None, because the main thing about those shields is that they're hit-and-miss depending on the ship as they tend to get rid of the uniqueness of unconventional hulls.
If you stick to Fed ships, the S31 may be worth it.
The Emperor one, surprisingly, can work well with Romulan ships. I now use it on my Valkis.
The Kelvin one is better for KDF toons.
The Liberated Borg one is better-looking on alien designs with a mostly one-colored hull.
The Ba'ul one is IMHO, one of the worst/best hit-and-miss. Either it looks stellar or awful.
The Alliance one, I think is the most jack-of-all-trades and unique-hull-friendly of them all, but it's not part of the promo.
Section 31 is the only vanity I've ever kinda liked, but only for a Section 31 themed toon. The medical one is OK, but I'm not crazy about the color red so I wouldn't actually use it. The Borg one is also OK for a Borg themed toon, but I'd be happier if they remastered the old assimilated shield since it matches later Borg appearances better.
honestly I would like to see a Breen VS. I think it would make most ships look partly assimilated with jaggered looking spikes poking out everywhere.
It's a regular shield with visuals (can still be equipped in the vanity shield slot), but we basically have that already with the Dielectric Oscillation Resilient Shields from the Cold Storage mission. Only problem is it's a bit old, so it might not look as good as more recent visual and vanity shields.
Was sold also sold on the Borg one (search reddit for pics) even if it only looks good on certain ships - the texture to me resembles 'capital ship' type greatness similar to that one tholian visual, and on Kelvin Divergence for its 'high quality texture' effect on Romulan & KDF ships.
I went with the Section 31, only barely beating out the Ba'ul vanity shield. The Section 31 shield visual reminds me of the Skunk Works jets, or carbon fiber found in fast cars. The Ba'ul has that smooth, glossy wet "midnight ocean" look to it.
To me, one of the worst is the Medical shield. Like the Hot Dog Stand option when configuring your Windows appearance. It was terrible in 1995, and is still terrible today. I'd equip that, if I wanted to have my ship identify as a "transcendent" Ronald McDonald. Which is never.
It's a regular shield with visuals (can still be equipped in the vanity shield slot), but we basically have that already with the Dielectric Oscillation Resilient Shields from the Cold Storage mission. Only problem is it's a bit old, so it might not look as good as more recent visual and vanity shields.[/quote]
I finely got around to checking it out. Not exactly what I was looking for. What I would like from a Breen VS is the spikey looking prongs pertrueding out like the Omega rep - Assimilated space set dose for the DA and IE. you know but with Breen bits
I don't particularly like the S31 shield, as it isn't really black enough; the S31 shield just looks grey to me. I'd like a nice matte black, but that isn't the S31 shield.
The Baul shield I think looks much blacker, and if I'm wanting one of those shields its for the black. The glossy black is quite fine, making it look like a sportscar. I do wonder how much of it is just the lighting, though.
As for the poll, I say it depends on the ship and the captain theme. While I like the glossy black of the Baul shield, I'm not putting it on every ship (assuming I could afford to.) It just doesn't fit most captains or ships.
I use the S31 one on most of my characters, but I like the Ba'ul one just as much. The only reason I use it on fewer characters is because it was released later and I already had the S31 one on the characters where I didn't have any vanity shields previously.
None, because the main thing about those shields is that they're hit-and-miss depending on the ship as they tend to get rid of the uniqueness of unconventional hulls.
If you stick to Fed ships, the S31 may be worth it.
The Emperor one, surprisingly, can work well with Romulan ships. I now use it on my Valkis.
The Kelvin one is better for KDF toons.
The Liberated Borg one is better-looking on alien designs with a mostly one-colored hull.
The Ba'ul one is IMHO, one of the worst/best hit-and-miss. Either it looks stellar or awful.
The Alliance one, I think is the most jack-of-all-trades and unique-hull-friendly of them all, but it's not part of the promo.
