I have now:
Covariant Shield Array Mk X [Cap] [Reg] (Rare), 7184 Max Shield Capacity (10% Bleedthrough), 144 Shield Regeneration every 6 seconds
Console - Engineering - Shield Emitter Amplifier Mk X (Uncommon), +11% Shield Regeneration Rate
I have found these two items on drops:
Covariant Shield Array Mk IX [Cap]x2 (Rare), 7650 Max Shield Capacity (10% Bleedthrough), 128 Shield Regeneration every 6 seconds
Console - Engineering - Field Emitter Mk IX (Uncommon), +5.5 Shield Power Setting
I wonder what's better for a shield, capacity vs. regeneration? Does a shield regenerate while it's taking damage, or only after the fight? In which case, it seems capacity is the most important. And this seems to be my experience... In the past I have taken lower cap shields w/higher regs and I seem to die more. In which case, would you all also recommend I go with the [Cap]x2 Mk IX shield over my current Mk X?
How do the Cosoles affect these? I get that one has +11% reg, that seems straight up: My current shield regs at 160/6s, right? How would a +5.5 Power Setting affect my current shield or even if I went with the new higher cap shield? I only have room for one of these two Consoles (I have an Assault Cruiser and I need the other three spots for 2x RCS Accelerators (or I turn like a rock) and a single EPS Flow Regulator), which would you recommend with which combo shield?
Does it matter that what I current have is Mk X and the new items are Mk IX?
When I look at my ship's status, under the Defense tab it shows my Hull Repair Rate, but not my Shield Cap or Reg, where can I find that?
Since no one else has replied, I'll throw in my 2 ECs... Personally, I prefer Resilient Shields because of the reduced bleed-through and decent regeneration. Don't know how to tell what effect the consoles have you shields tho. Makes no sense to me either.
Regenerative shields do regenerate during combat yes, can be useful if you just want to keep up a sliver of shield to absorb kinetics (I regen shields with Boff powers though). Personally I prefer resilient shields, as they have the same equivalent HP as a covariant of the same level and rarity with the added bonus of less bleed through to the hull. However this is only one type of purple resilient shield atm, so unless you're facing off against someone using AP it's better to use covariant. Though the rare resilient shields with CAP come close.
Yes, that is the in-combat recharge rate on the shields. You can calculate exactly how long it takes to recharge each shield facing by looking at that recharge rate vs the capacity. The number is a baseline based on 50 power. Every point of power translates to a 4% change in recharge rate, so that 100 power is a +200% (a total of 3 times the normal recharge rate). To me, this says that the power-enhancing console is the better choice, since 5.5 power equates to +22% recharge.
The recharge rates are generally slow enough that it's hard to rely on them during a fight, and you'll get a lot more mileage out of science-team skills.
If you went with the most regenerative of the shields (Regenerative Shield [reg]x2), with 100 power any given shield facing can go from zero to full in 30 seconds (with the science ship bonuses), thus allowing you to rotate through shield facings in a fight and always have one that's fairly fresh. But that tactic relies on a reasonable turn rate, and attempting to outlast the target instead of killing them quickly.
The middle-ground shields give you a good balance, but if you don't tend to put a lot of power into the shields, the regen rate may not mean much and you might want to look more at the capacity. At 25 power, the shields stop recharging altogether.
Choosing Shields is a not so easy question to answer. But to begin with all shields have Capacity and Regeneration Rate attributes. Their Capacity is their "health" (i.e how much damage they can sustain. Regen Rate is how fast their Capacity is recovered over time. The overall rule for the different shields is that their capacity is inversely proportional to their regen rate. (i.e. more capacity == lower regen rate. Resilient Shield are a bit of an oddball in the rule of thumb, but consider the lesser bleed through to be more capacity.
Which shield you choice is determined by how you want to/like to fight. The Covriant and other high capacity shield are great for dealing with large amounts of up front damage. They can handle a large amount of it in fact. But slow regen rate means they aren't great for extended combats. That's the weakness of Covariant shield. This type of shield goes very well with Escorts ships which like to strike hard and fast.
The Regenerative Shields don't have a lot of capacity to deal upfront damage (i.e. alpha strikes). That's the Achilles Heal of Regenerative Shield. But their high regeneration rate makes them very strong in extended combat. Regenerative Shields can go well with a Cruiser for sustained combat. The Cruiser's larger hull can handle any spike in damage the ship may receive.
The plain vanilla Shield are at balance of Capacity and Regeneration Rate between the Covariant and Regenerative Shields. They can deal with a decent amount of up front, and they can sustain decent amount of damage in extended combats.
Resilient Shields are kinda of a Covariant Shield type. All other shields have a 10% bleed through. That means that the shields only stop 90% of the damage, the other 10% gets through to your hull. Resilient Shields only have a 5% bleed though. Resilient Shields are nice for reduced the hull damage that more fragile ships take. That are failry close to plain vanilla Shields in performance except they a bit less capacity and regen rate. Resilient shields are good on Escorts because of their ***ility. And also on Science Ships with their higher Shield factors.
Bridge Officers and Player abilities can drastically alter Shield dynamics. Various powers can give damage resistance to shields, increase their regeneration rates and/or give them immediate heals. For example with a lot of shield buff abilities a Cruiser can use excellent use of Covariant shields. They can absorb a huge amount of damage, and regnerate damage over long combats.
