Shield boosters of better shield generator

glynharper

G
Hi all. I've been playing a few weeks now (on a Mac.. works perfectly. :) )
I've had a Vulture for about a week, which is working really well for me. I'm starting to make some decent upgrades to my ship, but I've come to a bit of an issue with regards shields.
I currently have something like a standard D5 shield generator, and I also have two A0 shield boosters. But I've seen that if I upgrade the shield generator to the better A5 model, my power draw will be greater than my reactor can provide, when deployed.. and that's with standard pulse lasers too. I was hoping to get beam lasers, but at this rate it's not going to happen. (I have the A5 reactor by the way, and the A5 power distributor, so both of those are top).

so, the question.. is it better to get lower the spec of the shield boosters to save power, in favour of a better shield generator, or vice versa?

I can post specific modules I currently have if that will help.
Ta.
Glyn.
 

Tono Kopec

Tono Kopec
Sometimes a lower quality shield generator and shield boosters can be more efficient than a higher quality shield generator. It depends on your overall power requirements for your preferred set-up. The Vulture's only Achilles heel is the power consumption, it'll always be very difficult to power 2 large beams and also have satisfactory shields.
 

glynharper

G
Thanks for such quick answers chaps, I'll check that site out.. not seen it before.
Tono, that's exactly what I was wondering, whether two decent shield boosters and a standard generator is better than no shield boosters and a better generator.
 

Tono Kopec

Tono Kopec
Check out the ED shipyard that Kzak linked to - I'm sure there are some set-ups with the Vulture that, as you suggest, can get you a more power-efficient shield strength by using a lower quality Generator and Boosters. I can't be more precise, on my Vulture I use the A5 shield and 2 large Pulses, sacrificing power on my Sensors and Kill Warrant Scanner.
.
Shield Cells are also tricky to fit on the Vulture. You can usually only use them with hardpoints retracted. Tbh, power management's the only part of flying a Vulture that's difficult, it's a monster otherwise :)
 
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Sire

Sire
Once I read somewhere that is better a high end shield gen with lower spec boosters than viceversa but I never checked that info.
 

glynharper

G
Here's my current spec, in case anyone can see anything glaringly obvious that I am doing wrong.

[Vulture]
L: 3E/G Pulse Laser
L: 3E/G Pulse Laser
U: 0I Chaff Launcher
U: 0I Point Defence
U: 0A Shield Booster
U: 0A Shield Booster


BH: 1I Lightweight Alloy
RB: 4A Power Plant
TM: 5D Thrusters
FH: 4A Frame Shift Drive
EC: 3D Life Support
PC: 5A Power Distributor
SS: 4C Sensors
FS: 3C Fuel Tank (Capacity: 8)


5: 5E Shield Generator
4: 4E Cargo Rack (Capacity: 16)
2: 2D Hull Reinforcement Package
1: 1D Frame Shift Drive Interdictor
1: 1E Standard Docking Computer
---
Shield: 414.34 MJ
Power : 12.13 MW retracted (78%)
13.97 MW deployed (90%)
15.60 MW available
Cargo : 16 T
Fuel : 8 T
Mass : 334.3 T empty
358.3 T full
Range : 16.92 LY unladen
16.16 LY laden
Price : 10,472,355 CR
Re-Buy: 523,618 CR @ 95% insurance
 

glynharper

G
Thanks. Will have to have a think which is the best way to go. Never bothered with a kill warrant scanner. Are they really worth it?
 

Alex Brentnall

Alex Brentnall
Can't weigh in on the shield question but this is my Vulture build:
http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=70N,5TP5TP01Q01Q0Wg3wo,326Q8I6Q5K7_6Q5A,7Sk7gy4xo10i10i
No boosters at all since I'm usually in and out of combat quickly and have time to recharge between fights in RES zones. I take my FDL/Python/Anaconda into combat zones so I can't say for that. Obviously drop the mirrored armour if you want, I keep it for the rare occasions a player interdicts me.

On KWS they are totally worth it if you understand the basic rules. Some ship bounties can triple with a quick scan. I had a wanted 50,000 Anaconda (pre 1.3) that jumped to 140,000 once scanned although I had to travel to cash in.
Just be careful that if you scan a clean ship, find out its wanted elsewhere and attack it you will get a bounty. This is because the ship is still clean in the system you are in.

Edited values, thousands not millions my bad. :S
 
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Ozmodion

Ozmodion
I find this an issue too, i had beam lasers and couldnt stay under the power draw so had to ditch them back to pulse
 

glynharper

G
50 million bounty.. that's mad!! I've never seen anything like that.
I notice nobody has point defence, yet I have it in case I'm attacked by missiles or anything. Does nobody generally bother with point defence then?
 

Alex Brentnall

Alex Brentnall
glynharper said:
50 million bounty.. that's mad!! I've never seen anything like that.
I notice nobody has point defence, yet I have it in case I'm attacked by missiles or anything. Does nobody generally bother with point defence then?
Click to expand...

sorry, typo, meant thousand. I lost a lot of sleep last night. Editing now.

Also missiles have been nerfed to oblivion, if you have shields you have almost nothing to fear. Even without shields silent running and chaff or a heatsink as a decoy gives you a good 50/50 or more chance of evading.
 
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GJ51

GJ51
glynharper said:
50 million bounty.. that's mad!! I've never seen anything like that.
I notice nobody has point defence, yet I have it in case I'm attacked by missiles or anything. Does nobody generally bother with point defence then?
Click to expand...

Not since FD nerfed missles. I only use them if they conveniently round out a particular build. But I'll take stronger shields over PD.
 

simo2003

simo2003
I believe that, currently, missiles do not damage shields (or damage is so negligible you don't notice it). So as long as your shields are up, missiles can be ignored.

You can also shoot down missiles with regular weapons, or retreat to a safe distance (1.5km I think) and engage Silent Running, which will cause any missiles to lose their lock.
 
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Mohrgan

Mohrgan
OP, as you mentioned being fairly new, I wondered if you are aware of the power management aspect of your ship. My vulture sits at 110% power usage when deployed. You can run like that by putting non-combat modules, like FSD, Cargo Hatch, and Fuel Scoop, on a lower priority than your combat tools. You can also manually control power usage by turning on and off certain modules as you require them. If this is new info to you I/we could go into more detail to help you along.
 
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glynharper

G
Thanks all. I guess I'll bin the point defence for now.
Mohrgan, thanks for that. I am a bit aware of the power usage issue, and I have dropped a load of modules down after reading a few other posts. I think I'll try and get a gimballed beam laser, gimballed canon and see what my power looks like at that point. I have a D5 Shield generator now, which is better than what I had.. but the A5 is obviousley pretty good if I can manage it.
On the chaff launchers, if I have two, does is automatically fire them in turn as one is reloading? I'm on a Mac so I can't use voice attack or anything like that, so I have a button on my X52 joystick for Chaff.
 
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