[oleg]

Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:
Taera, the problem is that ships are rarely ever only hit by 1 or 2 weapons in a round. They are generally hit so many times that they are either crippled or destroyed. This gives the shield regenerator little chance to operate. The only ship(s) that are only hit a few times are those that are hit Last in the round, because the opponent ran out of weapons to fire. These ships are likely to be pulvarized in the next round, because the enemy ships (unless using Ion engines) will be able to move almost as much- if not as much- as your ship does, and so they will be able to get to about the same range as the previous round, and continue their barrage. In my experience, target ships only get 1 or 2 rounds to live before they are destroyed (or the combat ends, of course). This is why the amount of regen given by a regenerator isn't enough. So, for all those ships that get destroyed in 1 round, an extra shield generator provides a lot more defense than 2 shield regenerators, so it takes a few more shots to destroy, lowering the damage other ships in the fleet receive. If a ship is shot once or twice, then it will regenerate 50 shield points. If it had an extra shield generator instead, it would have 375 more shield points overall, or 325 more damage resistance (or 275 more if it Lasts 2 rounds). Generally, ships do not survive for the 8 rounds necessary for the shield regenerators to become more powerful than a shield generator (assuming max shield tech).

Edit: 1 shield regenerator can be useful to thwart boarding ships if your enemies make heavy use of them. That is the only practical use I can see for a shield regenerator on ships.

Quite accurate analysis why shield regeneration is almost useless. Now, replace the shield regeneration with the organic armor and it becomes obvious that the new OA fix that removes regeneration before damage makes OA not any better than normal armor (except using organics instead of minerals)