The Power of the Kuti: How It Can Help You Fold Your Way to Victory

The Power of the Kuti: How It Can Help You Fold Your Way to Victory

Alongside the Calatian Thunderbucket, which made its debut in Sea of Stars, the Kuti is one of my favorite starships in the entire Infinite Space trilogy. In fact, it has been that way since the very first game. The reason is quite simple: having it in your flotilla unlocks another option for traveling between star systems. While the same thing is true of the Hyperdrive, that item has been nerfed considerably - specifically, hyperdrive jumps always take a full year to complete, instead of just two months as in the earlier games - to the point that using the Kuti's special ability is now a much better option than previously. But what makes the Kuti so special? To find out, we need to take a look at its description.

Is this why the Kuti is arguably the most prized ally of all?

In the first two games, the Kuti was a Zorg Corvette, with similar stats to its Terran counterpart, but with a Gauss Cannon and Proton Phasor Beam as standard equipment. However, in Sea of Stars, it starts out as a Zorg Scout, which is smaller, lighter, and faster, but carries less armor and has only one hardpoint. It must be taken to the Zorg home system (which contains their homeworld, Loryx) if you wish to trade it in for a larger Zorg ship - either a Zorg Corvette (which costs 2 coins) or a Zorg Frigate (which normally costs 3 coins, but only requires 2 if a Zorg Corvette was traded in for it), with the latter only becoming available later in the game. Please note that the name Kuti refers not to the Zorg ship, not the helmsman who owns it.

The Kuti in action, helping to reduce the time taken to explore Sector Prime by folding space between two nearby star systems.

The best part about the Kuti, however, is that due to being crewed by a Zorg helmsman, having it in your flotilla allows you to travel between nearby star systems - up to 2 parsecs (around 6.52 light-years) - much more quickly by having the helmsman fold space between you and the destination. Given that a Zorg helmsman needs no more than 21 days to complete a fold, you will be able to complete the game much more quickly after you hire him. Best of all, this special ability has not only been present in all three games, but can also be used at any time as long as there is a star system or black hole within folding range.

In combat, it can be treated very much like its Terran equivalents, with some exceptions: the Zorg Corvette's weapons coverage is more heavily biased towards the front quadrant, and the Zorg Frigate's central turret not only faces backwards, but can only carry light weapons such as the Proton Blaster. At any rate, it is well worth trading a Zorg Scout for either of these ships, especially since the Zorg will become your allies if you encounter them while you have the Kuti in your fleet.

When traded in for a larger Zorg ship, the Kuti has the potential to become as effective a fighting machine as any of its counterparts from other factions. 

As an example, the loadout shown above depicts the Kuti as a heavily upgraded Zorg Corvette. In the playthrough from which this screenshot was taken, I retrofitted it with a cloaking device and a Particle Vortex Cannon, making it ideal for sneak attacks. The latter was particularly useful against Urluquai Deep Hunters, which the PVC could hit even if the Deep Hunter was cloaked. I even deployed it alongside a pair of similarly upgraded Terran Corvettes and, thanks to shrewd tactics, was able to wipe out several hostile fleets without much trouble at all.

The Kuti can become a powerful vessel in its own right, but has the potential to become nigh-unstoppable when teamed up with heavily upgraded capital ships from other factions.

In short, other allies may give you faster, more powerful, or tougher ships, but none of them are as useful as the Kuti when it comes to exploring the sector before the deadline. Moreover, after its default scout hull is traded in with something larger, it has the potential to become a devastating one-ship fleet if upgraded with the right equipment.

Thus ends my discussion on the Zorg helmsman's ship. More posts about the other allies in Sea of Stars are forthcoming. Until then, see you next time.