Ascension and my goals

I just wanted a post where I can crib freely about my dastardly luck!
I've found a R+ (MY FIRST EVER such find in any universe) in a regular hourly, and then when I go to figure out which protocol this is and what it means - I find it is an AEEP:
Advanced Efficient Engines Protocol
This upgrade to the EEP enable the user to find and "ride" minute gravitic fluctuations. This boosts engine performance while further diminishing signs of a ship's passage.

Engines +25%
Enemy Malfunction Chance +3%
Surprise Damage +50
Surprise Chance +8%
Rarity Rare+
Sell Value 10 points

Seems pretty useless to me, I dont have any engines to speak of, and surprise chance etc is largely irrelevant.

When I do get a Rare+, why does it have to be what appears to be the most useless in the game?

I dont have any clear goals for AC, I only decided to because it looked like a lot of GFA folks were over in AC and I wanted to join in the fun
Rara's gift of a month of noto was a big consideration in this, I had 7 noto weeks saved up but wasn't sure if they were going to be enough.

Obviously, to complete is one goal.
The bonus to my officers is not my big thing, I dont like officers as Im raiding usually.
The AEP or SFP would be great, as would any decent protocol that can go into an extra spot.

AC is also the first time I've spent RL $s in this game, and bought a 1500 point pack...lets hope I get something cool out of that

What would be a good goal to have now, for me to Really Want to finish AC?

My goal to enter AC was to leave with a bunch of goodies (mostly protocols) but my goal now is to finish and keep my stats! If you don't finish, your stats stay in AC, but as soon as you're done your Sol and AC stats are added together. I should be a bit more useful in wars once I finish AC.

I'd also like to find enough to put me in a Dread, but that may be pushing my luck. I'd settle for the protocols that I am missing.

Thats a good point! I do want to take over all my monies and loot - would have to finish for that! The slog from 38 to 40 will be long, i hope i can defeat the boss at level 40~

You'll find that if you are levelling naturally, ie. not using points to refill your energy, you will probably have enough stats to beat the final npc encounter at the end.

This of course depends on your items, if you are still using a bunch of UCs at level 40 then obviously you'll need higher base stats to make up for it.

And bombze I would suggest slog it out slowly, and since you come back to Sol regularly for wars anyway, it's easy to topup for another month of noto using the new La Familia Noto Program (5mil for a month is an absolute bargain!)

Good points Rara, I will try to not rush this thing through
Hopefully Im using a couple of rares and a good protocol at the end..i have a GB now, and will be using 1500 points at the end.

I used a spreadsheet to work out what base stats I needed based on the goal modded stats, items I had available and consumables.

If anyone is interested I can take that sheet out of my bigger SP spreadsheet collection and post it in a google docs somewhere. It's actually quite helpful, and I've used it quite a few times when helping others look at what build they might use and what stats they might need at the end.

yes, please!!!

Yes, I would like for future reference