Shield Cell Banks- Why?

[Gamatech]

Hi all o7

I've seen multiple threads lately singing the praises of SCBs, one even had a general concensus that you're better off with a lightweight hull and no hull reinforcement packages. I really don't understand.

I have given SCBs 3 chances in the past, and all of them have left me very disappointed. They create IMMENSE heat, they never seem to actually DO anything, and they're VERY power hungry. Why would I want something that (in my experience) does nothing but generate heat? I've never seen my shields regain strength before, it just makes a lot of noise and gets very hot.

I'm confident that I'm missing something here. Do they not actually apply any regeneration until they're done doing their thing? Is the effect so small that I'm just not noticing it? How long do they take from the time you activate them? So far the only time I'd ever want them on my ship is when my ship's central heating fails...

[Turd Ferguson]

1) only power on ONE SCB at a time or you will set them all off at once and fry yourself. they also draw a lot of power so turn them all off and only keep 1 on. you'll switch to another one when it's out of charges

2) for ships with low recharge rates like prismatics, it's really the ONLY way to get shield strength back

3) you need to learn to manage your heat

4) specialized SCB engineer mod

5) you don't use giant SCB's on giant shields, you use smaller (like size 4 or 5) SCB's to augment smaller shields (like size 5 or 6) so you don't have to use giant shields. Smaller SCB's = less heat

6) OC PP + DD5 thrusters + OC weapons + SCB = you're gonna have a bad time.

...at least in PVE that's been my experience.

[One Eye Jack]

SCB’s are totally awesome. I never intentionally go into combat without them. Unintentionally I get mugged while hauling cargo sometimes but that is rarely a problem.

First you have to use them before your shields are completely down. I didn’t know that the first time I tried them.

Second as a general rule I carry as many heat sinks as SCB’s. I hit my hot key for my SCB and my heat sink as close to the same time as I can.

If you don’t pop a heat sink you WILL get heat damage.

Getting a fresh recharge on shields in the middle of a fight is the way to win fights. Getting multiple recharges in a fight makes you unbeatable.

Typically A rated gives you the fullest recharge and lower rated gives you more recharges.

[Turd Ferguson]

Originally posted by astroknott58:

SCB’s are totally awesome. I never intentionally go into combat without them. Unintentionally I get mugged while hauling cargo sometimes but that is rarely a problem.

First you have to use them before your shields are completely down. I didn’t know that the first time I tried them.

Second as a general rule I carry as many heat sinks as SCB’s. I hit my hot key for my SCB and my heat sink as close to the same time as I can.

If you don’t pop a heat sink you WILL get heat damage.

Getting a fresh recharge on shields in the middle of a fight is the way to win fights. Getting multiple recharges in a fight makes you unbeatable.

Typically A rated gives you the fullest recharge and lower rated gives you more recharges.

actually the B rated SCB has more total charge than the A. You get less per charge, but more charges. if you do the math the B's carry more juice.

[The Mobian]

i remember those good ole days when SCBs had absolutely NO heat.... that was the awesome days

[Daveyboy]

I usually end up using the size 1 SCBs at least in smaller ships, way less heat than the size 2s.

[ℜ | DDRMANIAC007]

Originally posted by Turd Ferguson:

1) only power on ONE SCB at a time or you will set them all off at once and fry yourself. they also draw a lot of power so turn them all off and only keep 1 on. you'll switch to another one when it's out of charges

2) for ships with low recharge rates like prismatics, it's really the ONLY way to get shield strength back

3) you need to learn to manage your heat

4) specialized SCB engineer mod

5) you don't use giant SCB's on giant shields, you use smaller (like size 4 or 5) SCB's to augment smaller shields (like size 5 or 6) so you don't have to use giant shields. Smaller SCB's = less heat

6) OC PP + DD5 thrusters + OC weapons + SCB = you're gonna have a bad time.

...at least in PVE that's been my experience.

Setting them all off at once is false. Just use the hotkey for banks and you'll use one per press.

