Engineers Engineering Prismatic Shields

[Exigeous]

After paying my dues over the last month I've finally unlocked and purchased the Prismatic shields. I went ahead and bought class 2-7, as I have no plans to ever own a Cutter and even if I did I wouldn't use it for combat. I currently have Lei Cheung unlocked and have engineered several shields to grade 5 so those are actually quite a bit more powerful than the Prismatics I just bought.

Obviously I'm going to correct that soon and head to Lei to get my new ones done up right. So my question is this, I had a bit of a hard time understanding what the best shield engineering choice is. Currently the ones I own are all done as just Reinforced Shields as that seemed to be the best overall. I then have 2 thermal, 2 kinetic, 2 resistance and 2 reinforced grade 2 boosters (haven't unlocked grade 5). I figured for the boosters I'd do a selection so I could mix and match whatever I like. I generally do combat in either an FDL, Gunship or my newly acquired Anaconda (as of today). I don't know that I'll keep the 'Conda long as I just really don't like the big ships in VR (I like the small, fighter feel with the Courier being far away my favorite interior).

Okay so back to the Prismatics - should I go for reinforced like before? I may do a couple low power in say 2 and 3 for my Sidey, Eagle and Courier just for fun, keeping them light and fast.

I look forward to any input you guys have....

~X

 

[w3bbo]

I put heavy duty G5 on mine for my 'vette. If you know what type of players you're likely to go up against (lasers = thermal, cannons = kinetic) then have bias towards those. If like me you lay you like a 'cover all bases' shield then heavy duty is the way to go. I really wouldn't worry about broken regen/regen speed as prismatics are VERY slow to recover anyway, especially if you also have boosters plus with the next patch, broken shields will recover quicker once you do a reset so its a win/win.

 

[Exigeous]

I put heavy duty G5 on mine for my 'vette. If you know what type of players you're likely to go up against (lasers = thermal, cannons = kinetic) then have bias towards those. If like me you lay you like a 'cover all bases' shield then heavy duty is the way to go. I really wouldn't worry about broken regen/regen speed as prismatics are VERY slow to recover anyway, especially if you also have boosters plus with the next patch, broken shields will recover quicker once you do a reset so its a win/win.

Thanks, in general this is my plan. I don't care about shield strength in PvE situations as a Prismatic with a few boosters all stock is plenty unless you're doing something stupid or using a rather weak ship in a CZ. In this case I generally care far more about PvP as role playing gentlemen pirate is pretty much my favorite game play. I'm usually in something like an FDL or Gunship and many times with a wing. While my goal isn't to even shoot I want to have enough shields so I can tank either while I'm trying to get my target to stop and at least chat with me or tank a number of NPCs if I do wind up engaging. Now that hatch breakers can pass through shields they are far more useful even while getting fired upon by my target or a few NPCs.

I'll admit that part of why I got them was to learn a bit about Power Play and it seems that when you see Prismatics you assume the pilot means business and knows what he's doing. I was surprised that Power Play really wasn't that big of a pain other than not being able to bounty hunt with friends wherever I wanted. I'm now pledged to Li Yong Rui as I want the Pack Hound Missiles then the Imperial Hammers after that. Not sure what I'll do then...

~X

 

[Cmdr. Numa]

I always go thermal resist for the shields to wipe the one weakness they have. Then I go with 2-3 resistance augmented bossters and then heavy duty if I still have slots. That gives me shields with around 50% resist all = damage form all sources except the new plasmas halved, and with 4 pips in sys even less damage arrives, since that in itself gives 42% damage reduction.

 

[RhymeRhyme]

what do you have to do to unlock the prismatic shields. I know taking part in Power Play which I from day 1 totally refused to do. But 1 month doing what and which Power do you have to join?

 

[Elprez]

what do you have to do to unlock the prismatic shields. I know taking part in Power Play which I from day 1 totally refused to do. But 1 month doing what and which Power do you have to join?

