dropship shield tank or armor or hybrid?

[kingchub]

So as the title suggests, im wondering how to tank a dropship. theres plenty of power so i could go for a couple SCB, or i could just go with heavy shields and lots of HRP's or a bit of both.

any suggestions or guidance here would be much appreciated.

edit - i wont be doing any trading in it just combat

2nd edit - heres two fits im thinking about

[Federal Dropship]
U: 0I Chaff Launcher
U: 0I Chaff Launcher
U: 0D Kill Warrant Scanner
U: 0A Shield Booster
M: 2D/G Beam Laser
M: 2D/G Beam Laser
L: 3C/G Beam Laser
M: 2F/G Multi-cannon
M: 2F/G Multi-cannon


BH: 1I Military Grade Composite
RB: 6A Power Plant
TM: 6A Thrusters
FH: 5A Frame Shift Drive
EC: 5D Life Support
PC: 6A Power Distributor
SS: 4C Sensors
FS: 4C Fuel Tank (Capacity: 16)


6: 6A Shield Generator
5: 5A Shield Cell Bank
5: 5D Hull Reinforcement Package
4: 4D Hull Reinforcement Package
3: 3D Hull Reinforcement Package
3: 3A Fuel Scoop
2: 2D Hull Reinforcement Package
---
Shield: 282.07 MJ
Power : 19.08 MW retracted (76%)
24.74 MW deployed (98%)
25.20 MW available
Cargo : 0 T
Fuel : 16 T
Mass : 956.4 T empty
972.4 T full
Range : 12.67 LY unladen
12.67 LY laden
Price : 100,855,382 CR
Re-Buy: 5,042,769 CR @ 95% insurance

or

[Federal Dropship]
U: 0I Chaff Launcher
U: 0I Chaff Launcher
U: 0D Kill Warrant Scanner
U: 0A Shield Booster
M: 2D/G Beam Laser
M: 2D/G Beam Laser
L: 3C/G Beam Laser
M: 2F/G Multi-cannon
M: 2F/G Multi-cannon


BH: 1I Military Grade Composite
RB: 6A Power Plant
TM: 6A Thrusters
FH: 5A Frame Shift Drive
EC: 5D Life Support
PC: 6A Power Distributor
SS: 4C Sensors
FS: 4C Fuel Tank (Capacity: 16)


6: 6A Shield Generator
5: 5A Shield Cell Bank
5: 5A Shield Cell Bank
4: 4C Frame Shift Drive Interdictor
3: 3A Fuel Scoop
3: 3D Hull Reinforcement Package
2: 2D Hull Reinforcement Package
---
Shield: 282.07 MJ
Power : 19.50 MW retracted (77%)
25.16 MW deployed (100%)
25.20 MW available
Cargo : 0 T
Fuel : 16 T
Mass : 938.4 T empty
954.4 T full
Range : 12.91 LY unladen
12.91 LY laden
Price : 103,822,515 CR
Re-Buy: 5,191,126 CR @ 95% insurance

 

[kingchub]

something i sed?

 

[[HJ]-RedRaven]

I think most opt to shield-tank rather than rely on armour;

Passive Tank using Shield Boosters
Active Tank using Shield Cell Banks

Whilst your shields are taking damage, there's no adverse effect on ship systems of functions. Once you're taking armour damage, though, modules take damage aswell, your canopy can be breached and at the very least, your HUD is compromised. The HUD and module damage alone can make armour a non-viable tank.

Plus, there's no way to regenerate armour, unlike shields.

If you're running multiple shield cell banks, remember you can turn them off in the modules pane until you need them (ie once one bank is depleted of all charges). This means while you're planning your ship build, you can turn them all off in the ED Shipyard tool and ignore their power needs - its only tonnage you need to account for.

I think you'd find a 100-mil Python will eat a 100mil Dropship for breakfast

 

[Pocketcow]

Yeah, this isn't EVE. You don't armor tank in this game. Armor tanking means all the systems of your ship are taking damage and start to malfunction. It's best to avoid taking any armor damage at all. You can be at a very high percentage of armor health, and take a couple shots to your thrusters and you are toast. Same goes for the power plant, the cockpit, etc. Just not a good idea. The hull upgrades are there as a last ditch effort to save you while you escape. They aren't really going to let you tank anything for long.

 

[-SOVEREIGN-]

Right now shield tanking is the way to go in general. The power plant is just too vulnerable no matter how much armor you put in. Hope to this get changed. Something like subsystem damage inversed related to hull damage, so the less hull you have left the more damage internal subsystems can receive. If you have a pretty strong hull it would take longer to be able to focus the PP efficiently because you stay longer in 80%+ hull i.e.

 

[Innovation]

Right now shield tanking is the way to go in general. The power plant is just too vulnerable no matter how much armor you put in. Hope to this get changed. Something like subsystem damage inversed related to hull damage, so the less hull you have left the more damage internal subsystems can receive. If you have a pretty strong hull it would take longer to be able to focus the PP efficiently because you stay longer in 80%+ hull i.e.

THIS. Also they could add all sorts of modules which could change the meta with SS targetting, I could think of like 5 off the top of my head. Maybe some day.

I pilot anaconda and it feels so gimp to just jump away as soon as my shields look sketchy. Wish brawling was feasible with the setup/cash investment but it just isnt.

 

[Mister5150]

I use shield boosters, shield cell bank, and hull reinforcments on my dropship, it's got enuff power to support it, when the shields drop its tanky enuff that it can take quite a bit of firepower before you decide to either recharge shields or jump,

 

[DidierDrbois]

Go shields. The Dropship has quite impressive hull as is, plenty of time to run from an NPC fight gone wrong. Players will just go for your plant and no hull can help you. Definitely shields. That power supply can take a lot!

