Cutter: Primsatic-8 shield worth it?

sb413197

S
What situations would a primsatic-8 shield be best in a cutter, if any? I would like to buy all the primsatics that I will use, before I defect to another faction. Also - should I buy more primsatics than a size 6 (cutter for trading) and size 4 (python for trading) - is the primsatic the best shield for any other ship purpose?

For the cutter size-8 shield; I'm interested in having a cutter that can do some PVP if I feel like it, and I don't have too huge an amount of experience there. Looking at the number it seems as though a biweave may actually be better - in a prolonged fight with a bunch of SCBs I have to think that the huge regeneration would add up over time...?
 
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StiTch

StiTch
Prismatics often hold their ground in undersizing. For PvE a c6 prismatic and two C8 SCBs is totally viable, but a bit riskier for dedicated PvP 'cos someone with feedback rails is gonna sting you.
 

viper666

V
Prismatic shields are inferior in oh so many ways. Expensive, heavy, and regen rates measured on a calendar. If you use Bi-Weaves with resistance boosters you will never go back. On my combat Vulture, shield strength is 428Mj. Rarely see the shields go below two rings, even if fighting a 3 ship NPC wing with a conda and two clippers in the wing. In any case, a single grade 5A shield cell booster will take the shields from almost gone to full strength.

IMHO Prismatics are only good for a niche PvP build.
 

TERMINATRIXXX

Banned
T
Its about the scare factor, regular people fear the combination, cutter-prismatics-packhounds :D
They are worth it but regen time and repair costs are fairly high.
 

sb413197

S
Cmdr. Numa said:
More precisely PvP combat. For PvE a class 8 prismatic is complete overkill. A BiWeave with boosters works much better.
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So, with max boosters etc, which works better in pvp: primsatic-8 or biweave-8? I've heard of battles going for 10 plus minutes, and a biweave would theoretically outpace a primsatic there....or does that not usually happen?
 

XW_Ziggy

XW_Ziggy
I'm not 100% sure but I was under the impression that all types and sizes of shield don't have constant regen; There's a short period of a 5-10 seconds after taking damage before the regen kicks in again.

That means that a bi-weave will only outpace a prismatic during combat if your fight provides opportunities to avoid taking fire for significant stretches at a time.

I'm not too sure on this mechanic though; It would be nice if someone could link some official data on this, because I'm running reseitance bi-weaves at the moment on most of my ships and it would affect how I behave during combat if I turn out to be wrong.
 

Cmdr. Numa

Cmdr. Numa
sb413197 said:
So, with max boosters etc, which works better in pvp: primsatic-8 or biweave-8? I've heard of battles going for 10 plus minutes, and a biweave would theoretically outpace a primsatic there....or does that not usually happen?
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Problem with that is that shields don't regenerate under fire. In PvP you want all the MJ you can get, you won't regenerate often.
 

Zerakue

Zerakue
XW_Ziggy said:
I'm not 100% sure but I was under the impression that all types and sizes of shield don't have constant regen; There's a short period of a 5-10 seconds after taking damage before the regen kicks in again.

That means that a bi-weave will only outpace a prismatic during combat if your fight provides opportunities to avoid taking fire for significant stretches at a time.

I'm not too sure on this mechanic though; It would be nice if someone could link some official data on this, because I'm running reseitance bi-weaves at the moment on most of my ships and it would affect how I behave during combat if I turn out to be wrong.
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Another thing to look at on bi weaves are ships with very low base shield strength, because of the shield regen buffs the higher the class the faster it regens, the clipper is a prime example for this. Clipper has god awful base shield strength to the point that a class 7 prismatic on it is tied with a class 2 prismatic on a courier which is stupid, but the point is the high class with crap shields, the bi weave in that slot yes you loose alot of upfront shields (granted not much in the first place) but when shields do collapse, when they start regen it literally takes 10 seconds for them to come back up, which in the course of the fight if you can hull tank or boost away for 10 seconds then in my opinion at least on a clipper the bi weave would give far more MJ count than a prismatic ever would at least on a clipper.
 
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Phazon Xenomorph

Phazon Xenomorph
My Corvette with 7 shield boosters (all heavy duty) engineered with engineered 7A prismatics has over 6000mj of shields. A size 8A.... you could potentially hit 8 or even 9000 I'm guessing. They'll be expensive to repair, and they will take FOREVER to come back online, but you'll basically be this immune godly thing. And if you are using your Cutter for trading or anything, yeah you use up a size 8 slot, but at the same time you'll fear nothing in the galaxy unless you play in Open, and even then unless against reverb torps (which need their own setup to really work), you'll be able to jump away from any unwanted PvP situation without even taking a scratch.

Honestly I can't fathom why they didn't give the Corvette a single size 8 internal slot. The most firepower capable ship has weaker shields, makes no dang sense since it's jump range even engineered is terrible (and no, hull tanking is not a thing since modules are easy to hit through the hull on a big fat ship like the Corvette or Anaconda or Cutter).
 
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KR4K40

KR4K40
I have a friend with a cutter with engineered 6A prismemes and boosters and even my full PA corvette could not scratch those shields. Anything above class 6 is overkill and a waste of mass, power and money because engineered class 6 already is god mode. Also if you go class 6 you can fit two class 8 shhield banks, which are great value for combat.

