What shield do you prefer..

[andwheee]

Between a high point shield with a low re-gen, versus a lower point shield with a high re-gen?

Mine is 175hp, I've seen better but I'm hanging onto it for its 10/s re-gen.

[BlakeG228]

I would most definitely have to agree with lower hit points and faster regeneration. It just makes sense, especially when you get in a big firefight and you have to fly off and try to regain shields quickly. (Which seems 2 happen 2 me alot)

Now some people prefer to go with armor that won't let you use shields because it has a high resistance 2 everything but that's later in the game.

[Aury]

Why not have the best of both worlds?
Taikon 200 +150% is nearly 1000HP at a good amount of regen/sec (was it 16?)

[Androgeos]

I use a Yoroi S100 Shield Generator +Particle +Blast. It has a decent regen that allows me to just sit still while at the same time smacking up Sung Fortresses and getting hit by their defensive towers.

I personally prefer a shield with high regen, and I actually saw a shield called the Trenton, which had a regen of 20 HP/s. The only reason why I didn't buy it is because some attacks go through it, apparently.

The Yoroi that I'm currently using, however, is starting to look weak; it can barely take a trashing from a Wind Slaver attack. I'll need to get a better shield generator pretty soon, and one that goes for under 20000 credits.

[Atarlost]

The Trenton is actually one of the best shields in the game. Unless you fly a Wolfen or use a slot on a drive upgrade there will be enemies that can outrun you so fleeing to regenerate isn't always viable, but the Trenton almost never drops so it's always degrading the damage done to armor rather than dropping and leaving you with nothing but your armor.

If only partially transparent shields blocked status effects it would be perfect, but because you can't rely on your shields staying up you pretty much have to use status effect immune armor anyways.

[PM]

When I tried the Trenton, a random group of Wind Slavers (or maybe it was Ares Sandstorms) almost tore my ship apart. 1 damage to armor adds up pretty fast when four gunships spam their blasters.

[Aury]

If you already have very good armor beneath it however, the trenton can dampen it enough that none of the damage is strong enough to actuall cause damage.

[Atarlost]

Patcher arms are your friend here. That way you can recover from damage, even damage that stations won't repair.

[Wurmish]

I prefer patch spiders, even though there's micromanagement with disabling them and enabling them.

Oddly enough, I have NEVER seen a Trenton on any of my plays past .99c so I haven't had the chance to actually TRY one.

[PM]

I often do not use a patcher arm because by the time I find one, I run out of slots. In a Wolfen, non-weapon slots are taken by reactor, shield, cargo expansion, and solar panel/jumpdrive. In a Sapphire, I use two or three weapons, an engine, and the other above four items. If I have solar armor, but no jumpdrive, the patcher arm will get installed; at least until I find a patch spider.

Also, patcher arms cannot repair level XI armor. Find some Iocrym armor? Sorry, your patcher arm cannot fix it, but patch spiders can. For me, patch spider over patcher arm is a no brainer.

[Atarlost]

I prefer patch spiders, even though there's micromanagement with disabling them and enabling them.

Oddly enough, I have NEVER seen a Trenton on any of my plays past .99c so I haven't had the chance to actually TRY one.

You cannot use spiders with a Trenton because they're never safe from damage. Same for meteorsteel. An arm can run all the time. If you're armor heavy the time spent in combat with shields down can be enough for a patcher arm's repair rate to be significant, and Trentons, by reducing the rate of damage to something the arm is closer to matching, can extend your fighting time significantly with one.

I often do not use a patcher arm because by the time I find one, I run out of slots. In a Wolfen, non-weapon slots are taken by reactor, shield, cargo expansion, and solar panel/jumpdrive. In a Sapphire, I use two or three weapons, an engine, and the other above four items. If I have solar armor, but no jumpdrive, the patcher arm will get installed; at least until I find a patch spider.

Also, patcher arms cannot repair level XI armor. Find some Iocrym armor? Sorry, your patcher arm cannot fix it, but patch spiders can. For me, patch spider over patcher arm is a no brainer.

You're wasting slots. Badly.

Never use a cargo expansion in a Wolfen except temporarily for smuggling. Going over the base cargo will have you slowed unless you have very light equipment, and going over it by enough to be worth a slot will always slow you. If you're willing to be slowed you shouldn't be playing a Wolfen.

Never use a jumpdrive in a Wolfen. You're wasting the Wolfen's best feature: that it can run away from almost everything with just the starting engine. The jumpdrive is for freighters that don't have megadrives yet and yachts.

Never use a solar panel with a 100mw or higher reactor. Trickle charging is not viable at that point. If you're using an engine in a Sapphire it's already drawing too much power for a reactor small enough for the solar panel to be useful. The Tritium Propulsion Upgrade does nothing for the Sapphire. The Titan on anything smaller leaves woefully inadequate capacity for shields and weapons. You might get away with it with meteorsteel, but then you're using no shield.

Never use both the jumpdrive and a propulsion upgrade. They perform the same role so you're wasting a slot.

There is only one level 11 armor and it's rare outside of Heretic. The arm handles level 10 stuff well enough to be far better than regenerating nanos. If you pick up Iocrym armor in Heretic you're doing so for a single fight and repairs don't really matter. That the patcher arm becomes obsolete very late in the game does not change the superiority of its gameplay mechanics prior to that point. It has the longest period of usefulness of any device in the game, though it would drop to second behind the NAMI launcher if you could buy missiles reliably.