Join Aisling Duval. During your 3rd week turn in 750 merits and in week 4 you can buy them. I just got done. I purchased 2 of each size and stored them at my home base. Now I have them for other ships. If you can afford the cost I would suggest that. When you modify them the transfer module option is real handy too...during your 3 weeks you can spend time getting the needed materials to modify them.

 

[Exigeous]

Join Aisling Duval. During your 3rd week turn in 750 merits and in week 4 you can buy them. I just got done. I purchased 2 of each size and stored them at my home base. Now I have them for other ships. If you can afford the cost I would suggest that. When you modify them the transfer module option is real handy too...during your 3 weeks you can spend time getting the needed materials to modify them.

Just to give a bit more detail about the merit part. There are a few ways to earn merits, one is by killing opposing faction ship and the other is by some type of trade. With Aisling you go to her home system, Cubeo and to the station Chelomey Orbital (you might be able to go to any station in her home system this is just the one I chose. Go to Starport Services then to Power Contact. There you'll see the ability to get 10 media materials (you get 10 for free every 30 minutes). You then check the Power Play system to see what systems she's expanding into. Pick the closest of the top 10 and then deliver the materials to a station there, in the same way by using Power Contact. You can "Fast Track" this and purchase more media materials in groups of 10 for 100,000 (so 10k each). Annoyingly you can only do 10 at a time, so you get 10, go back, click fast track, choose 10, buy them and repeat (ah, more grind). So if you need 750 merits, and you do, that'll be 75 times and 750 tons. I did this in a Type 9 so I could do it in two trips, took about 45 minutes and $7.5M.

Then as Elprez says buy each size and throw them on the shelf. You can buy them at any station that has outfitting, don't worry about checking EDDB, if it has outfitting it has every size shield. I used the Type 9 to buy all the big sizes then jumped in my Courier for the smaller (I think). Unlike Elprez I only bought 1 of each size as I tend to just keep 1 of each size in storage and swap all my engineered modules on and off my ships, since I can only use 1 at a time. It does add time outfitting as I strip all engineered parts off before swapping then put them back on. Takes time but far less engineering and cheaper to own only 1 of each.

Finally I'll say that it wasn't really that much of a pain during the month in terms of ships from other factions interdicting me, etc. I couldn't bounty hunt wherever I wanted but rather met friends in independent systems like Fusang. In short I wish I had done this many months ago.

 

[goemon]

I always go thermal resist for the shields

pretty much same here, at least for combat ships.

have in mind, that dimnuishing returns of booster resistances now depend on your base values, so you want a shield with all resistance quite the same to start with. you can't get a heavy duty shield to high resistances against all type of damage with thermal boosters for exampel.

 

[Exigeous]

Thanks guys, this has been rather helpful. So I'm thinking I'll go with thermal resist for the shields with a kenetic booster first, thermal next and heavy duty after that (for ships where I get 3 boosters). If more I'd add them in that order again.

Make sense or am I missing something?

 

[RhymeRhyme]

Join Aisling Duval. During your 3rd week turn in 750 merits and in week 4 you can buy them. I just got done. I purchased 2 of each size and stored them at my home base. Now I have them for other ships. If you can afford the cost I would suggest that. When you modify them the transfer module option is real handy too...during your 3 weeks you can spend time getting the needed materials to modify them.

Ok, thanks. Someone mentioned that it's a giga grind, that I would have to do something each day or whenenver to keep up my rep or whatever. Do I just have to enlist and wait for 3 weeks or do I have to be active for Duval and do something?

 

[NightlinerSGS]

Ok, thanks. Someone mentioned that it's a giga grind, that I would have to do something each day or whenenver to keep up my rep or whatever. Do I just have to enlist and wait for 3 weeks or do I have to be active for Duval and do something?

Yes, you have to do something. You not only have to get merits by doing specific things for your power to get to the rank you need to get the shields, you also have to do something every week if you want to maintain your rank and not drop down again. This can become grindy, especially at higher ranks. There are plenty of powerplay guides out there that tell you what to do.

