What shield do you prefer..

[PM]

Back on topic, when fuel consumption is equal, I prefer lower point and fast recharging shields because of fuel consumption. Shields draw full power while recharging, and less when they are at maximum strength. That said, I have favorites:

Solon: If the ship has no laser weapons equipped, the Solon is excellent up to Charon because the primary opponents of the New Beyond, the Chaon Pirates, use lasers. Several other factions favor lasers. In addition, maybe it is me, but I see lasers everywhere in the melee rounds in the Battle Arena.

Class V: This thing should be a level VI item, but since it is a special reward from Korolov stations, the point is moot. It has fast regeneration of its level, and has resistances to laser and particle. Charon pirates and Sung slavers are at a disadvantage against this. If I cannot get a class V, the closest shield like it is probably the Yoroi S500.

Invincible shield: The resistances are great, and it is relatively fuel efficient. Its power surge weakness can be mitigated with Domina powers. Whatever you do, avoid contact with Earth Slavers. Shi3lds Down will cause a surge with this shield. Against them and Sung Citadels, maintain distance and bombard from afar with long range weaponry. Past Jiang's Star, its usefulness declines, and it is time to find better. It holds up well against Ranx gunships though.

Nephren X1: Good late game shield. It has resistance to ion, which is what Ares gunships use.

Taikon-200: High hit points and the fastest regeneration aside from the Trenton and Lazarus shields. It has a weakness to ion, but when enhanced, hit points are high enough for that not to matter anymore. It is possible to sit in the middle of huge thermonuclear explosions and the shields will remain up. Also has minor resistance to plasma, whcih can help against Iocrym. This is probably the ultimate shield in the game.

[PM]

With an Efficiency Lazarus and an Enhanced Hyperion, it is possible to use level X weapons that use up to 300 MW, such as the IM90 or Fracture Cannon, provided your other devices do not bump power consumption much. This means no engines to speed up slower ships. Even with that setup, there are some disadvantages. High damage attacks such as base explosions and the Ares Plasma Archcannon will take out the shields and cause damage to armor. Also, the lightning turrets from Deimos and Phobo ships will chew through Lazarus. In addition to damage, the setup costs too much fuel for extended fighting. To save power, you often need to travel with shields off. Device protect armor will be mandatory so that a surprise Ventari ambush will not damage your items.

On the plus side, you are effectively immune to the disintegrator shells as long as you avoid the Iocrym's plasma. If you skipped the Sung and backtrack, Shi3lds Down is useless for them -- you regenerate the shield immediately. Lazarus is also light.

I find Efficiency Lazarus requires too much work to obtain and use. Using an enhanced Taikon-200 is much easier, and more durable against attacks Lazarus is vulnerable against.

Part of the reason Efficiency Lazarus is hard to obtain is only the Domina power Ingenuity can grant the Efficiency enhancement to Lazarus.

[Aury]

The lazarus is broken; not only is it worthless as a shield, but it's worthless as a credit chip; nobody will buy it.

Anyways, the lazarus is schedualed to be fixed in 1.1, though I wish it could be a bit sooner... >.>

[Song]

The lazarus is broken; not only is it worthless as a shield, but it's worthless as a credit chip; nobody will buy it.

Anyways, the lazarus is schedualed to be fixed in 1.1, though I wish it could be a bit sooner... >.>

In theory, if you can damage it, it might get sold then.

[Wurmish]

Sorry that I wasn't clear Atarlost - I haven't seen a Trenton at ALL recently and wouldn't use it with patch spiders. I never really use patcher arms since I don't SEE them all that often either. My preferred shields are Yorois, Invincible, and Taikons. Early game I skimp until class 5 if I can. I tend to invest in armor more.

[Racoon.sf]

Hi!

I'm new in the forums, so I guess I can as well start posting on this topic. Until now I wasn't any farther than some systems behind St. Kathrin's Star, so my post relates to early game.

I found that I never use the Solon Shield since I like mining and the only early mining device is a laser. I managed quite well with the Hull Plate Ionizer with the Wolfen though.