The Regeneration Rate attribute of a shield is the base regen rate. This Shield Subsystem power setting on your ships ultimately determines the regeneration rate of your shields. At power setting 25, there is NO shield regeneration. They function but don't heal. AT power setting 50, the regen rate is 1x. At setting 75, regen rate ix 2x. At setting 100, regen rate is 3x. And at setting 125, regen rate is 4x. So the normal Attack power setting, you shields only have their base regen rate. In defenseive your Shield regenerate 3 times faster.
And you shield will also affect how well your shields works. Each ship type has modifiers for a Shields Capacity and Regneration rate. Cruisers have decent capacity and regneration rate modifiers. Escorts have low modifiers giving much lower capacity and regneration rate. Science ships have very high modifiers which net very large capacity and regeneration rate. So Science ships will tend to have the very strongest shields in teh game. Cruisers are in the middle. And Escorts are on the bottom. (These comparisons assume using the same type of shield in all 3 ships.)
Personally, for Escorts I've gone with Resilient shields at lower ranks for my Escorts as my DPS isn't good enough to kill in one pass. At Commander/Captain rank, I switch to Covariant shields as things are deal before my shields are gone. I can patch 'em up between combats.
On my Science Ships I use Resilient Ships exclusively. Science ships can have extended fits as they don't have the fire power of an escort. And that leads to longer combats which will take a toll on the hill due to bleed through damage. And science ships have a lot less hill them Cruisers.
On my Eng/Cruiser character, I have a lot of shield buff powers so I can get away with using Covariant Shields. Even in extended fights, I rarely drop below 95% hull. On a shield w/o an Engineer Captain, I stick with Regenerative shield. Damage spike do drop a shield, but the shield is soon back up, and the hull heals quickly enough do the Eng BOs.
Comments
The recharge rates are generally slow enough that it's hard to rely on them during a fight, and you'll get a lot more mileage out of science-team skills.
If you went with the most regenerative of the shields (Regenerative Shield [reg]x2), with 100 power any given shield facing can go from zero to full in 30 seconds (with the science ship bonuses), thus allowing you to rotate through shield facings in a fight and always have one that's fairly fresh. But that tactic relies on a reasonable turn rate, and attempting to outlast the target instead of killing them quickly.
The middle-ground shields give you a good balance, but if you don't tend to put a lot of power into the shields, the regen rate may not mean much and you might want to look more at the capacity. At 25 power, the shields stop recharging altogether.
Which shield you choice is determined by how you want to/like to fight. The Covriant and other high capacity shield are great for dealing with large amounts of up front damage. They can handle a large amount of it in fact. But slow regen rate means they aren't great for extended combats. That's the weakness of Covariant shield. This type of shield goes very well with Escorts ships which like to strike hard and fast.
The Regenerative Shields don't have a lot of capacity to deal upfront damage (i.e. alpha strikes). That's the Achilles Heal of Regenerative Shield. But their high regeneration rate makes them very strong in extended combat. Regenerative Shields can go well with a Cruiser for sustained combat. The Cruiser's larger hull can handle any spike in damage the ship may receive.
The plain vanilla Shield are at balance of Capacity and Regeneration Rate between the Covariant and Regenerative Shields. They can deal with a decent amount of up front, and they can sustain decent amount of damage in extended combats.
Resilient Shields are kinda of a Covariant Shield type. All other shields have a 10% bleed through. That means that the shields only stop 90% of the damage, the other 10% gets through to your hull. Resilient Shields only have a 5% bleed though. Resilient Shields are nice for reduced the hull damage that more fragile ships take. That are failry close to plain vanilla Shields in performance except they a bit less capacity and regen rate. Resilient shields are good on Escorts because of their ***ility. And also on Science Ships with their higher Shield factors.
Bridge Officers and Player abilities can drastically alter Shield dynamics. Various powers can give damage resistance to shields, increase their regeneration rates and/or give them immediate heals. For example with a lot of shield buff abilities a Cruiser can use excellent use of Covariant shields. They can absorb a huge amount of damage, and regnerate damage over long combats.
The Regeneration Rate attribute of a shield is the base regen rate. This Shield Subsystem power setting on your ships ultimately determines the regeneration rate of your shields. At power setting 25, there is NO shield regeneration. They function but don't heal. AT power setting 50, the regen rate is 1x. At setting 75, regen rate ix 2x. At setting 100, regen rate is 3x. And at setting 125, regen rate is 4x. So the normal Attack power setting, you shields only have their base regen rate. In defenseive your Shield regenerate 3 times faster.
And you shield will also affect how well your shields works. Each ship type has modifiers for a Shields Capacity and Regneration rate. Cruisers have decent capacity and regneration rate modifiers. Escorts have low modifiers giving much lower capacity and regneration rate. Science ships have very high modifiers which net very large capacity and regeneration rate. So Science ships will tend to have the very strongest shields in teh game. Cruisers are in the middle. And Escorts are on the bottom. (These comparisons assume using the same type of shield in all 3 ships.)
Personally, for Escorts I've gone with Resilient shields at lower ranks for my Escorts as my DPS isn't good enough to kill in one pass. At Commander/Captain rank, I switch to Covariant shields as things are deal before my shields are gone. I can patch 'em up between combats.
On my Science Ships I use Resilient Ships exclusively. Science ships can have extended fits as they don't have the fire power of an escort. And that leads to longer combats which will take a toll on the hill due to bleed through damage. And science ships have a lot less hill them Cruisers.
On my Eng/Cruiser character, I have a lot of shield buff powers so I can get away with using Covariant Shields. Even in extended fights, I rarely drop below 95% hull. On a shield w/o an Engineer Captain, I stick with Regenerative shield. Damage spike do drop a shield, but the shield is soon back up, and the hull heals quickly enough do the Eng BOs.