Shield generators

[Mrbanana]

Hey,I have been playing a while. I don't know if, say a 3a shield generator will absorb less damage an A 8a. I understand that you can have a bigger ship with an 8a, but if you get a combat ship and put in a 4a shield generator in a ship where I can put in a 6a because it is cheaper, will my shields go down faster?

 

[CAPT. Ho Chi Minge]

Think of it like butter spread across too much bread , paper thin and barely the effect youre after ... there are some reasons to undersize shields but i wouldnt in a 'combat build'.

Edit .. if you dont need/meet energy requirements or your weaponry is power hungry you can tweak a build but saving money on shields will probably hurt you more than help in the long run.

 

[Icybow73]

In combat builds, the best sheild generator you can get is the best thing to go with.

To answer your question, yes. Your sheild will go down quicker than a 6A.

 

[myothershipisacobraiv]

afaik there is no mechanicsm analogous to armour hardness in shields. 1 point of shield is 1 point of shield whether your shield has 300 or 1000+. you can engineer shields and boosters with resistances and this is far more important to consider.

all shields have a mass and all shields have a mass rating. you can put a small shield on a large ship, but if the ship exceeds its optimal mass rating then you will get a hitpoint total penalty. if the ship does not exceed its minimal mass rating you will get a hitpoint total bonus. you can't equip a shield to a ship that exceeds its maximum mass rating.

and obviously, smaller shields have less starting hitpoints total than larger ones.

 

[metatheurgist]

Coriolis and EdShipyard are good places to go to see what stats a ship will have with different modules.

 

[Mrbanana]

Thanks. Was wondering why my shields would go down pretty fast

 

[Ezren]

Bigger ships have bigger shields, but they are also much bigger targets and much easier to hit. If you're in a combat ship, shields are pretty important.

For mining or cargo ships, they may have a smaller shield, to save space internally - but they're not planning on fighting.

 

[Limpooka]

Sorry for waking up a sleeping thread, but I have a kinda related question.

What I want to know is, is there any point putting in a bigger shield if you already satisfied the optimal mass thing?

For example in a ship where a 5A shield easily covers the optimal mass thing, is there any benefit to putting in a 6 or 7. I'm worried I'm just using a module slot, extra weight and power when I don't need to.

 

[Ezren]

If you use a bigger shield, the total will be higher, so there is a benefit.

If it's a combat ship and you're going to be trading shots often, it's a good idea to go big for the shield. If you're trading/mining/noncombat loafing, you can get away with a smaller shield.

 

[Hossi]

Bigger shield generator = stronger shields. Always (if anything else is equal).
Now if that is 'better' is entirely dependant on the role you plan for your ship.
For combat ships, stronger = better.
For exploration ships, lighter = better (and small generators are lighter)
For trade ships there is an optimum. Strong enough to survive, anything else is just a waste of space that you could use otherwise. I have a class 6 prismatic on my Cutter and thats more then enough.
Prismatics are stronger then regular, while Bi-Weaves regenerate faster then regular. Regular are always inferior, but are lighter and need less power.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

I use a 5A Prismatic on my Mining Type-9 - it's the smallest, toughest shield I could fit in it. Makes Core Mining mishaps less of a hazard, and holds up well enough to shake a pirate off my tail. In short, it does exactly what it's supposed to do, no more, no less.

 

[Stealthie]

I use a 5A Prismatic on my Mining Type-9...

That sets alarm bells ringing straight away.
Any odd-sized slots on a mining ship should be reserved for Collectors whenever possible.

Personally, I always use bi-weaves on my mining ships.
The constant bashing against roids is a far bigger hazard than the threat of attack.


As for the recent question that @Limpooka asked, the simple answer is always to check with Coriolis or EDSY.
Use those websites to build a ship then look at the resistances as well as the overall strength - and THEN look at the "defence" tab (in Coriolis) to get info about stuff like how long a shield will last or how long it'll take to regenerate etc.

FWIW, Coriolis also allows you to evaluate your ship against another hypothetical ship in hypothetical combat... hypothetcally.
It's worth designing a murder-hobo FdL in Coriolis, saving it and then using it as the comparison to see how your own ships would do against a murder-hobo ship.
You might, for example, feel pretty smug because you've designed a ship with a gazillion mj of shield but then you'll find that a murder-hobo FdL will chew through that in 10 seconds with a bunch of overcharged MCs and PAs.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

That sets alarm bells ringing straight away.
Any odd-sized slots on a mining ship should be reserved for Collectors whenever possible.

Personally, I always use bi-weaves on my mining ships.
The constant bashing against roids is a far bigger hazard than the threat of attack.


As for the recent question that @Limpooka asked, the simple answer is always to check with Coriolis or EDSY.
Use those websites to build a ship then look at the resistances as well as the overall strength - and THEN look at the "defence" tab (in Coriolis) to get info about stuff like how long a shield will last or how long it'll take to regenerate etc.

