Pre-igniter vs Auto-loader

[rocketpjs]

Not that there is ever a choice, but pre-igniter wins every time - it ends most fights before they begin. Both are good though, and I will sell almost any other augment (other than scrap recovery) if I can get one.

[MasterShizzle]

Pre-igniter is better for weapons that have a long recharge time, e.g. a BLIII or Glaive Beam. If you've got one (or both!) of those, then you can get in massive damage when you first jump in, giving you a free chance to take down weapons/drones right away and effectively cripple the ship enough that you can avoid getting hit at all. My fave is to use a big weapon to take down their shields right away, then use Anti-Bio Beam or a fire-based weapon to weaken the crew, then board and clean up. But I very rarely even SEE the pre-igniter, let alone get to use it.

The Auto-Reloader is great for ANY weapon, but most especially weapons with low charge times to begin with. It means your BLII or Dual Laser is going to fire off before theirs, every time. It means that in the course of a battle you'll get off 12-15 shots instead of 10, which is HUGE in terms of damage output. Most every weapon-centric ship layout can benefit from the Reloader. I've picked it up in just about every run I see it in. My last win with the Kestrel A had a Reloader and two BLII guns, with a defense drone Mk 1. Enough firepower to take down the final boss, though only just.

When you add in the cheaper scrap cost, Reloader wins out over Pre-Igniter for me almost every time. If you have a choice between the two, get the Reloader and save some scrap. Either way you're going to get the first shot off, but Reloader continues to be good for the rest of the battle, whereas Pre-Igniter's advantage disappears once you're past that first volley if the enemy ship has time to stabilize.

[5thHorseman]

Actually, considering the Reloader is 40 and the Pre-igniter is 120, the real question is:

What's better, a pre-igniter or *three* auto-loaders?

Now I'm drooling thinking about 3 auto-loaders.

[BKT]

2x Reloader + 1x Igniter! 

... Really, though— 3x Reloader is kinda fun on Fed cruiser, but other then that it's absolutely overkill and a waste of aug slot IMO.

[The Captain]

One time with the Fed Cruiser A I was lucky enough to buy a second Auto Reloader in sector 8. And with the late-sector inflow of scrap, having recently gone from level 2 Artillery Beam to max, "all of a sudden" I was very quickly ripping through the rebs.

[Twinge]

Reloader is incredibly strong. It can also effectively work as a Pre-igniter in many situations, because manned weapons+Reloader means you're firing your volley off before theirs.

I have the price boosted all the way to 65 in my balance mod - changing it from an always-buy to an often-buy.

[zeek]

I agree with those who say it depends on the situation. If you have weapons with a long cooldown then the pre-igniter can be amazing. If you have short cool down like the ion blast mark II then there's no point to the pre-igniter but the auto-reloader is really good.

I think with most situations in FTL it depends. This one depends IMO.

[spacecadet13]

Gimme an auto loader every time - it's the equivalent of a 15% increase in firepower, whereas the Pre-Igniter just lets you get the first "volley" away before the other ship - which is something that the autoloader and a levelled up gunner can do as well. After the first volley, the Igniter is useless, while the autoloader is the gift that keeps on giving.

[5thHorseman]

The important thing about the pre-igniter isn't that you shoot first, it's that you get a free shot off before the battle even starts. Frequently this means that you get to shoot *TWICE* before the enemy can shoot, especially if you have a good gunner and/or a autoloader.

In a long, protracted battle this isn't a big deal but avoiding long, protracted battles is what the pre-igniter is all about.

But no, it's not for everything. If you've got 4 weapons that charge up in 12 seconds or less I'd say loader. If you've got a Glaive beam and 2 BL2's, though, give me that igniter every time. First volley pummel down their shields and send any extra bursts into weapons, and Glaive them through weapons and shields and any other rooms you can. Assuming they don't die they'll be unable to even fire back, and your next Glaive will be the last thing they ever see. If you had the loader instead, they'd get at least one volley off before it charged up.

[spacecadet13]

Yeah, but, In a lot of battles, having the first volley makes next to no difference; you're not gonna do much damage - if any - to a ship with four shields, high evasion and a D Drone 2 just by getting the first round in (unless you're stacked with BL2's, and how often does that happen? And if you're stacked with BL2's, you don't need no autoloader OR preigniter!) And when/if you miss with those first missles/bombs, that's it, your 'bonus' from having the Preigniter is over.

But, getting to fire EVERY round 15% faster than you would have otherwise is what breaks down defences and deals damage faster than they can adequately repair it.

And when you factor in that the Igniter is three times more expensive than the autoloader for a one-off benefit vs a battle-long benefit..no contest IMHO.