Ship Builds & Load Outs Hull Tank Questions

[droscoe]

I wasn't a hardcore player, but I did play EVE for several months (and many other space games). How does one hull tank in ED?

Example, in EVE, you have Shields > Armor > Hull...but in Elite Dangerous you have Shields > Hull. Yes you can add armor but it doesn't have a separate "health bar".

Question is, how do you "hull tank" or "armor tank" in ED if there are no hull or armor repairers available? Is there some kind of method to it? Or do you literally just take shots to the face all day long?

I'm looking at the FAS, and was wondering if people put a Bi-Weave on it and Hull packages after that, or forgo the shield altogether and just go full Hull reinforcement packages with Military Composites...and do the whole "hull tank" thing....

Once you get down to, say, 50% hull, (which would take a while) you can't just keep fighting. You have to leave right? I know that because of your hull/armor upgrades it will take someone else a long time to finish you off, but your modules will start to be destroyed as you get lower and lower hull right?

I just don't understand hull tanking and why its worth buying anything that is clearly made for it. Once my shields go, I usually just get outta there. I don't know if I have the balls to stick around and watch sparks and smoke fly around and modules malfunctioning. Maybe I misunderstand what would happen....?

What do you think about this potential hull tank build? I'm coming from a Vulture.

>>I've never purchased any hull upgrades for any ship before. I am, admittedly, clueless to how effective they are. Will I be surprised?

 

[Alexander the Grape]

I wasn't a hardcore player, but I did play EVE for several months (and many other space games). How does one hull tank in ED?

Example, in EVE, you have Shields > Armor > Hull...but in Elite Dangerous you have Shields > Hull. Yes you can add armor but it doesn't have a separate "health bar".

Question is, how do you "hull tank" or "armor tank" in ED if there are no hull or armor repairers available? Is there some kind of method to it? Or do you literally just take shots to the face all day long?

I'm looking at the FAS, and was wondering if people put a Bi-Weave on it and Hull packages after that, or forgo the shield altogether and just go full Hull reinforcement packages with Military Composites...and do the whole "hull tank" thing....

Once you get down to, say, 50% hull, (which would take a while) you can't just keep fighting. You have to leave right? I know that because of your hull/armor upgrades it will take someone else a long time to finish you off, but your modules will start to be destroyed as you get lower and lower hull right?

I just don't understand hull tanking and why its worth buying anything that is clearly made for it. Once my shields go, I usually just get outta there. I don't know if I have the balls to stick around and watch sparks and smoke fly around and modules malfunctioning. Maybe I misunderstand what would happen....?

What do you think about this potential hull tank build? I'm coming from a Vulture.

>>I've never purchased any hull upgrades for any ship before. I am, admittedly, clueless to how effective they are. Will I be surprised?

So in 2.0, hull reinforcements make hull tanking very viable. There are essentially two "schools" of hull tanking currently.

The first is based around a thin layer of constantly regenerating shields, combined with countermeasures such as chaff. Fit a biweave shield in your largest internal, hull reinforcements in the rest. The aim is to minimise the amount of damage you take while grinding down your opponent. You have very good sustain and can remain in the fight for as long as your hull lasts. Best paired with efficient weaponry like pulse lasers.

The second is the silent running methods: no shields at all, instead relying entirely on hull. Heat sinks are used to keep temperature down. Due to the limited number of heatsinks and lack of a regenerative shield, you can't stay in the fight as long, but you are much better at evasion (particularly from kinetic weaponry which otherwise counter hull tanky builds). Due to not needing to put pips to shields, and the secondary use of heatsinks to dump power into your weapons capacitor, these builds are best suited to limited ammo alpha-strike weaponry such as plasma and railguns.

True you can't repair your hull, and your modules are vulnerable, but the sheer strength of your hull and ability to fly evasively can counteract this

 

[Psycho Romeo]

Vultures have extremely potent shields and less than stellar armor. Not to mention with every HRP you add, you are cutting into the vulture's greatest asset - its maneuverability. I would highly suggest a shield focused defense rather than a hull focused one on the vulture, or using an AE for an armor based defense.

