The Shield discussion thread

[Tono Kopec]

They are certainly stronger, I don't know if they charge quicker though.

 

[Pigpen]

There's a thread out there somewhere where someone did a lot of experimentation. I think it boils down to they're stronger, and they recharge very slightly faster whilst they're still up but they take significantly longer to recharge if they drop, because they still have to recharge to 50% capacity before coming back online.

The best thing you can do for strength is to put more pips into SYS, it has a great effect on improving shield resilience.

 

[JonathanVB]

Shield Class/Rating/Pips Testing

For those of you who do not browse reddit, Myself and Commander Boden have tested out various shield configurations here: http://nm.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/2r813l/shield_classrating_testing_results/.

Edit: you can now look up all the shield configurations here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...ES69Lc317U/pubhtml?gid=2011892275&single=true.

The optimal hull mass follows the formula:

Shield Strength (in MJ) = 0.53821 * [Ship Shield Rating] * (ERF([1.0228] * [Shield Optimal Hull Mass] / [Ship Hull Mass] - 0.66391) - ([Number of Rating Levels Below A]/17) + 1.04749)

For /u/Bodenz's next internal component guide video (which can be found here), we tested the effect of a sheild's class and rating, as well the effect the number of pip's assigned to SYS has on the shields.
We tested this by firing a C1 fixed beam laser at the shield, and timing how long it took to take the shield down. We also found and made use of a bug which can be used to give the percentage strength difference of a shield outfitting change.
Ship inherent value
When buying a ship, there is a listed shield rating. This is a linear measure of how much damage a sheild can take when outfitted at the optimal mass (which is listed for each shield).
Rating

• A D rated shield is 7.5% stronger than an E rated sheild of the same class.
• A C rated sheild is 15% stronger than an E rated sheild of the same class.
• A B rated sheild is 22.5% stronger than an E rated sheild of the same class.
• An A rated sheild is 30% stronger than an E rated sheild of the same class.

Higher rated sheilds of the same class also draw more power, but all have the same optimal and maximum mass.
Class
A higher class sheild will have a higher optimal mass and a higher power draw. It does not change the shield capacity, except by how the optimal mass changes the sheild capacity.
Optimal Mass
This is the most complicated stat, and most of this information is educated guesswork. The optimal mass has little effect below or around the optimal mass (dropping a Type 9 sheild from class 5 to class 4 only had around a 3% sheild cost, and dropping an Asp sheild from class 6 to class 5 (50t over the optimum mass) only had around a 6% cost), but at some point drops off steeply (dropping an Asp sheild from class 5 to class 4 had about a 45% cost).
Pips
This was the most surprising result. we found that:

• 1 pip to shields allows the sheilds to absorb around 1% more damage.
• 2 pips to sheilds allows the sheilds to absorb around 8% more damage.
• 3 pips to sheilds allows the sheilds to absorb around 37% more damage.
• 4 pips to sheilds allows the sheilds to absorb around 150% more damage.

This makes one to two pips in shields fairly useless (except for recharging the SYS capacitor), while 4 pips make your shield around 2.5 times stronger.
We also observed no significant difference on the charge rate of shields with more or less pips assigned (unless the SYS capacitor runs dry).
Further Data
If anyone wants to look at some of the raw data, is can be found on this spreadsheet (warning: messy).

Commander Boden has used this information as part of his video series:

[video=youtube_share;Y84sxh1hNzA]http://youtu.be/Y84sxh1hNzA[/video]

Edit: updated the formula

 

[johnUK]

Good work

 

[pev69]

Yeah nice testing. It is unbeliavable that this kind of data is not included in the manual (and expecially as in outfitting there is no data at all about shield strengths!).

 

[TargetLost]

Interesting.
What is your experience with 0 or 4 pipes in the weapon? Does it affect the damage the weapons do?
To my knowledge it doesn't but I guess you have certainly done a quick test for this too when you tested the shields.

