Hi. Actually I run a 8x heavy duty shield booster configuration. In the meanwhile I got some hints that a combination with some resistant boosters is more effective. What is the best configuration of engineered shield boosters?
Engineers Best shield booster configuration?
- Thread starter Doc-Orange
- Start date
I forgot to mention that I'm only interested in PvE!
Hi. This suprises me. I thought a combination from heavy duty and some thermal, kinetic resistence is best. Why do you prefer the total general resistence?
Is there some reason that it would be bad to use your suggested PvP shield configuration for PvE, or do you feel it's just unnecessarily strong?
My Anaconda config, partially engineered (still gathering some materials to get to level 5)... mainly PvE, can survive some forced PvP encounters (or long enough for me to high wake anyway)
7A shield generator - reinforced - level 3
2x heavy duty shield boosters - level 1
2x thermal resistant - level 3
2x resistance augmented - level 3
Total shield strength is around 1600mj iirc
pve you gain more total MJ over a typical pve sustained combat session (RES, CZ) from the recharge rate of a bi-weave (much higher, even if not broken). that's why a pvp shield is suboptimal.
on my combat ships (pve) i have bi-weaves thermal resist as above, up to 3 augmented boosters, and if i still have utilities free, fill the rest with e-class heavy duty boosters (as i like to save weight).
but generally no matter what you fit pve, i fail to see what you have to do to get your shields down - if you don't like to do conflictzones without choosing a side. with a non-bi-weave you'll just have to return to base more often, after scb are exhausted.
res boosters up the resistances against all three damage types. 1 thermal resistance and 1 kinetic resistance booster calculate to +16% kinetic resistance and +16% thermal and -8% blast resistance on average, while 2 res augmented boosters lead to +24% kinetic + 24% thermal + 24% blast. the only reason to fit thermal or resistance bossters is, if you a) don't have a thermal modded shield generator, so you don't start with even resistances against all damage types in the first place b) if you don't have the power for res augmented boosters (for exampel on a vulture).
For PvE, I always go with thermal resist shields, 2 resist augmented, and however many heavy duty I feel like I need. It's more of a hybrid between resist and MJ. This gives me over 50% resist across the board, and plenty of MJ. You can go for higher resists if you want as each MJ will be more valuable, but you'll want a bit of raw MJ to work with because NPCs don't completely avoid Rail Guns and Plasma Accelerators altogether, AND because collision damage bypasses resists.
For PvP, some go for absolute MJ count and there isn't much of a draw-back to it aside from regeneration rate since each MJ isn't worth as much. But with higher MJ, absolute damage sources are less deadly. You will be waiting longer for your total shield strength to return, though.
Edit: Also, I agree with everyone else that Bi-weaves are a great choice for PvE due to their innate regeneration speed. I personally don't use them due to being in a Cutter with class-8 shields, which regenerate fast for some reason anyway. Not as fast as Bi-Weaves, but I've never had NPCs give me a reason to worry.
For PvP, some go for absolute MJ count and there isn't much of a draw-back to it aside from regeneration rate since each MJ isn't worth as much. But with higher MJ, absolute damage sources are less deadly. You will be waiting longer for your total shield strength to return, though.
Edit: Also, I agree with everyone else that Bi-weaves are a great choice for PvE due to their innate regeneration speed. I personally don't use them due to being in a Cutter with class-8 shields, which regenerate fast for some reason anyway. Not as fast as Bi-Weaves, but I've never had NPCs give me a reason to worry.
Last edited:
Because this way, every single point of regeneration will be worth so much more, including from SCB. With an Anaconda specced this way, and 4 pips to shields, you can tank an entire CZ by yourself.
The PvP build would not work well in PvE because the shield recharge rate is 4-5 times slower. PvE is all about sustain.
With a Thermal Resistant Shield, your ceiling for resistance is both higher and well-balanced because the shield resistance DOES NOT COUNT toward the soft cap; that means that the 60% you can get completely offsets the shield base penalty against thermal and then some.
Diminishing returns kick in, but after taking into account the 4 pips to sys it's still worth it; with 0 shield boosters you take 24% of thermal damage, with 6 Resistance-Augmented Shield Boosters you take about 13% - almost 50% less; that 1-2% of effective resistance for each booster may seem a small amount, but it's actually significant compared to the portion of damage that is passing through.
This advantage, furthermore, gets carried over to any SCB you carry.
Last edited:
So i've noticed that resistance type shield boosters seem to do nothing for actual MJ total strength shown in the outfitting screen... even when I engineering them it doesn't go up, so basically I am not increasing my shield's actual strength, just it's ability to resist certain types of damage. With my above configuration I am able to last nearly indefinitely in PvE unless I get maybe 3 or 4 larger ships hammering at me then I might have to pop a SCB. (I also usually have a fighter launched with an NPC crew that keeps them distracted).
There is a common misconception about PVE shields: thermal-resistant bi-weaves coupled with resistant boosters are the best solution for any PVE ship.
No they don't. They are fine only for small and medium ships. They are fine for Vulture, they are fine for Federal ***ships. They are NOT fine for Big 3. If you fly, say, a Vette, you will take hits. LOTS of hits, since you can't avoid incoming fire and chaffs are useless due to their size. You need hybrid shields with both good resists and fair amount of "fat". Do not worry about recharge - you have reboot.