Besides reducing uniqueness, I also find that the best looking shields (S31 and Ba'ul) reduce the amount of details you see on your ship. That is a serious drawback as it is often these details (like layered armour plating and all sorts of patterns) that make these ships feel like really big spaceships capable of housing crews and all sorts of rooms - instead of being something like a small plastic toy that didn't need to consist of multiple components.
I finely got around to checking it out. Not exactly what I was looking for. What I would like from a Breen VS is the spikey looking prongs pertrueding out like the Omega rep - Assimilated space set dose for the DA and IE. you know but with Breen bits
None of the shields add 3D boots, with the assimilated set that stuff comes from the console, engines, and deflector, the shield only changes the hull material.
Besides reducing uniqueness, I also find that the best looking shields (S31 and Ba'ul) reduce the amount of details you see on your ship. That is a serious drawback as it is often these details (like layered armour plating and all sorts of patterns) that make these ships feel like really big spaceships capable of housing crews and all sorts of rooms - instead of being something like a small plastic toy that didn't need to consist of multiple components.
Yeah, that's one of the reasons I replaced my Vaadwaur Juggernaut in favor of the Hur'q Vedcrid.
The Jug already has low-rez textures and mostly an ugly beige color by default, its size makes it worse and most of the shields remove the one interesting thing of its hull, which is the Iconian stained-glass-like parts, and it makes it look like an even uglier one-colored flying brick.
And then, the Vedcrid doesn't work well with shields either because the ship clearly has an organic feeling and shape, but all shields give it a mechanical texture, which, for me, gives it some sort of uncanny valley. The Alliance shield works well, but it gets rid of all its glowing cocoon-like large windows and the tiniest ones on its edges, and it still makes it fully mechanical as well.
None, because the main thing about those shields is that they're hit-and-miss depending on the ship as they tend to get rid of the uniqueness of unconventional hulls.
If you stick to Fed ships, the S31 may be worth it.
The Emperor one, surprisingly, can work well with Romulan ships. I now use it on my Valkis.
The Kelvin one is better for KDF toons.
The Liberated Borg one is better-looking on alien designs with a mostly one-colored hull.
The Ba'ul one is IMHO, one of the worst/best hit-and-miss. Either it looks stellar or awful.
The Alliance one, I think is the most jack-of-all-trades and unique-hull-friendly of them all, but it's not part of the promo.
Besides reducing uniqueness, I also find that the best looking shields (S31 and Ba'ul) reduce the amount of details you see on your ship. That is a serious drawback as it is often these details (like layered armour plating and all sorts of patterns) that make these ships feel like really big spaceships capable of housing crews and all sorts of rooms - instead of being something like a small plastic toy that didn't need to consist of multiple components.
That's what I've noticed. On my Hestia, it's got some of the most detailed detail or recent ships, but with both of those shields...they just make it look 2D and a little cheap. I've not actually zoomed in tight on a section of hull and seen up close and personal if it's meticulous, but from a distance...it's not.
No not flaming or trolling but seeing that their cost is so high I can't divert my meager dil for vanity, hah, vanity shields. Being serious though, it is too precious to let go the Dil I will need for the future and something that will not make my ship move faster, do more damage, increase hit points, resist dam, extra weapon slot or console slot. Sure if I had the money Jeff Bezos is spending to go up into space, I would be able to buy them instead by selling Zen. The 250K just is simply not a benefit to how I perform (sorry never bought pets, costumes, disco balls, etc., as no one can see your outfit in the cold confine of the Captain's chair)
The one I like the best so far (I don't have any of the lockbox ones yet) is the pink glow shield. The semi-translucent effect is nice and it does not wipe out details like some of the others. An ultraviolet lamp version of that would be good if they want to experiment with more semi-translucent types.
I also like the (usually) mirrored surface of the Reman shield too. The platinum one is good on some ships but it is rather niche since it does not have much shine so on some materials it just looks a dull light gray.
Comments
There is a certain stark elegance to the simple red & white.
