Force Auxiliaries: Difference between revisions

Their blueprint copies drop from the Sotiyos of the corresponding faction. This means they are relatively expensive and rare. As FAXs cannot receive remote repairs while in triage they only have very niche use besides being collector items.

The Triage Module is the defining feature of a Force Auxiliary. The Triage Module has the following effects when activated:

* Disables the use of electronic warfare modules

When active, the Triage Module projects a rippling blue glow across the ship's hull, similar to the animation of an active Assault Damage Control.

The Triage Module does have a significant downside: while it reduces the cycle time of local and remote repair modules, it does not reduce their capacitor costs. This means that once a Force Auxiliary enters Triage, it becomes extremely capacitor-hungry to operate. Prior to the 2020 FAX changes, most fits for armor FAX (Apostle and Ninazu) compensated for this by fitting multiple Capacitor Boosters, and consuming large numbers of cap charges. However, since those changes, FAX have only been able to fit one such module at a time. Because of this, armor FAX now generally fit Cap Rechargers and Batteries in their mid slots.

FAXs are used to provide a huge amount of remote repair. A single T2 Capital Remote Shield Booster fitted on a Minokawa with T2 triage provides 1581 HP/s remote shield boosts and usually has three or four remote shield boosts fitted. As a comparison a Basilisk with four T2 Large Remote Shield Boosters fitted provides 340 HP/s remote repairs. This means a FAX can about replace a subcap logi squad with respect to the remote repair amount. But, as it does so in triage, it lacks on-grid mobility which can be very important in fights. Because FAXs can’t receive remote support like cap transfers while in triage, they heavily rely on cap boosters. The following sections will explain common strategies for how FAXs are currently used.

The triage module provides very strong bonuses to local repairs. The combination of the 100% more reps per circle (120% for T2) and the cycle time bonus results in four times the local repairs (4.4 for T2). On top of that, the hulls either have a bonus to local repairs or a resist bonus which both further increase the local repairs. The exact amount of local repair varies a lot depending how much the FAX pilot invested into the fitting, but you can expect from 25k EHP/s up to 100k EHP/s before heat, with heat increasing that by another nearly 30%.  

Always bring [[Medical_boosters#Other_boosters|Hardshell Dose IV]] and [[Medical_boosters#Combat_boosters|Strong Exile]] (for armor) or [[Medical_boosters#Combat_boosters|Strong Blue Pill]] (for shield) on local rep fitted FAXs. In combination they provide more than 40% more local repairs. (Usage of these is already assumed in the above approximations.)

The common use cases for local repair FAXs are:

Besides the obvious option to apply more DPS than the FAX can tank, capacitor warfare is also a good option to break a FAX’s tank. FAXs rely heavily on cap boosters, and so strong neut pressure means they can only activate their reps and hardeners if they activate the cap booster at the same time. Because the activation time of a cap booster is usually longer than for a repair module this results in the FAX being able to tank less. If you only face a single FAX, the cap pressure can be further increase by not shooting the FAX but other ships in its fleet, because the remote reps are less cap efficient than the local reps. As an example, T2 remote repairs on a standard active Apostle fit repair 6016 HP per 1087 GJ = 5.53 HP/GJ, while a local T2 repairs 44069 HP per 2880 GJ = 15.30 HP/GJ. Even though the resists on other ships might be slightly better than on the Apostle itself they are not that much better.

An armor fax would use the [[Skill_Hardwiring#Armor|RA-700 series]] in slot 7 for less cap use of remote armor reps and the [[Skill_Hardwiring#Armor|MC-800 series]] in slot 8 for more hull buffer in case you bleed through reps. A shield FAX would use the [[Skill_Hardwiring#Shield|SM-700 series]] in slot 7 for more shield buffer to make bleeding through less likely and the [[Skill_Hardwiring#Shield|SE-800 series]] in slot 8 for less cap use of remote shield boosts.

The local repairs of a FAX do not stand a chance if there is too much DPS on the grid. The low buffer is especially problematic as they can easily be volleyed by a group of super carriers or a single Titan doomsday. This means it becomes more viable to utilize buffer fit FAXs and accept that they die if primaried (though if a FAX exits triage while being primary, it can be repped up). The fits balance cost versus EHP to make it cheaper to lose a handful of FAXs rather than a super carrier or titan. Opponents will usually try to clear FAXs before they start focusing on super carriers or titans. If there is a good number of FAXs on grid, their remote repairs simply slow down the kill speed too much. An exception is if there are enough titans present to volley super carriers or titans with doomsdays.

As it is normal for buffer FAXs to die, you can easily see the current fits of major alliances by checking their killboards.

The role of Force Auxiliaries was previously filled by the Carrier class of capital ships. In the Rhea expansion the role of carriers was split, with the Carrier class converted in to damage and support ships based around fighter squadrons, and the Force Auxiliary class was created with carriers' previous boni to remote repair, and the ability to equip the Triage module. This is a major reason why both Force Auxiliaries and Carriers share the same Spaceship Command skill.

*[[Capital ships]]

* [https://youtu.be/Q7Uhr95HC18?t=566 Talking is Stations about FAXs in wormhole space]

[[Category:Ships]]