[Balance] Chips are great idea, but are hardly worth using as they are

[Valgor]

Originally Posted by Tyrax Lightning

[...] that this is a cool idea but needs fleshed out more...

Well, it would work like the gems in Diablo 2. Anytime the player sees an "Offense Chip" dropping, they already know what kind of bonuses it will bring and what types of components it goes in.
There'd be a set number of chip types, and all of them are the same, save for some random differences in the numbers (one Defense Chip might give +10% Defense, while another might give +12% or plus +9%, but every Defense Chip will always have a +Defense% mod). Of course, to spice things up, there could be rare, elite, etc. chips that have additional random mods each on top of the preset ones.

[LordGek]

Originally Posted by CaptainWinky

Okay, I managed to get a couple of unusual upgrades using chips. I went through my stash and found all the old items I had with a chip socket on them, then scavenged a bunch of chips. The majority of items didn't change in any unexpected way. This power plant, however, got a very nice boost from adding a +13 EM Resistance chip.

Before:


After:


Not only did I get the effect from the chip, but the max power load was doubled! Notice that the rarity went from "Elite" to "Artifact" as well. I was just messing around with these items but that power plant is a keeper for sure.

Here's a Deadly Aim which I added a reduced power load chip to.

Before:


After:


The rarity changed from Very Rare to Elite, but I didn't get any special boosts other than the effect of the chip. Maybe if I'd used a different type of chip I would have gotten a crazy boost to the crit chance on this item.

Most of the items I used had rarities inferior to Elite. Perhaps it's possible that the mega-upgrade only happens when adding a chip to an Elite or better item. I'll keep playing with it and see if I can find a more reliable way to get sick upgrades.

While I make no claims on understanding the wonders of rarities and effects, could it simply be that a core aspect of rarity is simply how many modifying extra effects it adds? So that simply by having, in that first case, a fourth modifying effect it is now considered an artifact? Doesn't explain the doubling, but maybe artifacts double their primary effect?

[CaptainWinky]

Originally Posted by LordGek

While I make no claims on understanding the wonders of rarities and effects, could it simply be that a core aspect of rarity is simply how many modifying extra effects it adds? So that simply by having, in that first case, a fourth modifying effect it is now considered an artifact? Doesn't explain the doubling, but maybe artifacts double their primary effect?

With the help of Utopians' new socket-adding service and Scavengers' chip-finding service I've been playing around with this some more. It seems to back up your theory. Adding an effect from a chip bumps the rarity and in some cases that doubles the primary effect of the item. I've seen it when going from Very Rare to Elite and in a few cases from Elite to Artifact. I have not yet tried bumping an item from Very Rare->Elite->Artifact->Legendary to see if it can be doubled more than once.

You need a lot of money to burn if you're going to add a socket to an item though. It took me a lot of tries for some of the rare items I was messing with earlier. Considering how OP this could be, I think that's more than fair. I spent about half a million credits with the Utopians when I was adding sockets to four of my rare and elite items.

[Buffbot]

I finally got a chip to double up the load of a power plant, but while the tooltip showed it now had double the power, only half the amount (the original value) was applied to my ship when installed.

- The original power load value of the module was 1391. After adding a chip (+20% component find chance) it jumped up a rarity and doubled the power load value to 2782.

- My initial total power load was 3459/3474, after the module was chipped and I reinstalled it on my ship my power load was still 3459/3474.

Are you all noticing the same thing? As in, is this a purely visual bug?

[CaptainWinky]

Originally Posted by Buffbot

I finally got a chip to double up the load of a power plant, but while the tooltip showed it now had double the power, only half the amount (the original value) was applied to my ship when installed.

- The original power load value of the module was 1391. After adding a chip (+20% component find chance) it jumped up a rarity and doubled the power load value to 2782.

- My initial total power load was 3459/3474, after the module was chipped and I reinstalled it on my ship my power load was still 3459/3474.

Are you all noticing the same thing? As in, is this a purely visual bug?

I double-checked the artifact power plant I posted previously and it definitely provides 3006 max power load. Try saving and reloading...it could be another case of the game not updating the effects of the item correctly.

[Tyrax Lightning]

Chips could use a bit more Drop Rate... Borg has reached Level 100 now, & I swear it seems like no Chips have ever dropped from lvl 50 onwards. The last Chip that has dropped for me has a Level Requirement of Lvl 45...

[CaptainWinky]

Originally Posted by Tyrax Lightning

Chips could use a bit more Drop Rate... Borg has reached Level 100 now, & I swear it seems like no Chips have ever dropped from lvl 50 onwards. The last Chip that has dropped for me has a Level Requirement of Lvl 45...

Chips seem to drop the most at very early levels, then they become extremely rare after that. Scavengers are my main source for chips even though it's kinda spendy.

[Buffbot]

Originally Posted by CaptainWinky

I double-checked the artifact power plant I posted previously and it definitely provides 3006 max power load. Try saving and reloading...it could be another case of the game not updating the effects of the item correctly.

Yeah, that worked. Thanks. I hadn't thought to try that before posting.

I agree the drops at higher levels are a bit sparse. Since 1.024 I played through 6 galaxies with my level 70+ and never saw a single chip. Then started a new Scav pilot yesterday and found 4 in the first system - which I then stashed for my other pilots to copy and use.

[sea]

I would rather see more chips that give flat +% bonuses to the attributes of items, or special effects that scale off of the item's level correctly, instead of a fixed +x bonus.

The chance for an item to have a chip slot also seems really low, in my experience.

[RoboAV]

Before the Utopian's ability, it was rare to find a slotted component that I wanted to use, to the point where I had written the entire system off as not worth my time or inventory slots. The ability to improve components I already want to use makes chips worthwhile. The chance to double the main stat of an item i.e. power load on generators, thrust on engine, etc.. has made the chip mechanic integral to how I currently play.
I always have chips in reserve, now. I keep components on a speculative basis. When I find the Utopians in a sector, I end up spending ridiculous amounts of credits trying to get that elusive stat doubling.
How does the stat doubling work? Does anyone know? I suspect that there is a chance that this happens whenever you slot a chip, but the odds of this happening goes up with the rarity of the item. Can you double the primary stat more than once? Does it matter what kind of bonus you are adding?
However, for non-weapon components, the stats that the chip adds are mostly incidental. Either the additional stat is relatively worthless- +4 Thermal Resistance anyone? or something I'm just not paying attention to- +16% Find Extra Credits. Best case scenario is Thrust or Attack or Power Load which are always useful even if the amount of the bonus is negligible. The doubling of the main stat is the reason to use this system and not the bonuses that are on the chips themselves.
Does anyone use this system differently? Have more insight into how the doubling works?