 

[Swordfish_01]

I just bought My Vulture a few days ago. I have been doing BH in Hi Res and cleaning up the place. I wanted to chime in here because I do exactly what you are questioning about. I also played some Eve and a few other space Games. Okay, I have a Bi-weave C shield with one A0 shield booster. This gives me a 374 shield rating. I have stock bulkhead for 288, 3D Armor plate for 260, 2D armor plate for 190, and 2x1d armor plate for 220 total. This gives me 958 armor rating. 3 of 4 skirmish, they do not get me more than 2 rings on my shield. In a really bad, prolonged fight, with multiple enemies, they might get into my hull for 10% or even 20 percent if my flying skills are lagging. The ship just "takes a lickin and keeps on tickin". I will continue to join more skirmish if I don't have enough CR built up yet or if I am loaded with Creds I will beat it outta dodge and cash in my chips at the local establishment when I am in the the 70% range. No need to panic if you take some hull damage. Just learn to manage your own skills and judgement.
I have this build below with the Cargo Hatch turned off. I have a 5% power cushion for damage control.
[Vulture]
L: 3E/G Burst Laser
L: 3E/G Burst Laser
U: 0A Shield Booster
U: 0D Kill Warrant Scanner
U: 0I Point Defence
U: 0I Point Defence
BH: 1I Reinforced Alloy
RB: 4A Power Plant
TM: 5C Thrusters
FH: 4C Frame Shift Drive
EC: 3D Life Support
PC: 5A Power Distributor
SS: 4D Sensors
FS: 3C Fuel Tank (Capacity: 8)
5: 5C Bi-Weave Shield Generator
4: 3D Hull Reinforcement Package
2: 2D Hull Reinforcement Package
1: 1D Hull Reinforcement Package
1: 1D Hull Reinforcement Package
---
Shield: 378.20 MJ
Power : 11.73 MW retracted (75 %)
15.43 MW deployed (99 %)
15.60 MW available
Cargo : 0 T
Fuel : 8 T
Mass : 365.8 T empty
373.8 T full
Range : 10.33 LY unladen
10.33 LY laden
Price : 12,225,450 CR
Re-Buy: 611,273 CR @ 95% insurance

 

[Flea King]

I'm looking at the FAS, and was wondering if people put a Bi-Weave on it and Hull packages after that, or forgo the shield altogether and just go full Hull reinforcement packages with Military Composites...and do the whole "hull tank" thing....

Once you get down to, say, 50% hull, (which would take a while) you can't just keep fighting. You have to leave right?

If you're going full metal mode on the FAS, then you're a medium ship that has 2,800 armour. Throw in some Point Defence and Chaff, and you become a tough target for folks to drop. 20% hull is my bug out zone, and its a comfortable level of hull to plan a getaway.

Personally I apply the Eddie Izzard school of logic, with regards to folks carrying heavy ordnance, that being of getting as close as possible. With frags in your loadout (and the relative agility of the FAS), this plays to our strengths, while putting other kinetic weapons at a disadvantage as you'll find alot/most folks want a bit of space to land their shots. If everyone bring frags then heck, enjoy the fireworks. If they're using a pure thermal build you can go put the coffee on.

 

[Psycho Romeo]

If everyone bring frags then heck, enjoy the fireworks. If they're using a pure thermal build you can go put the coffee on.

This post made me happy.

 

[CMDR Jonathon Fett]

I'm currently running a FDS with over 27 hundred hull, and I have one large beam and the rest are medium multi cannons. I like the range of the beam, and when the target is in a predictable trajectory, I open up with the multi's. It's a rare thing for me to take longer than three to four minutes to take out a target, and I can get away with going the equivalent of three or four Anacondas before I have to bug out due to a broken windshield.