Newcomer / Intro Which is Better?

[Random Player]

Hello

I am having a hard time deciding on this build and wondering what would be better, even Resistances for my shields or basically ignoring the Resistances and tanking it for as many Mj in the shields as I can get?

If you look at the pictures below... in one pic, I have pretty even Resistances and a shield Mj of right around 1000Mj, which seems kind of low on the shield Mj, OR, I can Heavy Duty / SC the Boosters and get the Shields up to a more respectable 2400+Mj.

I want to use this ship for many different areas of combat, but primarily I'd like it to be PvP worthy. Can I assume the higher Mj Shields would be better for PvP 1v1 engagements? The way I understand it, if I run up against players with PA and Rail loadout, then the Resistances are nullified, as these weapons ignore Resistances? Do I have the correct? So, even though the Heavy Duty build has a -8.5 on the Thermal, would this matter in any way if I am fighting someone with PAs and Rails? What if I run up against a player that has LOTS of Thermal weapons? Is that -8.5 Thermal Resistance going to hurt me, in a big way?

Any advice on this would be appreciated. I do try to balance my Resistances and end up with a good Resistances /Mj on Shields on most ships, but on this build, I seem to have to pick one or the other, Resistance vs raw Shield Mj.

Thanks! A little confused on which way to go here. I am leaning toward higher Mj Shields

 

[sinisalo]

The second one is better overall*. The thing I focus on is the shield HP. And in particular, thermal. You'll notice that the two shields have nearly identical thermal resistance (despite the percentages). And the second one has better explosive and kinetic HP.

* The asterisk is because shields number 2 have a far longer recovery.

Ideally, you'd have the MJ of the second one with the resistances of the first one. I reckon you could somehow find a middle ground here and have better overall protection. Maybe trade some MJ for TR. What engineering do these shields have?

 

[Krieger]

If you're planning to PvP with this ship, maybe you'd better post your build in the PvP subforum.

 

[Random Player]

The second one is better overall*. The thing I focus on is the shield HP. And in particular, thermal. You'll notice that the two shields have nearly identical thermal resistance (despite the percentages). And the second one has better explosive and kinetic HP.

* The asterisk is because shields number 2 have a far longer recovery.

Ideally, you'd have the MJ of the second one with the resistances of the first one. I reckon you could somehow find a middle ground here and have better overall protection. Maybe trade some MJ for TR. What engineering do these shields have?

So, it's better to look at the overall HP stats than the Resistances percentages stats?

 

[Hoshizoku]

For PvP, you usually want highest MJ with good kinetic and somewhat thermal resistence since meta is still PA/Rails (60% of PA dmg ignores resistences thats why higher base shield has more worth) and Kinetics with incendiary mods.
For PvE you want a good balanced resistance around 50% with as many base MJ possible. Since NPCs use all kinds of weapons. Its good to look here at each HP type individually.

 

[Random Player]

For PvP, you usually want highest MJ with good kinetic and somewhat thermal resistance since meta is still PA/Rails (60% of PA dmg ignores resistances that's why higher base shield has more worth) and Kinetics with incendiary mods.
For PvE you want a good balanced resistance around 50% with as many base MJ possible. Since NPCs use all kinds of weapons. Its good to look here at each HP type individually.

I've been playing around with this build and I think I am going to go with what I have below. Seems to keep a good balance on both Resistances and Shield Mj. I don't, for a second, claim to understand the math behind shield engineering and Mj vs HP vs Resistances. But, something tells me I should probably not be flying around with a Thermal Resistance at -8.5%, but I have no idea if 30% hits a good Resistance either. I am probably going to UP the Thermal Resistance. I want to make this build PvP playable, although I am sure going to be killing MANY MANY more NPCs with it, and I have noticed that the majority of NPCs tend to use thermal weapons. Thoughts on stats below? Thanks!

 

[Hoshizoku]

Absolute = Your Shield HP.
Resistance = How much % of your Oponents dmg type hits your shield.
(In your case, all kinetic type weapons do 64,1% less damage to your Absolute shield HP)
the mix is the overall HP.

Imo its either or. PvP or PvE.
PvP needs dedicated builds, a kinda all for one fight and then back 2 base.
PvE need longlivety, bein able to keep fighting a long time.
So for PvP u want alot of MJs with smart resistances to make most out of your defense (in best case, u have the defense highest of the type your opponent uses)
PvP Meta is PA and Rails, both do thermal and kinetic type dmg, while 60% of the PA dmg just ignores your resistances overall.. (thats why the meta decided that MJ>resistance)
IF the meta wld change to all thermal overnight, everyone wld run higher thermal resistance but that isnt the case.
Those who dont run PA/rails, usually run something kinetic with incendiary mods, which makes em also part thermal. (since everyone is having higher kinetic resistance than thermal resistance. kinetic>thermal in pvp.
- To gain this you use reinforced prisma shields with high cap, 1(or 2) resistance augmented SB, 1(or 0) thermal resistant SB, and as many Heavy duty SB as u can fit.
(this counts for ships that rely heavy on shields. Hybrids use a mix of max MJ+ fast enough recharge to survive the shield downtime through hulltanking usually using bi-weaves)
PvE u dont want to really do that, so u prepare for many fights, against all kinds of weapons (blast is useless, npc only use missiles when your shield is down)
so u want to have as much hp to thermal/kinetic as possible, an the fast recharge to get overall more shield the longer the fighting goes on with a bi-weave. keep in mind tho that it also affects the time your shield need to come back once down (the recharge rate stays the same tho)
- Usually thats gained by using a bi-weave shield with thermal resist and fast charge and 2 resistence augmented SB. the rest shld be used to push your absolute to give the "resistance %" more worth.

TL;DR:
for PvP you prepare for 1 fight against the meta. (or specific oponent in rare case) - High MJ at cost of low recharge.
for PvE you prepare for many fights against many different loadouts - High recharge at cost of low MJ.

 

[sinisalo]

So, it's better to look at the overall HP stats than the Resistances percentages stats?

Yes, since the HP is the sum of the shield MJ modified by the resistances.

Another reason why I think number 2 is better is raw MJ is collision defense, ramming included. But the cost you pay through recovery and recharge times. Ship building is a balancing act.