Enhanced, Low Energy Shields Mod

[Judge M]

So, I took a trip to see Elvira Martuuk to have a butchers at her shield generators.

I kind of liked the look of the Enhanced, Low Energy Shields. Like the name suggests, it uses less power to generate stronger shields, at the expense of integrity and reduced mass.
I put the Grade 1 mod on and although it used less power, slightly, my shields strength was reduced from 605 to 580 (According to the outfitting screen).
Not very good, i thought, so i removed the mod.
Managed to sell some exploration data and unlock grade 2 mods.
So i put the same mod on again, but this time the grade 2 version.
Same thing again. Only worse. My shield strength was reduced from 605 to 573.

My question is... What am i missing?
Do i have to have grade one mods equipped when i equip a grade 2 mod?
Doesn't seem to make sense that the grade 2 version would weaken my shields more that grade 1. Seems counter to what the name of the Mod suggests.

Any help appreciated.
Happy to be told im doing it all wrong.

 

[Deleted member 110222]

Off-topic, sorta'...

Low energy shields?

Is that an off-the-shelf module? Your post makes it seem like that, to me at least.

 

[SCSkunk]

They are mods that an Engineer can install on your ship if you have Horizons.

OP, sounds to me like you may have just gotten a bad roll. The baseline stats are given to us by RNGesus, praise his name. You may just need to roll a better one. But I am no expert at Engineer upgrades, as I have only just started to tinker. At first I was distracted by a War between Player Groups, and now the Dangerous Games are starting on Thursday...so I'll get back to the Engineers in a few weeks. Not like they're going anywhere!

 

[AttackedDesert]

That's strange, I use the same mod, level two or three and it gave my shields a great boost and reduced my shield power draw. Maybe keep trying with the rolls?

 

[RoLnD79]

So, I took a trip to see Elvira Martuuk to have a butchers at her shield generators.

I kind of liked the look of the Enhanced, Low Energy Shields. Like the name suggests, it uses less power to generate stronger shields, at the expense of integrity and reduced mass.
I put the Grade 1 mod on and although it used less power, slightly, my shields strength was reduced from 605 to 580 (According to the outfitting screen).
Not very good, i thought, so i removed the mod.
Managed to sell some exploration data and unlock grade 2 mods.
So i put the same mod on again, but this time the grade 2 version.
Same thing again. Only worse. My shield strength was reduced from 605 to 573.

My question is... What am i missing?
Do i have to have grade one mods equipped when i equip a grade 2 mod?
Doesn't seem to make sense that the grade 2 version would weaken my shields more that grade 1. Seems counter to what the name of the Mod suggests.

Any help appreciated.
Happy to be told im doing it all wrong.

You don't have to have a level one mod equipped, to do a level two. Optimal hull mass is one of the main things to look at for a good shield generator. Going with low energy shields, your optimal hull mass is going to go down, so you will have weaker shields. My advice, scrap that plan and go with reinforced shields to get much stronger shields. Also the way these mods are, even more important than the shield generator is the shield boosters. Go with some heavy duty shield boosters, and once you get them to level 3-5, your shield strength goes through the roof. You will gain a some mass, but it's absolutely worth it for the insane amount of shield strength you gain, especially when you stack multiple modded heavy duty shield boosters, it's game over for the AI. (Then you can mod some HRPs and your armor, and it's not even fair ).

There's very few mods where it should really even be a choice which one to go with, dirty drive vs clean drive, (I still think dirty wins that), and whatever weapons you want are a couple, the rest should be pretty clear cut, some of the mod options, I don't even know why they exist lol. The negative side affects on most of the mods, are so minute that the positive effects far outweigh them. Unless you absolutely get a terrible roll, but that seems rare. I'm almost done modding, I should actually finish tonight, and if I get a good outcome on the stat I need, I go with it and if the other stats aren't the best, I don't fret, I just wait till I accumalte enough materials for a couple re tries, and get it a bit better. I've never had to roll over 3-4 times to get a great outcome, sure you can roll to get "perfect" outcome if you want to try 20-40 times, but the effects are so small, I will never do that.

 

[4fast5me]

You don't have to have a level one mod equipped, to do a level two. Optimal hull mass is one of the main things to look at for a good shield generator. Going with low energy shields, your optimal hull mass is going to go down, so you will have weaker shields. My advice, scrap that plan and go with reinforced shields to get much stronger shields. Also the way these mods are, even more important than the shield generator is the shield boosters. Go with some heavy duty shield boosters, and once you get them to level 3-5, your shield strength goes through the roof. You will gain a some mass, but it's absolutely worth it for the insane amount of shield strength you gain, especially when you stack multiple modded heavy duty shield boosters, it's game over for the AI. (Then you can mod some HRPs and your armor, and it's not even fair ).

