Latest CG rewards worth it?

[Ian Doncaster]

Maybe. Probably not, though.

The basic problem with the module is:
- a stock A-rated distributor of normal size can already permanently boost with 4 pips to engines on any ship, so if you can put 4 pips to engines (which an unarmed non-combat ship always can) you don't need to engineer it at all
- if you want to significantly undersize your power distributor but still have boost capability, it's slightly less good than a plain engine-focused distributor could be
- unless you fit biweave shields or go Thargoid hunting (which are both things which tend to go badly with "unarmed ship") you don't need high systems capacity or recharge for anything, so that entire side of the blueprint is completely wasted

So what you've eventually got is the equivalent of a G4(ish) engine-focused distributor. The difference between that and a G5 is small enough that "didn't have to pay materials for it" might save you some time, of course. But it's not going to be a "must have" module even then. (In fairness: "niche, free, you can engineer better if you spend the time" is probably a better balance point for CG reward modules anyway than "absolute must-have")

But "trying to save every last tonne of weight" and "Panther Clipper" again don't seem like they're going to be compatible goals. Even if the default distributor size for a Panther Clipper is 8, then it'll be able to boost on a stock 8E capacitor anyway ... and a stock 6A has better performance than that in every respect.

(That said, if the PC's default distributor is size 8, the 4A reward module will also have comparable engines performance to the stock 8E but save 150t of mass, which even at Panther scales might be beneficial)

 

[anShpan]

So what you've eventually got is the equivalent of a G4(ish) engine-focused distributor.

Only if to forget that G4 engine-focused PD will cut off -12% Cap. and -12% recharge from SYS, while this one will add +45% and +40% to SYS from further decreasing WEP.
Such config, perhaps, is a very good match for any weaponless build. I'm having already 3 (sometimes 4) of such thus waiting for those rewards to try whose PDs out in real situations.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Only if to forget that G4 engine-focused PD will cut off -12% Cap. and -12% recharge from SYS, while this one will add +45% and +40% to SYS

I didn't forget that at all. Yes, bigger numbers, but bigger numbers which don't do anything in practice.

unless you fit biweave shields or go Thargoid hunting (which are both things which tend to go badly with "unarmed ship") you don't need high systems capacity or recharge for anything, so that entire side of the blueprint is completely wasted

What modules - on an unarmed ship with a downsized distributor that is not expected to see combat longer than the few seconds needed to boost and jump out (and very rarely even that!) - require systems capacity or recharge rate at all?

A 4A Engine Focused distributor still has enough SYS recharge rate even with the penalty to outpace the demands of recharging a standard (or prismatic) shield module, and everything else likely to be on a non-combat ship uses considerably less than that.

 

[anShpan]

What modules - on an unarmed ship with a downsized distributor that is not expected to see combat longer than the few seconds needed to boost and jump out (and very rarely even that!) - require systems capacity or recharge rate at all?

Mandalay (explorer) 4D SG + 3x 0E SB. When I will need those shields? Probably when I by mistake boosted into mountain while having all pips in ENG, some more SYS cap. definitely will not harm.
Cobra mk V (16% heat PP shadow ops.). When attacked I will need Shield + boost-boost-boost. I'm trying to say that in most of such situations before I was needed Shields + boost simultaneously, not just boost. But reality will show how useful (or not) that double engineered PD is. At least I had nothing like that before to compare in practice.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

I'm trying to say that in most of such situations before I was needed Shields + boost simultaneously, not just boots

Yes. But needing shield pips and needing shield capacity/recharge are separate matters.

If you run into a mountain in that Mandalay and need some time to recover, a standard engine focused 4D with 4 pips to SYS will have enough capacity to rebuild your 4D shields. And you're hopefully not going to be continuing to boost while that happens anyway, right?

If you're running away under fire in that Cobra V, what you need is to be able to run 4-2-0 and still boost. Recharge rate of the shield is mostly irrelevant, because you're going to be running away before it drops in the first place (and it won't recharge at all while you're still taking fire, lowering the recharge rate even further) - the important thing is to be able to put 4 pips to SYS to maximise its initial strength. At that point, the CG distributor having lower engine capacity/recharge than a standard Engine Focused capacitor might actually be a problem - at the very least it's not a benefit! - because you're trying to maximise your 2-pip engine output and the CG distributor isn't as good at that.
(Meanwhile the 4A Engine Focused with 4 pips is putting out 1.6 MW of charge rate, and the shield generator only takes 1 MW even when it's not taking fire, so you've got enough to sustain that fine)

Neither 4A CG nor 4A Engine Focused can quite boost a Cobra V indefinitely at maximum rate on 2 pips, but the Engine Focused will go slightly longer. Maybe not by enough to matter in a typical situation - both will probably last for well over a minute, and if you get a point where you're not taking fire you can flip to 2-4-0 briefly anyway to refill the gap.

