Experiment with Combat Boosters

Starwalker was considering experimenting with combat boosters and the safest way to do that was with the legal “synth” strength drugs as the illegal strengths of “standard”, “improved” and “strong” had respectively a 20%, 30% and 40% chance of one or more negative side effects.

Combat boosters were specially designed drugs that allowed the temporary improvement of some capability. As the strength of the booster drug increased so did the chance of one or more negative side effects. The ability to use boosters and the duration of their effect was determined by the level of the Biology skill, from 30 minutes to 60 minutes at level 5.

Every capsuleer had only three booster slots and so could use a maximum of three of the possible eight available drugs at any one time. The three slots and the drugs that could be used in them were:

• Defensive slot 1 – that could use one of:

a.     Blue Pill – shield boosting amount

b.     Exile – armour repair amount

c.      Mindflood – capacitor capacity

d.     X-Instinct – signature radius

• Turret slot 2 – that could use one of:

a.     Drop – tracking speed

b.     Frentix – optimal range

c.      Sooth Sayer – falloff range

• Missile slot 3 – that could use:

a.     Crash – missile explosion radius

So, at a more practical level it was much more likely to only use one or two combat boosters. The potential benefits for the illegal  (standard, improved and strong) variants were summarised here and ranged from 7.5% to 37.5%.

If Starwalker was in an active armour tank Rifter then Exile and Sooth Sayer might be possible choices. Alternatively, in an active shield tanked Hawk then Blue Pill and Crash. The general choice for any ship would be X-Instinct as every ship had a signature radius.

The booster benefit depended on the strength of the drug but they did not all share the same percentage benefit or the same negative side effects. Using the Rifter example, the synth strength resulted in a 3% benefit to armour repair amount and falloff range but for standard strength it was 20% benefit to armour repair amount and 10% benefit to falloff range.

The standard strength also had a 20% chance or one in five of a negative side effect and if that effect did happen then it would result in a 20% penalty. So for Exile the potential negative side effects would be a one in five chance that there would be a 20% penalty to each of:

• Armour Hitpoint
• Turret Tracking
• Missile Explosion Cloud
• Capacitor Capacity

Therefore, it would be possible to have zero negative side effects or all four. Similarly, for the Sooth Sayer, there would be a one in five chance for a 20% penalty to:

• Armour Repair Amount
• Shield Capacity
• Turret Optimal Range
• Velocity

The benefit, 20% for standard strength, was substantial but so was the cost if all four negative side effects happened. Clearly, the possible negative side effects needed to be understood and the risk assessed, as some side effects had less impact than others.

It was possible to mitigate this risk with the following skills:

• Nanite Control – reduced the severity of negative effects by 5% per level
• Neurotoxin Recovery – reduced the chance of negative effects by 5% per level

The problem with the skill books was that Nanite Control would cost around 250m ISK and that was a substantial reason not to experiment too much with stronger combat boosters. However, Starwalker looked at his dwindling supply of ISK and considered investing; on the basis that it gave him a level of risk mitigation if he used the stronger combat boosters. He wanted that mitigation there, even if he never used it or used it only occasionally.