Your offensive systems belong in the cockpit and engine slots; precision so you can hit things and speed so you can fire fast.
Defense belongs (obviously) in the shield slots, but also in chassis; that's where you get the dodge that means you don't get hit.
So if the equipment manufacturers are in any way asking you to give up any of those core stats, you need to think really long and hard about it. Is the added trick really worth the loss?
Time to examine this latest offering on the market, Expanding Cables.They weigh in with a book price of 442 Ferrite, 286 Bioptics and 40 Crystal. For this you get a dodge rating of 10, a 2% triple damage multiplier and 5% vulnerability to ice weapons. Comparative package for the same tonnage range is calibrated joints, at 9 dodge, a speed bump of 2, 30% trample shield (very useful) and a lesser fire vulnerability of 3%. Horses for courses, one defensive package vs an offensive package.
Of course compare this to Spinal Bracing with a dodge of 12 covering the low end tonnage range and Frictionless Bearings for 13 dodge up at the top. Dodge is your main stat coming from a chassis piece, so any dodge loss has to be really, really worth it.
So we are being asked to give up 2, or 3 at higher tonnage, of defensive dodge, and return we get a minuscule chance of triple damage, plus a bonus of... no, make that another loss of defence as well.
The problem I have with that is that at low tonnage, you hardly have enough shield slots to leave you without a gaping hole to start with... and now you want me to give up even more vulnerabilities?
And by the time you can field tonnage that can cover that deficit with shields, you've got the option, in crystal, of Ankles Supports that give up some defence for a different type of defence, no vulnerability, and a damage increase that has twice the ratio.
All in all, if you are the kind of berserker loon who cares only for large explosions and has no concept of personal safety, this is the ideal system to add to your machines.
For the rest of us... maybe pass this one by.
Submitted by David McCallum #701548