4 Pips to Shields - Why?

[Moritz Norman]

Well I'm 90% sure stuff like this is why people though the AI changes were too hard. Fundamental things like that should be explained a bit more clearly to the player base so they know and we can get half competent AI back.

Absolutely.

People were posting 4 pips to shields so much in the AI threads and it just felt like no one was noticing.

This was the first thing I learned doing a casual PvP training with my wing. They could tell from the rate shield drop that I didn't have 4 pips and kept reminding me until it sank in.

 

[Kingston@#]

Elsewhere in the forum I've seen combat advice that emphasises putting '4 pips to shields'

My question is WHY this is important; ie the meter above the 'pip bar' shows the current charge of the SYS system - if it's fully charged, what difference does it make to have 4 pips allocated to SYS (other than increasing the recharge rate)

I might add that I'm in no doubt that it indeed makes SOME difference; I've seen the YouTube combat videos, and '4 pips to shields' seems to be common among the combat experts; my question is: What is the difference? Is it measurable?

I don't, 4 pips to weapons 2 to shields, none to eng, unless I need to boost then I move the pips to eng. mostly though I only put pips to shields after they have dropped.

 

[jasonbarron]

The problem I have, and the reason I consider myself a mediocre combat pilot, is because I can't seem to master pip management under pressure. I understand the concept and really try to move pips around in combat situations, but usually end up just muddling my way through. I fly using an Xbox 360 controller, and the way it's set up I use the directional button to manage pips, and it just seems to take so much time and concentration that I end up making big mistakes when enemy fire is raining down on me.

Perhaps macros would be helpful to me, though I'm not sure where I'd map them on the controller as its already pretty well filled up with a bunch of other commands

 

[777Driver]

mostly though I only put pips to shields after they have dropped.

This is a classic mistake you see people making, it get's inexperinced cmdr's killed against NPC's, experienced Cmdr can get away with it in PvE. in PvP you will get wrecked, guaranteed

 

[CMDR Mr. Boombastic]

Just try one of the (Cobra) tutorial missions with different PIP settings and you'll see the significance of 4 PIPs to SYS.

 

[peteuplink]

My approach is slightly different. I put 4 pips to engines as soon as I'm interdicted, submit and as soon as I'm out of SC boost and keep boosting until I can re-enter SC again. Seems to work so far.

 

[Gemai]

My approach is slightly different. I put 4 pips to engines as soon as I'm interdicted, submit and as soon as I'm out of SC boost and keep boosting until I can re-enter SC again. Seems to work so far.

Yes, that is the standard runaway tactic. This topic is about "fighting" though...

 

[Robin of Spiritwood]

Regarding Pip Macros:

I just bought this keyboard to get a backlit one. It has 5 grey macro keys on the left in a column. So last night, I set them up with both Pip controls and a docking request macro.
(The most fun is gathering the family for a reading of the translated Chinese instructions. Much fun had by all. Guessing what they mean is like playing Jeopardy.)

Pip macros are very very useful in combat. Once you learn where the keys are. Lost a couple test ships by shifting pips out of shields by mistake. But once the memorization kicked in, the ability to instantly focus 4 pips to any system is a big help. Makes us more competitive with 2.1. killer A.I.

Doing it is very easy. You do not have to buy any hardware to use macros. There are software key macro programs available for little cost or free.
https://autohotkey.com/

To set up a pip macro, just activate
- Down Arrow, then Left Arrow for shields ........................................................When taking fire
- Down Arrow, then Up Arrow for engine ..........................................................When maneuvering hard
- Down Arrow, then Right Arrow for weapons ....................................................When shooting

 

[Darth Ender]

How do you know? Have you seen Faulcon DeLacy's wiring diagrams?

Seriously, there's absolutely no reason why doing some Technical Thing shouldn't have more than one effect. If I plug a charger into my dead laptop it allows me to use the machine and charge the battery. Pips having a direct impact on shield strength and thruster power adds a level of tactics to combat that just wouldn't be there without them. All that's missing is an obvious on-screen clue to the player that this is what's happening. A paragraph in a PDF manual doesn't cut it in 2016.

The problem with this approach is that it's not intuitive and/or internally consistent. I would have no issue with the mechanic if it was at the very least, internally consistent. If sys boosts shield, and eng boosts the thrusters, then why doesn't weapon pip boost the weapons in some way? It doesn't. For weapons it behaves intuitively and specifically like a simple power distributor. For the other subsystems, it behaves like a magic box. Pick one is what i'm saying, at the very least, pick one behavior and stick with it.

 

[vermu]

Elsewhere in the forum I've seen combat advice that emphasises putting '4 pips to shields'

My question is WHY this is important; ie the meter above the 'pip bar' shows the current charge of the SYS system - if it's fully charged, what difference does it make to have 4 pips allocated to SYS (other than increasing the recharge rate)

I might add that I'm in no doubt that it indeed makes SOME difference; I've seen the YouTube combat videos, and '4 pips to shields' seems to be common among the combat experts; my question is: What is the difference? Is it measurable?

