Newcomer / Intro I *think* I understand shields now, but...

[Harrowdown]

... but I don't have much of an angle on combat. Or rather how to avoid it by jumping away, as I'm finding my fun in the peaceful side of the game.

I've been trying to plan out my long term trading goals for ED, engineering included. I had ruled out the Type-9 as an end goal because I never fly in wings and I'm not really looking to rack up a slow body count in defensive combat. But I've learned a little bit about shields and now I'm not so sure anymore. I can easily put an 8A Prismatic Shield on a Type 9 that exceeds its optimal/max hull weight. The benefits are diminished compared to doing the same to a Type 10 or a Cutter, but they are still there. Is that overshooting it? I have NO angle on the combat encounters themselves.

What minimum class shield will still protect a T9 long enough so it can safely jump away from aggressive players? Are shield cell banks required, or are those actually intended for prolonged combat?

 

[Chris Simon]

If you want profits, you would probably never put a shield into the biggest compartment of your trading ship. It's just a waste, imho.

My personal experience is that if you're just running from interdictions (as you well should as a trader), 500MJ or thereabouts is plenty enough. Four pips in SYS, two in ENG and just boost and jump away.
There is still a possibility that they will either be in a wing or have some uber high alpha strike build, but even then, if you do everything right, they shouldn't have enough time to kill you.
Personally I have an 6A shield on my T9 and I've never been destroyed in her despite doing CGs and other things where I meet gankers from time to time.

That being said, it's a good idea to invest some engineering time into your shields and boosters and work on resistances, especially thermal resistance for shield and explosive one for your hull.

 

[Harrowdown]

If you want profits, you would probably never put a shield into the biggest compartment of your trading ship. It's just a waste, imho.

My personal experience is that if you're just running from interdictions (as you well should as a trader), 500MJ or thereabouts is plenty enough. Four pips in SYS, two in ENG and just boost and jump away.
There is still a possibility that they will either be in a wing or have some uber high alpha strike build, but even then, if you do everything right, they shouldn't have enough time to kill you.
Personally I have an 6A shield on my T9 and I've never been destroyed in her despite doing CGs and other things where I meet gankers from time to time.

That being said, it's a good idea to invest some engineering time into your shields and boosters and work on resistances, especially thermal resistance for shield and explosive one for your hull.

That's a fine answer and no, I'm not super into profits. I can go a little over 500MJ if it buys me peace of mind.

 

[Chris Simon]

That's a fine answer and no, I'm not super into profits. I can go a little over 500MJ if it buys me peace of mind.

If you're not necessarily after the biggest cargo hold (but still big enough), I'd probably recommend T10 or Cutter (if you have the ranks) over the regular T9. They are both a little bit harder to kill if brown hits the fan and you take longer to react for some reason.
The T10 in particular is also much better at winning interdictions than the other two, too, so that's something to consider.

 

[Harrowdown]

If you're not necessarily after the biggest cargo hold (but still big enough), I'd probably recommend T10 or Cutter (if you have the ranks) over the regular T9. They are both a little bit harder to kill if brown hits the fan and you take longer to react for some reason.
The T10 in particular is also much better at winning interdictions than the other two, too, so that's something to consider.

I know. The T10 is what I first looked at. It's perhaps a little too suited to what I had in mind, too easy to work out the meta for, if that makes sense. But much more importantly, that giant spoiler on the back isn't for me. Space aerodynamics and all.

 

[Ashnak]

That's not a spoiler - that's the support for the upper point defense turrets.

 

[Harrowdown]

My personal experience is that if you're just running from interdictions (as you well should as a trader), 500MJ or thereabouts is plenty enough. Four pips in SYS, two in ENG and just boost and jump away.

I'm just wondering, purely speculative, if you don't or can't boost away and simply let players pound your ship while the FSD charges, is 600 enough? Should I go for 800 or more?

 

[Chris Simon]

I'm just wondering, purely speculative, if you don't or can't boost away and simply let players pound your ship while the FSD charges, is 600 enough? Should I go for 800 or more?

Well, that depends. Some weapons are quite scary and PvPers can have insane DPS output. Something like Gunship with full frag cannon setup can easily exceed 1500 "DPS". So if you let a ship like THAT get close to you, no, you won't be okay.

People tend to underestimate moving. Even a huge ship like T9 is much harder to hit when it moves away, rolls and generally moves around at more than 1.5 km away. And even if you only avoid every third shot, well, that's 33% damage reduction basically for free.

So no, no amount of shields will be "enough" if you just sit there, waiting for an FSD to spool up. And don't forget those big shields take forever to recharge, so they may not get you with the first interdiction, but there's always the next one.

 

[aRJay]

I'm just wondering, purely speculative, if you don't or can't boost away and simply let players pound your ship while the FSD charges, is 600 enough? Should I go for 800 or more?

Against players I wouldn’t like to bet especially as there are engineered weapons that can mess up FSDs.

 

[Harrowdown]

Thanks! Honestly, that settles a lot of things for me.