I read in a thread recently that any power not being used is split up and distributed to the systems, effectively making everything stronger. So is it better to have 2 shield boosters or to not have any and let the distributer charge the shields faster?
Shield Booster or No Shield Booster?
- Thread starter Unforgivn420
- Start date
Up to you, but I'd equip them unless in an Armor tanking ship like my Gunship.
My opinion is if your ship is naturally suited to shields, then sure, if not don't fight the ship. I carry 1 or 2 on my FAS just so eagles aren't annoying me really, but I still have plenty of power available with my loadout. Best of both worlds. I know my shields will drop though against more formidable ships, but I have the hull to take that and the maneuverability and chaffs to keep me in the fight. Further, the more maneuverable your ship I feel the more useful chaff becomes over boosters as you simply stay in blind spots and fly evasively, when something big gets a solid track on you, drop a chaff and reposition.
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The problem I'm having is my Vulture is getting wrecked today for some reason in Military Strikes. It wasn't like that last night. I've never seen my shields drop so fast. I also have chaffs but I'm still being hit while they are covering my 6. But I don't have extra power to spare. Running at 98%. Mostly due to the fact that I've put pretty much the highest grade of everything I can on it. So I'm starting to second guess my load out and kind of looking for suggestions.
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Really?
I know for sure at 0 SYS pips the shields do NOT recharge at all. It also ->seems<- (never tested it, just feel) that with 4 SYS pips, they recharge a lot faster. I know for sure that with 4 SYS pips they can withstand more of a beating, and I had assumed that was due to a faster recharge rate. *4 SYS pips + boost = the "mini-van"!*
Honestly, I have never heard that before and I don't know.
A very knowledgeable man addressed shield recharge and I ripped this from his post.
Thank you Commander. That's what I needed to know lol
Thank you.
I don't understand the "it will drain the SYS capcitor at 1MJ/sec". I guess the question is, how many pips equals 1MJ/sec? I'm sure there is a Youtube video somewhere that will save me some time and effort.
I consider boosters to be standard equipment on any of my medium to large combat ships, like my Python for example. I run (3) A0 class boosters along with my C6 shield generator. The boosters really help with maintaining my shield integrity in most PvE situations. Only down side to running boosters is that they add a lot of recharge time to the shield system when you are either down to one ring, or your shields have totally collapsed and you are recharging from having no shields at all.
Because of this issue, I have started employing Shield Cell Banks to my Python's shield systems. For those not familiar with SCBs... The are pre-charged energy storage devices, similar to a backup battery. When your shields get down to 1 or 2 rings, you can activate a charge off a SCB and after a few seconds of delay, will almost instantly recharge your shield generator back to full strength.
SCBs come in a variety of grades and classes just like any other ship module, with the more expensive, higher rated SCBs providing more shield recharges per session, and I believe a higher degree of shield recharge power. Depending on your ship's power plant and power distributor, you can run multiple SCBs so that when one SCB's stock of recharges has been used up, you can switch over to a fresh SCB.
Since my Python's power system limits my SCB use to (1) B6 and (1) A5 to be active at the same time, when I am engaged in a Community Goal that requires combat inside a Conflict Zone, I will swap out currently unneeded modules like cargo racks and even my Fuel Scoop for a couple extra B6 and A5 SCBs and just use my Modules control panel to power these SCB sets off and on as one set runs out of charges and a fresh set needs to be brought online to replace the depleted SCBs.
This technique works GREAT and I highly recommend it to any pilot engaged in the "Emperor's Dawn" CG!
Because of this issue, I have started employing Shield Cell Banks to my Python's shield systems. For those not familiar with SCBs... The are pre-charged energy storage devices, similar to a backup battery. When your shields get down to 1 or 2 rings, you can activate a charge off a SCB and after a few seconds of delay, will almost instantly recharge your shield generator back to full strength.
SCBs come in a variety of grades and classes just like any other ship module, with the more expensive, higher rated SCBs providing more shield recharges per session, and I believe a higher degree of shield recharge power. Depending on your ship's power plant and power distributor, you can run multiple SCBs so that when one SCB's stock of recharges has been used up, you can switch over to a fresh SCB.
Since my Python's power system limits my SCB use to (1) B6 and (1) A5 to be active at the same time, when I am engaged in a Community Goal that requires combat inside a Conflict Zone, I will swap out currently unneeded modules like cargo racks and even my Fuel Scoop for a couple extra B6 and A5 SCBs and just use my Modules control panel to power these SCB sets off and on as one set runs out of charges and a fresh set needs to be brought online to replace the depleted SCBs.
This technique works GREAT and I highly recommend it to any pilot engaged in the "Emperor's Dawn" CG!
