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Newcomer / Intro Shield Cell Banks
- Thread starter L M P
- Start date
If you want to strenghten your shields, you want to look into utilities - shield boosters.
Hi, SCB's regenerate an active shield by a certain amount. The original default key is S to activate them. If the ship's shield has collapsed it has no effect and won't revive it, you have to wait for the shield to start regenerating before it becomes effective. By how much depends on the module's rating for shield reinforcement per second and it's duration, which varies greatly depending on it's module size.
They can be very useful to get you out of a tight spot but come with the drawback of generating large amounts of heat, which will often take you over 100%. Exactly by how much and how long it takes to dissipate depends very much on the ship type and power plant rating. The other drawbacks as with most modules is the use of a slot, it's mass and it's power draw.
You can use a heat sink at the same time to contain the heat build up which is even more important if you use more than 1 at a time. At the moment the only way to avoid using more than 1 is to turn the other(s) off and switch them on when needed. I've found if you use a lower size than the ship's shields, you can sometimes "tough it out" without a heat sink as the overheating only lasts a few seconds without affecting things greatly. The downside of course is you probably won't get the shield back to full strength straight away even with 4 pips to sys but it's better than nothing and might just save your hide!
Bear in mind also it does NOT add to your shield strength the way shield boosters do, they just try and revive it as far as its rating allows.
They can be very useful to get you out of a tight spot but come with the drawback of generating large amounts of heat, which will often take you over 100%. Exactly by how much and how long it takes to dissipate depends very much on the ship type and power plant rating. The other drawbacks as with most modules is the use of a slot, it's mass and it's power draw.
You can use a heat sink at the same time to contain the heat build up which is even more important if you use more than 1 at a time. At the moment the only way to avoid using more than 1 is to turn the other(s) off and switch them on when needed. I've found if you use a lower size than the ship's shields, you can sometimes "tough it out" without a heat sink as the overheating only lasts a few seconds without affecting things greatly. The downside of course is you probably won't get the shield back to full strength straight away even with 4 pips to sys but it's better than nothing and might just save your hide!
Bear in mind also it does NOT add to your shield strength the way shield boosters do, they just try and revive it as far as its rating allows.
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Nope - the "S" key is default: thrust down and UI panel down.
No, yes. I mean, they are health potions for your shield basically.
Yes - they hold Banks of Charge for your Shields - the idea being that you have an amount of energy stored in each SCB charge which can be dumped into your shields to quickly increase it's energy - as stated, you can't use one on a broken shield, there needs to be at least a faint glimmer of your last ring to use one SCB charge.
The number of charges in a bank is determined by its size and rating, as is the amount of "shield reinforcement" per charge, the power draw and of course the amount of heat produced on use.
It was S in my Beta version from 2014 but the defaults have altered from time to time.
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They are (I think) the things NPCs use right at the end of a fight when you hear Target Shield Online followed by Target Destroyed right between those two statements is where they fired a Shield Bank and cooked themselves.
Think of them as one of those energy tanks you take to boost your smartphone after a few minutes use but for your shields.
Think of them as one of those energy tanks you take to boost your smartphone after a few minutes use but for your shields.
They do make things toasty, yes. Heat sinks are a good idea.
They have a "spin up time" after you activated them and then they replenish your shields over a couple of seconds. During that time, pressing the button again does nothing, so don't worry. And yes, like Lucifera said, it's a good idea to have the heatsink ready as well, as they generate a LOT of heat.
What I usually do is to create a second firegroup with both shield cell bank and the heatsink on the same trigger. That way I activate them simultaneously without having to press several buttons.
Cris Simon, that is a great idea and again thanks. Again I have learned another very useful setting! Been wondering how to go about setting those two up.
Elite lifehacks 101 