Again, the advantage is not "this is functionally a better module than you could have got through engineering" (where a standard G5 Engine Focused will win in pretty much any non-contrived situation that this module is at all useful for) but "this is a free module so if you don't need to hyper-optimise it's a lot quicker to deliver 1t to the CG than to get a G5 set of materials"

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

massive ignorance warning here...
i take it these will be better in almost every way than fully unengineered gear?

i was thinking of slapping them into some of my older ships which i keep for nostalgia that i do some pootling around in for old times sake and are not in anyway optimised for anything.
They wont be used in combat ships.

 

[Maolagin]

If you run into a mountain in that Mandalay and need some time to recover, a standard engine focused 4D with 4 pips to SYS will have enough capacity to rebuild your 4D shields. And you're hopefully not going to be continuing to boost while that happens anyway, right?

Aha, I think you've cracked it. The PC hype is a red herring, these CG distributors are meant for canyon racing builds. I.e. the specific circumstance where you might want to rebuild your shields faster while also permaboosting!

 

[anShpan]

BTW, Commanders, while we back to this topic, would anyone help me to clarify: Raw Shield Strength is directly proportional to energy flow from PD to Shields Gen. (System Recharge value on EDSY) / 4-N pips on SYS, right?
Basically, am I correct saying that if pre-eng. PD gives to Shields 2.66 MJ/s instead of 1.68 (same 4 pips on SYS) then Raw Shield Strength gets +63%, if everything else is equal. Or I'm missing something?

 

[Ian Doncaster]

BTW, Commanders, while we back to this topic, would anyone help me to clarify: Raw Shield Strength is directly proportional to energy flow from PD to Shields Gen. (System Recharge value on EDSY) / 4-N pips on SYS, right?
Basically, am I correct saying that if pre-eng. PD gives to Shields 2.66 MJ/s instead of 1.68 (same 4 pips on SYS) then Raw Shield Strength gets +63%, if everything else is equal. Or I'm missing something?

The power distributor's capabilities have no effect whatsoever on maximum shield strength. All that matters is how many pips are currently allocated to SYS. So you get the same shield strength with 1E Weapon Focused and 8A System Focused.

Similarly the shield recharge rate is fixed by the shield generator. If the power distributor (at its current pip setting) is providing more recharge than that, then it can recharge at maximum rate. If the power distributor is providing less than that (mainly only an issue for biweaves) then once the initial capacity runs out, recharge rate becomes limited by the power distributor rather than the shield generator

 

[Sylow]

The power distributor's capabilities have no effect whatsoever on maximum shield strength. All that matters is how many pips are currently allocated to SYS. So you get the same shield strength with 1E Weapon Focused and 8A System Focused.

I think that a tiny refinement on this could be helpful still: the number of pips allocated to SYS also does not affect the maximum shield strength, meaning the number of MJ it can absorb. (Which is kind of its hit points. ) Instead each pip on sys applies a -15% damage reduction. Which means, four pips to shields reduce the damage taken by 60%. From any damage taken, modified by your shields resistance ratings.

Which is basically the best deal, anyways. As a shields recharge rate is fixed, incresing the maximum shield strength itself "merely" increases how much damage you can take, but at the same time increases how long it takes to recharge the shield or, if broken, how long it takes to rebuild it. Reducing the damage taken instead avoids these problems, leaving you with the same (faster) recharge and rebuild times.

 

[anShpan]

The power distributor's capabilities have no effect whatsoever on maximum shield strength. All that matters is how many pips are currently allocated to SYS. So you get the same shield strength with 1E Weapon Focused and 8A System Focused.

I think that a tiny refinement on this could be helpful still: the number of pips allocated to SYS also does not affect the maximum shield strength, meaning the number of MJ it can absorb. (Which is kind of its hit points. ) Instead each pip on sys applies a -15% damage reduction. Which means, four pips to shields reduce the damage taken by 60%. From any damage taken, modified by your shields resistance ratings.

Thank you very much, Commanders!
That totally clarifies for me those "energy flows" schema and why that Shield Strength value on EDSY not changing with pips, nor with PD engineering.

 

[forbiddenlake]

massive ignorance warning here...
i take it these will be better in almost every way than fully unengineered gear?

i was thinking of slapping them into some of my older ships which i keep for nostalgia that i do some pootling around in for old times sake and are not in anyway optimised for anything.
They wont be used in combat ships.

Given the NON combat use, yes.

 

[Neilski]

The power distributor's capabilities have no effect whatsoever on maximum shield strength. All that matters is how many pips are currently allocated to SYS. So you get the same shield strength with 1E Weapon Focused and 8A System Focused.

Yup. This is one of the unphysical/nonsensical things that irritates me about ED whenever I tweak shield-related things...