Module of the Week: 1MN Afterburner

This is part of a series where I look at a module and its variants and discuss it in terms of what is is used for and how the various iterations of the module differ.

This week we will start with something everyone has seen before, the 1MN Afterburner!

Description:

Gives a boost to the maximum velocity of the ship when activated. The thrust that boosts the ship, and the corresponding maximum velocity bonus, are limited by the mass of the ship that uses this module.
Note: Frigate class module

This is an active module designed for use on frigates and give a ship a bonus of 112.5% to 159% to their maximum velocity (the absolute bonus depending on the mass of the ship its fitted on). The module is affected by the following skills:

Acceleration Control - 5% bonus to speed boost / level
Afterburner - 5% reduction to duration / level + 10% reduction to capacitor use / level
Fuel Conservation - 10% reduction to capacitor use / level

To get an idea for how much improvement this leads to, an Afterburner I, the base Tech 1 module, has:
- speed bonus of 112.5%,
- activation cycle of 10 seconds, and
- activation cost of 20 GJ.
Fitted on a ship with a character that has all three skills to level V we have:
- speed bonus of 141%,
- activation cycle of 7.5 seconds, and
- activation cost of 5 GJ.

For the purposes of module comparison, we will be looking at the base unmodified by skills values.

Module	Meta Level	PG (MW)	CPU (tf)	Activation Cost (GJ)	Max Velocity Bonus (%)	Source
1MN Afterburner I	0	10	15	20	112.5	Built
Limited 1MN Afterburner I	2	10	15	20	121.5	Rat Drop
Experimental 1MN Afterburner I	3	10	15	20	126	Rat Drop
1MN Afterburner II	5	11	15	22	135	Built
1mn Analog Booster Rockets	6	9	13	16	121.5	Storyline Mission
Federation Navy 1MN Afterburner	7	10	17	20	141	LP store
Shadow Serpentis 1MN Afterburner	7	10	17	20	141	LP Store, Rat Drop
Domination 1MN Afterburner	8	11	15	15	144	LP Store, Rat Drop
Republic Fleet 1MN Afterburner	8	11	15	15	144	LP Store
Coreli C-Type 1MN Afterburner	11	10	17	15	150	Rat Drop
Gistii C-Type 1MN Afterburner	11	13	15	20	153	Rat Drop
Coreli B-Type 1MN Afterburner	12	10	18	15	153	Rat Drop
Gistii B-Type 1MN Afterburner	12	13	15	20	156	Rat Drop
Coreli A-Type 1MN Afterburner	13	10	19	15	156	Rat Drop
Gistii A-Type 1MN Afterburner	13	13	15	20	159	Rat Drop

As you can see, the boost provided by the modules increases as the Meta Level does, but there are some trade offs in fitting requirements or capacitor usage as you go down the chart. Is your fit tight on CPU or Powergrid is a question that could determine if you reach for a Shadow Serpentis afterburner or a Republic Fleet version. Also, the price difference can be dramatic, taking our previous example the Shadow Serpentis module is around 25 million while the Republic Fleet 1MN Afterburner is ~47 million ISK in Jita markets as of today.

Although there are Officer versions of the 100MN afterburner, there are no 1MN nor 10MN officer afterburners in the game.

Glossary

Module of the Week: Intro

I've decided to start a weekly or so feature here on Ninveah.com where I look at one module at a time and its purpose in the game, and then if applicable look into its variants and cover the differences to point out why you might prefer a meta module over a Tech II version, or which faction version is easier to fit compared to others, etc.

To that end, this post will act as a glossary I can point to for terms so that they do not have to be explained many times, and will grow as the list grows.

Glossary

Fitting - The measure of CPU and Powergrid a module requires to be placed in a slot on a ship and turned online.

Online / Offline - A module that is on a ship can be online, where it is using up CPU and powergrid and applying any passive effects as well as being ready to be activated for active effects, or offline where it is still on the ship in the slot but does not use any CPU or powergrid, has no passive effects, and cannot be activated.

Active / Passive - An active module is one that has to be turned on for its effects to apply. A passive module applies its effects to a ship as long as its online.

Activated / Deactivated - Some modules can be "turned on" when they are on ship, in space, and online. Once activated, they apply their effects. Turning an activated module off is said to be "deactivating" it.

Rack - A collection of slots of a particular type is referred to as a "rack". For example, all the high slots are one rack, mid slots another, and low slots a third rack. Rigs are not referred to as a rack, they are just "slots".

Overheat - Most modules that can be activated have the option to operate at an increased efficiency or rate at the trade off of building up heat on the module itself as well as the rack it is part of. If too much heat builds up, the module will take damage. If a module takes too much damage, it will "burn out" and no longer work, i.e. be able to apply active or passive effects.

Meta Level - Every module has a property called a "meta level" which is an abstract measure of how good it is in theory. Meta Level 0 represents Tech 1 modules, Meta Level 5 represents Tech 2 modules.

Meta Modules / Named Modules - Many modules have one or more variants between its base Tech 1 version and the advanced Tech 2 version with meta levels ranging from 1 to 4. This group is often referred to meta modules because they are meta levels higher than Tech 1, or "named modules" because they have special names lime "Arbalest Heavy Missile Launcher". In the past these modules quality increased as the meta level increased to Tech 2, but their is an initiative to balance them so that they all have some advantage over tech 1 in different areas.

Faction Modules - These are modules that are provided by the loyalty point stores of factions (e.g. Amarr, Guristas, Mordu's Legion, etc) or from NPC loot drops of those factions. They are usually better than Tech 2 in some manner.

Deadspace Modules - These are modules found as loot drops in complexes and tend to be as good or better than faction modules.

Officer Modules - These modules are typically the best module variants you can get and are only dropped by special advanced Officer NPCs in null sec.

Storyline Modules - These are modules are are rewards for special missions and have variable utility. Due to rarity and questionable utility they are rarely used.

More to come...