My vulture load that I used to run:
2xE3 Pulse
2xA0 Shield Booster
1xB0 Shield Booster
1xD0 KWS
Military bulkheads
A4 Powerplant
D5 Thrusters
B4 FSD
D3 Life Support
A5 Power Distributor
C4 Sensors
C3 Fuel Tank
A5 Shield Generator
B4 SCB
And the highest grade hull reinforcements that fit the remaining slots
FSD, Cargo Hatch, priority 5
The Pulse lasers priority 4
SCB turned off at priority 3
If I need to use an SCB I turn it on and the pulse shut down, after SCB has given my shields the boost they needed I turn it off again and the Pulse come back online and I can resume fighting
2 Systems/0 Engines/4 Weapons
I may have forgotten some of the power priorities but that's what I used to run with before I got my Clipper
2xE3 Pulse
2xA0 Shield Booster
1xB0 Shield Booster
1xD0 KWS
Military bulkheads
A4 Powerplant
D5 Thrusters
B4 FSD
D3 Life Support
A5 Power Distributor
C4 Sensors
C3 Fuel Tank
A5 Shield Generator
B4 SCB
And the highest grade hull reinforcements that fit the remaining slots
FSD, Cargo Hatch, priority 5
The Pulse lasers priority 4
SCB turned off at priority 3
If I need to use an SCB I turn it on and the pulse shut down, after SCB has given my shields the boost they needed I turn it off again and the Pulse come back online and I can resume fighting
2 Systems/0 Engines/4 Weapons
I may have forgotten some of the power priorities but that's what I used to run with before I got my Clipper
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Your shields recharge at 1mj/s so long as you have power in your sys capacitor. The number of pips you have in your Systems effects how quickly your Sys capacitor recharges. Also your shield strength increases by 12.5% for each pip in systems.
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In my opinion you shouldn't stack SB'S on ships that are designed by nature to have strong shields (courier, FDL,etc)
Use them for ships that have weaker shields (Dropships models)
But at the end of the day,experiment and see what fits your style.
Use them for ships that have weaker shields (Dropships models)
But at the end of the day,experiment and see what fits your style.
It's the age old argument. Cover your weaknesses or Enhance your strengths. Smaller ships are often better suited to using countermeasures with the effort of not getting hit in the first place however. While larger tankier ships are better suited to increasing their tankyness. Not that one should underestimate the usefulness of a chaff launcher even on an Anaconda. Plus depending on your profession you should always make room for that Cargo or Kill Warrant scanner.
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And you know... One could always make the argument that in the real world, what passes for acceptable shield strengths in this game would NEVER pass muster for anyone who's life was depending on those shields.
And along those lines, I would suggest that by me employing multiple SCBs and swapping them in and out in coordination with my ship's power management system, I am simply creating a REALISTIC shield system.
That said... I actually do not normally use SCBs on my Python. It only became necessary when I started to engage in the Emperor's Dawn CG over at LTT 874 fighting on the side of the Emperor.
That so called "Low Intensity Conflict Zone" has some pretty insane NPC pilots in there! Flying some pretty well endowed Anacondas, Vultures, Pythons and Clippers. Not to mention more Elite rated NPC pilots flying in wings of Vipers, Eagles, Asps and Cobras. Even with my very robust shields, I was often getting swarmed by several of these ships my normally more than adequate shields were no longer doing the job for me.
It was only after I added a B6 and A5 class SCB to a 3rd FireGroup that I was able to withstand these Elite rated wing attacks. Without the SCBs, I was constantly having to boost clear of the main action and wait for my shields to recharge enough to re-enter the battle. The SCBs gave me my game back, and thank god they are an option in the game for situations like the one I just described!
Dropship model's are bad example's, you can't really up their shield tanking much because they're designed from the ground up as armor tanker's. I can get one SCB(Honstly considering a class 6 hull reinforcement at the moment) on my Gunship and no booster's, but the armor is reinforced to compensate and the firepower is outfreaking standing to boot. I'll admit it's still only got a 6C power plant so it's not the best example, but I plan to B rate all the internal's plus D rated hull reinforcement's on all but the Shield generator's slot as that seem's the best thing to do in this ship. Cool bonus is powering a good loadout(3 beam's and 4 heavy hiter's) and the armored internal's to armor tank even more is looking to be a good call(power+deffense should be exceptional if it work's like it currently feel's like it will) even though it will look weak from others perspective due to shield's poping slightly faster but they'll soon see why my shield's seemed so inadequate.
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The thing about shield boosters, is that they provide a flat percentage (4% per class), so you get more "bang for your buck" by using them on a ship with already strong shields. Meaning, having a 25% bonus to shields means more on a ship with 500MJ shields than a ship with 100MJ shields. The former will take quite a bit more damage before the shields go down. The latter one, maybe two more hits.
In contrast with Hull Reinforcement Packages, which are static values of 15*2^(class-1), which would have the opposite effect. Well, if they were worth taking. Due to the way module damage is a "thing" in this game, and how shields>hull, you're generally better off with shields in all cases.
This does apply to a Booster vs SCB debate, though, in that if you're looking at power usage, a ship that primarily relies on shields (Imperial Courier) will be better off with Boosters (% bonus) while a ship with poor shields (Federal Assault Ship) will gain more from SCBs (static value), assuming they both have the same power draw.
In my anecdotal experience, Gunships are one of the few ships that can properly armour tank, due to good module placement. It seems that internal modules (power generator in particular) are *much* harder to damage than other ships that fight in its weight class, making it much more likely you'll have to eat through all its hull before you can kill off the power plant. In a way, that makes the Gunship much tougher than it's "lower level" versions (ie: the Dropship or Assault Ship).
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I was referring to Shields booster guys, not Cell banks. For the readers who misunderstood.
In my own opinion if I have spare utility mounts and the power available I will always add extra shield boosters each A rank booster is 20% extra shield they have to pop before hitting squishy hull/modules bearing in mind this stacks so with 3 boosters thats an extra 2 rings worth (60% I know is not quite the 2/3rds) of shield over your standard.
More shields also means that if power is available with good power priorities that a Shield Cell Bank is also a very viable way to keep going for longer in any combat scenario as shields regenerate, hull does not.