This is why you should have pips to system. If I would have had 0 pips to system I would have been dead.

[video=youtube;UTDSBRmjyxo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTDSBRmjyxo[/video]

The problem with this approach is that it's not intuitive and/or internally consistent. I would have no issue with the mechanic if it was at the very least, internally consistent. If sys boosts shield, and eng boosts the thrusters, then why doesn't weapon pip boost the weapons in some way? It doesn't. For weapons it behaves intuitively and specifically like a simple power distributor. For the other subsystems, it behaves like a magic box. Pick one is what i'm saying, at the very least, pick one behavior and stick with it.

With that logic it boosts weapons cause you can keep firing longer. I would say that is boosting.

 

[Darth Ender]

With that logic it boosts weapons cause you can keep firing longer. I would say that is boosting.

No, because in that case the behavior would be consistent if thruster pips simply refilled the cap faster and sys pips refilled the sys cap faster as energy was used, same as weapons. Which it does but it also does more for those systems and doesn't do more for weapons.

 

[[VR] Enexemander]

No, because in that case the behavior would be consistent if thruster pips simply refilled the cap faster and sys pips refilled the sys cap faster as energy was used, same as weapons. Which it does but it also does more for those systems and doesn't do more for weapons.

The reason the weapon capacitor doesn't boost weapon damage with pips is simple. It would make the game unfun. Every time you wanted to fire, you'd have to put 4 pips in weapons. This would mean that you would have 4 pips in weapons for 90% of a PvE fight (if you're a good pilot) with only 2 pips to play with in SYS and ENG.

It's a better game design to give weapon pips a different function (in this case, heat. Fire your weapons with a dead weapon capacitor for a while and you'll overheat).

 

[Jack Schitt]

No, because in that case the behavior would be consistent if thruster pips simply refilled the cap faster and sys pips refilled the sys cap faster as energy was used, same as weapons. Which it does but it also does more for those systems and doesn't do more for weapons.

Why does it have to "do more" for weapons? These are completely different systems that happen to share a power source. There's no reason for them to behave in exactly the same way, any more than the next thing you plug into your AC wall socket needs to behave in the same way as the last thing you removed.

As I understand it the WEP capacitor controls the cooling system (don't ask me how, some sort of futuristic heat exchanger I guess) and arguably the gimballing system. Neither of these things offer a "boost" to weapons, they just enable them to fire for longer the more energy they're supplied with. This energy comes directly from the capacitor, and indirectly from the power plant that is recharging the capacitor according to the pip setting.

You might argue, "Why not send power plant energy straight to the cooling system?" But since firing weapons drains the WEP capacitor faster than it can refill, even with four pips in WEP, the drain must be more than the power plant can provide directly. Better to take power from the capacitor, and use the energy to recharge it.

 

[peteuplink]

Yes, that is the standard runaway tactic. This topic is about "fighting" though...

Ohh well pardon me...

 

[Glock_N_Load]

If your are ever on a mission to pick up 4 items in a USS and as soon as you get 1 a bunch of ships jump in, 4 pips to shields will let you hang long enough to get the rest (if your fast).

 

[4gui4]

I'm sorry, but if I need shields also need the 4 pips in eng. or wep.

 

[Rankaze]

4 pips in SYS is not a hard and fast rule - you don't necessarily have 4 pips in SYS all the time. If you are taking significant fire and you don't have 4 pips in SYS, though, you're making a mistake.

This is how I see it:
4 pips in SYS is for when you are taking fire.
4 pips in WEP is for when you are not taking fire, and you have your target in your sights.
4 pips in ENG is for when you are not taking fire, and you do not have your target in your sights.

I generally do not recommend 0 pips in SYS unless you are not being fired on at all (i.e. you are in your enemy's blind spot and can stay there, at which point 4 WEP 2 ENG is not a bad configuration. This is a lot harder to do since the AI upgrades, though!)

If you are dealing with a highly agile opponent and cannot get out of a disadvantaged position (i.e. you can't get him off your tail), you might need to use 3 ENG 3 SYS or 4 ENG 2 SYS briefly to break out of that sitaution, but don't leave yourself off of 4 SYS for long when taking fire.

And yes, if you've read my advocation of 4 ENG 2 SYS when fleeing in another thread, that's different from what I'm saying here - but in that scenario, I'm arguing a corner case in which I'm in a ship which is MUCH faster than my enemy's, and therefore won't be exposed to fire more than a couple of seconds. The only reason I'm making that argument there is because someone said that 4 SYS 2 ENG is always best when fleeing, so I intentionally concocted a scenario to demonstrate that the generalization is not in fact axiomatic (the generalizatoin is usually correct, however).