Matrix Games Forums

Hey there,

I've got quite a few questions regarding components and appreciate any tips & tricks told. As I'm going to put all questions together this post is going to be a long one.





ARM - Armor
Considerung amounts from 10 (private and non-combat-ships) to 5-10% for other ships and 15-20% for bases (20% for the defensive base, maybe even star base).

CMP - Commerce Center
Most likely inevitable on Space Ports, Mining Stations (guess they're selling to neutral merchants etc.) and Star Bases. Essential for Resort Bases. What else could need these? And does the bonus stack, further increasing income and if so, is it capped?

CMP - Targetting System
Must-have on anything with weapons, might be less useful on pure carriers without weapons, though Fleet Targetting System should still be more than useful on those (especially if it's a flagship). ONLY ONE COMPONENT USEFUL. I think TS & FTS stack with each other?

CMP - Countermeasures System
Probably good for anything to prevent getting blown up. Used to build these in anything (ships, bases). Fleet Countermeasures also good for flagships / carriers. ONLY ONE COMPONENT USEFUL. I think CMS & FCMS stack with each other?

CST - Repair Bots
I've heard any bot beyond the first won't supply any bonuses, though using at least twice provides redundancy, repairing each other in case one being destroyed. Is this correct?

CST - Construction Yard
Does more than one CY make sense on a construction ship? I'm not sure if both can construct one base at the same time possibly adding up their construction speed. Because they are somewhat heavy I'd consider building Construction Ships with more than one not before mid-game.

CST - Damage Control Unit
Must-have for warships, maybe to expensive to use them in everything, can't remember the cost right now. Guess more than one's useless (except for redundancy).

ECL - Energy To Fuel Converter
Pretty heavy, so might only be useful on bases. Though I remember having read that a single Gas Mining Station easily provides more fuel in the same time.

ECL - Energy Collector
Must-have on anything, right? Prevents fuel usage while not travelling. Could also power complete bases, only mounting one reactor to be able to save the design. Though more than inefficient and expensive on bases with excessive energy usage. Do you suffer any disadvantages of you use ECs for a base, having a negative static energy coverage?

EXT - Mining Engine & Gas Extractor
According to a thread (can't post links yet, thread id: 3634839) the Gas Extractor gathers three times the resources of a Mining Engine. But due to everything usually needing fuel this is kind of necessary.
How much of these do you use on your Mining Ships and Stations (I'm using 1 & 3 respectively)?

EXT - Luxury Resource Extractor
I'm using equal amounts of these and MEs & GEs. I was once thinking about building a separate base focused on Luxury Resources and sparing these parts on the (Gas) Mining Stations and vice versa. But I fear this could increase maintenance costs beyond any additional income.

HAB - Colonization Module
Pretty heavy, just one question: Anyone using more than once on a single ship of these?

HAB - Medical Center
Must-have in Space Ports. As I use to build a SP on every colony any other bases on a colony equipped with this wouldn't provide an additional bonus, right? Do these make sense on military ships without Troop Compartments? According to the help they allow onboard troops regenerating faster, so they should also be useful on Troop Transporters. Do multiple MCs make sense?

HAB - Recreation Center
Also a must-have in Space Ports. Same question as above. And do they provide anything useful installed on ships or other bases? ONLY ONE COMPONENT USEFUL.

HDR - HyperDeny
Those need to be handled with care. They prevent any ship jumping, even your own. One of the later technologies (don't know from memory which one) doesn't have this disadvantage any more. I was considering using them on my more important bases/stations. Guess you only need one of these.

MNF - Plants
I've seen them in increasing numbers on the Space Ports. How much of these do you need to support a steady construction speed?

SEN - Stealth Cloak
Haven't played long enough to have this researched. Probably good for hiding Monitoring Stations in deep space, though I believe that freighters delivering material of any kind render it useless if not stealthed themselves. Also a component that doesn't seem to be needed in numbers beyond one.

SEN - Long Range Scanner
Probably worth installing them on exploration ships later on. Haven't used Monitoring Stations yet, but I'd think one of these on Space Ports and Star Bases should do the trick. One should be enough, right?