 

[VR StarLightPL]

Yes, you have to do something.

No you don't, at least not in the sense RhymeRhyme was saying. You can go for an exploration mission for what its worth. Its only in the fourth week you need to earn 750 merits, either by shooting other powers ships or by doing preparation / fortification for a power.

Also, it would be really nice if you used their trello on what to fortify to actually help them and not hurt them (bad preparation or overfortification can hurt things for a power): https://trello.com/b/HBY3rRZR/aisling-duval

You can also join their discord, who knows it may even get you hooked on Powerplay in general (you can switch between powers as much as you like so the choice is not final).

PS: yeah I know last patch changed fortification rules and tried to curb bad preps (also known as the Fifth Column mechanics). But still the point is valid, doing blind actions by grinders can hurt powers.

 

[UnhappyDev]

No you don't, at least not in the sense RhymeRhyme was saying. You can go for an exploration mission for what its worth. Its only in the fourth week you need to earn 750 merits, either by shooting other powers ships or by doing preparation / fortification for a power.

This.

I absolutely love Elite Dangerous...except for Power Play

I did the bare minimum to get the prismatics and kissed Aisling goodbye. That was a happy day.

 

[CMDR MERANGO]

I have a maxed out Vette with Prismatics and I use Thermal with 3 x resistance augmented and 3 x HD boosters. CMIV

 

[Lupin]

Adding 2p worth.
I took the time to get Prismatic shields so I could use smaller size shield in my trader ship. Without leaving myself open to easy attack/damage.
Another option if you now have class 2-7 in storage.

Also if you are still into Power Play look up Imperial Hammer Rail Gun, fun to use and even better after current patch.

 

[Jon flint]

I have a maxed out Vette with Prismatics and I use Thermal with 3 x resistance augmented and 3 x HD boosters. CMIV

Same here, care to share your shield stats screen? I'm curious what other Cmdrs have gotten out of the engineers...

My vette with a mix of heavy duty and resistance augmented boosters (7 boosters total, got 1x heatsink on a utility mount too so not a totally maxed shield build):

Spoiler

 

[CMDR MERANGO]

Adding 2p worth.
I took the time to get Prismatic shields so I could use smaller size shield in my trader ship. Without leaving myself open to easy attack/damage.
Another option if you now have class 2-7 in storage.

Also if you are still into Power Play look up Imperial Hammer Rail Gun, fun to use and even better after current patch.

You may find this interesting:

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...Hammers-with-the-new-feedback-cascade-changes

Good luck CMIV

 

[Exigeous]

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...Hammers-with-the-new-feedback-cascade-changes

While I hadn't seen that specific post (thanks BTW) I understood that all 3 bursts from the Hammers was equivalent to one shot from rails. The main benefit is you're more likely to land at least one hammer shot so you'd at least do some damage vs. missing the single rail shot. I'm better than average with fixed weapons as I run fixed on all but seekers and even still I miss a good number of rain shots due to the delay from pressing fire and actually firing. If I can land 1 or 2 Hammers and get 33% or 66% that's better than 0%

Randomly a few weeks ago I did a big round of engineering and did some class 4 rail with Blaster with the plasma slug special. If you don't know that lets you use ship fuel for ammo instead of the small 30 shots you'd get per restock. Now that they've been buffed with 3x the ammo I sure wish I'd have done something else, likely the special that does big damage to shield cells if you hit while one is being popped.

Another tanget question, well 2. First what Power Play module would you go for after Prismatics, Pack Hounds and Hammers? Let me guess, the mining lance, right? I mean that thing rocks, right??? (but seriously what). 2 what is the best anti-shield weapon, torpedoes with cascade? I swear I once saw a video of a guy 2 shotting a Corvette with Frag Cannons with some special (from the video it looked that way) but I never got an answer as to what he was using? It was sweet to see a Cobra Mk III absolutely destroy a Vette.

