Engineers Small and medium ship shield engineering?

[Para Handy]

I am reworking my original account from a clear save and I am reconsidering the engineering to use for shield generators for small and medium ships.

Basically, non-PvP (so not considering selling my soul to the blue-haired waifu), up to now I have always gone for Thermal Resistant but with the lack of utilities on small and medium vessels, the ability to balance with boosters is reduced / eliminated. I don't go res-farming (apart from occasional CGs), just like to be able to hold my own with similar type NPCs if I feel like it.

So I was wondering if there is a guide to small and medium ship shield engineering in the post 3.0 milieu before I go wasting loads of engineering mats?

(P.S. I did search but found nowt relevant.)

 

[Krash]

If you engineer shields for PvP you will be overkill vs NPC. I follow the same tactic no matter what size ship I'm engineering. Bi-weave with thermal resist. Fast charge effect. Include good hull as well unless you plan to run as soon as shields drop. I like to stick around for awhile until hull reaches x%, but with NPCs this is not an issue.

 

[Nero Tacitus]

Firstly, without boosters, reinforced gives slightly less effective thermal hitpoints (ETHP) than thermal resist, but drastically more higher kinetic/explosive. If you don't care about regen, go reinforced.

If you care about regen, or value ETHP markedly more than kinetic/explosive, go thermal resist.

Secondly, the type of shield should also reflect what you need the ship to do. Cargo running / smuggling / Assassinations have no need for regen, so go A-Grade. Bounty Hunting / CZ work generally values regen more highly, so go Bi-weave. Obviously which shield you pick will influence which mod. Since reinforced destroys regen rate, it's a bit odd to put it on a Bi-weave etc.

Thirdly, if power is a consideration, Bi-weaves need less than A-Grades.

Lastly, SCBs. Once they enter the mix, the difference between A-Grade and Bi-weave MJs becomes less relevant (depending on ship coefficients); resistances have more value here, favoring thermal mod on either variant.