SEN - Proximity Array
Always use them on warships and Exploration Ships. If these don't provide any bonus when used on multiple ships I would go on and install them in flagships and bases only. And how exactly does that percentage on hyperjump tracking work? Do you need more than one on a single ship?

SEN - Scanner Jammer & Trace Scanner
How useful are these? Just one of these or more on a single ship?

SHD - Shields
I use 1/10 of shields compared to armor (rounded down if need), making them equal in weight. So a ship with 30 armor components would have 3 shields. They're pretty much some extra protection if they're not up against weapons bypassing them. Due to this fact I've been thinking about reducing shields by maybe 50%.

STR - Cargo Bays
I can't see any reason to install them on anything else than Space Ports, Freighters, Construction Ships and (Gas) Mining Stations. If you got fuel in a cargo bay and your fuel cells are empty, is the fuel transferred to the fuel cells - assumed the fuel type is the same?

STR - Troop & Passenger Compartments
How much of these are good to have on the according ship types? How much Passenger Compartments are good to have on Resort Bases?

WGR - Tractor Beams
Just a simple question: Pulling or pushing enemies most likely depends on the combat settings, if the ship is trying to standoff it'll push them away and otherwise pulling them, is this correct?

WPD - Point Defense Weapons
How many of these are needed to keep the fighters of a single bay busy?




Guess that's it. Thanks to anyone reading it completely and thanks again if taking the time to answer. I really hope the answers to these questions will help more newbie players

Verjigorm

IMHO:

ARM - Armor

5 on civilian ships, 10-20 on military and mines, >20 on defensive base.

CMP - Commerce Center

Only Ports, Mines and Resorts need them, and they require only 1. Bonuses do not stack.

CMP - Targetting System

CMP - Countermeasures System

I believe these bonuses stack.

CST - Repair Bots

You need only 1 Bot, adding an extra one just in case of emergency.

CST - Construction Yard

You need only 1 on construction ship.

CST - Damage Control Unit

You need only 1 per ship.

ECL - Energy To Fuel Converter

Never used them for everything except RP purposes and curiosity. Hydrogen and Caslon are too common for constructing complex and expensive Converters.

ECL - Energy Collector

There's an entire thread about them. I played without them once - it was a great mess supplying every station with fuel. I use them at every ship or base, energy collection must be equal or more than static consupmtion.

EXT - Mining Engine & Gas Extractor

IIRC, there's effective limit of 4 extractors. So 4 at mines, 1 at mining ships.

EXT - Luxury Resource Extractor

1 at gas stations, 2-4 at mining ones. 1 at mining ships.

HAB - Colonization Module

I'm using only 1 and happy with it.

HAB - Medical Center

Again, you need only 1. You need them at Ports (moral bonuses) and Troop carriers (regeneration bonus). Without troops onboard they make no sense. I add them at some stations just for flavor and RP.

HAB - Recreation Center

No, they make sense only at Ports and Resorts.

HDR - HyperDeny

You need only 1. I place them at Defensive bases and large military ships. Really helps in some situations.

MNF - Plants

Debated question. I use 1 per 10 construction yards.

SEN - Stealth Cloak

This tech looks useless for me. I believe bonuses from this one stack, allowing more stealth bonus. But it is expensive, research-heavy and large component with limited use.

SEN - Long Range Scanner

You need only 1. They make a great work being installed at planetary stations and resort bases (for scanning space beyound the empire borders).

SEN - Proximity Array

You need only 1. I believe it can track the point of destination of enemy hyperjump (chances in %). I place it at every ship and base just for a case.

SEN - Scanner Jammer & Trace Scanner

Jammer is useless, I don't think that AI can use scanned information. Scanners, though, are pretty nice in detailing enemy ships. 1 per ship is enough.

SHD - Shields

1-3 at civilians and "non-combat" ships, ~5 at escorts and frigates, ~10 at destroyers and cruisers, ~15-20 at flagships. ~20 at defensive bases.

STR - Cargo Bays

You're thinking right.

STR - Troop & Passenger Compartments

Place Troop Compartment accordingly to your trooping strategy. I place 10 Passenger at Passenger ships and 50 at Resorts.

WGR - Tractor Beams

You're thinking right.

WPD - Point Defense Weapons

I can't say what is enough, but 1-10 do the trick.

