So I finally got a nice drop!

[Sheytanaslan]

MK5 field impact shield, most of my gear is 3/4 now and using a MK4 regular shield. 2700 and 8 secs vs 8300 and 18 sec recharge. What is your experience? Is the field impact better even though it has such a longer recharge time? Or should i just sell it.

[Puppet #7]

http://steamcommunity.com/app/290300/discussions/0/490124466479545827/

[Sheytanaslan]

Yep yep I read that before lol. OK tried it. Cant say im that impressed with it. Then agan my kicking gear up to MK5 with this one item might be why, I may be getting harder enemies. Wish there was a clear understanding on all of the under the hood stuff.

[ImHelping]

Originally posted by Sheytanaslan:

MK5 field impact shield, most of my gear is 3/4 now and using a MK4 regular shield. 2700 and 8 secs vs 8300 and 18 sec recharge. What is your experience? Is the field impact better even though it has such a longer recharge time? Or should i just sell it.

Oh god oh god oh god. SELL IT. GET RID OF IT IT'S CURSED.

Ahem. Yeah, I ran face first hard into-

Originally posted by Sheytanaslan:

Yep yep I read that before lol. OK tried it. Cant say im that impressed with it. Then agan my kicking gear up to MK5 with this one item might be why, I may be getting harder enemies. Wish there was a clear understanding on all of the under the hood stuff.

This. You know where I got my first MK6 drops from? Enemies that mysteriously took 10 times longer to kill on "low difficulty" missions, in systems that sold MK4 tops. Because I thoguht it would be clever to grab MK5 shield/deflector/hull early, while my engines and guns were a mix of MK3 and mK4.

So, sell it off and use it to fill out all your stuff to MK4 first. THEN, start looking into MK5 gear. Don't expect easier missions in earlier sectors, all that gets you is missions just as hard for less pay.

As for that kind of shield itself? I know some get use out of them, but I don't like long recharge deflectors. Because the times I needed deflectors most was when I was getting attack spammed from all angles, and needed the deflectors to recharge back up ASAP to help top off my normal shields or block the latest missile salvo.

Again though. Having equipment two MK higher than your worst gear is going to lead to such a terrible time. If you keep your equipment evenly spread, the difficulty is generally "Space Game For Babies".

But if you slap on some MK5 parts, when most of your gear is a mix of MK3 and MK4? It starts kicking you in the balls (even if you rarely die, enemies will take much longer to kill than normal due to having gear 1-2 MK higher than your average).

MK-3MK4 range is the WORST to have etra overtiered gear too, because the game can then spawn enemies wih up to two MK higher defenses than you, on "low difficulty" missions. When you have all mK5s, it's much more forgiving to take on MK6 sector missions.

[Sheytanaslan]

Originally posted by I'm Helping!:

Originally posted by Sheytanaslan:

MK5 field impact shield, most of my gear is 3/4 now and using a MK4 regular shield. 2700 and 8 secs vs 8300 and 18 sec recharge. What is your experience? Is the field impact better even though it has such a longer recharge time? Or should i just sell it.

Oh god oh god oh god. SELL IT. GET RID OF IT IT'S CURSED.

Ahem. Yeah, I ran face first hard into-

Originally posted by Sheytanaslan:

Yep yep I read that before lol. OK tried it. Cant say im that impressed with it. Then agan my kicking gear up to MK5 with this one item might be why, I may be getting harder enemies. Wish there was a clear understanding on all of the under the hood stuff.

This. You know where I got my first MK6 drops from? Enemies that mysteriously took 10 times longer to kill on "low difficulty" missions, in systems that sold MK4 tops. Because I went and equipped MK5 defenses while my engines and guns were a mix of MK3 and mK4.

So, sell it off and use it to fill out all your stuff to MK4 first. THEN, start looking into MK5 gear. Don't expect easier missions in earlier sectors, all that gets you is missions just as hard for less pay.

As for that kind of shield itself? I know some get use out of them, but I don't like long recharge deflectors. Because the times I needed deflectors most was when I was getting attack spammed from all angles, and needed the deflectors to recharge back up ASAP to help top off my normal shields or block the latest missile salvo.

All my gear is MK4 now, only this shield is 5. I am still in a tannhausen or whatever its name is lol. I got repair bot but thats it, didnt buy cargo extenders am all good with merchant guild though 10 there. So I can get that at some point. I guess I am either going to save for that shield heat sink for like 3 mil or I am going to upgrade ship.
But yep I will keep this on for a bit longer and see how well it does, I have the regular MK4 shield stored so I can switch back easily enough.

[ImHelping]

Okay, if all your other gear is MK4 then you should be still on track for the "normal" difficulty curve. The OP post mentioned a mix of MK3/MK4 gear while eying a MK5 shield and I got flashbacks.

So what you wanna do, is head to systems that sell MK5 gear and stay there. The extra cash inflow will help, and staying in "easier" sectors will still spawn ships just as hard. Another thread brought up how they went back to the system they started the game in, and mission ships were still just as hard as ever,

The 3 million "deflectors refill from explosions" component is very helpful,yes. Particularly at this point in the game where 90% of fighters are gunships. But getting your normal defenses up first is more important. I'd get MK5 shields and Deflectors, then MK5 broadsides (most improved firepower for least amount of credits) before getting it.

Mission stuff seems to also work off Net Worth too. Just removing the MK6 turret I got dropped and leaving it in my inventory didn't seem to help much (yes, I was fighting enemies that dropped MK6 guns while taking missions in MK4 space. when I had mk4 guns).

