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Forums > Home› Star Trek Online General Discussion

Regenerative Shields: Almost Useless

photonaxan#2718 photonaxan
photonaxan#2718
 Member Posts: 629 Arc User
in Star Trek Online General Discussion
556.4 (on a Assimilate Regenerative Shield Array Mk XIV Very Rare) every 6 sec works out to be only 92.7333 Shield Hit Points per second.

I'm finding I'm much better off going with Covariant (Highest Shield Hit Points) Shields, almost all the time and relying on Bridge Officer shield repair abilities and other shield repairing traits.

Regenerative shields are so awful, the Rep and Special sets have to augment the regenerating with Set Bonuses that enhance regenerate/repair shields.
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Comments

  • dracounguisdracounguis Member Posts: 5,358 Arc User
    edited August 2017
    Yeah, pretty much. I think most use the Covariant as 'extra' ablative armor since it's regen sucks. Most shields seem to go down and stay down most the fight no matter which you use. The Resilient Shield Arrays have less bleedthrough so can be a good choice if you can keep them up.

    I know some people used to put alot of effort into shield regen and could get Regen shields to preform decently, but now dps is so high I don't think anyone can keep a shield up during a fight. Which is sad, since imo shields should be the primary means of staying alive. Just using the D in Generations as the example; once the shields got bypassed they were screwed.
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  • seaofsorrowsseaofsorrows Member Posts: 10,919 Arc User
    I always use Resilient Shields myself. The 5% lower capacity is worth it for the damage absorption. Baring that, Covariant is my 2nd choice.

    I remember a time when Regenerative Shields were useful, but that time has long passed.
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  • mirrorchaosmirrorchaos Member Posts: 9,844 Arc User
    I got a fleet Covariant shield from when i also got a fleet excelsior t5u, that was a while ago. at the time my thinking was critical, but i sometimes wonder if that shield i got was the correct choice as the shield goes out so fast and it takes a bit of effort to try get them back while under attack.

    so if a high capacity shield can be drained like it doesn't exist in fights against the borg, a regenerative or a resilient shield doesn't make any difference in a situation like that.
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  • forerunnerknight#7803 forerunnerknight
    forerunnerknight#7803
         Member Posts: 26 Arc User
    The temporal defense rep shield array was created to combat this problem.that is my theory anyways.
  • pottsey5gpottsey5g Member Posts: 4,251 Arc User
    taehsong wrote: »
    556.4 (on a Assimilate Regenerative Shield Array Mk XIV Very Rare) every 6 sec works out to be only 92.7333 Shield Hit Points per second.

    I'm finding I'm much better off going with Covariant (Highest Shield Hit Points) Shields, almost all the time and relying on Bridge Officer shield repair abilities and other shield repairing traits.

    Regenerative shields are so awful, the Rep and Special sets have to augment the regenerating with Set Bonuses that enhance regenerate/repair shields.
    Shield regen is amplified by shield power and per facing. So from 4 facings that 92.7 becomes 370.9332 per second that you can rebalance to the facing taking damage and you can bump it up a lot more from higher power and/or consoles.
  • sheldonlcoopersheldonlcooper Member Posts: 4,042 Arc User
    My best defense build (many years ago now) was regen. It was a lot of fun to play the borg stfs with my shields up. Unfortunately it would require so much sacrifices now it wouldn't be worth it. But it was my favorite build. I used for pvp also.
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  • aspartan1aspartan1 Member Posts: 1,054 Arc User
    colonelmarik wrote: »
    I don't know why we bother with shields at all, there are now so many magic powers that immediately wipe them all out or completely ignore them (eg. Tachyon Beam, Tractor Beam, etc.). For that matter, why do NPCs bother with weapons? The aforementioned tractor beam can do tens of thousands of damage per second, FAR more than any weapon, AND they ignore shields.

    No doubt... I really hate that to say the least... All my sci slots are breakers... 90% of the time if I die it is from tractor beams...
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  • asuran14asuran14 Member Posts: 2,335 Arc User
    Yeah I got to agree, that overall most shield types are pretty lack-luster. It would be nice to see a rework/revamp of how the shields work, and also to create niches that different shields have over each other in addition to the existing ones (like higher shield gen, bleed-thru, and cap boosts). Hell I always have thought that it would be nice to have shield power affect more than the regen of your shield, like with having it affect the damage reduction to torpedo/kinetic damage (which could be part of eac type of shield having a different base torp/kinetic damage reduction amount).
  • silverlobes#2676 silverlobes
    silverlobes#2676
         Member Posts: 1,953 Arc User
    I've always gone for regeneration, on the premise that, as mentioned above, so many things just strip shields completely, I figured it was more important to be able to get them back up quickly, rather than relying on an initial higher capacity, which will simply get stripped :D
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  • arionisaarionisa Member Posts: 1,421 Arc User
    Besides all the shield stripping now present, making all shield types basically irrelevant, I think the biggest key is that, while incoming damage from NPCs has risen dramatically, mostly due to facing huge numbers of ships at a time instead of a relative few, shield regen rates have remained stagnant. Back when a large engagement (with notable exceptions) meant facing a few fighters/escorts/frigates at a time, or maybe a cruiser and a few escorts, shield regen rate actually made a difference. Powers and heals aside, survival meant turning your depleted shields away from the enemy and letting them regen while the enemy pounded on your fresher shields, rinse and repeat. In that scenario a few hundred extra shield regen per second makes a huge difference.

    Newer missions have us facing entire fleets/armadas. There is no turning your depleted shields away from the attack when the attack is coming from a swarm of enemies on every side, and if you manage to mostly keep to the outside edge and not get surrounded, the sheer numbers of hits coming in makes regen rate a moot point. A few hundred extra regen per second means nothing with a few thousand DPS incoming. Add in the obvious fact that threat has no bearing during solo missions, if there are a large number of NPC, you are going to be getting hit by a lot of incoming damage.



