrades, since they are designed with both benefits and detriments compared to their base modules. They are by no means mandatory to be effective in combat, but several of them can be quite handy to have around, and can be used in unique ways to open up various combat possibilities.
In Powerplay 2.0, these modules are earned through the merit system of performing activities for a chosen power, unlocking pledge levels that give bonuses. All modules are potentially available from all galactic powers, only varying in the order in which they are unlocked. The first module is the power-specific module for that power and unlocks at level 34. Subsequent modules unlock every 5-6 levels afterwards, finishing at level 97.
The order of unlocking usually starts with allies of that power, then neutral powers, and then hostile powers. If getting specific modules is important to you, you may wish to pledge to a power that features those modules early. Then again, with sufficient time and effort all modules are eventually available, so you might also pledge to a power that’s most convenient by location, most consistent with your ethos and game activities, or even if you’re into purple haired ladies of exceptional fashion sense.
The choice of merit gaining activities for each power is very broad, and a pilot can unlock levels passively through simply playing the game while allied to a power.
Once a module is unlocked it can be purchased at an allied Stronghold Carrier under the same category as its base module. Unlike in the past, there is no current reason to stockpile modules in storage unless you plan on changing powers and/or resetting your progress.
Usability Scale
Very Useful
These modules have the most minimal of downsides and are clear upgrades over the base version of that size of that particular module.
Useful
They offer notable advantages over the base module. There are tradeoffs to account for, but they are either easily accounted for or can be bypassed.
NICHE
These modules do their jobs reasonably well after a fashion, but only in very specific circumstances in which you might not ever find yourself. There will be large tradeoffs or difficulties that you’ll have to manage to make them work, but they do still work.
“Garbo LOL”
These modules are not worth your time. They fail to perform their intended function, and with their tradeoffs they end up worse than the base module they’re intended to replace. This term was coined by CMDR luc1f3r.007 as the best way to think about them.
Module Specific Guidance
Advanced Plasma Accelerator – Denton Patreus
Useful – Divides the usual PA damage into 3 shots that can be fired quicker, and you get triple ammo stores to be able to hang around just as long as you would with a regular PA. To outdamage that regular PA you’ll need to hit with all 3 shots, which takes a strong power distributor, a maneuverable ship, and good fixed projectile aim. For module damage this is a fair bit worse, because you’re relying on 3 separate breach chance rolls to do what a regular PA can do with one breach chance.
For general damage it depends on your ability to stay on target and make your shots as much as possible, so Long Range engineering to increase shot speed is a great approach. Mildly more trouble than they’re worth unless you want to be stylish.
Concord Cannon – Nakato Kaine
Very Useful – An upgraded gimbaled cannon with a 3 shot burst, a 9 shot clip, and 300 shots in reserve for extra staying power. As per most powerplay modules you have to hit with all 3 shots to out-damage the regular versions, and as a gimbaled weapon it is rendered ineffective by chaff and by long distances due to gimbal wiggle. However, it has drastically increased shot speed which helps to mitigate the latter. Cannons also have unusually high breach chance, so in spite of the disadvantages of multiple breach rolls they are fearsome against modules.
They’re a pretty good general damage weapon too, but like most kinetic weapons they lose oomph in high CZs and against engineered opponents with strong hulls and high resistances. Short Range or Overcharged are the best approach to engineering.
Containment Missile – Yuri Grom
Niche – The “Grom Bomb” gives the ability to reboot a target’s FSD. This is helpful only in limited situations where you’d want a target to be unable to escape. This includes cargo procuring missions at signal sources where the mission target can be eager to wake out, pirating of players and NPCs, and ganking. They do less damage compared to regular dumbfires both in general and against modules, and have a much lower rate of fire.
High Capacity will keep you well stocked with Grom Bombs.
Cytoscrambler – Archon Delaine
Very Useful – It’s the best anti-shield weapon in the game, with high damage and rate of fire. It gets along splendidly with several experimental effects including Thermal Shock and Phasing Sequence. The downside is a very limited range of 1 km and a practical range that’s shorter than that. It also has an armor piercing value of 1, so you only tickle hulls in the absence of the corrosive debuff. Best suited to maneuverable ships that can control range and have small hardpoints, such as the Alliance C-ships.
Cytoscramblers essentially upgrade a small hardpoint into a large for damage purposes. You can also use it undersized in larger hardpoints to save power and distributor draw. There are many good possible primary engineering options, including Efficient, Overcharged, Short Range, and even Rapid Fire.
Enforcer Cannon – Pranav Antal
Niche – A small fixed multicannon that does more damage and has faster shot speed, as well as higher armor piercing and longer range. However, it has a very limited ammo storage. Fixed multicannons are rather niche due to the difficulty of keeping them on target, but the shot speed makes it easier to hit with than you might think.
Enforcers can enhance the DPS of a multicannon build on smaller and maneuverable ships by packing a greater punch than is usually expected from small hardpoints. As with other kinetic weapons there’s a damage falloff in higher difficulty content like high CZs. Short Range is the best damage dealing engineering as you’re not likely to reliably hit beyond 2 km. High Capacity can give them extra staying power, but these are very ammo limited weapons.
