Shields/armor

[spacebas]

Can someone explain the the difference between damage resistance and shield points? I have Organic Armor with a damage resistance of 100kT and regenerates 20 points/turn. Is a point the same as a kT?
And I have a shield generator I which generates 50 shield points and had a damage resistance of 30 kT. Is one of these components inheriently better thatn the other or do you need a combination of shields and armor?

spacebas

[Danny]

Yes a KT = 1 point.

As to mixing sheilds and armor you do want both, as some weapons skip sheilds, some skip armor, plus you need sheilds for crystalline armor to work for example. Not to mention Stealth and Reflective armor.

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I AM Canadian.

[Seawolf]

Space,

Shield points are the amount of incomming fire a component can stop. Damage resistance is the amount of damage a component can take before it is destroyed. 2 different things.

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Seawolf on the prowl

[greghacke]

As some examples:
Your Ship: 5 Engines, Organic Armor (100kT, 20 regen), Shield Generator (50 pts, 30kT)

My Ship: 5 Engines, Shield Gen (50/30), 5 Meson bLaster I [MBI].

A. If I fire (1) [MBI] at you for 15 pts in damage. Your shields absorb the 15 pts and it ends there.
B. If I fire 3 [MBI] for 45 points, your shields absorb 30 and the armor takes 15. Next turn, your armor regenerates this. But with that shield down, the armor takes the damage directly.
C. I fire 9 [MBI] for 135 points. Shields absorb 30 and fall, the armor absorbs 100 and is destroyed. 5 points are applied to some part...

[Shadow99]

quote:

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Originally posted by greghacke:
As some examples:
Your Ship: 5 Engines, Organic Armor (100kT, 20 regen), Shield Generator (50 pts, 30kT)

My Ship: 5 Engines, Shield Gen (50/30), 5 Meson bLaster I [MBI].

A. If I fire (1) [MBI] at you for 15 pts in damage. Your shields absorb the 15 pts and it ends there.
B. If I fire 3 [MBI] for 45 points, your shields absorb 30 and the armor takes 15. Next turn, your armor regenerates this. But with that shield down, the armor takes the damage directly.
C. I fire 9 [MBI] for 135 points. Shields absorb 30 and fall, the armor absorbs 100 and is destroyed. 5 points are applied to some part...

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You might have wanted to label them a bit differently than you did... It looks like 3 different examples instead of 3 consecuative rounds of combat...

[spacebas]

So unless I encounter another race with shard cannons it seems like I would be better off with 2 organic armor components. That would provide 200 kT of protection and 40 pts of regeration. Do shields provide 50 shield points + 30kT of protection, or is the 30 kT destroyed when the shields are destroyed?

There's an idea for a new component! A device that ties all of your organic armor components together into one huge armor component and cumulative regenerative powers.

[Talenn]

Space:

Once Shielding and Armor is gone, items are damaged randomly. So the extra 30kt for the Shield Generator will still take an extra points of damage to knock out, but it will be hit randomly not first.

Talenn

[Taqwus]

- In my experience, organic armor regen is already cumulative; regeneration from non-damaged plates heals the damaged ones. The only way I know to end this is to bLast *all* the plates; once all the organic armor is destroyed, none regenerate IIRC.

- Spacebas: You might also want to look at efficiency ratios in terms of damage per space. Organic armor, for instance, tops out at level III, regenerating 30 pts/turn and w/ 150kt/40kt (3.75). Level III shields match this, (II and III are 40kt, but level 1 are 30kt. Weird.) and the best shields, Phased V, generate 375/40 for a ratio of 9.375, ignoring the 40kt resistance of the generator itself because it doesn't deterministically protect other components.

You'll also eventually want shields because of the large/heavy/massive weapons that'll take out your armor pretty quickly. If all your armor is destroyed, it won't regenerate but will need to be repaired. Shields, OTOH, even if downed completely one fight, regenerate (*if* you have supply left and the generators themselves are intact) for the next.

For instance, in one game I designed a Biowarfare-class BC, with roughly 1100 pts phased shielding (doable because of the higher pt/space ratio) and maybe 900 pts overall damage resistance. That's enough that it could absorb a salvo of missiles when closing to drop its plague bombs; the shields might be brought down, but they'd absorb enough generally that some organic armor would survive. Once the BC turned and moved away, the armor would regenerate. With armor only, there might not have been enough space to pull this off and still include things like cloaking, ecm, scanners and what-not.

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-- The thing that goes bump in the night