 

[JonathanVB]

it doesn't affect the damage (watch the end of the video for a couple extra facts).

 

[GodlessGeek]

Great info. Thanks to you and CMDR Boden for taking the time and making the effort to work all this out for the rest of us.

 

[Jason335]

I've got a viper with a low-level class 1 shield cell. It's attached to a fire group, and shows 1/9, but when I activate it with low shields nothing happens. What gives?

 

[fergal]

I've got a viper with a low-level class 1 shield cell. It's attached to a fire group, and shows 1/9, but when I activate it with low shields nothing happens. What gives?

Well first of all, just get rid of them unless you are fighting other players, but if you really want to use them I'd say you have found a bug.
the 1/9 should change to 0/9 then 1/8. Activating them with 0 shield strength left wont work, you need to have some shield power.

The B3 is too heavy for the viper, is it 8T? If you really want some I'd go with the A2, or the A3 if you really need the good ones

 

[Bangfish]

I bought some shield sells

You have just successfuly activated the god mode. Congratulations, commander!

 

[JonathanVB]

I've found the optimal hull mass relationship. See the top post.

 

[PeeB4uGoToBed]

How do you compare shield generators?

Here's a screenshot from what I upgraded from and what I upgraded to, with the trade in I only spent a little over 1,000 credits. There's just no where that says how much capacity these shields actually have, just weight and how they affect how many lightyears you can jump, sorry for the link but it's not letting me upload screenshots because the image file was too big, so I made it smaller then it said something about a quota

http://imgur.com/dPeMShn

 

[Skapark]

Yeah, this is kind of a mystery to me also.. Would love to get better shields for my cobra but haven't bought one 'cause I haven't figured out the stats and what they actually do.
Would love an answer too..

 

[Faerie]

This thread seems to contain the best information about shields - https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=89770

 

[Feldspar]

It looks like you have dropped a size (if that is the new one on the left) so I expect your new shields to be worse. No, there is no direct comparison, but the higher the optimal hull mass the better and the higher the rating the better.

 

[Exard3k]

higher class is always better than lower class. But higher class with shield generators don't necessarily mean better shield.

Best shield for you would be a shield generator that has more optimal hull mass than your hull has. Then the rating comes into play....better rating is better.

 

[PeeB4uGoToBed]

It looks like you have dropped a size (if that is the new one on the left) so I expect your new shields to be worse. No, there is no direct comparison, but the higher the optimal hull mass the better and the higher the rating the better.

Ah, ok, I wasn't sure what that meant, now I know the higher the better

 

[Jason335]

Well first of all, just get rid of them unless you are fighting other players, but if you really want to use them I'd say you have found a bug.
the 1/9 should change to 0/9 then 1/8. Activating them with 0 shield strength left wont work, you need to have some shield power.

The B3 is too heavy for the viper, is it 8T? If you really want some I'd go with the A2, or the A3 if you really need the good ones

I've got the following loadout: 8t cargo rack (so I can do some trading/smuggling), C3 shield, E2 interdictor, and I think an E1 shield cell. Would a class 1interdictor make a difference? I mostly bounty hunt, and I'm tired of losing my bounties to a high energy jump. I'm saving up to upgrade my E rated weapons.

 

[fergal]

I've got the following loadout: 8t cargo rack (so I can do some trading/smuggling), C3 shield, E2 interdictor, and I think an E1 shield cell. Would a class 1interdictor make a difference? I mostly bounty hunt, and I'm tired of losing my bounties to a high energy jump. I'm saving up to upgrade my E rated weapons.

get a d1 interdictor, its the lightest 0.5 T and works fine. D equipemtn is usually the lightest, and B the heaviest, try to avoid B on the viper.
There are no weapon upgrades (yet).
I dont think the e1 shield cell has 10 charges (1/9) I thought the b3 does.

You might want to get rid of the C3 shield for a D3, its only 7.5% weaker but is lighter. Try to use only D or A equipment.