Engineers Engineering my shields...?

Mohenjo

Mohenjo
So, I'm engineering the shields on my Federal Assault Ship, but I'm uncertain what experimental effect to put on it.

The shields are 5A, Thermal Resistant (I thought that would be useful since most enemies use lasers, and shields are already pretty resistant to kinetic). Right now, they're Multi-Weave, but I'm wondering if it would be better to put Hi-Cap instead.

Thoughts?
 

Mohenjo

Mohenjo
I did consider that... but I already had the 5A shields, and I like it better if the shields don't fall at all. Regeneration doesn't matter much if the shields don't fall.
 

Ethaidan

Ethaidan
If you wanted Shields that never fail, then you be fitting prismatics - that's what I have on my trade/transport ships.
I have Bi-weaves on all my combat ships, and rarely have a problem with them failing. If they do, the Fast Charge gets them back up in no time.
I wouldn't know what to put on A-rated Shields, I don't ever use them.
 

Mohenjo

Mohenjo
It was my understanding that bi-weaves were good on ships where you expect the shields to fail, like smaller ships or transports. I could be wrong though.

The real question is whether Multi-weave or Hi-Cap is better on the 5A shields, since that's what I have.
 

GloatingSwine

GloatingSwine
Hawk of Battle said:
Bi-weaves > standard

Fast charge > high cap/multi-weave.

Ergo; thermal resist bi-weaves with fast charge > anything else.
Click to expand...

Whether fast charge is the best depends on your distributor. Smaller distributors won't keep up with the extra power requirements without extra pips assigned to shields, and that means pips not assigned to weapons or speed if you don't want to waste the fast charge effect.

If your distributor is a size bigger than your shields then yes, Fast Charge is very good.

Where that isn't the case you may be better off with Force Block, unless you're happy to sacrifice pips to actually use the fast charge effect.
 

Innocentius

Innocentius
I use this as my shield tank PvE FAS

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You can swap the fuel tank for SCB if you expect particularly hard single fights, but I took away the SCB myself from this build and added the fuel tank for more ammo (the PAs are plasma slug).
 

graflex22

graflex22
your Shields will drop on a FAS. this ship functions best as a hull tank.

i have a lot fun with this build. it's not perfect but i can take on Elite PVE ships and PvP.
 

graflex22

graflex22
Innocentius said:
Nah. Over 3k effective shields is enough for FAS with its agility and speed. Even in high CZ. Been there, done that.
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i haven't touched the Guardian stuff, so Shields like that aren't an option for me.

out of curiosity, what's the point of Bi-Weaves in that build?

wouldn't A-rated or Prismatics be better? or is heat an issue?
 

Innocentius

Innocentius
graflex22 said:
i haven't touched the Guardian stuff, so Shields like that aren't an option for me.

out of curiosity, what's the point of Bi-Weaves in that build?

wouldn't A-rated or Prismatics be better? or is heat an issue?
Click to expand...

Ah, it is purely for regen speed. If the shields were prismatics, they would not be significantly stronger as most of the shields come from the resistances and the guardian stuff. I use that ship for longer bounty hunting or CZ sessions (basically until I am out of fuel or bored).
 

GloatingSwine

GloatingSwine
Prismatic shields are good for when you want them to last a reasonably long amount of time once.

Bi-Weaves are better if you want indefinite duration, and in NPC combat you generally do. It only takes about 200 seconds of time spent regenerating for the Bi-Weaves to have had "more shield" in a given encounter than Prismatics on that FAS build, and in a long term pirate massacre or chaining CZs that's basically no time at all
 

Mohenjo

Mohenjo
I hesitate to even show you what I'm flying, based on looking at those builds. My ship is designed to do more than just fight. In fact, she's more of an explorer than anything else.

I don't have access to all the fancy special gear, like guardian anything or powerplay stuff like prismatic shields (which I wouldn't want, because apparently they take a month and a half to recharge). I can barely manage to engineer one or two of my modules, so I'm flying her more or less as is.

This is what is on the ship RIGHT NOW.

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I know you'll probably chuckle and giggle at it, but it's set up for something kind of atypical for the class of ship.
 

fishevi

fishevi
Mohenjo said:
I hesitate to even show you what I'm flying, based on looking at those builds. My ship is designed to do more than just fight. In fact, she's more of an explorer than anything else.

I don't have access to all the fancy special gear, like guardian anything or powerplay stuff like prismatic shields (which I wouldn't want, because apparently they take a month and a half to recharge). I can barely manage to engineer one or two of my modules, so I'm flying her more or less as is.

This is what is on the ship RIGHT NOW.

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
coriolis.io coriolis.io

I know you'll probably chuckle and giggle at it, but it's set up for something kind of atypical for the class of ship.
Click to expand...
As long as you have fun with it, fly it as you like.

Seasoned cmdrs say that if no prismatics, biweave is best option, usually thermal resist with fast charge if shield size is smaller than distro, and low draw experimental if shield is same size or larger.

But play with your builds/engineering as you like and have fun in the process 😀
 

Mohenjo

Mohenjo
fishevi said:
As long as you have fun with it, fly it as you like.

Seasoned cmdrs say that if no prismatics, biweave is best option, usually thermal resist with fast charge if shield size is smaller than distro, and low draw experimental if shield is same size or larger.

But play with your builds/engineering as you like and have fun in the process 😀
Click to expand...
Ya, people said I was insane taking a Federal Dropship out into the deep black for something like 3 years. I had fun with it though. I've "refitted" the Independence into an Assault Ship now, and I want her to be a bit more combat capable. So far, I've done a little bounty hunting, and not really had any trouble... but I've not taken on anything bigger than about a Phantom (and even then, with help from the cops nearby, though they didn't actually get involved).

I just don't want to waste the materials on getting an ineffective modification.
 

GeoJase

GeoJase
Back to your original question though: for those 5A standard shields, hi-cap is a good option. Adds a bit more strength. You're still a bit light on thermal resistance (NPCs deal a lot of thermal damage), so getting shields to G5 or adding a thermal mod shield booster in place of the wake scanner will give you an advantage.

Speed is a good defence on the FAS. You might want to consider A-rated thrusters with G3 dirty/drag from Felicity. You'll definately notice the difference
 

Mohenjo

Mohenjo
Ya, the wake scanner is temporary while I go looking for engineering materials. It's usually a second shield booster, but I've not engineered them yet.

I was actually considering A rating the thrusters, but the ship is meant to be primarily an explorer... so I was trying to keep the weight down. Something to consider, though.
 

GloatingSwine

GloatingSwine
TBH you probably don't need the point defence either.

If you want a ship to be a nice comfortable explorer, it's not just about keeping weight down but also keeping your power usage and passive heat generation down (Thruster heat doesn't matter so much because one of the main reasons is scooping heat, and that's in supercruise where you don't take thruster heat).
 
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