Standard, Prismatic or Bi-Weave Shields

[Gnade]

Hi together,

my favorite and main ship of Elite is the Phyton and i want to get the maximum out of the shields in combination with engineering that i can.
I dont want to make PVP. PVE and a good defense in open if somebody sucks me out of supercruise is my goal.

My question is, are the standard shields in comparission to the Prismatic and Bi-Weave variants realy that bad?

Best regards o7

[Delta Green]

I believe the general rule is Bi-Weave shields on a small/medium ship. Shields on small/medium ships tend to be weaker, so it is better to have them charge faster and mend faster once broken.

Prismatic shields are great in a larger ship due of the initial strength boost it gives and with additional Shield Cell Banks, you can get a heck of a lot of bang for your buck.

For combat against a single ship over a period of time, Prismatics will generally out shine Bi-Weave, while multiple engagements, i.e, one after another, Bi-Weave may be seen as better, as repeatedly received fire will result in a steady continuous recharge.

I tend to look at Prismatics as a bath of water that drains over time, while Bi-Weave is more of a sink full. A bath has greater volume than a sink at a cost of more (power). Both have a tap that is continuous dripping, though one obviously takes longer to refill over time.

This image shows a good example of all three. I believe Bi-Weave also can not be A rated, with C being the best it can be.

https://i.imgur.com/iPkkGPh.png

[JL::Jose-Juan Kenobi]

Prismatics are better but way slower to recharge, Python has inherently very strong shields so is a good match. Combine them with shield cell banks, beams with thermal vents, and some shield boosters with engineering you'll have an insanely strong Python to take on anything on PVE.

The standard (A rated or Bi-Weave) are not bad at all, they serve their purposes. Bi-Weave recharge very fast, I use them in my Chieftain with some engineering and get the job done.

Keep in mind prismatics consume considerably more power, you can play around with your build in Edsy. https://edsy.org/

gl cmdr! o7

[Karax]

bi weave is better for pvp...recharges faster, lower defense.

You are better off with standard shield.

Prismatic shields you gotta work for (being pledged for 4 weeks), they have a ton more defense, but if your shield is broken... you are better off running off in Super cruise, cause it will never come back online.

[Mr Robert House]

Prismatics are good for brief combat, like top tier assassination missions, or more extended combat if you have cell banks, but you will need cell banks as the base recharge is terrible. If a prismatic drops, it’s down for an eternity. They’re also good for surviving interdictions.

Bi weaves are good for drawn out combat like massacring hundreds of pirates, and also good on hull tanks, as they’ll quickly recharge over and over soaking some damage.

It isn’t really about the size of the ship, it’s about what you want the ship to do.

[Lightning]

Depends. For bounty hunting and massacre missions, definitely Bi-weave for the continuity of gameplay. For assassination and trading where combat doesn't take long, Prismatic. If you can't decide which job to take, I'd say just pick Bi-weave as it can be more of a general purpose shield.

As for standard shields, they are like burst beams. Trying to be a middle ground, so it's half-a**.

[Seqan]

Most of the information here is extremely solid, but has left something out. High power Prismatics can be regenerated quickly using the reboot/repair option. Run this while safe and you can bring your shields back online to 50%. THIS DOESN'T WORK WHILE RECEIVING FIRE, HOWEVER, and you'll be vulnerable while this is running for obvious reasons.

I tend to run bi-weave on small, standard on medium, and prismatic on large ships for the reasons already outlined here.

Whatever you do, engineering is your friend.

[Witcher]

I use Bi-Weave only in all my ships Med to Large.

[bad coffee]

The other use for prismatics is using a smaller shield on a trade ship for more cargo capacity, while still having the strength of the larger shield.

[Mr Robert House]

Rebooting prismatics never works for me and i have no idea why, even with no hostile ships within my 10km sensor range.

[Gnade]

Thanks for all the informations. I decided for the standard shields on my phyton.
Grade 5 Reinforced with fast charge Effect.

[Ylion]

Originally posted by Mr Robert House:

Rebooting prismatics never works for me and i have no idea why, even with no hostile ships within my 10km sensor range.

you don´t reboot the shields, you have to reboot/repair the ship

[Mr Robert House]

Originally posted by Ylion:

Originally posted by Mr Robert House:

Rebooting prismatics never works for me and i have no idea why, even with no hostile ships within my 10km sensor range.

you don´t reboot the shields, you have to reboot/repair the ship

yeah, it doesn’t work, i tried 5 times in a row at one point

[CoffeeBean]

Originally posted by Gnade:

Thanks for all the informations. I decided for the standard shields on my phyton.
Grade 5 Reinforced with fast charge Effect.

Take a look at this and pay attention to the resistance, the recharge time and move down the page to look at how much time the shield would hold agains't a stock corvette.

6A G5 reinforced + fast recharge https://s.orbis.zone/d_-o

With shield booster https://s.orbis.zone/d_-e

With a 4A shield cell bank https://s.orbis.zone/d_-l


6C bi-weave G5 thermal resistance + thermal block https://s.orbis.zone/d_-8

With shield booster https://s.orbis.zone/d_-g

With a 4A shield cell bank https://s.orbis.zone/d_-m

[JL::Jose-Juan Kenobi]

Originally posted by Mr Robert House:

Originally posted by Ylion:

you don´t reboot the shields, you have to reboot/repair the ship

yeah, it doesn’t work, i tried 5 times in a row at one point

it does work for me, just tried this for the first time with the Corvette last night.
It only regenerates up to 50%

[Greg]

With the Python (and a few others).....
1) you are a good pilot and you know how to fly your ship in battle
2) your ship is fully engineered and properly equipped
3) the Prismatic shield will not need to be recharged while in battle other than double banking

to get your pennies in an uproar
Bi-weaves are for hit and run