ARM - Armor
Considerung amounts from 10 (private and non-combat-ships) to 5-10% for other ships and 15-20% for bases (20% for the defensive base, maybe even star base).

I personally think that that's too much armor. Railguns aren't that big a threat due to their pitiful range and lowish damage, graviton beams ignore it, and shields protect against everything else, and armor components cost a lot of steel. A couple of armor plates are plenty for civilian and noncombat ships. My small warships get maybe 5 armor plates, mid-size and up gets ~5 + whatever fits in the space I'm not using for anything more useful.

CMP - Commerce Center
Most likely inevitable on Space Ports, Mining Stations (guess they're selling to neutral merchants etc.) and Star Bases. Essential for Resort Bases. What else could need these? And does the bonus stack, further increasing income and if so, is it capped?

The first of these that you add is the only one that gives an income bonus. Anything that you expect to see freighters or other civilian vessels dock at is something that can use it.

CMP - Targetting System
Must-have on anything with weapons, might be less useful on pure carriers without weapons, though Fleet Targetting System should still be more than useful on those (especially if it's a flagship). ONLY ONE COMPONENT USEFUL. I think TS & FTS stack with each other?

CMP - Countermeasures System
Probably good for anything to prevent getting blown up. Used to build these in anything (ships, bases). Fleet Countermeasures also good for flagships / carriers. ONLY ONE COMPONENT USEFUL. I think CMS & FCMS stack with each other?

As far as I know, the fleet version stacks with the ship version, but neither stacks with itself. It's not really a bad idea to carry a pair of targeting systems and a pair of countermeasures systems to give yourself a little insurance against damage, but it's not going to increase the resultant damage reduction or accuracy enhancement while both are in operating condition.

CST - Repair Bots
I've heard any bot beyond the first won't supply any bonuses, though using at least twice provides redundancy, repairing each other in case one being destroyed. Is this correct?

Stacking them doesn't increase the damage reduction. I don't know if multiple Repair Bot modules allow you to repair multiple components at once or not. They will repair other destroyed repair bot components.

CST - Damage Control Unit
Must-have for warships, maybe to expensive to use them in everything, can't remember the cost right now. Guess more than one's useless (except for redundancy).

These should be replaced when you have Repair Bots, as Repair Bots provide a better damage reduction and repair damaged components but do not stack with Damage Control Units.

ECL - Energy To Fuel Converter
Pretty heavy, so might only be useful on bases. Though I remember having read that a single Gas Mining Station easily provides more fuel in the same time.

Not a very useful component. Mining stations should generally provide more fuel in the same amount of time unless you're mining a very poor source or maybe have only one unupgraded extractor. Could be useful if you wanted to put a base in an empty system or a resourceless gas cloud to act as a forward base of some type, but won't really be able to support the same kind of fleet traffic that a resupply ship or gas mine over a proper fuel source could. It also gives both types of fuel, so it wastes a bit of your cargo space if you only need one fuel for your fleets, and standard practice is to use a single type of fuel for all military ships except when you find a sufficiently useful wreck that uses the other fuel.

You could also theoretically use these on Resupply Ships to produce fuel instead of having to find worlds that have the right kind of fuel, but it carries the disadvantage of producing both kinds of fuel, and the unused kind is just going to build up in the Resupply Ship's cargo bays if nothing is taking it.

CST - Construction Yard
Does more than one CY make sense on a construction ship? I'm not sure if both can construct one base at the same time possibly adding up their construction speed. Because they are somewhat heavy I'd consider building Construction Ships with more than one not before mid-game.

Only one construction yard can work on a given project at any one time. Sorry.

ECL - Energy Collector
Must-have on anything, right? Prevents fuel usage while not travelling. Could also power complete bases, only mounting one reactor to be able to save the design. Though more than inefficient and expensive on bases with excessive energy usage. Do you suffer any disadvantages of you use ECs for a base, having a negative static energy coverage?

