MACO, Leech and Flow Cap

ericphail

Fairly straightforward mechanics questions:

How do
1.the MACO shield's power conduit link
and
2. The Plasmonic leech
vary with the flow capacitors skill? (numbers good, formulas better)

3. From TESTING or USE:
What defines whether the power conduit link or plasmonic leech buff is active at any given moment?

4. How is the leech affected by the FAW double proc weirdness?

(I write this thread after noticing that my Vesta [2x Aux DHC, Omega Torp, 2x Turret, KCB] tends toward the Power Conduit link taking precedence and it made me wonder precisely how the leech and Maco shield interact, beyond the very generic truth of 'they don't stack'. Please note that I am looking for numbers and rules that affects these, I really don't care which people think is better or the like)

lucho80

Plasmonic leech power drain = (FC * 0.01) + 1

The leech is capped at 8 times the drain. Both skills are flat bonuses. If they don't stack, it's idiotic.

mandoknight89

The MACO shield does not give a bonus based on Flow Capacitors. Plasmonic Leech and the MACO shield do not stack so as to avoid excessive power bonuses.

bitemepwe

mandoknight89 wrote: »

The MACO shield does not give a bonus based on Flow Capacitors. Plasmonic Leech and the MACO shield do not stack so as to avoid excessive power bonuses.

Exactly. To allow them to stack would be OP even though everyone could do it.

lucho80

+2 power bonus is OP combined with leech that goes up to almost 32 at max normal flow caps?

ericphail

I'm aware they don't stack, I somewhat agree*, what I'm asking is what defines which bonus is active at any given second and why.

Also: thanks lucho80 that's the kind of info I'm looking for. btw do you mean 8 stacks?

Mandoknight89: Was it ever said why the Maco shield isn't affected by flow caps (I'd guess that it's because it's not a drain but...)

*Power is drifting through the roof already so I can see a case for non-stacking (so long as you still get the best boost you could get from either at any given moment)

Additional question, how is the leeches performance affected by running less than 8 (energy) weapons. eg. sci ship

lucho80

ericphail wrote: »

I'm aware they don't stack, I somewhat agree what I'm asking is what defines which bonus is active at any given second and why.

Also: thanks lucho80 that's the kind of info I'm looking for. btw do you mean 8 stacks?

Mandoknight89: Was it ever said why the Maco shield isn't affected by flow caps (I'd guess that it's because it's not a drain but...)

Stacks 8 times. Great console when speced correctly and adding ES3 to it. Heck even ES2 works great on drain boats.

mandoknight89

lucho80 wrote: »

+2 power bonus is OP combined with leech that goes up to almost 32 at max normal flow caps?

It's not just a +2 power bonus, it stacks several times just like the Plasmonic Leech does. If they allowed the two to stack with each other, there would be quite a few more builds that run with semi-permanently capped power levels.

Personally, I think it's fairly obvious that Plasmonic Leech itself is too good, given that even though the drain is blocked by Insulators, the buff isn't, leading to copious amounts of extra power on the user even with modest Flow Caps investment.

bpharma

Yeah gotta admit in my drain science ship I have about 220 in flow caps so get 25 all subsystems while in combat. Might not sound a lot but it means I can run all power in weapons and 50 in aux and still hit 130 aux with shields and engines over 80 and I don't suffer in the energy weapons department. All round great console and I never use the maco because of it.

shadowwraith77

lucho80 wrote: »

Stacks 8 times. Great console when speced correctly and adding ES3 to it. Heck even ES2 works great on drain boats.

The plasmonic leech has a max stackable of 15, this is in its description and is in fact the amount given when I use it as well.

lucho80

I think I'll stick with plasmonic leech and the fleet shield. More reliable power surge and protection.

shadowwraith77

lucho80 wrote: »

I think I'll stick with plasmonic leech and the fleet shield. More reliable power surge and protection.

Good advise, the Maco is fine so long as you are constantly being attacked and don't have the leech console or space for it, but let's be real who wants to be constantly pounded on by enemies just for some power boost unless they are a tank/healer.

lucho80

By the way, I do have formulas for every other flow capacitor affected thing except the Breen energy dissipator and the new Tyken's Rift.

ericphail

How many energy weapons does it take to reach max stacks on the leech?

Still want to know the rules of precedence wrt leech vs maco: which is active when and why?

Lucho80: That's excellent I'd say post it here but tbh I think there should be a sticky thread (or link to a website) somewhere with all the known formula's listed, so that players who are interested in that can find them easily rather than hunting around 10+ places to find the math they need.

shadowwraith77

ericphail wrote: »

How many energy weapons does it take to reach max stacks on the leech?
Still want to know the rules of precedence wrt leech vs maco: which is active when and why?

Lucho80: That's excellent I'd say post it here but tbh I think there should be a sticky thread (or link to a website) somewhere with all the known formula's listed, so that players who are interested in that can find them easily rather than hunting around 10+ places to find the math they need.

The more the merrier, but it seems to me like it simply adds stacks by cycles of weapons and not really how many are firing, but I could be wrong.
As for which one gets priority I really couldn't tell you seeing how once I open fire the leech is all that seems to get priority, so I'm guessing which ever activates first gains priority, but not 100% sure on this.