Engineers Reactive surfaces or Military composites?

[Hunter241]

Hi guys, need opinions

Looking to build a combat focused Anaconda, currently mine has lightweight modded Military Composities but I’m unsure on whether to buy the Reactive Surfaces and give them a grade 5 thermal mod to give some positives on the resistances

Worth going for or stick with what I have for bulkheads?

I will also be adding some HRPs and MRPs, but I know what to do with those

 

[JonathanBurnage]

Reactive and military both give the same hull boost. The neat thing about reactive - as you have identified - is that you can balance the resistances out. Really the only reason not to go reactive is the cost, which is very high. If you can afford it and have the engineering materials to make it work, then go for it.

 

[fruitbat]

Weight is the trade off. Ships where weight is less of an issue, reactive is best. Ships where it is a bit of an issue, military with light weight is better. Ships where weight is absolutely crucial, neither with 1d hrps instead.

In a combat Annie, reactive all the way.

 

[Starman 1966]

I've found another nice possibility if weight is a concern. Reactive G5 lightweight and even the smallest HRP G5 thermal resistant - and you'll find all resistances balanced at only a minor weight penalty.

 

[ebbrell]

They are worth every penny, I always get them

 

[Aashenfox]

Reactive with thermal resist is the only bulkhead. Everything else is a waste of money and materials

 

[GoStu]

In theory, Reactive Surface gives you a better platform to throw in a Thermal HRP and enjoy the best blend of resistances.

In practice, you don't hull-tank an Anaconda. It's not gross hull failure that kills you, it's losing key modules. Even at minimum breach chance (40% for most weapons) the accumulated hits tend to destroy something vital before your hull goes. MRPs can deflect this for a while, but the relatively lower integrity of modules compared to the giant hull you've built up means you probably die to Powerplant loss, Thruster failure leading to getting swarmed, or FSD failure denying you a retreat before getting railed to death.

IMO not worth the extra cost for a big ship like the Anaconda that really ought not to lose shields, and should run if it does. For something like a FAS or FDS? Absolutely, spring for the Reactives.

 

[Hunter241]

In theory, Reactive Surface gives you a better platform to throw in a Thermal HRP and enjoy the best blend of resistances.

In practice, you don't hull-tank an Anaconda. It's not gross hull failure that kills you, it's losing key modules. Even at minimum breach chance (40% for most weapons) the accumulated hits tend to destroy something vital before your hull goes. MRPs can deflect this for a while, but the relatively lower integrity of modules compared to the giant hull you've built up means you probably die to Powerplant loss, Thruster failure leading to getting swarmed, or FSD failure denying you a retreat before getting railed to death.

IMO not worth the extra cost for a big ship like the Anaconda that really ought not to lose shields, and should run if it does. For something like a FAS or FDS? Absolutely, spring for the Reactives.

I did not think of that, which is pretty dumb of me as I’ve lost thrusters and other modules before my hull depletes

Based on that, I say you’re right to leave it as it
Thanks for the inputs everyone

 

[EvE4evah]

It's a matter of spacerichness.

If you're spacerich, Reactives are the way to go. A G5 Thermal in those makes the resistance profile pretty even, whilst Military needs you to plug 2 holes instead of only one (Kinetic and Explosive). Hence with Reactives, you just plug the Thermal hole with the G5 Hull Thermal mod and Heavy Duty all the HRPs.

Since an Annie and the other big ships have lots of Optional Internals, make 2 of them be Module Reinforcement Packages instead of HRPs (preferrably two class 4 or one class 5 and one class 3/2) and voilà, your module snipping problems go away.


Edit: oh, and while boosting away while charging the FSD/escaping an eventual mass lock, FA off, 180 and reverski against the enemies, to protect your thrusters.


Also, always set priorities for your modules. Life Support, FSD, Thrusters and Shield Gen are priority 1. Guns, PD, priority 2. The rest is 3-4 and Cargo Hatch is 5. This will give you more time before your thrusters / FSD go down.

 

[Karamon]

I was planning on reactive armor too , but then i noticed that i do not lose shields too often, but when i do i tend to lose modules faster than a hull . So i switched double HRF and single MRF into 1 HRF and 2x MRF . I was runing on reinforced Alloy and i now think i might even switch to lightweight +heavy duty + heavy duty HRF . I run away when i can't keep my shields up , that is the story.