[Turd Ferguson]

Originally posted by ℜ | DDRMANIAC007:

Originally posted by Turd Ferguson:

1) only power on ONE SCB at a time or you will set them all off at once and fry yourself. they also draw a lot of power so turn them all off and only keep 1 on. you'll switch to another one when it's out of charges

2) for ships with low recharge rates like prismatics, it's really the ONLY way to get shield strength back

3) you need to learn to manage your heat

4) specialized SCB engineer mod

5) you don't use giant SCB's on giant shields, you use smaller (like size 4 or 5) SCB's to augment smaller shields (like size 5 or 6) so you don't have to use giant shields. Smaller SCB's = less heat

6) OC PP + DD5 thrusters + OC weapons + SCB = you're gonna have a bad time.

...at least in PVE that's been my experience.

Setting them all off at once is false. Just use the hotkey for banks and you'll use one per press.

yes, I know..but you CAN set them all off at once if you don't know better...and you definitely shouldn't have them all powered on so you CAN set them all off at once.

[One Eye Jack]

Originally posted by Turd Ferguson:

Originally posted by ℜ | DDRMANIAC007:

Setting them all off at once is false. Just use the hotkey for banks and you'll use one per press.

yes, I know..but you CAN set them all off at once if you don't know better...and you definitely shouldn't have them all powered on so you CAN set them all off at once.

Ok I didn'r know you could do that. So How? I need to try this just once...... for educational purposes you understand...

[geronimo]

They are mostly useful on ships that can carry a lot of em. On a cutter they shine (6a prismatic shield for 1800mj, and then 12 banks of 1100MJ scb )

On some ships they are totally underwhelming:
- ships with very tiny shields (clipper, fas)
- ships with a very high shield capacity,but tiny cargo hold (vulture, FDL)

[geronimo]

Originally posted by astroknott58:

Originally posted by Turd Ferguson:

yes, I know..but you CAN set them all off at once if you don't know better...and you definitely shouldn't have them all powered on so you CAN set them all off at once.

Ok I didn'r know you could do that. So How? I need to try this just once...... for educational purposes you understand...

Just assign to a fire group, or press the hotkey multiple times. It is possible to fire off multiple banks on a single heat sink, but you need to stagger them.

[Turd Ferguson]

Originally posted by astroknott58:

Originally posted by Turd Ferguson:

yes, I know..but you CAN set them all off at once if you don't know better...and you definitely shouldn't have them all powered on so you CAN set them all off at once.

Ok I didn'r know you could do that. So How? I need to try this just once...... for educational purposes you understand...

first you have to have enough juice to power them up at the same time.....

[One Eye Jack]

Seems like a most entertaining way to blow yourself up. 😂

[Turd Ferguson]

Originally posted by astroknott58:

Seems like a most entertaining way to blow yourself up. 😂

you bring up a very interesting question....could you actually generate enough heat in your ship to blow yourself up without hitting the self-destruct?...or did the devs set the threshhold so high that there's no way you can do it?

[One Eye Jack]

Originally posted by Turd Ferguson:

Originally posted by astroknott58:

Seems like a most entertaining way to blow yourself up. 😂

you bring up a very interesting question....could you actually generate enough heat in your ship to blow yourself up without hitting the self-destruct?...or did the devs set the threshhold so high that there's no way you can do it?

Someone should make a video of the attempt. I nominate you.

[Frank K]

I use SCBs a lot and always have them paired with a Heat Sink Launcher, so I never cook myself when I use one. I also like to use incendiary experimental ammo, which really heats you up quick. When I'm ready to use an SCB I'll generally lay on a target real heavy with the incendiary ammo, to the point of almost over heating, then pop the SCB and Heat sink. That'll recharge my shields, cool my ship down and allows me to lay on heavy with the incendiary ammo again, almost immediately.

My FDL has really great shield strength, a fantastic engineering roll, paired with some really nice Shield Boosters. But the recharge on my Shields is horrible, due to my having a weapons focused Capacitor. So for my FDL the SCB is a great quick recharge when I'm down to one ring. Since I have to really scew things up to lose my shields, and even if I do I'm engineered to be wicked fast (the better to RUN AWAY!), the SCB is much more practical than an additional HRP on my build.