Shield vs Hull tanking in 0.9.x

All of this coming from a T3 (i do not have any sufficient experience in T4-5 nor did i play T2 since 0.8.5) To add to this, the only jerichos ships i have in T3 are Spirit (prem ECM) and Dragonfly (Steam DLC command) and last time i fielded dragonfly was in 0.8.1, so you can clearly see i have pretty much zero Shield tank Experience.

 

So 0.9.x and some of the abilities that are very common and deliver dmg in spikes

Singularities (especially mixed with rank 6 Federation implant for crit dmg on gunships)

Jericho Torpedos

Recon Proximity Mines

EM torpedo

Nuke

SelfDestruct

Shrapnel canons with lots of crits on interceptors

Charged Positron and Gauss canon crits

 

These are the abilities that i face in T3 all the time, all of my ships are either tanked into hull or speed so great benefit for me is an Armadillo implant (Federation R1)

This implant alone reduce dmg taken from all of this common sources by huge amount in long run, every match. But if we look on a Shield tanking, there is nothing like this that can help you mitigate dmg, nothing, yes there is nativ shield regen, there are ways to increase regen even further or extend a shield HP pull but nothing like armadillo.

It “felt” in pre 0.9.0 that shield vs hull tanking was pretty balanced and was on equal level considering all the “common” dmg sources back then.

 

So my question to all of those that still tank into Shields, is it on par with HUll or did balance shifted from shields away?

In no way i want  0.8.x survivability to dmg ratio back, i like how it is now.

 

 

I’m curious how many surviability has your Dragonfly? I have a Dragonfly too and it’s hyper hard to take it down. The only ships that give me problem are the damn ECMs draining my mana and nulling my shield resists :frowning:

I’m curious how many surviability has your Dragonfly? I have a Dragonfly too and it’s hyper hard to take it down. The only ships that give me problem are the damn ECMs draining my mana and nulling my shield resists :frowning:

ECMs do not nullify your shield resists, they only drain your energy for diffusion shield, Recon can drain your shield directly, bypassing resists. And i have zero modules on my dragonfly, i fly prometheus x for my contracts i find it tanky, but i do not like flying commands. 

I haven’t really tested the details, but when I tested hull resists vs shield resists on my Desert Eagle, I felt targeted more.  I think it’s more about the visual effect of shields half down vs hull half down.  Since the hull stays down, it looks like an easier kill.  Shields recharge, but if they’re half down, it’s an easier kill.  I choose shields just because they go down first.  It’s purely for psychological reasons.

I haven’t really tested the details, but when I tested hull resists vs shield resists on my Desert Eagle, I felt targeted more.  I think it’s more about the visual effect of shields half down vs hull half down.  Since the hull stays down, it looks like an easier kill.  Shields recharge, but if they’re half down, it’s an easier kill.  I choose shields just because they go down first.  It’s purely for psychological reasons.

True, but goes both ways. Hull tanks are much harder than shield tanks, so they might think you’re an easy kill when in fact they do only little damage to you while you proceed to kill them instead. Also called bait tanking. :wink:

Until it becomes a three on one, then you’re just failing yourself.

 

Or maybe I’m just failing myself.  I do tend to use Jericho.  When it comes to targeting, I look at both buffers.

Until it becomes a three on one, then you’re just failing yourself.

Or maybe I’m just failing myself. I do tend to use Jericho. When it comes to targeting, I look at both buffers.

Sure, three on one you’re going to lose either way unless you’re an interceptor. But your shield tank will probably fail even faster because of lower overall resists.

For Jericho I go for maximum shield HP rather than resists btw. Scales quite nicely.

Base hull resistance > Base Shield Resistance.

Hull’s buff implant > Shield’s buff implant

 

Number of hull implant > Number of shield Implant.

 

 

Why?

 

Because every ships have a Base Shield regeneration.

Base hull resistance > Base Shield Resistance.

Hull’s buff implant > Shield’s buff implant

Number of hull implant > Number of shield Implant.

Why?

Because every ships have a Base Shield regeneration.

I’m inclined to agree with you to a point - when just looking at sheer survivability and human aspect removed (such as pve vs AI). But, when you’re talking pvp, you have some people looking at targets and saying, “Hey, that guy has no shields. I’ma shoot at him”. Buffed shields can make you appear to be a harder target and thus have fewer people who choose to shoot at you in a heavy skirmish. Just a thought on the “psyche” of the game.

 

-Lib

Why?

 

Because every ships have a Base Shield regeneration.

Which you can increase significantly with a shield mod. Plus shield heals are stronger and have shorter cooldowns.

Basically shields are better for a sustained tank and armor is the better buffer tank.

Buffed shields can make you appear to be a harder target and thus have fewer people who choose to shoot at you in a heavy skirmish. Just a thought on the “psyche” of the game.

You mean people disengage and go for another target when your shields don’t drop as quickly as they expected? Because they cannot see your shield strength before engaging. But in that case why wouldn’t they disengage for a strong hull tank on the basis of the same consideration?

ECMs do not nullify your shield resists, they only drain your energy for diffusion shield, Recon can drain your shield directly, bypassing resists. And i have zero modules on my dragonfly, i fly prometheus x for my contracts i find it tanky, but i do not like flying commands. 

 

I know I know what ECMs do, I said they nullify my resists meaning that with that mana drain I can’t use my AoE modules or the Phase Shield, so it’s like if I had no shields nor resists :slight_smile:

For Jericho I go for maximum shield HP rather than resists btw. Scales quite nicely.

does number of passives affect this decision?

 

i always find myself conflicted when passive slot numbers change between old ship vs new one i need to fit …

You mean people disengage and go for another target when your shields don’t drop as quickly as they expected? Because they cannot see your shield strength before engaging. But in that case why wouldn’t they disengage for a strong hull tank on the basis of the same consideration?

Not quite. What I meant in my example was, say two friendly guards are on a beacon and the enemy team is pushing hard in their direction. As the enemy is flying towards them, all their ships are hovering over each of the guards looking at health statuses of each ship. Now, if there had just been an engagement there, or say a guided torpedo had hit them with full shields, the one without shield buffs might only have hull health remaining. So, as the enemy is flying in your direction, I would think that it would be more probable for more of them to first select the guard with no shields to shoot at than the guard with shields. Take what appears to be an easier target out, then move on to the other one.

 

-Lib

does number of passives affect this decision?

 

i always find myself conflicted when passive slot numbers change between old ship vs new one i need to fit …

 

It’s more that passives only provide resistances to single damage types whereas a higher shield HP increase raises your survivability vs all of them. And with 2/3 of your base HP being shields for Jericho ships already the raw HP gain you get from the percentage based mods is useful.

 

If you still have doubts, hop into a Recon and latch onto a resistance tanked Jericho ship with parasitic remodulator and watch their HP deflate because their nice resistances that they sacrificed their passives for are getting ignored while you drain their shields.

 

Not quite.

 

[…]

 

 I would think that it would be more probable for more of them to first select the guard with no shields to shoot at than the guard with shields. Take what appears to be an easier target out, then move on to the other one.

Oh, completely agreeing with you in that case. Going for the threat that can be removed quickest is usually a good idea - between a full HP guard and a half HP guard I’d clearly go for the half HP guard first myself. The less turrets on the field able to shoot at me the better.

ok - that made sense thanks