Static energy use which isn't covered by collectors gets picked up by reactors, which eat into your fuel stocks. Not a big deal for something like a spaceport, which gets lots of freighter traffic, or a gas mine over a fuel source, but a station that lacks fuel and doesn't have energy collection at least equal to its static power draw isn't going to be able to fire its weapons or power its shields. I would also not personally recommend allowing your spaceports and gas mines to eat up locally available fuel to make up for a lacking energy collector array, as it's just one more thing that can contribute to an area's fuel shortages, which can be enough of a headache already.

EXT - Mining Engine & Gas Extractor
According to a thread (can't post links yet, thread id: 3634839) the Gas Extractor gathers three times the resources of a Mining Engine. But due to everything usually needing fuel this is kind of necessary.
How much of these do you use on your Mining Ships and Stations (I'm using 1 & 3 respectively)?

EXT - Luxury Resource Extractor
I'm using equal amounts of these and MEs & GEs. I was once thinking about building a separate base focused on Luxury Resources and sparing these parts on the (Gas) Mining Stations and vice versa. But I fear this could increase maintenance costs beyond any additional income.

The computer designs use 1 and 3 on mining ships and stations, and I think slightly fewer luxury extractors on stations. I typically let the computer do what it wants with the civilian ships, aside from ensuring they get the most out of their hyperdrives, but if I decide to design them myself I usually up the mining ships to two extractors of the appropriate type and leave it on one luxury extractor. Mining station extractors I typically leave alone. If your extractor technology is low enough, you'll see a minor benefit to adding a fourth extractor, but I believe that someone looked into this a while back and found it wasn't economically useful.

HAB - Colonization Module
Pretty heavy, just one question: Anyone using more than once on a single ship of these?

Doubt it.

HAB - Medical Center
Must-have in Space Ports. As I use to build a SP on every colony any other bases on a colony equipped with this wouldn't provide an additional bonus, right? Do these make sense on military ships without Troop Compartments? According to the help they allow onboard troops regenerating faster, so they should also be useful on Troop Transporters. Do multiple MCs make sense?

HAB - Recreation Center
Also a must-have in Space Ports. Same question as above. And do they provide anything useful installed on ships or other bases? ONLY ONE COMPONENT USEFUL.

Multiples only make sense from a redundancy perspective. I'd consider adding these to defensive bases, since I generally wouldn't build a spaceport over a colony if there's already a spaceport in the same system, though how many spaceports you build is up to you.

HDR - HyperDeny
Those need to be handled with care. They prevent any ship jumping, even your own. One of the later technologies (don't know from memory which one) doesn't have this disadvantage any more. I was considering using them on my more important bases/stations. Guess you only need one of these.

They're good on stations if you're looking to kill things that attack the station rather than just driving them off. It can also be useful to force decisive fleet actions, though a ship that thinks that it's losing is going to shut off any HyperDeny components it has so that it can run away better, so that's one case where multiples (though not on the same ship) could be useful. The Interdictor version pulls stuff out of hyperspace in addition to preventing it from jumping, so it can be useful for breaking up fleets trying to attack a base or, in combination with long-range scanners, intercepting stuff in deep space.

MNF - Plants
I've seen them in increasing numbers on the Space Ports. How much of these do you need to support a steady construction speed?

There have been arguments about this, but the most convincing information I've seen suggests that one of each plant type is sufficient for at least 30 construction yards going nearly full bore. Don't know where the thread is, now, but maybe someone will post a link.

SEN - Scanner Jammer & Trace Scanner
How useful are these? Just one of these or more on a single ship?

I wouldn't bother with these unless you're trying to reduce the number of pirate freighters (trace scanner) or trying to avoid losing your own pirate freighters (scanner jammer). There's no real benefit in them for military ships that aren't being used for customs duties or for legal civilian freighters, and there's not any real benefit to the 'scan the component status of enemy ships' aspect so there's also no benefit to countering that.

SHD - Shields
I use 1/10 of shields compared to armor (rounded down if need), making them equal in weight. So a ship with 30 armor components would have 3 shields. They're pretty much some extra protection if they're not up against weapons bypassing them. Due to this fact I've been thinking about reducing shields by maybe 50%.