[Sheytanaslan]

Originally posted by I'm Helping!:

Okay, if all your other gear is MK4 then you should be still on track for the "normal" difficulty curve. The OP post mentioned a mix of MK3/MK4 gear while eying a MK5 shield and I got flashbacks.

So what you wanna do, is head to systems that sell MK5 gear and stay there. The extra cash inflow will help, and staying in "easier" sectors will still spawn ships just as hard. Another thread brought up how they went back to the system they started the game in, and mission ships were still just as hard as ever,

The 3 million "deflectors refill from explosions" component is very helpful,yes. Particularly at this point in the game where 90% of fighters are gunships.

Mission stuff seems to also work off Net Worth too. Just removing the MK6 turret I got dropped and leaving it in my inventory didn't seem to help much (yes, I was fighting enemies that dropped MK6 guns while taking missions in MK4 space. when I had mk4 guns).

Yep I had 2 turrets that were threes but I upgradeed em while posting this as I am running missions and checking the forum :P.
Anyway I am tilted towards quicker regen time on the shileds. Anyway running with a small ship like I am its pretty easy to keep upgrading, as I dont have alot of slots to worry about atm.

[ImHelping]

If you like quicker ships, once you are in the MK5 range the Organic Hull plates that the merchants sell might be useful to you.

You can easily stay out of the broadside range of a dreadnaught with a small ship, but you can't dodge fighters.

Organic hull plates have less total health, but a resistance bonus vs fighter damage. 45% at MK5. Early in the game they are garbage like 25% resistance so I can understand why people see them then swiftly forget they exist.

[Sheytanaslan]

Originally posted by I'm Helping!:

If you like quicker ships, once you are in the MK5 range the Organic Hull plates that the merchants sell might be useful to you.

You can easily stay out of the broadside range of a dreadnaught with a small ship, but you can't dodge fighters.

Organic hull plates have less total health, but a resistance bonus vs fighter damage. 45% at MK5. Early in the game they are garbage like 25% resistance so I can understand why people see them then swiftly forget they exist.

Thanks for the tip. I went toe to toe with a dreadnaught with my current ship trading broadsides with that mk5 shield lol.
Thought id die but wanted to see how able it was. Anyway I posted the pic check most recent.

[ImHelping]

Dreadnaughts let you target some of their nastier turrets too (not all of them. They have some untargetable indestructable turrets sprinkled about). Usually stuff like leech turrets, beam turrets, ions, etc.

You need to set tactics to either "My target" or "locks only" to make your guns actually aim at the turrets though.

I would suggest putting a few of your turrets to "My target", that maks them aim at both hard locks, and whatever you are facing your camera towards to make it's name pop up without a hard lock on. Nice for letting you focus some turret fire while the rest shoot things you can't see.

Don't understimate secondary weapons. Dumbfires are worse than advertised (I say this as a guy who used them enough to never miss, up through MK5). If you want to kill Dreadnaughts and destroyers faster, grab the Magna Mines.

[Sheytanaslan]

Originally posted by I'm Helping!:

Dreadnaughts let you target some of their nastier turrets too (not all of them. They have some untargetable indestructable turrets sprinkled about). Usually stuff like leech turrets, beam turrets, ions, etc.

You need to set tactics to either "My target" or "locks only" to make your guns actually aim at the turrets though.

I would suggest putting a few of your turrets to "My target", that maks them aim at both hard locks, and whatever you are facing your camera towards to make it's name pop up without a hard lock on. Nice for letting you focus some turret fire while the rest shoot things you can't see.

Will do, thanks for the tips. Just hoping my luck holds up. No deaths this play through yet. When in doubt I just fire up my null gravs and scoot.

[ImHelping]

Originally posted by Sheytanaslan:

Will do, thanks for the tips. Just hoping my luck holds up. No deaths this play through yet. When in doubt I just fire up my null gravs and scoot.

Oh good ,you know what the Cool Kids thrusters are.

Yeah, sounds like you are well on the way to a zero deaths run now that you are dodging the difficulty scaling quirks.

Imagine a gunship fighter tanking a 6 neutron beam broadside salvo, with it's shield and hull plates still intact. That's what you would have been in for, if you fell off the intended difficulty curve rails as hard as I did.

[Sheytanaslan]

Originally posted by I'm Helping!:

Originally posted by Sheytanaslan:

Will do, thanks for the tips. Just hoping my luck holds up. No deaths this play through yet. When in doubt I just fire up my null gravs and scoot.

Oh good ,you know what the Cool Kids thrusters are.

Yeah, sounds like you are well on the way to a zero deaths run now that you are dodging the difficulty scaling quirks.

Imagine a gunship fighter tanking a 6 neutron beam broadside salvo, with it's shield and hull plates still intact. That's what you would have been in for, if you fell off the intended difficulty curve rails as hard as I did.

Oh I did suffer one painful death in my first game and decided id give it a day or two and just read the forums for advice, cant say this was all peaches and cream though.
I did and still do have pucker factor moments, and suffer from target fixatation at times that make me sweat lol.
Anyway heres to hoping the stations have strippers added to the bars and slot machines! Then I can actually spend time at the stations bieng distracted as well. Adding some sort of TV station would be fun stuff too. MTV is space? Galactic World Cup? Miss Universe Competition? Cage Fighting with betting?
Its endless :P