Utility components

Version

This article has been verified for the current PC version (3.6) of the game.

Ships

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.

Defenses[edit | edit source]

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 Alloys 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
Component	Cost	Power	Shields	Regen	Cost	Power	Shields	Regen	Cost	Power	Shields	Regen	Description
Deflectors	5	15	75	0.5	10	30	190	1.2	20	60	450	3	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	100	0.6	13	40	250	1.6	26	80	600	4.0	These updated deflector screens are capable of soaking up even more punishment before they overload.
Shields	9	25	125	0.8	17	50	315	2.1	34	100	750	5.1	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	165	1.1	17 0.50	70	415	2.7	34 1.00	140	990	6.6	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	220	1.4	22 0.66	90	550	3.6	44 1.33	180	1320	8.7	These reinforced and hardened energy shields are incredibly powerful. The protection they offer is second to none.
Dark Matter Deflectors	16 0.25	55	280	1.8	29 0.50	110	700	4.6	57 1.00	220	1680	11.1	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	100	1.4	13	0	250	3.6	26	0	600	8.7	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	360	2.0	38 0.22	150	900	5.0	74 0.33	300	2160	12.5	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[edit | edit source]

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 Alloys than shields.

Component	Small		Medium		Large		Description
Component	Cost	Armor	Cost	Armor	Cost	Armor	Description
Nanocomposite Armor	10	100	20	250	40	600	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	130	26	325	52	780	A combination of different metals and ceramics that result in a strong armor without sacrificing flexibility.
Plasteel Armor	17	170	34	425	68	1020	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	220	34	550	68	1320	This strong yet flexible material is capable of withstanding severe punishment. It serves well as ship armor.
Neutronium Armor	22	290	44	725	88	1740	This incredibly dense and strong material can resist firepower that would turn armor made of any other alloys into slag.
Dragonscale Armor	29	370	57	925	114	2220	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.

Plating[edit | edit source]

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 Alloys. The only layer that matters against bypassing weapons. More hull allows for greater chances of emergency jump, thus increasing longterm survivability. Far, far cheaper than any other source of health, point for point.	Fewer available percentage bonuses. No repeatables. 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 Rare Crystals to build.

Component	Small		Medium		Large		Description
Component	Cost	Hull	Cost	Hull	Cost	Hull	Description
Crystal-Infused Plating	0.25	65	0.50	160	1.00	390	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	110	0.65	275	1.30	660	Modifications to the process of forging the crystalline alloy further improves its durability.

Auxiliary[edit | edit source]

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. Marks can be obtained by gaining maximum favor with a Shroud patron. Other components are simply obtained by researhing the technology with the same name.

Name	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.
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.
Reactive Armor	10 1	15	+15% Armor Hardening	Incorporating a crystal lattice in our ship's defenses provides some resistance to weapons that normally cut through armor.
Living Reactive Armor	30 1	25	+25% Armor Hardening	Threads of living metal react to incoming fire, rearranging itself to better resist penetrating weapons fire.
Regenerative Hull Tissue	20	10	+5% Daily Hull Regen +10% 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	10	+15% Daily Hull Regen +20% 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.
Shield Hardener	10 1	15	+15% Shield Hardening	With these modifications, the fields generated by our shield emitters will partially deflect attacks that would otherwise bypass the shields.
Advanced Shield Hardener	30 1	25	+25% Shield Hardening	Zro particles raised to a high energy state add fluctuations to our shields that can deflect certain weapons that would otherwise easily penetrate the fields.
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.
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.
Enigmatic Encoder	20	20	+1 Disengagement Opportunities	The Enigmatic Encoder scrambles flight path data according to some indeterminable design before feeding it back to fleet command.
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.
Mark of the Composer	20 2	10	+15% Daily Hull Regen +20% Daily Armor Regen	The mark of our Shroud Patron amplifies our psionic abilities and allows us to influence entire ships.
Mark of the Eater	20 2	10	+5 Chance to Hit +25% Orbital Bombardment Damage	The mark of our Shroud Patron amplifies our psionic abilities and allows us to influence entire ships.
Mark of the Instrument	20 2	10	+25% Sublight Speed −5% Upkeep	The mark of our Shroud Patron amplifies our psionic abilities and allows us to influence entire ships.
Mark of the Whisperers	20 2	10	+15% Evasion	The mark of our Shroud Patron amplifies our psionic abilities and allows us to influence entire ships.

Strategy[edit | edit source]

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, 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.
Devouring Swarms 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.