What engineer Mod do you use for the Prismatic Sheilds??

HElp! I'm sure there is a lesson here, but I'm stupid. Would somebody care to elucidate?

A ship regenerates a set amount of MJ per second when it is regenerating shields either through SCB or passive regen. If each MJ resists say 50% of all damage, then it's like having double the MJ value displayed. Each MJ is worth more and regen is stronger in that sense. Since ships tend to regen a bit between salvos and jousts, a build with more focus on resists and regen instead of raw MJ will last longer and perform better unless the enemy is focused on ramming and using Plasma Accelerators.
 
That makes a lot of sense but for this:
I like to play in open. I am in no way averse to PvP, but a) I'm crap, and b) I'm not prepared to accept a 40mil rebuy just for someone else's kicks. So the Prismatics allow me to take a bit of heat while I scram. And then we can arrange a one-on-one, if that's what the antagonist would like. Only not in my megaship. With this in mind, what I'm after is effectively a God-Ship in the PvE stakes, which at the same time offers survivability in open. I shan't fight with it in open. Either I'm over-powered and I win (big deal) or I'm under-skilled and I lose (bring on the cheap rebuy baby-ships). With this in mind, and with an eye on the 'Thargoid Threat', what do you reckon?

Afraid I'm not qualified to speak on something balanced for Open. I avoid being someone's content by not existing in their game. [big grin] It might be worth focusing a little more on armor though thanks to shield cell interuptions, cascade torpedoes, and thargoid weapons bleeding through shields. Probably shouldn't play in Open if you aren't prepared for that rebuy. If someone is determined to pee in your cheerios you're going to have to eat that warm, vinegary cereal at some point.
 
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Putting forward for critics.

https://eddp.co/u/eVn3aDE5

Edit: yeah since Prismatics have low low low regen rate, in big ships Reinforced can be very good too. Well for PvE anything engineered will do really, just a matter of preference. Still, 80%+ resists across the board are too nice IMHO. Thermal allows you to focus on Resistance Augmented Shield Boosters, stack 3-4 of those and the rest make them D or E class Shield Boosters with Heavy Duty.
 
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Afraid I'm not qualified to speak on something balanced for Open. I avoid being someone's content by not existing in their game. [big grin] It might be worth focusing a little more on armor though thanks to shield cell interuptions, cascade torpedoes, and thargoid weapons bleeding through shields. Probably shouldn't play in Open if you aren't prepared for that rebuy. If someone is determined to pee in your cheerios you're going to have to eat that warm, vinegary cereal at some point.
Well, if it happens, it happens. As I said, the purpose of the megashields is to give me a scram-window. If that fails, it fails. I'm no stranger to the rebuy-screen. Point is though, having gone the route of staying in solo and/or private modes, the simple fact is I'm tired of being alone. To the point where an actual Commander shooting at me is a refreshing change. Plus I can afford the rebuy, even as I abhor the possibility. So yes, big shields, run away, contact would-be assassin for a one-on-one in a cheap ship if that's what he/she wants works for me. In the meantime though, I AM interested in the most effective build for PvE. As for the Thargies, so far they've only wanted to look at me and the ones that have wanted to shoot at me, I left. Until I know WHY we're into Thargoid killing, I'm going to leave that alone :)
 
Check the Defence Tab, which lists Absolute & Effective Shield numbers.....


What about the "shields will hold for" numbers?
That seems to contradict what you're suggesting; it says 29:21 for thermal and only 27:13 for reinforced.
Then it says recover in 6:34 thermal, 8:43 reinforced.
Then recharge; 24:19 thermal, 31:56 reinforced.

Am I missing something?
That reads to me as "Holds longer, recharges faster." for thermal.
 
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Putting forward for critics.

https://eddp.co/u/eVn3aDE5

Edit: yeah since Prismatics have low low low regen rate, in big ships Reinforced can be very good too. Well for PvE anything engineered will do really, just a matter of preference. Still, 80%+ resists across the board are too nice IMHO. Thermal allows you to focus on Resistance Augmented Shield Boosters, stack 3-4 of those and the rest make them D or E class Shield Boosters with Heavy Duty.
This is interesting since I have (currently very poorly) engineered boosters which give +45% (average) resistances across the board. Does this mean that essentially all I need do is focus on the boosters (engineering-wise)? Not to say that some heavy-duty engineering on the shields themselves wouldn't go amiss...
 
Putting forward for critics.

https://eddp.co/u/eVn3aDE5

Edit: yeah since Prismatics have low low low regen rate, in big ships Reinforced can be very good too. Well for PvE anything engineered will do really, just a matter of preference. Still, 80%+ resists across the board are too nice IMHO. Thermal allows you to focus on Resistance Augmented Shield Boosters, stack 3-4 of those and the rest make them D or E class Shield Boosters with Heavy Duty.

What is the reasoning behind the smaller boosters?
 
This is interesting since I have (currently very poorly) engineered boosters which give +45% (average) resistances across the board. Does this mean that essentially all I need do is focus on the boosters (engineering-wise)? Not to say that some heavy-duty engineering on the shields themselves wouldn't go amiss...

Well for your purposes of PvE combat we're talking about the two most conventional Shield Generator mods: Thermal x Reinforced.