If you stick to Fed ships, the S31 may be worth it.
The Emperor one, surprisingly, can work well with Romulan ships. I now use it on my Valkis.
The Kelvin one is better for KDF toons.
The Liberated Borg one is better-looking on alien designs with a mostly one-colored hull.
The Ba'ul one is IMHO, one of the worst/best hit-and-miss. Either it looks stellar or awful.
The Alliance one, I think is the most jack-of-all-trades and unique-hull-friendly of them all, but it's not part of the promo.
It's a regular shield with visuals (can still be equipped in the vanity shield slot), but we basically have that already with the Dielectric Oscillation Resilient Shields from the Cold Storage mission. Only problem is it's a bit old, so it might not look as good as more recent visual and vanity shields.
Was sold also sold on the Borg one (search reddit for pics) even if it only looks good on certain ships - the texture to me resembles 'capital ship' type greatness similar to that one tholian visual, and on Kelvin Divergence for its 'high quality texture' effect on Romulan & KDF ships.
Medical followed by the Platinum
To me, one of the worst is the Medical shield. Like the Hot Dog Stand option when configuring your Windows appearance. It was terrible in 1995, and is still terrible today. I'd equip that, if I wanted to have my ship identify as a "transcendent" Ronald McDonald. Which is never.
I finely got around to checking it out. Not exactly what I was looking for. What I would like from a Breen VS is the spikey looking prongs pertrueding out like the Omega rep - Assimilated space set dose for the DA and IE. you know but with Breen bits
The Baul shield I think looks much blacker, and if I'm wanting one of those shields its for the black. The glossy black is quite fine, making it look like a sportscar. I do wonder how much of it is just the lighting, though.
As for the poll, I say it depends on the ship and the captain theme. While I like the glossy black of the Baul shield, I'm not putting it on every ship (assuming I could afford to.) It just doesn't fit most captains or ships.
Yeah, but it was also free.
Besides reducing uniqueness, I also find that the best looking shields (S31 and Ba'ul) reduce the amount of details you see on your ship. That is a serious drawback as it is often these details (like layered armour plating and all sorts of patterns) that make these ships feel like really big spaceships capable of housing crews and all sorts of rooms - instead of being something like a small plastic toy that didn't need to consist of multiple components.
None of the shields add 3D boots, with the assimilated set that stuff comes from the console, engines, and deflector, the shield only changes the hull material.
The Jug already has low-rez textures and mostly an ugly beige color by default, its size makes it worse and most of the shields remove the one interesting thing of its hull, which is the Iconian stained-glass-like parts, and it makes it look like an even uglier one-colored flying brick.
And then, the Vedcrid doesn't work well with shields either because the ship clearly has an organic feeling and shape, but all shields give it a mechanical texture, which, for me, gives it some sort of uncanny valley. The Alliance shield works well, but it gets rid of all its glowing cocoon-like large windows and the tiniest ones on its edges, and it still makes it fully mechanical as well.
That's what I've noticed. On my Hestia, it's got some of the most detailed detail or recent ships, but with both of those shields...they just make it look 2D and a little cheap. I've not actually zoomed in tight on a section of hull and seen up close and personal if it's meticulous, but from a distance...it's not.
O Not Interested
No not flaming or trolling but seeing that their cost is so high I can't divert my meager dil for vanity, hah, vanity shields. Being serious though, it is too precious to let go the Dil I will need for the future and something that will not make my ship move faster, do more damage, increase hit points, resist dam, extra weapon slot or console slot. Sure if I had the money Jeff Bezos is spending to go up into space, I would be able to buy them instead by selling Zen. The 250K just is simply not a benefit to how I perform (sorry never bought pets, costumes, disco balls, etc., as no one can see your outfit in the cold confine of the Captain's chair)
I also like the (usually) mirrored surface of the Reman shield too. The platinum one is good on some ships but it is rather niche since it does not have much shine so on some materials it just looks a dull light gray.