Imperial Hammer – Arissa Lavigny-Duval
Niche – As with several other powerplay modules, it divides a regular rail’s damage into 3 sub-bursts, and as with all of the other modules that do this, it makes things worse. It also has several potential downsides. 3 shots in a short time lead to massive heat buildup that must be compensated for. Like all railguns it suffers from resistance issues when used for general damage, as they’re partially thermal and partially kinetic. Thanks to the windup delay inherent to all rails, it can be difficult to keep all 3 sub-bursts on target. Each sub-burst requires its own breach rolls to do module damage which lowers your potential damage over time. It does have one advantage over its parent module, in that it can fire continuously when the trigger is held down. While it’s possible to do a good amount of damage, a regular rail is a much simpler way to accomplish the same goals.
Short Range and Long Range each work with this, although the former worsens the heat problem. High Capacity is a niche possibility. Just don’t forget to take an Experimental Effect with thermal reduction.
Mining Lance – Zemina Torval
“Garbo LOL” – A modified mining laser with 2 km of range and the ability to actually damage other ships that attack you while mining. It tries to do two things at once and fails at both. The range can help you get started sooner, but most laser mining happens at point blank range so your limpets don’t have to travel far. It has increased distributor draw but doesn’t actually draw minerals out any faster. Most miners rely on medium mining lasers, so stealing WEP energy from the bigger boys is not a good use of anyone’s time. The damage is pitiful compared to basically any other weapon you could be using, and most mining ships should not be worrying about fighting ships when they’re shooting rocks.
Pacifier Frag Cannon – Jerome Archer
Very Useful – They’re frags for grownups. You get the same 12 shot spread, but it’s tighter, faster, and has better range. They do less damage per shot than the equivalent fixed regular frag, but you’re far better able to get the majority of the spread of shots on a specific target once you get the hang of aiming them. Their high inherent shot speed also makes that aiming easier. It’s a great way to spread experimental effects like Corrosive or Drag Munitions, either alone or in conjunction with other slower projectiles like PAs. You can also make them Incendiary which turns them into really strong anti-shield weapons. The only disadvantage is that it’s a large weapon, so you must have a large hardpoint to mount it.
As with regular frags there are several good engineering options depending on what you plan on doing with them. High Capacity, Overcharged, Rapid Fire, Double Shot. It’s hard to go wrong.
Pack-Hound Missile Rack – Li Yong-Rui
Useful – The only weapon in the game that causes direct damage to your opponent’s graphics card. Each missile is actually 4 sub-missiles with a semi-random flight path designed to defeat/avoid point defense, which every NPC in the game seems to have in their pocket. Works best fired in large groups and salvos at medium to long range, and can strip surface modules off of an unshielded target in a jiffy. The downsides include significant heat buildup that must be compensated for, a certain inherent unreliability that causes them to miss the vulnerable portion of modules, and a tendency to run into each other and explode prematurely. They also have a minimum effective range of at least 600m for the semi-random movement to occur, otherwise they become fairly unimpressive low damage seekers.
High Capacity is the most common choice for engineering, although there are roles for Rapid Fire and even Sturdy and Lightweight.
Prismatic Shield Generator – Aisling Duval
Useful – For when you like big shields and you cannot lie. They provide the same shielding as a regular shield of one size class larger, at the cost of increased mass and massive power consumption. Their best role is on single encounter combat ships (like PvP) where you don’t get the opportunity to regenerate shielding during a break, or when your power distributor is small and not up to the task of handling the SYS distributor draw of a biweave shield. They also work well undersized on cargo ships since they give extra safety margin without taking up a potentially larger optional slot, as long as you can handle the power needs.
They are typically engineered Reinforced to lean into what they do best, but in PvE you’ll have to hike up your Thermal resistance through boosters for it to be worth it. The Lo Draw experimental for power savings is a Prismatic user’s best friend. They take decades to recover and regenerate, so make other arrangements (SCBs, reboot/repair) to restore your shields.
Pulse Disruptor – Felicia Winters
“Garbo LOL” – A very low damage fixed medium pulse laser with a slower rate of fire that hypothetically gains the ability to cause malfunctions in external modules with a successful hit and breach roll. That said, good luck actually achieving such a hit. The slow rate of fire throws off your aim because you don’t get steady hits to help steer the impact point. It has no effect on internal modules which are usually the ones you want to take out. There’s a very niche use of this to cause cargo hatch malfunctions to collect goodies from unwilling victims, but there are at least two other better and more reliable ways to do that. Add in the especially low shot damage that is outgunned by literally any other medium weapon and you’ll be saying “Bye, Felicia”.
Retributor – Edmund Mahon
“Garbo LOL” – A small fixed beam laser with a (half-) baked-in Thermal Shock effect. Given the vast offensive and defensive potential of Thermal Shock in PvE, a weapon that potentially lets you double dip on that effect would seem ideal. In practice it provides less of that effect than a regular fixed TS beam laser, while also doing less damage with higher WEP distributor draw. The problem seems to be a low internal hits per second value in a situation where hits per second is the absolute key stat for building heat on a target. After the great Heat Meta debacle of 2016 you can understand why Fdev clobbered these with the nerf hammer. Then again, if you’re asking yourself “what’s the point of this weapon?” then you have hit the nail on the head.