Thermal will plug the obvious resistance hole immediately whilst providing some boost to the total amount of shields, thus making the resistance profile more even. Apply some Resistance Augmented Shield Boosters there, then (each can go up to 12,5% resistance boost across the board, not counting God rolls, not counting diminishing returns). After the third or fourth Resistance Augmented SB, make the rest Heavy Duty (for the boost to the total amount of shields, and because of diminishing returns). Since the total amount of shields won't be the best, it will recharge % faster.

Reinforced will give a huge boost to your Shield total amount, but will carry the same poor unbalanced resist profile and trying to patch it with different specific Resistance Shield Boosters (Thermal SBs) the nerf to the other resistances can make the final resist profile turn out to be poor when compared to the above. Since Prismatics regen really slow, might as well just go with total amount for big ships since the regen benefits given by the Thermal Gen tactics won't be so expressive (in comparison) in real combat anyway (say a CZ, for example).

Some people go full Reinforced with Resistance Augmented SBs plus some Heavy Duty SBs on Prismatics and just low wake when low on shields, Reboot/Repair to immediately regain 50% shields and they're good to go.

To each their own.

Answering your question, engineering the SBs is as much, if not more, important than the Shield Gen. SBs are OP.

What is the reasoning behind the smaller boosters?

Less power hungry. I've just forgotten to not roll so high on the PP, should have gone G1. Also, Heavy Duty on smaller SBs is more bang for your buck %
 
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Thanks for all that, this has been the most confusing part about engineering for me.
At least I have a direction now.
I don't want to waste too many rolls, hahaha...
 
Thanks for all that, this has been the most confusing part about engineering for me.
At least I have a direction now.
I don't want to waste too many rolls, hahaha...

YWM8. Just don't forget that there's still some controversy on that, and some CMDRs know about shields way more than I do, some comments above are very good and I'm missing some people in this thread.

Don't get crazy or perfectionist on PvE combat engineering, not needed.

And have fun!! Outfitting diversity is what counts.
 
YWM8. Just don't forget that there's still some controversy on that, and some CMDRs know about shields way more than I do, some comments above are very good and I'm missing some people in this thread.

Don't get crazy or perfectionist on PvE combat engineering, not needed.

And have fun!! Outfitting diversity is what counts.


Sure, I'm taking it all in.
The thanks goes out to everyone here.
I just have a lot of boosters to consider between the Fdl and Corvette, hahaha...
I'm ok with being "wrong" on some point, as long as I have a system to work it out.
Seems the differences get pretty subtle, rather quickly.
 
Me, I have to go sleep at this point. That said, thank you very, very much to all responders. I know far more now than I did before I joined this conversation, o7
 
Me, I have to go sleep at this point. That said, thank you very, very much to all responders. I know far more now than I did before I joined this conversation, o7

Night, m8.

Oh well, where's TrueSilver, Fang, Stitch, Ozram, ' Jason Barron and some more when we need them…
I'm really interested in this kind of stuff, plus simplified advice :)
 
I just got prismatics and was wondering what mod CMDR's are using and why that Mod?

Thanks o7

For my 8A prismatics, I have one that is reinforced, just for the raw Mj (but it turns out I never use it), while the other prismatic 8A is a low power enhanced engineer mod, because it reduces the weight of the shield and makes it less power hungry without loosing too much strength (if you get an optimal roll). Which also means able to use smaller lower power powerplants, which makes the ship faster, more manouverable and jump further.

Having said all that, both my prismatics are sitting in storage gathering dust because I prefer low power enhanced 8C Bi-weave. Lighter and using much less power but has fantatsitc resistances and an extra secondary in regen speed. My favourite shield so far. Due to the regen I never need to use SCB's or heat sinks (even in combat zones). The shields have only gone down once in a PvE encounter due to being tired and not paying attention. However it came back up very fast without needing to reboot. The idea of using one may seem scary to some (it was for me), but I recommend people try it. It didn't suit my playstyle at first, but in a way it helped improve my combat skills to compensate for the lower Mj. Combine that with rapidfire advanced plasmas with target lock break.......:D

Caveat - This is for PvE. I can't speak for PvP as it is not something I do.
 
I've currently got 6000MJ with 50% 40% 50% on the Corvette and it suits me just fine. I haven't felt the need to dump my huge shields and go for straight thermal resistance.
 
That would mean me slogging 4 weeks of quite stupid busywork and grinding engineers on top - which is simply not happening.

Are you referring to the Powerplay Prismatics when you state that 'Slogging 4 weeks'??

If so, may i inform you that there is no 4 weeks slog. You sign up for the Fairy Princess, do nothing at all for 3 weeks and 6 days, (Thats absolutely NOTHING when i say Nothing, just play as normal), the on the 6th day of the 3rd week, go kill 25 Federal couriers in a Anarchy Federation controlled system (I use Bunda, controlled by Felicity Winters). Each kill will earn you 30 merit points, and ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS REACH 750 Merit Points!!!

So this is gonna take you maybe an hour tops!

So Hardly weeks slog at all. At the 4th week PP update you become the proud owner of as many Prismatic Shields you can buy/store (And i do advise you buy plenty), then you simply resign from the Princess and enjoy her shields

Simples!
 
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