The best and worst augments

[Jerjare]

The best (in my opinion):

Weapon Pre-igniter: Probably the best in the game. Being able to instantly alpha-strike is a tremendous advantage. Synergizes so well with so many things (fire, then cloak, Breach II, Glaive Beam, etc). Getting this augment early makes ships like Stealth B hugely more effective. Well worth the cost.

Engi Med bot dispersal: Great vs boarders, fire, vacuum, etc. Best part is you can get it from an event (Find poorly equipped engi ship, give scrap/fuel).

Scrap Recovery Arm: Another great one to get early on. Stacks, and benefits from so many situations. Pays for itself once you've accumulated 500 scrap (sounds like a lot, but not really especially when boarding enemy ships and getting 50-70 scrap per encounter.

Worst augments: These tend to be too situational or random. The upside is they tend to be cheaper, but ultimately pale in comparison to better augments.

Drone Reactor Booster: Basically a less versatile version of Mantis pheromones. Too limited in scope; having it simply be a attack/repair speed boost wouldve been much more useful.

Reverse Ion: Too situational. I've had this proc all of once. Vs enemies with no Ion weapons, its a waste.

FTL jammer: Stopping runners isnt that useful when knocking out helm has the same effect. That, and if you don't have the firepower to take out an enemy trying to run in time, having more time may not make much of a difference.

[5thHorseman]

I don't have many arguments here, though I don't think I'd have listed medi-bots among the elite. They're pretty good, but I have kept the 40 scrap more than once instead of getting one. Instead, I'd put Automated Reloader on the list of bests. Automated reloader, pre-ignitor, level-3 cloak and a full suite of pretty much any weapons can decimate any ship in the game. Fire, cloak, fire, and they're either dead or incapable of firing back.

To the "worst" list I'd include FTL charger. I don't know for sure but I don't think I've ever bought one. Also, Advanced FTL is pretty lame. I bought it ONCE (in like my 2nd or 3rd game) and INSTANTLY realized that it was garbage.

[Teoes]

Agree with those listed as the worst and with 5thHorseman's comments; but ye Gods does Long Ranged Scanners deserve to be listed among the best! That's 30 scrap I slap down just about every time I see it in the store. The heads-up it provides is unbelievably useful in picking fights or avoiding environmental dangers.

Drone Recovery is lovely too in encouraging a drone-heavy play. If you can get it and a Hull Repair drone, you can let the drone heal 2 damage then jump away - recover the drone part, 2 free hull points repaired every time.

[Metzelmax]

I find Adv. FTl Navigation pretty useless.

I plan my rout so I DONT have to jump to a sector I allready have visited, since that's waste. It's not worth 60 scrap. And Even if I get it dropped I sell it on the next shop.

My favorite is the automated reloader, since it stacks you can have 3 of them combined with an crew member lvl2 you gain 45 +19 = 64 % cd reduction. A Ion blast II fires every 1.4 sec!

[Jerjare]

Other good augments: The augments that are good, and only outclassed by the best augments.

Automated reloader: 'nuff said. As other people mentioned, makes your weapons considerably more effective, stacks, and synergizes with other abilities.

Stealth weapons: Allows you to dismantle enemies with impunity. Particularly handy when pestered by drones/beams.

Drone recovery arm: You now only need 2 or 3 drone parts at a time, and you can trade away the excess.

Repair arm: Keeps your hull in good shape, though you do lose out on scrap (dunno what the hull/scrap ratio is). Late game, when repairs get pricey, might help particularly if you cant find a store.

Long range scanner: Maximizes chances for scrap, shops, and avoiding suns/storms. Also has some blue options! Great for nebulas.

Rock Plating: Saves a lot of scrap on repairs. Damaged systems cost nothing, damaged hull is 2-4 scrap a point. Procs like crazy when hit by beams/burst lasers. Useful, has blue options.

Titanium system plating: Not quite as good as rock plating, but still excellent for shieldless stealth A ship or systems with just enough power. Also protects critical systems like doors/O2/helm.

Slug Repair gel: Nice on small crews (slug A) and allows you to prevent suffocation damage by letting breaches auto-seal. Really shines vs boarding drones or multiple breaches.

Zoltan shield: Great early on, but gets outclassed hard later. Works best if enemy ship only has 1 or 2 slow weapons. Prevents boarding (very good!) But not boarding events (total BS!). Combine with stealth to keep it on as long as possible.

Mediocre augments: These are generally too situational to be worth their cost. Only worth keeping if you get em for free, sell to make room for better augments.

FTL booster: Only good vs enemies you cant beat or sun/storms, but long range scanners can avoid these altogether.

Advanced FTL: Too situational; only good for hopping back to shops to repair or buy stuff you previously couldnt afford. Sometimes nice on Last Stand for quickly revisiting Repair nodes.

Mantis Pheromones: Better than drone reactor booster, but thats it. Only rockmen really benefit from moving faster.

[The Captain]

My favorite is the automated reloader, since it stacks you can have 3 of them combined with an crew member lvl2 you gain 45 +19 = 64 % cd reduction. A Ion blast II fires every 1.4 sec!

That would be something to see. I found that the Auto Reloader really helps the slow weapons. It helped me win an otherwise crappy run with the Fed B. Best weapon I had was the Artillery Beam; couldn't find any really good other weapons. Still had my Dual Lasers , with an Ion Blast, Small Bomb and Anti-Ship Mk I. I got the Auto Reloader midgame - it helped so much. Probably wouldn't have survived without it. Later, when I finally had enough scrap, I upgraded the Artillery Beam from level 2 to 4, and it was like a turbo boost. I even got a second Auto Reloader late in sector 7, or was it sector 8? So I felt much better about my chances - just please don't hit my Artillery Beam!