My suggestion: Don't try stealth combat. It simply doesn't work in most cases. I have been engaged by a lot of players with stealth builds lately (Stealth DBS seems to be very popular atm), and I welcome them... without shields they are even easier to kill. I have no idea what they expected. Stealth doesn't work... You can still see them on the radar and visually of course. Fixed weapon users won't care at all, and gimballed weapons basically turn into fixed, if you untarget your opponent, which in this case is done automatically for you, since you can't lock onto them anyway.
I admit, there are a few advantages, though:
1. it's difficult to target subsystems
2. it's difficult to hit with most kinetic weapons without the target lead.
3. mirrored armor can be used against the expected laser fire, but beware of railgun users.
Personally I think shields are a more reliable protection, though, and the DBS can support surprisingly powerful ones for that matter.
I have to disagree, to an extent.
My stealth setups tend to work quite well. Armored bulkheads plus an assload of hull reinforcers offer similar total damage absorbing ability to shield + SCBs for some ships, with the bonus that you almost never need to have any pips in SYS at all (I only move pips there to top off the cap so I can be sure I have power for heatsinks). Everything can go to WEP and ENG.
Also, as you mention, silent running protects the subsystems, and anything but fixed hitscan weapons become unreliable against you.
And that's in normal combat in open space. In a wing, stealth is better. In a CZ, stealth is
way better. The more crap around to obfuscate your own unresolved contact, the more likely you will be to get the drop on your opponent, which can provide a huge edge.
Back on the topic of protection, I've posted this video numerous times, but it's relevant here:
[video=youtube;iHfCAK4Rg5A]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHfCAK4Rg5A[/video]
I take a considerable number of railgun hits in the second half of this encounter and despite the momentary thruster malfunction, subsystems and hull hold up quite well. After driving off the Python CMDRs, my PP was at 100% and my thrusters 72%...and I was carrying two fresh AFMUs.
That Clipper has ~50% resistance to most damage and 1605 hull strength. The stealth Federal Assault Ship I'm testing in beta is even tougher.
Any suggestions, please send them across.
Reduce the size of the fuel tank to save weight and add some hull reinforcement packages.
Also, more heatsinks.