 

[CMDR MERANGO]

While I hadn't seen that specific post (thanks BTW) I understood that all 3 bursts from the Hammers was equivalent to one shot from rails. The main benefit is you're more likely to land at least one hammer shot so you'd at least do some damage vs. missing the single rail shot. I'm better than average with fixed weapons as I run fixed on all but seekers and even still I miss a good number of rain shots due to the delay from pressing fire and actually firing. If I can land 1 or 2 Hammers and get 33% or 66% that's better than 0%

Randomly a few weeks ago I did a big round of engineering and did some class 4 rail with Blaster with the plasma slug special. If you don't know that lets you use ship fuel for ammo instead of the small 30 shots you'd get per restock. Now that they've been buffed with 3x the ammo I sure wish I'd have done something else, likely the special that does big damage to shield cells if you hit while one is being popped.

Another tanget question, well 2. First what Power Play module would you go for after Prismatics, Pack Hounds and Hammers? Let me guess, the mining lance, right? I mean that thing rocks, right??? (but seriously what). 2 what is the best anti-shield weapon, torpedoes with cascade? I swear I once saw a video of a guy 2 shotting a Corvette with Frag Cannons with some special (from the video it looked that way) but I never got an answer as to what he was using? It was sweet to see a Cobra Mk III absolutely destroy a Vette.

Some interesting observations you have made. I currently only play PvE - in Open Play but only ever been challenged by a PvP player once - Your last paragraph has given me pause for thought. My current game play is just grinding out some more credits and then I am going to tinker with my Vette load-out again. The problem I have is not being able to test the weapons PvP style without going all-out in combat. Maybe we could help each other and see what effects these different weapons now have since the buffs and nerfs. CMIV

 

[Exigeous]

Some interesting observations you have made. I currently only play PvE - in Open Play but only ever been challenged by a PvP player once - Your last paragraph has given me pause for thought. My current game play is just grinding out some more credits and then I am going to tinker with my Vette load-out again. The problem I have is not being able to test the weapons PvP style without going all-out in combat. Maybe we could help each other and see what effects these different weapons now have since the buffs and nerfs. CMIV

I'm always happy to wing up with someone for, well, just about anything. I'd be game for testing weapons or some friendly combat. In the past I've PvP'ed with some friends to 50%, meaning who's ever hull gets to 50% first loses and we stop so no rebuy. It can be a lot of fun and great way to test your skills and ship build.

As for "just grinding", etc. my advice is try some kind of play style you've never done. As I mentioned I do a lot of PvP "gentlemen" piracy. Meaning I do all I can to not shoot or kill a target and never just grab someone and shoot. It can be a ton of fun, not only for me/us but many of the guys I grab enjoy the role playing involved. I've had a number of commanders try it with me and they were instantly hooked. Once they realize it has nothing to do with wanting to just blast someone, hell we rarely ask for or take much cargo, they learn how exciting it can be to interact with another commander. Many seasoned players I grab thank me at the end as most are happy to play along so long as there's no ganking (and with me there never is). I do grab the occasional commander that either curses me with extremely vulgar language or shoot first and won't stop, those are the only ones that I'll either critically damage or kill. I've actually made a few friends that I play with from previously pirating them. Recently I grabbed a guy and when chatting he commented something to the effect of "okay, I'm stopping, hold fire. My heart is beating out of my chest, give me a minute to chill!" Later we chatted in Discord and he said it was the most exciting thing he'd ever done and it was so nice to have a commander not just want to kill him.

Anyway feel free to drop me a PM or just friend me in game (same commander name). I usually play late US EST time, from say 10 pm - 4 am. Let me know if that's when you're online, if not we'll find a weekend/etc.

~X

Oh and given you're building out a Corvette you really need to do some PvP. I find it a bit silly that commanders will build out a huge Vette build and just use it in PvE - it's just such overkill for that. A friend grinded hard for his, got it all engineered but has never engaged another commander with it, to me what's the point then? My FDL or Anaconda can take down pretty much any NPC in game so why have the Vette? Just my .02, everyone can play how they want which is one reason Elite's so great.