Manning Shields
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Svankensen
- Posts: 28
- Joined: Tue Oct 16, 2012 4:42 pm
Manning Shields
I used to have a man at shields almost the whole time when i started playing, but nowadays i find it much more usefull to have a guy manning engines or weapons than shields, and its now the last post i occupy. Are you guys experiencing the same?
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Farlark
- Posts: 28
- Joined: Sun Sep 30, 2012 1:28 am
Re: Manning Shields
I agree, it seems that, overall, it's the station that least desperately requires manning. In order of importance. I'd say it goes Helm>Engines>Weapons>Shields (or is it Helm>Weapons>Engines>Shields?). In any case, shields generally seem to recharge in plenty of time to counter most threats, even when unmanned.
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MANtisB
- Posts: 10
- Joined: Sun Oct 21, 2012 6:55 am
Re: Manning Shields
Situational re: engines/weapons. If your weapons can fire quickly enough to disable the enemy weapon system before it can launch another salvo, then they are preferred to engines, because that provides a 100% chance to avoid the next salvo (where engines only provide 5 to the original % - which can never be 5 or below - so the gain will always be less than 100%). If you had to pick one position to man the entire time, you would want to pick engines, but if you learn to recognize all the weapons on enemy ships just by looking at them AND remember your own charge times, then you could switch your guy between the two to get the optimal result. (Essentially, prefer engines in practice if you want a rule to follow.)
As for shields... I typically man them third, before weapons, but that's because I always have done so and hadn't stopped to think about it until this post. I think logically one should prefer weapons because the situations in which saving a second or two on your weapon charges leads to stopping an enemy salvo far outweigh, both in frequency and importance, the situations in which an additional second (if that) of quicker shield recharge would prevent additional scrap damage.
As for shields... I typically man them third, before weapons, but that's because I always have done so and hadn't stopped to think about it until this post. I think logically one should prefer weapons because the situations in which saving a second or two on your weapon charges leads to stopping an enemy salvo far outweigh, both in frequency and importance, the situations in which an additional second (if that) of quicker shield recharge would prevent additional scrap damage.
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UltraMantis
- Posts: 2141
- Joined: Thu Sep 20, 2012 3:17 pm
Re: Manning Shields
When i see beams on the enemy ship, i give a higher priority to shields. Otherwise evasion is my prefference.
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hybridfive
- Posts: 63
- Joined: Thu Oct 18, 2012 4:43 pm
Re: Manning Shields
Priority should be ship-specific, based on your starting compliment and adjusted for anything you find. Ships with rapid fire weapons gain a benefit from having a guy on them. Engi A is the easiest example. You're throwing away a lot of experience if you don't man them, and you're running an increased risk that they could get a shot off against you.
Ships with slow weapons don't matter as much. If you know you're doing to lose on the "draw," then you concentrate on surviving their initial volley. This is particularly true of pierce weapons like on Rock B and Unknown A.
Also, I do what UltraMantis suggested, and man shields against lasers + beam weapons. Even if you don't shut it down completely, you usually cut it short, possibly preventing damage to a second room.
Ships with slow weapons don't matter as much. If you know you're doing to lose on the "draw," then you concentrate on surviving their initial volley. This is particularly true of pierce weapons like on Rock B and Unknown A.
Also, I do what UltraMantis suggested, and man shields against lasers + beam weapons. Even if you don't shut it down completely, you usually cut it short, possibly preventing damage to a second room.