Strategy Discussion: Shields or Armor?

[Chumpy]

Which do you use to keep your ship alive, and why?

[Bluddy]

Originally Posted by Chumpy

Which do you use to keep your ship alive, and why?

I use both just because psychologically it seems 'right', but I'm guessing that shields aren't very useful since they recharge so slowly, and I can probably drop them.

I can't imagine surviving very long without armor, given the weakness of shields.

[Chumpy]

My high level Drakk ship (Tactical/Engineering focused), which I haven't played in a while, used both so I could alternate between shield and nanite recovery in tough situations.

I made a Lithosoid ship that got +700 armor pretty early on, but now it takes forever to recharge without a friendly planet. Since abandoning that ship, though, I've discovered you can swap out damaged armors for full ones, so I may wind up just filling my cargo hold and diving back in.

Other than that, I use shields, because heck, I already have to invest a ton of points in Engineering, and shield rechargers are cheaper. Plus shields recharge instantly after a Self-Destruct, unlike armor. Haven't gotten a shield-only character to high level yet.

[RoboAV]

I used to use both, but generally stick to shields only because I ignore the structure stat and have high engineering. Shield regen is a serious problem, though. I would like to see a 'shutdown' mode where you get a heavy penalty to movement and are unable to fire weapons, but you get a massive shield regen boost. The mode would last for a set period of time. If an enemy fleet happens to spot you just as you flick that switch, you're boned.

[goodgimp]

Originally Posted by Chumpy

I made a Lithosoid ship that got +700 armor pretty early on, but now it takes forever to recharge without a friendly planet. Since abandoning that ship, though, I've discovered you can swap out damaged armors for full ones, so I may wind up just filling my cargo hold and diving back in.

Perhaps armor plates (and perhaps other components?) should require that you be at a planet/dock in order to replace. Seems kind of odd to me to be rebuilding your ship out in deep space.

[ScrObot]

I've been more concerned about Shields on my ships. The regen rate may be ridiculously slow, but it recharges quickly at Ancient Recharge Stations. I ran one ship with no armor at all for a while, and my current ship I haven't upped structure (or whatever stat armor uses) at all, so I'm using one relatively low-level piece of armor.

[LostSoul]

Originally Posted by RoboAV

I used to use both, but generally stick to shields only because I ignore the structure stat and have high engineering. Shield regen is a serious problem, though. I would like to see a 'shutdown' mode where you get a heavy penalty to movement and are unable to fire weapons, but you get a massive shield regen boost. The mode would last for a set period of time. If an enemy fleet happens to spot you just as you flick that switch, you're boned.

Keep a handful of emergency shield boosters on hand. I kept over a half-dozen of them on one ship and just rotated them in as needed. The equivalent amount of "shield regen per second" they gave was unmatched by pretty much anything.

[Bluddy]

BTW, do people use heavy armor? At the level I'm at (16), using heavy armor means sacrificing a heavy weapon, which is a big deal. So I always use medium armor.

[LostSoul]

Originally Posted by Bluddy

BTW, do people use heavy armor? At the level I'm at (16), using heavy armor means sacrificing a heavy weapon, which is a big deal. So I always use medium armor.

Heavy armor has a scaling problem. The average heavy armor is only 25-30% better than a similar level medium one. They simply don't do enough to justify the more useful component slot. Minimum, a heavy armor should have double the armor of a medium one.

That being said, I'd like to see some "heavy component" versions of other hardware. Shields, Repair Modules, and the like. Give me the option of using "high-powered" versions of these suckers. Same power and stat requirements, much better results.

[Bluddy]

Originally Posted by LostSoul

Heavy armor has a scaling problem. The average heavy armor is only 25-30% better than a similar level medium one. They simply don't do enough to justify the more useful component slot. Minimum, a heavy armor should have double the armor of a medium one.

Combine this issue with the fact that solar panels simply don't produce enough power, and I get a permanent, inflexible combo of thrust/power reactor in my heavy slots and armor in my medium slots.

I feel like there should be a lot more medium slots than heavy slots, and a lot more light slots than medium slots. The way that the 3 stay around the same doesn't seem right to me.