Deck Conn Systems Tier List

This systems tier list ranks the buses Deck Conn actually names: sensors, propulsion, weapons, defenses, batteries, fuel, and auxiliary power, sitting under a nuclear reactor that will not cover all of them at once. Pair it with the systems guide and the power planner. If you came here to find a god roll, start with Getting Started instead.

Grades are launch-week doctrine, not datamined DPS.

S tier — keep these alive even when the patrol is ugly

Sensors (especially a working passive picture). Combat and campaign both begin as information problems. A corvette that cannot see is a wreck that has not admitted it. Passive sensors stay S because they support quiet investigation, capture setups, and disengage calls. Active sensors are S as a tool and A as a lifestyle — ping when you must, not as a screensaver.

Propulsion / range control. The launch kit talks about range and positioning as much as firepower. If you cannot change distance, the enemy writes the fight. Fuel is the campaign twin of this tier; a drive with empty tanks is a D-tier ornament.

A tier — first upgrades if you can feed them

Defenses. Unsexy, campaign-saving. Standalone heroes skip them; patrol captains who want a second evening do not. After a prize, defenses climb toward S because you are now slow and interesting.

Batteries. They turn a reactor ceiling into a one-turn spike. A-tier because they enable the S-tier sensors and the B-tier weapons pulse without a brown-out. If you never recharge them, they were never A; they were a lie you told the power planner.

Reactor output upgrades. More ceiling is always tempting. A-tier, not S, because a bigger reactor with a greedy doctrine just fails later. Buy output when your plan already works and you want margin, not when the plan is “more gun.”

B tier — strong in the right order

Weapons. You need them. They are not the protagonist. Weapons are B until a contact is already a fight, then they are A for the duration of the volley. Captains who leave weapons in S all patrol long go deaf and slow. Read Combat for targeting; a B-tier gun aimed at propulsion beats an S-tier tantrum aimed at paint.

Fuel reserves / tank upgrades. B on short standalone maps, A on campaign patrols that still have to come home. If your last three logs show “won the fight, missed the yard,” promote fuel.

C tier — useful, easy to overbuy

Specialist weapon mounts you cannot staff. If crew promotions have not produced an operator, the mount is a C no matter what the catalogue art shows.

Loud sensor suites as default. A bigger active array is a tool. As a default bus it is C because it donates bearings. Save it for the intercept doctrine on the tactics list.

D tier — looks like command, plays like a memorial

All-weapons, no-plot loadouts. They match trailers and lose patrols.

Ignoring auxiliary power “until it matters.” The launch list named it for a reason. Turning it off to feed a vanity shot is D-tier command.

Buying every catalogue box because the campaign offered them. Appetite scales faster than reactor upgrades. The campaign walkthrough is where that lesson gets expensive.

How to apply the list this week

1. Write a doctrine (quiet / loud / escort) on the planner.
2. Fund S-tier buses to a floor you will not steal.
3. Fund A-tier to a ceiling you can recharge.
4. Let B-tier spike, then return the amps.
5. After each patrol, ask whether a C bought the D.

When a patch changes buses, this page will follow Updates. Until then, power the plot, power the drive, then power the gun. That order is the tier list in one sentence.

For the other ranking, open Tactics. For the human side of the same economy, open Crew.