Ship Builds & Load Outs Armor vs Shields for Trading

[SpaceMonkeyBoom]

I've been verry happily doing A-B-A trading in my Python and my question is which is better for a non-combat ship like mine, Military Armor or a big shield generator? I get interdicted rarely but it does happen and I do bang my ship around a bit sometimes while docking. I could sure use the extra cargo capacity. Anybody go shieldless in favor or upgraded armor?

 

[Galanthalas]

The real questions would be, how much time and money is it worth to you not dying? How much of a risk are you willing to take? If your keen to run away very quickly then I would say keep your shields, drop the armor. Big shields will last you long enough to flee anything.

 

[SpaceMonkeyBoom]

I was thinking more about ditching my shields entirely in favor of armor. I'm already running small shields in favor of more cargo space and I find that when I get interdicted they usually do the trick so I'm wondering if I need them at all. If I was taking a lot of hits they are small enough that they wouldn't last. Are repair costs a killer? The worst damage I've had to repair so far was from 33% hull remaining and it only cost like Cr. 33k

 

[Psycho Romeo]

Take the smallest shield you feel comfortable taking, and put HRPs in your class 2s and smaller. I wouldn't fly without shields because that's just one step that a pirate can skip. As I understand, AI can recognize whether targets have or don't have a shield too. So there's that.

Repair costs are a joke.

 

[goemon]

You are only A-B-A, and you don't smuggle? then you will dock often, can repair if necessary, and you don't need to boost into a station... if you fit military bulkheads, and a point defence (! - because you don't want an npcs hatchbreaker limpet on your cago hatch), you should be good on a python - and maybe you fit a docking computer. if you fly without shields, every ditch is a ditch... i used to do this in my smuggling ships. did it again tonight collecting wreckage components.

armor doesn't help against a good aiming player, though.

you can fit a class 3 shield on a python. with 2 boosters you'll get 300 MJ shields - should be enough to get away always, and those are only 8 T cargo each run less, much cheaper, less weight... if you combine that with a small scb (another 8T), you can use such a build for trading community goals (with adrenalin rushs).

 

[vindicator jones]

Bi-Weaves... Good buffer for traders, and regenerate quickly between interdiction's.

Just put a lower class version into a smaller slot. It will give you some buffer before components start getting damaged.

 

[domaq]

I ran 3D shields on my trade-python the entire time without Mil Armor and had no issues. Beauty of the python is that you can do both and only lose about 0.9ly. Now, I would definitely run the 3C bi-weave and not upgrade the armor. Shield only cost you 8t cargo but you lose an entire layer of defense.