While playing in 4.0 preview yesterday I discover something interesting.
We all know that since MM introduction the ship's top speed is linked to the fact of being in "NAV mode"... well that is not true.
Hold on, before you run out in a secluded space to have your 5 minutes of joy: no, you can go full speed in "SCM mode", but the binding is not on the MM but on the Quantun drive operational status.
Basically to enjoy the full speed your QD need to be operational and that is possible only in "NAV mode".
This situation imply a couple of thing...
First: when you drop off a Q-jump and your QD is cooling down you are bound to SCM speed (since the QD is not actually operational). This cause a slight delay in your available top speed as soon you jump off a q-travel and can be notice in your ship take time to accelerate.
Second: if for any reason, being a loss of power, damage, being removed, etc, you QD is NOT operation you'll be stuck at SCM speed even if you are in "NAV mode". You can try it by switching off the QD...
Now that above bring another consideration into play that are QD emission.
Before CrapMode introduction QD emission where basically unimportant since you'll fire up the QD only for the time you have to spool and jump, but right now that the QD need to be operation, in some case, all the time that became an important factor especially for cargo and industrial ship since it contribute a LOT to your ship EM emission.
Here below some example on how the stock QD contribute to your ship emission (left QD on, right QD off):
I'll could go on but I think you'll get the idea...
Now take a comparison of the same ships with the QD upgraded to a grade B stealth one (left stock, right stealth):
A you can see the reduction in EM signature is not negligible and will reduce the chances of being detected, at least for what concern the EM signature.
While this aspect is less important to combat dedicated ship, for everything else I'll suggest to throw away the stock QD and switch to a stealth one as soon as you ca afford it, especially if you are operation in Pyro.
Also, as an added benefit, the stealth component are less power hungry and generally speaking have better performance being faster or have a better fuel consumption then the stock ones.
We all know that since MM introduction the ship's top speed is linked to the fact of being in "NAV mode"... well that is not true.
Hold on, before you run out in a secluded space to have your 5 minutes of joy: no, you can go full speed in "SCM mode", but the binding is not on the MM but on the Quantun drive operational status.
Basically to enjoy the full speed your QD need to be operational and that is possible only in "NAV mode".
This situation imply a couple of thing...
First: when you drop off a Q-jump and your QD is cooling down you are bound to SCM speed (since the QD is not actually operational). This cause a slight delay in your available top speed as soon you jump off a q-travel and can be notice in your ship take time to accelerate.
Second: if for any reason, being a loss of power, damage, being removed, etc, you QD is NOT operation you'll be stuck at SCM speed even if you are in "NAV mode". You can try it by switching off the QD...
Now that above bring another consideration into play that are QD emission.
Before CrapMode introduction QD emission where basically unimportant since you'll fire up the QD only for the time you have to spool and jump, but right now that the QD need to be operation, in some case, all the time that became an important factor especially for cargo and industrial ship since it contribute a LOT to your ship EM emission.
Here below some example on how the stock QD contribute to your ship emission (left QD on, right QD off):
I'll could go on but I think you'll get the idea...
A you can see the reduction in EM signature is not negligible and will reduce the chances of being detected, at least for what concern the EM signature.
While this aspect is less important to combat dedicated ship, for everything else I'll suggest to throw away the stock QD and switch to a stealth one as soon as you ca afford it, especially if you are operation in Pyro.
Also, as an added benefit, the stealth component are less power hungry and generally speaking have better performance being faster or have a better fuel consumption then the stock ones.