FWIW, Coriolis also allows you to evaluate your ship against another hypothetical ship in hypothetical combat... hypothetcally.
It's worth designing a murder-hobo FdL in Coriolis, saving it and then using it as the comparison to see how your own ships would do against a murder-hobo ship.
You might, for example, feel pretty smug because you've designed a ship with a gazillion mj of shield but then you'll find that a murder-hobo FdL will chew through that in 10 seconds with a bunch of overcharged MCs and PAs.

I use a pair of 3A collectors - 4 limpets keep up with my speed of mining just fine. Did a lot of experimenting to figure out the whole 20 mining lasers and 30 limpet swarm still results in lost materials because it still takes the limpets time to fly out, collect, fly back, queue in line to drop off, pilot to manage bins and ignore junk... resulting in an 8-12% loss of materials on average due to materials existing for too long.

I'm also not in a race to see how quickly I can strip-mine a ring... if I go mining, it's because I have nothing else to do and don't want to do anything else. I want to sit there, be lazy and entertained by the Jetson's sound of limpets.

http://www.coolbiz.com/wav/jetson2.wav

 

[Stealthie]

I use a pair of 3A collectors - 4 limpets keep up with my speed of mining just fine. Did a lot of experimenting to figure out the whole 20 mining lasers and 30 limpet swarm still results in lost materials because it still takes the limpets time to fly out, collect, fly back, queue in line to drop off, pilot to manage bins and ignore junk... resulting in an 8-12% loss of materials on average due to materials existing for too long.

I'm also not in a race to see how quickly I can strip-mine a ring... if I go mining, it's because I have nothing else to do and don't want to do anything else. I want to sit there, be lazy and entertained by the Jetson's sound of limpets.

http://www.coolbiz.com/wav/jetson2.wav

Fair enough.

I could actually improve my T9 a bit but I just think it "looks right" with matching pairs of Collectors.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

Fair enough.

I could actually improve my T9 a bit but I just think it "looks right" with matching pairs of Collectors.

If it makes you happy, that's all that matters. Spreadsheets and projection charts be damned - you're the one that has to fly the thing!

 

[Ezren]

If it makes you happy, that's all that matters. Spreadsheets and projection charts be damned - you're the one that has to fly the thing!

Excuse me sir, but perhaps you aren't paying attention to the Fun Output column on the spreadsheet, which dictates the enjoyment level that can be achieved through a specific build.

 

[JetsonRING]

Hey,I have been playing a while. I don't know if, say a 3a shield generator will absorb less damage an A 8a. I understand that you can have a bigger ship with an 8a, but if you get a combat ship and put in a 4a shield generator in a ship where I can put in a 6a because it is cheaper, will my shields go down faster?

You can definitely undersize you shield generator for ... reasons, but part of the fun is learning in which situations you might want to do that, to what extent and when NOT to do it. o7

 

[Limpooka]

As for the recent question that @Limpooka asked, the simple answer is always to check with Coriolis or EDSY.
Use those websites to build a ship then look at the resistances as well as the overall strength - and THEN look at the "defence" tab (in Coriolis) to get info about stuff like how long a shield will last or how long it'll take to regenerate etc.

FWIW, Coriolis also allows you to evaluate your ship against another hypothetical ship in hypothetical combat... hypothetcally.
It's worth designing a murder-hobo FdL in Coriolis, saving it and then using it as the comparison to see how your own ships would do against a murder-hobo ship.
You might, for example, feel pretty smug because you've designed a ship with a gazillion mj of shield but then you'll find that a murder-hobo FdL will chew through that in 10 seconds with a bunch of overcharged MCs and PAs.

okay, that is the single best piece of information ever! I’ve used Coriolis for years for ship design, but never noticed those tabs. My world just got a whole lot bigger. +1 for you

 

[cmdr Ramius007]

For a combat ship (or when you expect to be under heavy fire in general) you may gain more shields from undersized SG and bigger SCB, shield optimal mass is a point here as well as how likely you are to gain from active and broken shields regen, that is better for bigger generators.

 

[Maolagin]

and obviously, smaller shields have less starting hitpoints total than larger ones.

While this is fine as a rule of thumb, it is technically an incorrect description of how shield strength works.

Every ship has a base shield strength - although you can't see it in-game, you can look it up in the various external sites. In general, combat ships have a higher base, while civilian ships have lower. A given shield is rated to produce a percentage of the ship's base strength, and then that percentage is modified by the optimal mass calculation. Concrete example: an Adder and an ICourier have the same hull mass, 35T. Put a 3A shield in the Adder, you get 102 MJ absolute shield strength. Put the same 3A shield in the ICourier, now you get 340 MJ.

However, note that the recharge rate is set for a given size/class shield. That 3A shield recharges at 1.9 MJ/s when broken, regardless of base strength. After they go down, the Adder's shields will reform in 1.5 minutes, but the ICourier will need almost 4 minutes.