Can some experienced and game-knowledgeable players please explain how these work?
Is it worth the credits? What are the actual benefits of high power/defense levels? What are the bonuses? How long do they last in battle?
I know the in-game descriptions (see attachments) seem so obviously self-explanatory that it doesn’t require much clarification, but I’m not asking for me.
The other day I got into an arg… um, discussion with another player that told me I was wasting my credits upgrading these, since the bonuses in battle were so low and lasted for so short a time that it wasn’t really worth it.
I’ve upgraded mine to 21 (following advise from another player who I saw vaporizing transports in Processing Rig 15 in under 5 seconds) and I have seen some significant improvement in all of my ships’ performance in PvE. All those missions you see there nearing the 20 mark, I was able to successfully finish –without dying once– within a week of upgrading from 15 straight to 21.
If you open the chat window and hover over the icons related to the two buffs that those upgrades provide, you will see for yourself that they are indeed active.
I have no recollection of them being dispelled or expiring.
What I want to know is how difficulty level relates to enemy modifiers, because player upgrades and PvE difficulty levels do not scale together. Supposedly every 5 levels of PvE difficulty, the values double from the last… so 1(1x) 5(2x) 10(4x) 15(8x) 20(16x) but I could be wrong, it really needs to be documented in-game.
No, you’re correct, the buffs help a lot. Example: at power level 36 you’re dealing double damage compared to no bonus, and at defense level 25 you have double the hull/shield points.
And they are permanently active in UMC missions. So unless you’re neglecting other things (upgrading equipment, levelling ellydium ships), credits spent here are well-spent. Especially in Power, because more damage always helps, but more hitpoints are unnecessary if you weren’t dying in the first place.
BTW: Power not only applies to your main gun, but to most modules as well. (Not to all, confusingly: for example regular engineer drones are unaffected, but Phoenix and Styx drones are buffed. At least it used to be that way the last time I tested.)
At level 65 power, each upgrade starts gettting bigger from 7% per level, now at level 90 it goes up 12% per level. And so it should as each level cost around 400 insignia and 13M credits ;p
From level 30 onwards, defence starts doing the same.
It’s a fun thing to upgrade especially for those who enjoy lots of PvE.