 

[Mister5150]

Go shields. The Dropship has quite impressive hull as is, plenty of time to run from an NPC fight gone wrong. Players will just go for your plant and no hull can help you. Definitely shields. That power supply can take a lot!

I agree.

 

[Kamelophagous]

Armour is only good vs NPC's and noobs. Any decent player will target your powerplant.

Why all the delicate components are mounted OUTSIDE the armour is the question.

Thus the problem with the Dropship. Crap shields. Heavy [and useless] armour.

 

[Mister5150]

Armour is only good vs NPC's and noobs. Any decent player will target your powerplant.

Why all the delicate components are mounted OUTSIDE the armour is the question.

Thus the problem with the Dropship. Crap shields. Heavy [and useless] armour.

i play in open, and done just fine, any ships power plant is vulnerable, how is is heavy armor useless?

 

[Yabba Addict]

Haha, loving the comments in here

Armour tanking in certain situations is quite viable. You wouldn't believe how visible to ship sensors those shields make you. Running a shieldless cobra in the Lugh wars, I was usually hanging around the combat zones with as many red cmdrs as I could find. They usually wouldn't see me until I was under 3km away, unless I popped a heatsink, in which case the lockon range was more like 500m. And cmdrs always think 'Hey look, no shields, this guys gonna pop easy'. Little do they realise until it's too late that I'm rocking the armour of more than 3 cobras, sprinkled with a mirrored finish.

 

[Ben_BigBen]

Awesome tactics there Yabba Addict !

 

[Troa Barton]

Until armor does something noticeable to protect subsystems it's only good against npc's.
if it did the dropship would be amazing it has tons of armor naturally.
but until then shield tank is unfortunately the way to go.

 

[Dbrn47]

Until Chaff actually works against NPCs (they use fixed or turrets, both are immune to Chaff right now and have been since release), I suggest putting something else in those slots. Shield boosters, heat sinks, whatever else would be more useful unless you happen to be fighting players silly enough to run gimballed weapons.

BTW, I'm sure it will happen, so before it does, the in game description of Chaff is incorrect at the moment and I have specifically tested it against various NPC ships. Yes, it has also been reported just like other things that are still not working correctly. If you don't believe me, test it yourself and I mean REALLY test it, not take an anecdote from a fight with a rolling anaconda who's turrets are trying to catch up to your movements.

 

[dayrth]

Until Chaff actually works against NPCs (they use fixed or turrets, both are immune to Chaff right now ...

Is this right? I use chaff when fighting NPC condas and it seems to work against their turrets.

 

[Dbrn47]

Is this right? I use chaff when fighting NPC condas and it seems to work against their turrets.

It's typically hard to tell because they are rolling for position and their turrets are trying to track you. Unless they very recently fixed it, chaff has never once worked for me against turrets and I know many others that have agreed. Think about how gimballed weapons act when chaffed and compare it to how turrets move in combat before and after chaff. To me, turrets have always acted like they are semi-chaffed, in fact, they just aren't amazing at tracking a target that is maneuvering constantly. I suppose I should have made a video of my testing a while back but it didn't feel necessary. There are constant anecdotes of people saying they work though, thing is, most people aren't testing it, they are just assuming it works, it's an easy mistake to make.

What I noted was, no changes to the firing pattern while chaff was deployed and no difference in survivability against them. People will also try to tell you that chaff stops scans. Also does no such thing according to my own tests.

Again, it could have been fixed but what you have said has been said many times and each time it's been said, I've found different. I stopped soloing Anacondas before the latest updates but I haven't seen any notes regarding changes to chaff aside from ammo. If someone can prove what I'm saying wrong definitively, I will gladly retract as it's one of many things I've been waiting to see changed.

 

[kingchub]

I think you'd find a 100-mil Python will eat a 100mil Dropship for breakfast

i know that this is just a money bank ship to hold my credits while i get enough for a FDL or python. I do not have 100mill credits yet i ahve something like 25M.

I also know that this ship armour tanked will be vulnerable to module damage.

but

theres somethign i forgot to mention in my op.

this ship will be used for PVE only. if that means that i have to drop to private group or solo for a while then so be it.

I have absolutley no intention of using an armor tanked ship in this game for pvp. none whatsoever. So unless the ai starts targetting powerplants and the like i think it will be fine for pve. though i may be wrong.

700 + armor in the HRP version should be tough for the AI to kill no?

 

[Dbrn47]

i know that this is just a money bank ship to hold my credits while i get enough for a FDL or python. I do not have 100mill credits yet i ahve something like 25M.

I also know that this ship armour tanked will be vulnerable to module damage.

but

theres somethign i forgot to mention in my op.

this ship will be used for PVE only. if that means that i have to drop to private group or solo for a while then so be it.

I have absolutley no intention of using an armor tanked ship in this game for pvp. none whatsoever. So unless the ai starts targetting powerplants and the like i think it will be fine for pve. though i may be wrong.

700 + armor in the HRP version should be tough for the AI to kill no?

Depends on how modules are affected, plus the gui effects from taking hull hits might get pretty annoying. Try it out, see how you like it. Pop into an Anarchy system and pick a 1v1 fight.

 

[dayrth]

...What I noted was, no changes to the firing pattern while chaff was deployed and no difference in survivability against them. People will also try to tell you that chaff stops scans. Also does no such thing according to my own tests...

I will try and test out the turret thing. I can say however that when I am KW scanning a ship that deploys chaff, my scan stops, as if the ship is out of range.

- - - Updated - - -

...So unless the ai starts targetting powerplants and the like i think it will be fine for pve. though i may be wrong...

Be careful. I was fighting an AI conda and it took out my power plant, (still had 60+% hull left). Maybe he just got lucky, but I am suspicious.