EVERSPACE 2 – How to Build a Vindicator (a Necromancer’s Guide to Drone Carriers)

Your friendly neighborhood undead reanimator’s how-to for Everspace 2 drone carrier.

Guide to Build a Vindicator

All credit goes to Callisto!

Why a Vindicator?

I love space games. So much. Started with the first X-Wing, then went through Wing Commander: Armada, Star Crusader, Privateer 2, X-Wing vs TIE Fighter and its sequel X-Wing Alliance, Starlancer, Freelancer, and some titles in the X series (X3: Terran Conflict and Albion Prelude, X4: Foundations).

It was in the X Universe where I first learned about drone carriers. I never actually went to play one or build one there, despite reading in a lot of places that you could break the games in absurd ways doing that.

Vindicators are the Everspace 2 take on that concept. At first glance, your drones don’t seem like much — a pew-pew strapped to an engine and some stubby winglets. The first zombie or skeleton a novice necromancer raises doesn’t scare anyone either, but don’t let that deceive you. Focusing on the right stats and choosing the right gear can turn your tiny thralls/wingmen into terrifying killers that go through enemies like ghouls through corpses.

The Basics

Neither a necromancer nor an air wing commander get their hands dirty, they got minions (pilots!) to do that. Your job, in this one case, is not even to direct them, but to support them instead.

• Keep an eye out on the health of your drones. Depending on how sturdy they get or the enemies you’re fighting, you’ll want to restore them whenever it drops to 50-60% of their total health. You do things right, you’ll always have wrecks you can salvage to keep your thralls in the fight.
• What little shooting you do yourself should focus on particular targets. Your drones are nimble and adept enough at dodging gunfire and missiles, but mines and other hazards are another matter. Thus, anything that can saturate an area with explosive ordnance is a primary target.
• Your ULT cranks your drones up to eleven — and is toggleable. Target that destroyer, debuff, unleash, kill, turn off. That will allow you to quickly recharge your ULT and unleash it again on the next big target that presents itself.

Passives

This is the absolute best here, bar none. Accept no substitutes. The more bodies you can throw at the enemy, the better.

Who needs mines with this? Not to mention it synergizes with the Exploitation perk.

Any other traits are up to you and your play style. I was tempted to add to the list the drone regeneration passive, but that kind of defeats the point of the second pick – and, honestly, there’s just so many ways to keep your zomb–err, drones in tip-top shape.

Attributes

Some other classes (say, the bomber, which I love) just have to put as many points as legally possible on firepower and that’s about it. Vindicators don’t do that.

• Expertise is your primary stat. The higher it is, the sturdier and deadlier your thralls. You can also interact with wrecks and husks from farther away, which allows you to put some distance between you and the enemy.
• Precision is next in order. As your guns won’t be inflicting much damage, they’re better used as debuff tools. Small stuff usually dies too fast for this — but that tune will change when you’re up against a big bad destroyer.
  • Missiles can roll with a perk that gives you a 20% chance to flip one for free at an enemy on a crit — so equip guns with high ROF.
  • Pulse lasers can potentially apply all kinds of nasty debuffs — including dealing +100% hull damage for 5 seconds. The chance is very low (1%), but when it procs, whatever gets slapped with this will die. Fast.
• Utility is surprisingly, er, useful here. Reduced device cooldowns? Yes please. Increased ULT damage? YAS.

Weapons

Your primaries should inflict debuffs and have a high rate of fire. Good range and a large energy pool are also desirable.

Choose your catalysts accordingly. If you want your secondary freebie missile to proc, gotta need to land a lot of crits, and that means high precision — and high ROF.

Your secondaries aren’t meant to deal damage, but to snare or weaken.

Destabilizer missiles are your ultimate debuff tool. Get one that procs for a free round on a primary crit.

Devices

These things most closely resemble spells in the traditional MMORPG sense, with cooldowns and all. And, in keeping with the necromancer theme, the spells on their spellbook usually are about animating and bolstering minions, cursing and weakening enemies, and making a quick getaway. That inspires these choices.

Corrosion Injector is your fly swatter, and as such, it works wonders, especially if you pick the Mercy Kill upgrade. Perfect for those annoying enemy drones.

• For optimum results, map the Lock Nearest Target command to any key (T works well on a keyboard) or button. The moment whatever you’ve slapped with acid dies, tap this key and cast it again.

EMP Generator is both a panic button and an offensive aid to make it easier for your thralls to nail their targets.

• The Hard Reset spec is just hilarious — you can get to spam EMP again and again.
• Synergizes with the Exploitation perk, which in turn makes it easier for free missiles to proc.

Nano Transmitter is your last resort card for those times when the enemy overwhelms your drones: it helps you keep them in the fray if you have taken the Distribution upgrade.

Teleporter is a panic button and a tactical repositioning tool rolled into one. Want to get closer to that annoying sniper drone, or within range of that destroyer so your drones can sting it to death — pop away.