Are those screenshots from Engineers V3?
Which shield booster mod should I go for? Details inside.
Are those screenshots from Engineers V3?
Yes, but only for Vintage owners.
Unless you're going for some niche build that I'm not aware of you want one of two extremes for your generator:
- highest possible capacity - so take prismatic (or A-rated if you can't) reinforced mod and add hi-cap experimental
- fastest possible effective recharge - so take bi-weaves, fast-charge experimental and (because there's no fast charge mod) go for thermal resist instead because resists help effective recharge rate.
Why you would want something middle ground, or imbalanced in terms of resistance is something I can't work out, unless you're specifically fighting an explosives-only opponent or something.
If you're asking "do flatter resistances help more than fast-charge" the answer is no, and here's a simplified model of why not:
First of all, you don't really fit thermal resist to a high-MJ shield because the reinforced mod is better by far. You can undo the low thermal resist with boosters, but your base generator is scaled multiplicatively across all your boosters so if you're going for high-MJ, then the base MJ value of shield+mod is critical for getting the most out of heavy boosters. So, I have to conclude that the thermal-resist + force-block scenario you're asking about is for a resist/regen build using bi-weaves.
So, There are four damage types - thermal, kinetic, explosive and absolute. Let's say you take damage from each source equally;
- 15% faster recharge affects all four damage types, because that 15% is 15% absolute recharge, before resistances and effective recharge rates are calculated. In other words, 15% recharge rate improvement across all damage types.
- 4.8% better kinetic resist is only worth 4.8% if all your incoming damage is kinetic only. with an equal mix of incoming damage it's worth just 1.2%
If 100MJ mixed damage came in and your shield had a 2MW regen rate by default:
- The fast-charge shield would need to recover 100MJ at 2MW*1.15, so 100/2.3 = 43 seconds to repair the damage.
- The force-block shield would only need to recover 98.8MJ (1.2MJ were resisted by the force-block!) so it takes 98.8/2 = 49.4 seconds to repair the damage.
- Even if the damage was 100% kinetic damage, it would need to recover 95.2MJ (4.8MJ were resisted) so it takes 95.2/2 = 47.6 seconds to repair the damage.
In the best-case scenario for force-block, fast charge is still 47.6/43 =9.5% quicker at regenerating shields, and you're only picking resistances to increase your effective regen rates in the first place, otherwise you'd have picked a prismatic with reinforced instead.
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Bob Lighthouse
Banned
What I posted is the most balanced possible resistances, unless you know of some superior combination?
That's precisely why I did it that way.
There is a "fast charge" as well.
I have that on some of my bi-weaves.
I've updated my post above with calculations explained a bit further.
Essentially though, whilst you do want a mix of resist and heavy boosters, the way shield strength is calculated by the game (boosters increase are additive, and suffer diminishing returns on resistances; Generator mods are multiplicative and their resists are not counted towards diminishing returns) means that you do not want a middle ground because it's calculably inferior to the two extremes.
Back when shield resistance diminishing returns were being introduced there were multiple FDev posts explaining it better than I can and about 30 pages of people smarter than me doing the theorycrafting. Just trust them and imagine that the graph of shield generator awesomeness is a curved line like a smile. You want the ends of the line because they're the high points, not anywhere in the middle, because those are lower points. The two ends are represented by highest absolute generator strength, and highest effective generator strength. How you calculate "effective" is very complex, because increasing resistances affects effective regen rates, SCB effectiveness, and overall resistances thanks to a different starting point for diminishing returns on boosters.
Essentially though, whilst you do want a mix of resist and heavy boosters, the way shield strength is calculated by the game (boosters increase are additive, and suffer diminishing returns on resistances; Generator mods are multiplicative and their resists are not counted towards diminishing returns) means that you do not want a middle ground because it's calculably inferior to the two extremes.
Back when shield resistance diminishing returns were being introduced there were multiple FDev posts explaining it better than I can and about 30 pages of people smarter than me doing the theorycrafting. Just trust them and imagine that the graph of shield generator awesomeness is a curved line like a smile. You want the ends of the line because they're the high points, not anywhere in the middle, because those are lower points. The two ends are represented by highest absolute generator strength, and highest effective generator strength. How you calculate "effective" is very complex, because increasing resistances affects effective regen rates, SCB effectiveness, and overall resistances thanks to a different starting point for diminishing returns on boosters.
Deleted member 110222
D
Changes the build, per the advice here. RA SB G3. Took it to a CZ. Absolutely brilliant.
Bob Lighthouse
Banned
The bold is why I want the highest and most even possible resistances on the generator.
I am not shooting for a middle ground at all.
I don't know where you are getting that from.
Do you have an example build of higher, more even resistances?
Glad it's working out for you! Here's my full build, if you're interested (note that some of the engineering isn't quite maxed out- just haven't got aground to it)
https://coriolis.io/outfit/viper_mk...=.EweloBhBGA2EAsICmBDA5gG2SGF9A===&bn=Scatter
Kind of a double-edged sword. You can get your shield up faster that way, which sometimes can be very important. The drawback is that broken regen is much higher than normal regen, so it will ultimately take longer to get your shield to 100% if you turn off your boosters while rebuilding, then re-enable them once the shield comes back.
Depends on the ship, what you're doing with it, and how many boosters you plan on having. Generally, it's advisable (imo) to go for 1-3 resisted augmented boosters first, then do heavy duty for the rest of them.
Let´s say on a Corvette.
its always be choosing between shield resistance vs shield hp, when you need pure dmg resist use more heavy duty and for more resists use more res. aug.
Also choosing between using SCB or not. Use SCB with more resistance is more effective etc.
Choosing between long fights vs short fights vs only running, what ship you use fast or slow ....
I like new system, its complex and looks like true "sandbox".
Also choosing between using SCB or not. Use SCB with more resistance is more effective etc.
Choosing between long fights vs short fights vs only running, what ship you use fast or slow ....
I like new system, its complex and looks like true "sandbox".
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