I would not recommend using the Ceratops Quasi Armor, i bought it in hope of good missile defense but it dropped in seconds and it was completely useless behind St. Kathrine's Star.

On Solar Panel arrays: I got the notion that even wih 3 panels installed (do they even stack?) they where not abel to charge my 100 (or 150 MW, I'm not sure) reactor properly after I found a Yori S 500 shield behind St. Kathrin's Star.

[PM]

In early game, I usually use what I can loot. Tinkers can make Solon shields out of damaged class I and II shields. If I am not using lasers, and I have not reached Charon, I use Solon shields if I cannot find better. That said, this depends whether I can find an RK15 or a decent particle or blast weapon. If I cannot, or if I want to use a mining laser or omnidirectional turbolaser, then Solon is not an option. I refuse to buy shields less than level IV if I can help it. One game, I found a Cyclotron S1200 in the second system. It has high hit points for its level and it offers good protection for the early game despite lousy regeneration rate.

When using solar equipment, you may need to turn off everything while sitting on the star to refuel.

As for patcher arms, I do not see them very often before patch spiders are available.

[PM]

Maybe a quick fix for the Lazarus would be to cut power consumption down to 500 or 600 MW. If the Commonwealth is normally limited to 500 MW, and if 1 GW reactors are Ringer tech; then "prohibitive amounts of power" can simply mean in the 500 MW range, especially if a weapon needs 100 to 200 MW to use. A gunship limited to 500 MW cannot use such a modified Lazarus and a high level weapon together.

P.S. At least the player limited to 500 MW cannot use them together. However, the cheating computer can. The ship change bug in 1.02 that gave unlimited fuel like the other NPC ships was fun while it lasted.

[Androgeos]

I'm very close to Heretic now, and I have a Koshiba-500 reactor. I've just bought and equipped a Positron Lancer, which I promptly buffed up with one of my two remaining Weapon Optimiser ROMs I bought over ten systems back. When I fire it, my power use shoots up to near-overload levels. If I were to replace my other weapon, a Mark V Howitzer, with something better, such as an Ion Flame Cannon, and when I replace the Plasma Shield Generator that I'm currently using, I will most likely need a Hyperion Reactor.

I'm still playing on 1.01, by the way, with a few mods.

[andwheee]

I found a 225hp shield with 16/s regen woo

I'm on Qie Qiuo system now (23 systems in).

[Aury]

I'm very close to Heretic now, and I have a Koshiba-500 reactor. I've just bought and equipped a Positron Lancer, which I promptly buffed up with one of my two remaining Weapon Optimiser ROMs I bought over ten systems back. When I fire it, my power use shoots up to near-overload levels. If I were to replace my other weapon, a Mark V Howitzer, with something better, such as an Ion Flame Cannon, and when I replace the Plasma Shield Generator that I'm currently using, I will most likely need a Hyperion Reactor.

I'm still playing on 1.01, by the way, with a few mods.

I'd have gotten... anyother level X weapon other than the positron lancer (or iocrym repeller). The Positron lancer uses way to much power for the rather underwhelming performance it gives.

[stealthx]

I would most definitely have to agree with lower hit points and faster regeneration.

I agree too, but it is only good for fast ship. And are you guys forgetting downtime heh heh. Would it be good for shield downtime to be displayed as a spec too so that player can make more informed choices, and for more range of vanilla shields?

I use solar equipment no matter how big my reactor is until I get free fuel.

I am weak. I hate refueling, somehow makes me insecure. That's why I mod a solar furnace heh heh.

[PM]

Shield downtime is long enough not to matter in a fight. Once your shields are down, you have three options: use Domina powers, flee the battle, or fight to win or die.

I dislike refueling too. Fuel drains too quickly unless everything is off, which is too risky unless armor is endgame strong.

[Atarlost]

Once your shields are down, you have three options: use Domina powers, flee the battle, or fight to win or die.

Those are pretty much your choices with your shields up too. Flight of fight. Domina is just a subset of one or the other depending on if you use defend or sustain.

[Song]

If you have good armor, you can fight until you get it to low condition. Then run....takes some evasive turns, but it works.