Unless you're facing a foe who went very heavy on the railguns, I would strongly suggest using a shield generator in place of every 10 armor components you have beyond the tenth or so. The majority of weapons in the game have to penetrate shields before they can do anything against the hull and armor, railguns and gravity weapons are short-ranged, railguns are ineffective against even small amounts of decent armor, and gravity weapons have a chance to hit any component on the ship regardless of the presence of armor or shields. Bottom line is that 100+ shields and 0.5+ shield regeneration for 10 size is more useful than 10 armor plates for the same size, unless you just don't have much/any armor in the first place.

STR - Cargo Bays
I can't see any reason to install them on anything else than Space Ports, Freighters, Construction Ships and (Gas) Mining Stations. If you got fuel in a cargo bay and your fuel cells are empty, is the fuel transferred to the fuel cells - assumed the fuel type is the same?

As far as the self-refueling goes, resupply ships will but I don't think anything else does. However, non-freighters and non-construction ships will not typically pick up resources and store them in cargo bays whether or not you have cargo bays in the design. Adding these to a military ship is just wasted space.

STR - Troop & Passenger Compartments
How much of these are good to have on the according ship types? How much Passenger Compartments are good to have on Resort Bases?

Can't answer for the passenger compartments. Troop compartments I like to add in numbers that get me a (more or less) integer multiple of 100 capacity, because units cannot be split across multiple transports, infantry units take 100 transport capacity and armor units take 200 transport capacity. I think planetary defense units take 400 or so capacity, though I'm not sure, and I can't recall what special forces require. Regardless, if you want to move armor, you need at least 200 transport capacity per transport (two of the basic troop compartments, or one of the fully-upgraded massive troop compartments), so that's a minimum of two compartments. I personally like to have 5 or so compartments on my transports, and keep the total size of the transport around 300. Other people like to have massive troop ships that can go in while the space station is still up and drop a massive army all at once (which has its advantages, I'll admit).

WGR - Tractor Beams
Just a simple question: Pulling or pushing enemies most likely depends on the combat settings, if the ship is trying to standoff it'll push them away and otherwise pulling them, is this correct?

The decision to push enemies away versus pulling them in appears to depend on whether the ship with the tractor beam thinks that it is stronger than the opposing ship and winning the fight. If it thinks that it's weaker than the opponent or has triggered whatever flee condition is set, it will push the opponent away. Very useful component for killing pirates or drawing unlucky attackers into point blank range for your computer-designed large spaceport's 30 or so blasters, and also makes it a little harder for enemies to finish off a damaged ship that has some of these equipped.

Stealth Cloaks are far from useless. (but it of course depends on playstyle)

Put a stalth cloat and a long range sensor on a scout and park it near an enemy system -> you will see everything that goes on there without being seen yourself. The AI will look for scouts and destroy them. A stalth clok reduces the "signature" of your ship, making it count as a smaller ship for the detection formula. I don't know the numbers by hearth but: smaller ship = harder to detect.

Also try to master the art of state controlled mining ships. These are useful early in the game when you know you will be having resource shortages, but the mining ships decide to mine something else for whatever reason.

Take a cruiser. Yes a cruiser. Why? Because they won't interfere with your empires automation of escorts and frigates. Put some (I use 3) mining engines on it, a luxury extractor and some cargo bays (I use 3-5) Finish the design with all the required components. Also make a gas miner. Build these ship right at the beginning of the game.

Then put it on manual and let it mine a resource. Select the ship and right click a planet. The cursor will change to the mining icon. The ship will go there and mine until its cargo hold is full. If you have a large cargo hold this will take longer, if you have a too small cargo hold it will fill instantly. The ship will then automatically return to a station and unload its cargo. It will then be availlable for another mission.

Very good for mitigating resource shortages. When your resource situation stabilizes, scrap or retrofit them to combat ships.

Thanks for taking time to answer my questions. Quite a lot information to process and take into account.

ORIGINAL: Sirian

Stealth Cloaks are far from useless. (but it of course depends on playstyle)

Put a stalth cloat and a long range sensor on a scout and park it near an enemy system -> you will see everything that goes on there without being seen yourself. The AI will look for scouts and destroy them. A stalth clok reduces the "signature" of your ship, making it count as a smaller ship for the detection formula. I don't know the numbers by hearth but: smaller ship = harder to detect.

Also try to master the art of state controlled mining ships. These are useful early in the game when you know you will be having resource shortages, but the mining ships decide to mine something else for whatever reason.

