It was in the X Universe where I first learned about drone carriers. I never actually went on to play one or build one there, despite reading in a lot of places that you could break the games in absurd ways doing that.

Vindicators are the Everspace 2 take on that concept. At first glance, your drones don't seem like much, a pew pew strapped to an engine and some stubby winglets. The first zombie or skeleton a novice necromancer raises doesn't scare anyone either, but don't let that deceive you. Focusing on the right stats and choosing the right gear can turn your tiny thralls and wingmen into terrifying killers that go through enemies like ghouls through corpses.

Neither a necromancer nor an air wing commander gets their hands dirty, they've got minions to do that. Your job, in this one case, is not even to direct them, but to support them instead.

Keep an eye on the health of your drones. Depending on how sturdy they get and the enemies you're fighting, you'll want to restore them whenever their health drops to 50-60%. Do things right, and you'll always have wrecks you can salvage to keep your thralls in the fight.

What little shooting you do yourself should focus on particular targets. Your drones are nimble and adept enough at dodging gunfire and missiles, but mines and other hazards are another matter. Anything that can saturate an area with explosive ordnance is a primary target.

Your ultimate cranks your drones up to eleven and it's toggleable. Target that destroyer, debuff, unleash, kill, turn off. That'll allow you to quickly recharge your ultimate and unleash it again on the next big target that presents itself.

Bonus Drone: This is the absolute best here, bar none. Accept no substitutes. The more bodies you can throw at the enemy, the better.

Explosive Death: Who needs mines with this? Not to mention it synergizes with the Exploitation perk.

Any other traits are up to you and your playstyle. I was tempted to add the drone regeneration passive to the list, but that kind of defeats the point of the second pick and honestly, there are just so many ways to keep drones in tip top shape.

Some other classes like the Bomber, which I love, just have to put as many points as legally possible into Firepower and that's about it. Vindicators don't do that.

Expertise is your primary stat. The higher it is, the sturdier and deadlier your thralls become. You can also interact with wrecks and husks from farther away, it won't keep you out of the thick of the fighting, but you won't be exhausting your thrusters as often, and that'll give you a needed edge.

Utility is, surprisingly, useful here. More often than not, you'll find yourself wading into the furball, so being able to spam your devices isn't just a nice bonus, it's downright necessary. The increase in ultimate damage won't hurt either!

Precision is useful but not critical. Since your guns won't be inflicting much damage, they're better used as debuff tools. Small stuff usually dies too fast for this, but that tune will change when you're up against a big, bad destroyer.

Missiles can roll with a perk that gives you a 20% chance to flip one for free at an enemy on a crit, so equip guns with a high rate of fire.

Level 5 – Defensive Massacre: With your drones and thralls slaughtering things left and right, your shields should only very rarely short out. Works even better if your equipped shield generator has a high recharge speed.

Level 10 – Downtime Warrior: Since I don't like losing my shields ever in the first place, Percussive Maintenance doesn't really synergize well with my other perks. Plus, Play It Safe is too short-lasting to build a defense around it. And since I'm using guns mostly to inflict debuffs, I'd better have enough juice for a lot of shooting.

Level 15 – Relentless: You aren't going to be doing much shooting yourself, that's what your thralls are for, and their weapons don't inflict critical hits. Again, this one mostly boils down to personal preference, and I like my guns to have lots of ammo.

Level 20 – Critical Faculty: If you get high Precision, this is going to be useful to get your ultimate back quickly, and we've already established that Precision is one of the important stats for a Vindicator.

Level 25 – Exploitation: This one depends on guns that inflict mobility debuffs, and on said debuffs to proc. But if your secondary is a Destabilizer Missile and it can proc for a free shot, then it's a free resistance debuff slapped on something. Maybe a tad convoluted, but the alternatives really aren't worth considering.