I am now confused as hell. I get what you lot are saying but is there some debate over if the above EDSY numbers are gospel?
Ships Bi Wave Shields. Is it always better to go fast charge?
- Thread starter Yingnei Gasua
- Start date
I am now confused as hell. I get what you lot are saying but is there some debate over if the above EDSY numbers are gospel?
no theyre correct. for biweave hybrid builds I always crunch the numbers manually to find the sweet spot before distributor capacity runs out. Coriolis etc havent always been accurate on that.
For that, essentially you subtract { (broken regen rate)x(shield dist draw)} from your distributor sys regen rate. the negative difference is how much your rebuilding shield will take from your sys capacity each second (assuming you have 4pips to sys throughout) once that sys capacity reaches zero, your shield will only rebuild at your max distributor sys output, (which is sys regen rate divided by shield distributor draw.) For maximum rebuild efficiency you want to avoid draining your sys cap in the process. you need to rebuild 50% of your shield's MJ total to bring the shield back up.
So once you know how long it takes to drain your sys capacitor at full shield-rebuild, you can multiply your shield rebuild rate by that time, and the result is 50% of the total shield MJ you can get away with on that shipbuild, and still rebuild your shield at max rate. if you find yourself with plenty of leeway, try the math again with fast-charge. if you find the resulting shield far too feeble, try again with lo-draw effect as this reduces the shield's dist draw, which has a big effect on those big biweave rebuild numbers.
Thank you for the clarification. One more noob question, as long as there are still pips in SYS (e,g, i let it drop to 1 bar before i assign it to 4 pips again, and then let it drop to 2 bar again), does the regen rate vary between a 1 pip or 5 pip SYS? (assume not letting it ever drop to zero).
The other thing I am confused about, I keep hearing how a 4 pip SYS shield is xxx% stronger than say a 2 pip shield. How does that work? A bigger stack of bars gives you better resist or faster recharge?
Again, thanks.
No. The shield gen draws from the capacitor to regen/rebuild. The SYS pips refill the capacitor. Regen rate is only directly dependent on pips once the capacitor is bottomed out.
Shields get a separate, absolute, multiplicative addition to resist all incoming damage based on number of pips. This value ranges from 0% at zero pips to ~60% at four pips and scales nearly linearly. It used to be a very non-linear gain, making pips much closer to an all-or-nothing defense, but that was changed a while back.
Pips do not affect recharge, unless the SYS cap is empty, as noted above.
Last edited:
I see. Thank you guys. So;
- Having pips in shields sort of gives you like an additional resistance augmentation (not to think of it as extra MJ since that would mess with recharge calc)
- Quote " EDSY says the Distributor Draw is 0.6 MW to recharge 1 shield unit. " What is 1 shield unit? Its a relative thing? Not absolute MJ? But in any case, the take-away is that my shields will recharge at the same rate regardless of how many pips as long as min 1 'bar' is in the capacitor.
Much appreciated. This game mechanics are tough as hell for newbies.
- Having pips in shields sort of gives you like an additional resistance augmentation (not to think of it as extra MJ since that would mess with recharge calc)
- Quote " EDSY says the Distributor Draw is 0.6 MW to recharge 1 shield unit. " What is 1 shield unit? Its a relative thing? Not absolute MJ? But in any case, the take-away is that my shields will recharge at the same rate regardless of how many pips as long as min 1 'bar' is in the capacitor.
Much appreciated. This game mechanics are tough as hell for newbies.
1 shield unit is absolute MJ.
your takeaway is correct
the other takeaway about the effect of pips on shield strength is perhaps the tastier dish tho
Now I am wishing that the ships' cockpit has a gauge that shows shield strength in MJ and %, instead of the 3 circles.
Right handsite Menu> Ship>Statistic (bottom one)
It shows your shield health, resistances, armor and so on
Right handsite Menu> Ship>Statistic (bottom one)
It shows your shield health, resistances, armor and so on
I do use that but toggling it during combat isnt quite as handy as having a head-up readout to watch the regen/drop in combat.
Can look at the menu below the scanner, which u also use to deploy fighters.
Also not the greatest thing in combat, its at least quicker.. only shows % of what u got tho /:
But i get you, id also rather see numbers
Lo/lo shields can be a good choice on AX ships, where you want to stay cool and never want to see your sys capacitor flat, but fast charge is much better for most PvE biweaves.