Take a cruiser. Yes a cruiser. Why? Because they won't interfere with your empires automation of escorts and frigates. Put some (I use 3) mining engines on it, a luxury extractor and some cargo bays (I use 3-5) Finish the design with all the required components. Also make a gas miner. Build these ship right at the beginning of the game.

Then put it on manual and let it mine a resource. Select the ship and right click a planet. The cursor will change to the mining icon. The ship will go there and mine until its cargo hold is full. If you have a large cargo hold this will take longer, if you have a too small cargo hold it will fill instantly. The ship will then automatically return to a station and unload its cargo. It will then be availlable for another mission.

Very good for mitigating resource shortages. When your resource situation stabilizes, scrap or retrofit them to combat ships.

Those two are good points I hadn't thought much about. I'd only use manual miners for persistent shortages but I might give it a try.

A stealthed ship with a long range scanner sounds good as it then wouldn't receive freighter visits and could be quickly relocated. It's a nice alternative to monitor stations, not sure why it didn't occur to me before.

About the Energy To Fuel Converter do you guys know whether it will actually help a ship hiding in deep space? As I understand it it works by filling cargo space, but if no ships excepting refuel ships actually refuel themselves from their own cargo...

It would work on a monitor station though, right? Or a "scout" specialized mini-resupply ship I suppose. I'm thinking I'll try it out, but if anyone knows by all means share.

Just wanted to say thanks for making this thread. Helped me answer a few questions as well.

ORIGINAL: Sirian

Stealth Cloaks are far from useless. (but it of course depends on playstyle)

Put a stalth cloat and a long range sensor on a scout and park it near an enemy system -> you will see everything that goes on there without being seen yourself. The AI will look for scouts and destroy them. A stalth clok reduces the "signature" of your ship, making it count as a smaller ship for the detection formula. I don't know the numbers by hearth but: smaller ship = harder to detect.

Also try to master the art of state controlled mining ships. These are useful early in the game when you know you will be having resource shortages, but the mining ships decide to mine something else for whatever reason.

Take a cruiser. Yes a cruiser. Why? Because they won't interfere with your empires automation of escorts and frigates. Put some (I use 3) mining engines on it, a luxury extractor and some cargo bays (I use 3-5) Finish the design with all the required components. Also make a gas miner. Build these ship right at the beginning of the game.

Then put it on manual and let it mine a resource. Select the ship and right click a planet. The cursor will change to the mining icon. The ship will go there and mine until its cargo hold is full. If you have a large cargo hold this will take longer, if you have a too small cargo hold it will fill instantly. The ship will then automatically return to a station and unload its cargo. It will then be availlable for another mission.

Very good for mitigating resource shortages. When your resource situation stabilizes, scrap or retrofit them to combat ships.

Regarding the cruiser miner - wouldn't it be good to keep some at home port, keep them retrofitted, just in case you need X, y or z resource? Nice idea!

Regarding the cloaks - I always thought they were useless too (less than 2 weeks playing!) . Good to know.

A manual miner would be better suited to a builder ship.

ORIGINAL: HerpInYourDerp
A manual miner would be better suited to a builder ship.

I disagree, it requires 108 size on a construction yard, plus one of each plant; meanwhile a military ship can get by with a small laser size 3-4.

Unless you can't build big enough ships otherwise I suppose. It'd have to be a custom design anyhow as using it for the basic model would be a huge waste of money and slow them down and burn fuel when they do regular construction.

I have a question about freighters and cargo space

what is a "good" ammount of cargo bays on freighters? I'm playing my 2nd game, right now I'm at 400 max ship size researching 600size hulls. Up to 400 it was kind of struggle to fit everything I needed/wanted into the ship. From 600 onwards it seems that there starts to be some breathing space in the ship construction ... it starts to be possible to fit in things in kind of ridiculous numbers. So, what is a reasonable ammount of cargo space for mid-late game freighters? Is there any reason to go overkill on the cargo space?

Same thing for mining ships or things like shipyards ... how big cargo space do they really need (have meaningfull use for)?

