Its been a while since I've looked at any new cockpit pieces and this has been on the market for a little while now. Nothing flash, just a simple bit of affordable crystal gear.
88 Crystal, 1006 Ferrite and 1914 Bioptics gets you a precision rating of 6, the ability to slow opponents by 4 clicks but those optical lenses can't be hidden by armour plating, needing a direct line of sight. This leaves you open to a small but noticeable increase in vulnerability from incoming projectiles.
Price wise its around the same mark as any crystal cockpit piece for 100 tonners, and they are all pretty... underwhelming. Yes, the Eye Spy has the best precision rating of them, but it still ins't much when you look back at stuff like the Nux Raids that lighter mechs can make use of. It also doesn't have the correct precision sighting to home in on weak points for a crit kill shot.
It is however maybe the best of a bad bunch. The precision and slow are always active, unlike the boosts you get from the Neural Stabilizer and it doesn't slow an already geriatric mech down to a standstill like the Synaptic Boost. In honesty, at 100 tons you really need to be biting the bullet and shelling out some niodes.
It gets even worse if you are looking at 95 tons, where you at least have the hideously expensive Sensor Array for almost double the precision and no penalties. Even Rocking Tunes give you all pluses as you boogey on down to the battlefield.
Am I showing my age by using boogey? Probably...
The thing is again, at 95 tons you probably need to dip into the savings account and go niode, at least for some pieces, and the M-hole does everything the Eye Spy does, plus more, with no down side.
So where does this leave our little Eye stalk? Well, mainly on 100 tonners I'm afraid, but at least there it is the best of the crystal bunch.... as long as you augment it with a bit of niode goodies.
Submitted by David McCallum #701548