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  • hanover2hanover2 Member Posts: 1,053 Arc User
    Shields are mainly for set bonuses. I usually go with Adapted MACO/KHG for the torpedo boost. Otherwise, the Iconian shield almost pretends to counter shield disables. Sometimes.
  • alcyoneserenealcyoneserene Member Posts: 2,414 Arc User
    edited September 2017
    I gave up on shields almost entirely, and used my last respec token to put points into hull capacity & restoration (2/3 on each) and only 1/3 in shield capacity & restoration, and 1/3 in shield hardness.

    Way too many shield-bypassing, shield-bleedthrough and shield stripping sources of damage that spike high. Low hull capacity with no resistance is just not a ship I'd want to be on no matter the shields and defense rating in this game.

    Also, I believe polarize hull completely negates exotic dmg from TB or TBR.
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  • giliongilion Member Posts: 686 Arc User
    ...is it bad that I have no idea what any of you are talking about? Unless I'm fighting the Borg, my shields are usually above 50% no matter what type I'm using or what difficulty I'm playing on.
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  • jslynjslyn Member Posts: 1,788 Arc User
    There is the Paratrinic Shield Array, too. It is the opposite of the Regenerative Shields.
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  • ltminnsltminns Member Posts: 12,572 Arc User
    Remember in TOS 'The Changeling', Spock said that (Nomad's) energy bolts were the equivalent of 90 Photon Torpedoes. Five of those would take the shields down - 450 Photon Torpedo equivalent.

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  • dracounguisdracounguis Member Posts: 5,358 Arc User
    ltminns wrote: »
    Remember in TOS 'The Changeling', Spock said that (Nomad's) energy bolts were the equivalent of 90 Photon Torpedoes. Five of those would take the shields down - 450 Photon Torpedo equivalent.

    'The Corbomite Manuever' and 'Who Mourns for Adonis'.

    Gotta love those little tidbits of info that let you get a ballpark figure of something. :D You know the episode writer wasn't writing for that and didn't probably care one whit about it either!

    Sometimes I think I play STO just to have something to complain about on the forums.
  • asuran14asuran14 Member Posts: 2,335 Arc User
    It is not completely true that the Tractor beams did no damage in the show actually I believe. Though the damage was more of a cause of the ship being tractored working against the beam an the stress on the vessel's hull. It is though quite weird that a small shuttle or fighter (frigate makes a bit more sense) has as much affect as it does on the larger ships, so maybe the system needs some kind of function that when hanger/small craft use these abilities it has a large reduction on the ability's effect. I could even see somewhat the idea of the ship's Inertia rating or another type stat influencing the effect of the abilities like these.
  • e30erneste30ernest Member Posts: 1,794 Arc User
    gilion wrote: »
    ...is it bad that I have no idea what any of you are talking about? Unless I'm fighting the Borg, my shields are usually above 50% no matter what type I'm using or what difficulty I'm playing on.

    Yeah I'm with you here. Even against the Borg I am usually able maintain some shielding. Enough heals and a bit of good timing is all you need IMO.

    Also worth noting that you don't really need to keep your shield HP up really high all the time. So even at below 50%, you should have ample shield protection for you to react even against high enemy spikes. As far as shield-bypassing damage the NPCs use, they usually have hard counters to them too so I have no issues against that.

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  • totenmettotenmet Member Posts: 592 Arc User
    You do have to put also enough power to the shields to keep them up better.
  • ltminnsltminns Member Posts: 12,572 Arc User
    Yeah, try resisting a Tholian Web Canon that applies 1.2 Million damage. :)
    'But to be logical is not to be right', and 'nothing' on God's earth could ever 'make it' right!'
    Judge Dan Haywood
    'As l speak now, the words are forming in my head.
    l don't know.
    l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
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  • e30erneste30ernest Member Posts: 1,794 Arc User
    ltminns wrote: »
    Yeah, try resisting a Tholian Web Canon that applies 1.2 Million damage. :)

    Or you can move.

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  • ltminnsltminns Member Posts: 12,572 Arc User
    Yeah, I do. I usually get right up on them, flying between them sometimes. Love throwing them around with TBR pull or pulling a Pegasus Basestar run. Don't know what happened that time, might have been a teleport, then boom. Never saw a number that high before. :)
    'But to be logical is not to be right', and 'nothing' on God's earth could ever 'make it' right!'
    Judge Dan Haywood
    'As l speak now, the words are forming in my head.
    l don't know.
    l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
    That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
    Lt. Philip J. Minns
  • pottsey5gpottsey5g Member Posts: 4,251 Arc User
    edited September 2017
    ltminns wrote: »
    Yeah, try resisting a Tholian Web Canon that applies 1.2 Million damage. :)
    Its not that hard. My Eng Cruiser sit and tanks those high damage shots. Its like the CE or I.R.W. Valdore ship in Khitomer Vortex there is no point moving out the way of the big blasts. Any ship with the right combo of traits or powers can do it,
  • e30erneste30ernest Member Posts: 1,794 Arc User
    reyan01 wrote: »
    e30ernest wrote: »
    ltminns wrote: »
    Yeah, try resisting a Tholian Web Canon that applies 1.2 Million damage. :)

    Or you can move.

    To be honest, if I am fighting Tholians I tend to try and have a trajector warp core equipped (the temporal one is my usual choice). They're an absolute godsend when you find yourself caught by a web or in the crosshairs of a web-cannon.

    Yeah mobility (whether speed, turn and/or teleports) can be really important if you want to survive or blow stuff up. Shields can buy you a bit of time. I find my shields really help my Sci ships and Escorts survive. They are far from useless.

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