Newcomer / Intro What does this mean?

Does it mean that it has 40% less thermal resistance than the one I have on my ship now and that if I install it, I will have no thermal resistance (-100%)?

1A Reactive s.png
 
You will have -40% which is a change of -100% hence the little downward pointing thing all you other changes are positive all compared to what is already installed.

The scary figure is the mass of 27 tonne which is going to hurt jump range possibly quite badly.
 
You will have -40% which is a change of -100% hence the little downward pointing thing all you other changes are positive all compared to what is already installed.

The scary figure is the mass of 27 tonne which is going to hurt jump range possibly quite badly.

27 tons will cut 1 light year of my jump range.
Would a Mirrored armor be better?
I suppose attackers would use thermal weapons to drop my shields before using kinetics, right?


1A Mirrored.png
 
You can understand the + sign as "resistance to" and the - sign as a "vulnerability to" a specific type of damage.

The 100% is a bit confusing, but you have to look at it as a rate of change. For example +150% means "1.5x more". 100% basically means "better/worse by exactly the amount it originally was. Damn this is hard to explain. :LOL:

When comes to the types of armour, imagine it like this:
Reactive surface composite is meant against kinetic weapons so it's "spongy" in order to stop bullets better but that means it is easier to melt (hence vulnerability to lasers)
Mirrored composite is exactly that - a mirror. It reflects thermal energy (buff against lasers) but is fragile and therefore vulnerable to projectiles and explosives.
Military grade composite is a compromise between both (for extra price)

Personally I prefer Mirrored. My logic is that I have good shields (I always have). That means that if somebody got through my awesome shield, they probably have a lot of thermal weapons and therefore extra protection against that on my hull is welcome.
If they have a projectile setup (which would mean reactive composite would help me there) they won't get through my shield in the first place.

So there. :)
 
Thank you for your replies, commanders!
I've installed a 1 A reactive hull which cut 1 LY of my jump range and then a 4A FSD which increased 6LY.
I also installed a 4C bi-weave shield generator.
Yay.
Now Im going to the Hi RES for a test :D
 
Actually Military Grade Composite armour is cheaper than both Reactive and Mirrored.

I have tended to skimp armour and go with Hull Reinforcement as I was convinced you got more for your money.
 
Actually Military Grade Composite armour is cheaper than both Reactive and Mirrored.

I have tended to skimp armour and go with Hull Reinforcement as I was convinced you got more for your money.

Money is usually less of an issue - but you also get more protection per mass. As well as using smaller devices (no matter which - hull reinforcements, module reinforcements, Guardian shield boosters) giving you better protection per mass than larger modules. Alas, the number of slots in ships is limited, and three size 4 hull reinforcements still give you moreprotection than three size 1s.

But as for relying on your hull after you lose your shields, it's a difficult issue. Once you lose your shields, NPCs turn out to be armed with missiles, which is nasty. Missiles deal explosive damage - and will do splash damage to all external modules (like your weapons or thrusters). So, if you build for fighting without shields, I'd suggest you balance your resistances and add a module reinforcement or two.
 
Yes, Military, Mirrored and Reactive all weight the same and yes, NPCs shoot missiles once your shields are gone so I went with Reactive.
 
I tend to not use any any of them, they weigh a lot which reduces both Jump range and (in many situations) maneuverability. I Engineer the standard as it weighs 0t, so a 100% increase still weighs 0t.
Keeping Shields up I find a far more sensible alternative, especially as I would always run away if my shields went down regardless of how much Hull Buff I had added.
 
The Reactive is very good in co-junction with hull reinforcement modules as its very easy to patch up that thermal hole by engineering them, giving you the best resistances overall.
with the other armor types you will have to engineer allot more hull reinforcements to reach the same level of resistance.
 
Would a Mirrored armor be better?

Mirrored has the worst overall balance of resistances and while might be ok against most NPCs (they tend to be laser heavy) the moment you encounter an NPC with missiles or almost any hostile CMDR that isn't flying a rail boat, you'll discover that mirrored is an Achilles heel.
 
I am not actually fond of combat so have not used armour since my first steps in the game.

Personally, I choose to go do some mining and get young Selene to whack on G5 heavy duty modification (with reflective or sometimes deep plating) on my standard Lightweight Alloy - all of which gives an increase in mass of precisely 0.000mg. :sneaky:

Armour - Heavy duty (Grade 5) ⏣︎⏣︎⏣︎⏣︎⏣︎
Modifiers
All Resistances +5%
Hull Boost +32%
Mass +30%

(30% of 0 being quite small)
 
None of my ships have armor any more. HRPs are what I use if I want more integrity. The way resistances stack makes it the way to go for me.

I now have heavy-duty engineered stock alloy on all ships. Honestly I feel that with proper shield engineering they'll never be shot away in PvE, and integrity is more for collision. I don't mean to sound like I lack humility, but I haven't had shields shot away in combat in three years. It's just a fact. So armor and integrity become a safety net that's never used and so I've traded it all in for additional speed, agility and jump range. All of my ships are built for speed and perhaps that allows me to get away with this.
 
OP heads up, anti combat crowd found their way in here now.
Guessing they are trying to recruit more people to their cause by giving you bad advice.
 
The larger NPCs will take down your shields with lasers, then switch to missiles and other weapons to finish off your hull. That means that you don't need much thermal resistance on your armour. Some of the middle-sized ships, like Asp use rail guns throughout. Small ships can use anything, but don't do so much damage.
 
OP heads up, anti combat crowd found their way in here now.
Guessing they are trying to recruit more people to their cause by giving you bad advice.

Trolling eh? Suggest you put up or shut up as there is nothing wrong with what anyone has said. I stand by my assertion that G5 mods of standard lightweight provide as much armour as one needs for PvE and with none of the mass penalties.
 
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