If you have to go with class 8, use biweaves for that monstrous regeneration
 

Zerakue

Zerakue
Phazon Xenomorph said:
My Corvette with 7 shield boosters (all heavy duty) engineered with engineered 7A prismatics has over 6000mj of shields. A size 8A.... you could potentially hit 8 or even 9000 I'm guessing. They'll be expensive to repair, and they will take FOREVER to come back online, but you'll basically be this immune godly thing. And if you are using your Cutter for trading or anything, yeah you use up a size 8 slot, but at the same time you'll fear nothing in the galaxy unless you play in Open, and even then unless against reverb torps (which need their own setup to really work), you'll be able to jump away from any unwanted PvP situation without even taking a scratch.

Honestly I can't fathom why they didn't give the Corvette a single size 8 internal slot. The most firepower capable ship has weaker shields, makes no dang sense since it's jump range even engineered is terrible (and no, hull tanking is not a thing since modules are easy to hit through the hull on a big fat ship like the Corvette or Anaconda or Cutter).
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I've already done the numbers, my cutter can get about 10.5k to 11k raw shield strength with decent resistance, scored a 47% shield amp with a optimal boost as a secondary effect, and just getting a heavy duty shield booster with at least 65% increase and resistances for secondary effects gives me close to 1200 MJ per booster, X that by 8 utility slots... and you see the numbers add up real quick
 

Phazon Xenomorph

Phazon Xenomorph
Zerakue said:
I've already done the numbers, my cutter can get about 10.5k to 11k raw shield strength with decent resistance, scored a 47% shield amp with a optimal boost as a secondary effect, and just getting a heavy duty shield booster with at least 65% increase and resistances for secondary effects gives me close to 1200 MJ per booster, X that by 8 utility slots... and you see the numbers add up real quick
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You running 8x shield boosters then? Cause while I'm manually flying my Corvette out around the bubble I still have 1 heatsink for when I'm fuel scooping and whatnot, but at the same time if I were to rip it off and slap an 8th booster with either all resist or even just thermal resist 5, I could make the thing have strength and resistance. But I'm not sure sacrificing the heat sink should I run into heat making pvp ships (despite im still bad at pvp and havent settled on a final weapon loadout yet) I don't wanna be cooking myself.
 

Zerakue

Zerakue
Phazon Xenomorph said:
You running 8x shield boosters then? Cause while I'm manually flying my Corvette out around the bubble I still have 1 heatsink for when I'm fuel scooping and whatnot, but at the same time if I were to rip it off and slap an 8th booster with either all resist or even just thermal resist 5, I could make the thing have strength and resistance. But I'm not sure sacrificing the heat sink should I run into heat making pvp ships (despite im still bad at pvp and havent settled on a final weapon loadout yet) I don't wanna be cooking myself.
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Never said i'd run that loadout in pvp, it's just that it's possible to reach those numbers with a little sacrifice... As for loadouts I've recently retired my cutter for a change of pace (Debating Icourier, IClipper, or FDL), but i used the same as you with it being 7 boosters (different engineering) and 1 heatsink

Also i wouldn't worry about heat too too much, i ran grade 5 overcharged powerplant, grade 5 dirty drives, with 2 imperial hammers, 2 APA's among other weapons and never overheated, even when a buddy was shooting me with heat weapons, i'd shuffle between 67-97% but would only breach 100% heat if i spammed the rails or APA
 

Phazon Xenomorph

Phazon Xenomorph
Zerakue said:
Never said i'd run that loadout in pvp, it's just that it's possible to reach those numbers with a little sacrifice... As for loadouts I've recently retired my cutter for a change of pace (Debating Icourier, IClipper, or FDL), but i used the same as you with it being 7 boosters (different engineering) and 1 heatsink

Also i wouldn't worry about heat too too much, i ran grade 5 overcharged powerplant, grade 5 dirty drives, with 2 imperial hammers, 2 APA's among other weapons and never overheated, even when a buddy was shooting me with heat weapons, i'd shuffle between 67-97% but would only breach 100% heat if i spammed the rails or APA
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Ah okay. Yeah I got the Corvette to be my PvP / extreme combat ship, but I haven't even decided on a final loadout yet as my primary means. Was toying with the idea of pursuing the Pulse Disruptor and going with a Rapid Fire mod for it with either scramble spectrum or the shield breach effect. Idea would be to just wreck havoc on systems so I can bring the huge hardpoints to bear easier and get some sick damage output in. But I feel like that'd be too gimmicky.
 

Zerakue

Zerakue
Phazon Xenomorph said:
Ah okay. Yeah I got the Corvette to be my PvP / extreme combat ship, but I haven't even decided on a final loadout yet as my primary means. Was toying with the idea of pursuing the Pulse Disruptor and going with a Rapid Fire mod for it with either scramble spectrum or the shield breach effect. Idea would be to just wreck havoc on systems so I can bring the huge hardpoints to bear easier and get some sick damage output in. But I feel like that'd be too gimmicky.
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The most recent loadout i enjoyed greatly was 2 fixed frags on the large, 2 wings are gimballed frags, and double shot screening shell em (Screening shell cuts reload in half) so once boost rammed, just let it rip, 2 mediums under the nose are feedback hammers to deal with cellbanks (imperial hammers yes have much higher heat, but sturdy mount them to cut the heat in half with secondary effects, also because you are firing 3 rounds per burst instead of 1 it means a higher chance to at least do SOMETHING instead of hit or miss), as for the huge i never could decide what i wanted, i absolutely HATE the huge multi cannon it doesn't mesh with my style
 
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