There's very few mods where it should really even be a choice which one to go with, dirty drive vs clean drive, (I still think dirty wins that), and whatever weapons you want are a couple, the rest should be pretty clear cut, some of the mod options, I don't even know why they exist lol. The negative side affects on most of the mods, are so minute that the positive effects far outweigh them. Unless you absolutely get a terrible roll, but that seems rare. I'm almost done modding, I should actually finish tonight, and if I get a good outcome on the stat I need, I go with it and if the other stats aren't the best, I don't fret, I just wait till I accumalte enough materials for a couple re tries, and get it a bit better. I've never had to roll over 3-4 times to get a great outcome, sure you can roll to get "perfect" outcome if you want to try 20-40 times, but the effects are so small, I will never do that.

Trust me when I say that the choice between dirty and clean drives can be an incredibly laboured one.

I'm still not sure what I want for my grade 5. It's really dependant on how heat efficient I can get my power plant.

 

[RoLnD79]

Trust me when I say that the choice between dirty and clean drives can be an incredibly laboured one.

I'm still not sure what I want for my grade 5. It's really dependant on how heat efficient I can get my power plant.

Yeah I guess alot of it depends on the ship too, if it has heat issues or not. I just put a level 3 dirty drive on my cobra mkIII, and it can boost 477, has no heat issues. I have a level 3 dirty drive on my python, it can boost 370 and turn great (even with modded up tanked shield boosters/HRPs/armor) and it doesn't have any issues. I need 3 more pharmaseutical isolators and I can roll 3 level 4 dirty drives, and one level 5 on my python, I'd like to get its boost speed to around 400.

 

[bitstorm]

It looks like it can only have a (small) increase around level 3 : http://inara.cz/galaxy-blueprint/20

I think the primary goal of these shields is to reduce power draw.

 

[4fast5me]

Yeah I guess alot of it depends on the ship too, if it has heat issues or not. I just put a level 3 dirty drive on my cobra mkIII, and it can boost 477, has no heat issues. I have a level 3 dirty drive on my python, it can boost 370 and turn great (even with modded up tanked shield boosters/HRPs/armor) and it doesn't have any issues. I need 3 more pharmaseutical isolators and I can roll 3 level 4 dirty drives, and one level 5 on my python, I'd like to get its boost speed to around 400.

Truth be told it's not going to be an issue for most people. Anything over 20% resting heat is too hot for me.

 

[SCSkunk]

It looks like it can only have a (small) increase around level 3 : http://inara.cz/galaxy-blueprint/20

I think the primary goal of these shields is to reduce power draw.

^This. My iCourier runs Prismatics, and I want the reduced power draw. As some of us are aware, the Courier is hampered by it's Power Distributor. So the combo works on paper, the Courier has OP shield strength for it's size. Though I have been too busy to check it out for myself.

 

[Judge M]

Thanks folks.
I suspect there a little bit of poor naming of mods at work here and a larger part of even poorer descriptions of what they're supposed to do.
Enhanced, Low Energy is pretty clear in it's suggesting that this mod will give you "much stronger shields".
Wonder if it is too much to ask to have proper useful names/descriptions of how these mods work and how they effect your build. In real values.
So frustrating.

Thought they were binning the RNG nonsense...Obviously not soon enough.

Honestly, this whole Horizons thing is a catalogue of bad ideas, sprinkled with one or two good ideas.

 

[bigity]

Honestly this mod seems to allow you to fit a bigger shield generator when you are barely squeezing by on power, or be something for explorers or long-distance traders.

By reducing power, you can possibly get by with a smaller (and less mass) power generator and/or reduce mass, increasing jump range and increasing speed a little bit.

 

[Cyberguts]

Honestly this mod seems to allow you to fit a bigger shield generator when you are barely squeezing by on power, or be something for explorers or long-distance traders.

By reducing power, you can possibly get by with a smaller (and less mass) power generator and/or reduce mass, increasing jump range and increasing speed a little bit.

^ This

As you can see here, the actual chance of you getting increase shield strength is zero until you get the grade 3; then it's a minimal improvement (if you are blessed with RNG). This is for Prismatics and Explorers/Traders who want reduced mass and power usage to aid in jump range or not be so power hungry.