[PM]

I always use cargo expansion with the Wolfen because 35 tons is not enough space if I find something good and big to loot and I need to loot it in a hurry. (For instance, a corporate station blows up, and I need to get the loot before the other ships loot it.) When I slow down, I stop, backtrack to a safe stash, drop loot, then resume where I left off. Sure, flying slow all of the time is bad, so my cargo space is often empty. But when I need the space, I am glad to have it. I am a compulsive looter -- I take anything and everything. I play the Wolfen because it is the cool ship (trope); but the powergamer in me tells me play the Sapphire because with a Titan engine, it can do everything the Wolfen can and more, except maybe support one equipment setup involving Lazarus. If the EI500 freighter could use more than two weapons, and did not turn so slow, I would probably use the EI500 over the Sapphire.

I use a jumpdrive with any ship. It is good to the point of overpowered. I love jumping to Elysium at will and it makes transferring stuff so much easier. Warping is also nice when I want to get away from a bad spot right now, or get somewhere when even Hornet battlepod speed is not fast enough. The starting engine the Wolfen has is nice, but by midgame, I prefer an enhanced Titan or better. By then, the other ships can match or exceed the Wolfen's base speed, and the Wolfen becomes an inferior Sapphire (because I cannot spare a slot for an engine on a Wolfen). I do not use the Tritium engine on any ship, unless I find one as loot and I am playing a freighter. I do not treat the jumpdrive as propulsion, although it is handy for that. Instead, I treat it as a reusable Gem of Despair.

I use solar equipment no matter how big my reactor is until I get free fuel. Even then, I may need a jumpdrive to reach Point Juno or a CSC if the nearest one is several systems away. Trickle charging IS viable, albeit boring; but it beats the alternative of skyhigh refuel costs when big reactors are involved. Once again, jumpdrive to safe systems helps with this. If I really am impatient, I will donate something to the Sisters and use Pilgram's Aid. Jumpdrive is often required to reach the Sisters in a timely manner. Usually at late game, before I get free fuel, at least three of the four armor sections are solar, and if I have a spare slot, I have a solar panel too.

Iocrym armor is rare outside of Heretic, but not too rare. I admit getting four before Heretic requires luck. Still, if I find it, I always use it because it is very light, and I find it very easy to get overburdened with the Sapphire or Wolfen late in the game.

Regenerating nanos work too slowly on high level armor to be effective, but I cannot think of any other armor enhancement I want. It is good for removing scratch damage (less than 5) here and there, saving me the trouble of using patch spiders.

[Atarlost]

Your inner powergamer is misleading you. The money you're amassing by using elysium and looting friendlies completely rather than taking the good stuff and running isn't doing you any good. The money you're saving on fuel is trivial. Zero in the late game since you can get free refueling from CSCs once you do enough missions.

You're passing up not only on patcher arms, which let you hang in battle longer and still be confident of escaping, but also all the enhancers and missile defense devices, and doing so for more money that won't do you any good.

As to looting corporate stations, that's what crates are for.

[PM]

Once I get free fuel from CSCs, the solar equipment comes off, and I use real armor. I am eager to complete CSC missions as soon as possible precisely for the free fuel. This happens late in the game, and by then, most of the game is done.

If I need to choose either armor regeneration or fuel regeneration, I take fuel regeneration. I can avoid taking damage most of the time if I want to. On the other hand, I cannot stop my fuel from draining, and turning off shields and other devices to save fuel puts my armor at risk from random encounters. Of course, if I can have both, and have room for a patcher arm, I will use it. I prefer patch spiders over a patcher arm because they are slotless. I do not need both a patcher arm and a patch spider. Patcher devices regenerate higher level armor too slowly to matter during combat, so when my armor takes damage, I either flee or activate Domina powers. I use patch devices in a safe spot to avoid repair costs and to fix armor too damaged to be repaired by stations.

Damage enhancers are nice, but they are just more damage. Unless I am flying missions, I do not need the extra damage. Sometimes, early in the game, when slots are plentiful and the boosts are significant, I use laser or kinetic enhancers. Starting mid-game, more useful devices compete for slot space. I have no room for damage enhancers with a Wolfen. With the Sapphire, I may have a spare slot. With the EI500, I have more slots than I need.

In my experience, missile defense is a luxury and unreliable sometimes. If I play a fast ship, I can either dodge stuff or shoot the missiles myself.

[Song]

I used to use the Nephren P25 whenever i could, but I haven't seen once since ~RC3. Nowadays I tend to use the Yoroi S100 if I can't find an S500 (which I often can).

later on, I'll go for an R5-B if I can find one. And an MX if I can't get any better and I've been using an S100.

Trentons are for when I get some really sweet armor early on. And once (and only once), I have been able to use an iocrym-killing setup with a Lazarus....Enhanced Hyperion reactor is hard to get, but by god, you can do a lot with it.

And I tend to use an Iocrym Veil or Taikon 200 for my endgame, apart from that one time with the Lazarus. In theory, if you can get a Lazarus with an efficiency boost, you could have a proper setup with it, rather than a light-gunned setup (which is what I used that time)