On my main account, I have a Vette with 7A reinforced prosmatics and 7-8 boosters - 2 thermal, 2 resistant and 3-4 heavy (depends on where I want to take it - in RES I swap one of heavy boosters for KWS). This gives me 4.6 - 5.3 GJ with very good resists, basically a godmode. There is a caveat, however - such a shield cannot be recharged in field. You have to use reboot to get it to 50% capacity (which is more than 2 GJ). I do not use SCBs with it - you need heatsinks to avoid damage from big SCBs (class 6 and 7), and small SCBs do not pack enough charge to be useful on that monstrosity.
On my 2nd account, I have an universal Conda with 7C reinforced(!) bi-weave and 6 boosters - same setup as Vette (2 thermal, 2 resistant and 2 heavy). This gives me 2 GJ of shields that can be recharged in field (takes some time, though). I also use a single 5A SCB coupled with heatsink (+1 ammo mod) - not exactly useful in battle, but can be used to speed up the recharge (1 cell = about 1 minute of normal recharge).
No they don't. They are fine only for small and medium ships. They are fine for Vulture, they are fine for Federal ***ships. They are NOT fine for Big 3. If you fly, say, a Vette, you will take hits. LOTS of hits, since you can't avoid incoming fire and chaffs are useless due to their size. You need hybrid shields with both good resists and fair amount of "fat". Do not worry about recharge - you have reboot.
On my main account, I have a Vette with 7A reinforced prosmatics and 7-8 boosters - 2 thermal, 2 resistant and 3-4 heavy (depends on where I want to take it - in RES I swap one of heavy boosters for KWS). This gives me 4.6 - 5.3 GJ with very good resists, basically a godmode. There is a caveat, however - such a shield cannot be recharged in field. You have to use reboot to get it to 50% capacity (which is more than 2 GJ). I do not use SCBs with it - you need heatsinks to avoid damage from big SCBs (class 6 and 7), and small SCBs do not pack enough charge to be useful on that monstrosity.
On my 2nd account, I have an universal Conda with 7C reinforced(!) bi-weave and 6 boosters - same setup as Vette (2 thermal, 2 resistant and 2 heavy). This gives me 2 GJ of shields that can be recharged in field (takes some time, though). I also use a single 5A SCB coupled with heatsink (+1 ammo mod) - not exactly useful in battle, but can be used to speed up the recharge (1 cell = about 1 minute of normal recharge).
Most of my PvE work to shift the BGS is carried out in an iCutter with bi-weave shields and focus on resistances.
All it is...I guess I don't sit there like a potato sponging up damage like it's going out of fashion just because I lack the turning speed of a PE thruster Eagle. Can mow through foe after foe in a CZ, and never do I need to resort to reboot/repair for shield charging.
I would suggest you develop your big ship flight skill before making this kind of assertion.
that's an interesting set up! i have flown a corvette and cutter in combat only in beta (i'm currently trying to get into huge ships combat in a python, as i have preferred the smalls an mediums up to an FDL till now - more fun for me), both with bi-weaves.
a question would be, how to measure this ... basically, what you are describing means disengaging - rebooting - returning (with 50% shield). that process takes how long? 2 minutes? if it is 2 minutes, in the same time an 8A bi-weave shield would have recharged only ~700 MJ, while you gain 2000 MJ.
on the other hand, any time in between engagements the biweave recharges 4.4 mj/s more than your prismatics. if you sit at 1300 MJ, and have 20 seconds shield recharge to the next fight, you have already gained 80 MJ from the bi-weaves, every time.
i can see that your method is working much better in CZ than in RES, where time between engagements is lower (and NPC are ganging up, so you'll loose ore in shorter time) (and actually, let's face it, a corvette or cutter is build for CZ, not for shooting Adders in RES).
and i'll give it a try next beta!
Reboot takes about 25 seconds, but there are two things:
- your speed must not exceed 50 m\s during the whole process (basically that means you have to stop)
- you can't take any hits during reboot
Failing one or both means your shield will stay offline (even if it had some MJs when you pushed the button), and you'll have to reboot again.
As for disengage-return - hard to say, depends on the current situation.
And yes, I use it mainly in CZs - in RES, I usually run out of ammo way before the 2nd ring turns red. (I use two huge MCs on Vette)
Last edited:
Not a big fan of git gudding.
Then don't give bad advice
So little should stress your defenses in PvE that there's just no requirement to go extreme on defenses. If you can't handle a big ship without buffing its shields to the absolute max then rebooting just to get some back then fine, but don't suggest others take it on.
It's like the polar opposite of "git gudding".
Then don't give bad advice
So little should stress your defenses in PvE that there's just no requirement to go extreme on defenses. If you can't handle a big ship without buffing its shields to the absolute max then rebooting just to get some back then fine, but don't suggest others take it on.
It's like the polar opposite of "git gudding".
I fail to see how the advice on enhancing your ship defenses is bad...
Here's how i did mine... (Cutter)
Thermal Resistance Shields (Normal A8) G5 upgraded.
3 0A Heavy Duty with 60+ roles G5 upgraded.
1 OA Thermal Resistance With 25+ role G5 upgraded.
1 OA Kinectic Resistance With 25+ Role G5 upgraded.
3 OA Resistances Augmented with at least 15+ across all 3 Resistances. G5 upgraded.
Works great...
Thermal Resistance Shields (Normal A8) G5 upgraded.
3 0A Heavy Duty with 60+ roles G5 upgraded.
1 OA Thermal Resistance With 25+ role G5 upgraded.
1 OA Kinectic Resistance With 25+ Role G5 upgraded.
3 OA Resistances Augmented with at least 15+ across all 3 Resistances. G5 upgraded.
Works great...