Freighters:
I usually create designs for the small, medium, and large freighters and give them 8, 12, 16 cargo components respectively (space permitting). Because the space availability changes with my technology level, I start by adding all the other components then fill it up with cargo holds when I'm done. I try to keep my freighters fast and maneuverable, so engines are a major factor.

Mining Stations:
If your mining station runs out of cargo space it will stop mining, so I usually go generous and give them as much as possible, but I still start by adding all the other components before topping up with cargo.
I rarely put offensive weaponry on mining stations, so that saves a bit of space (I rely on picketing fleets). I add energy collectors so I don't need too many fuel cells. However, I often add a long range scanner and shields, so that takes up a bit of space. When all components are added I fill up the rest with cargo bays - usually about 20.

Mining Ships:
It's a tough call with mining ships because they are a blend of mining station and freighter.
If you have too little cargo capacity, the mining ship will spend too much time going back and forth to drop off cargo and less time actually mining. If you have too much space, you will have to wait a long time before the mining ship returns with its cargo.
Personally I find they become less important in the mid-to-late game and I prefer they have large cargo space so they don't waste so much fuel. I would add as much cargo space as possible, but aim for about 10 cargo hold components if space permits.

About the Energy To Fuel Converter do you guys know whether it will actually help a ship hiding in deep space? As I understand it it works by filling cargo space, but if no ships excepting refuel ships actually refuel themselves from their own cargo...

It would work on a monitor station though, right? Or a "scout" specialized mini-resupply ship I suppose. I'm thinking I'll try it out, but if anyone knows by all means share.

The Energy To Fuel Converter will fill the cargo bay with fuel, but the ship with the cargo cannot use it to refill it's fuel tanks. If you're hiding in deep space the Energy To Fuel Converter will not generate much fuel. Either way, no - it will not help.

I put the Energy To Fuel Converter on a monitoring station hull because it can be deployed anywhere. I don't put them on mobile ship hulls because:
1) It's essentially a gas station in an area where there is no Caslon. It doesn't need to be mobile.
2) Other ships cannot "dock" with a scout ship to get fuel.
3) Mobile ships in space cannot share cargo or exchange fuel, so your scout ship will need to go back to a base to dump its cargo before anybody can get at the fuel. Those ships need to go to that base to refuel, so what's the benefit? It's better to use a monitoring station hull so ships can refuel in the field.

I did some tests and made a video about this here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEBC4HSoGeg
The bit about Energy To Fuel Converters starts about half way through.

Take a cruiser. Yes a cruiser. Why? Because they won't interfere with your empires automation of escorts and frigates. Put some (I use 3) mining engines on it, a luxury extractor and some cargo bays (I use 3-5) Finish the design with all the required components. Also make a gas miner. Build these ship right at the beginning of the game.

Then put it on manual and let it mine a resource. Select the ship and right click a planet. The cursor will change to the mining icon. The ship will go there and mine until its cargo hold is full. If you have a large cargo hold this will take longer, if you have a too small cargo hold it will fill instantly. The ship will then automatically return to a station and unload its cargo. It will then be available for another mission.

This works pretty well to deal with emergency shortages. I wish I had thought of it myself.

Strategy:
I build generic mining ships with 3 mining extractors, 3 luxury extractors, & 2 gas extractors. That way I have one design that is ready for anything. Keep a small fleet of these on hand. When you have an emergency need for a particular resource, send the fleet to a location with that resource to mine as much as they can carry.

Benefits:
- It's a cruiser (or any other military ship) so you retain control of it & can send it where you will. Unlike mining ships that are under private control.
- When the cargo bay is full the ships automatically return to the nearest base to unload.
- Multiple mining ships can mine the same location.
- These ships can mine a location that already has a mining base on it.

Drawbacks:
- Each ship in the fleet must be told to mine. You cannot issue this order at the fleet level.
- It's not automatic. When the ships unload their cargo they must be told to go out mining again otherwise they will stay at the base and stop mining.
- Ships only unload their cargo when the hold is full. I have found no way to force them to unload their cargo, so you must wait for them do it when they are ready. Has anybody found a way around this?
- Cruisers must have at least one weapon. Your neighbors may get upset if you mine in their territory with technically "military" ships. You could use exploration ships instead of military ships, but they won't join a fleet so this makes them harder to manage as a group.