Does upgrading armor/shield has any point?

[Tommy Smith]

Artifacts give hundredfold bigger bonuses that mere few points you can get by spending crapton of steel. Or, is there any other benefit?

[bullba1]

Shield Based Ship
A Shield based ship will have full shields with regen rather than health.
For a Shield Based Ship you have one of several choices.
1. Health To shield - Use an Artifact to convert Health into Shields and using the maximum Health Elite Tech. The Maximum Health Elite Tech on the Armor upgrade. This doubles your health and then the converter increases that yet again, giving you a massive boost.
2. Shield With Shield - Sometimes your artifacts will have shield combo's on your main artifacts rather than health and thus you must be creative. Instead of using the ever so common converter you should instead use the maximum Shield Elite tech to double your shield.
Health Based Ship
A health based ship will usually run full health and lots of armor.
Some Options for a Health based ship are much like the shield build reversed.
1. Shield To Health - Using an artifact to convert all shield into health while using the Maximum Shield Elite tech on Shield. Using the Improved Armor tech on Armor.
2. Health With Health. Like shield, sometimes your artifacts will have health combo's on your main artifacts rather than shield and thus you must be creative. Instead of using a converter you should instead use the maximum Health Elite tech to double your Health.

[CaptainPOCK]

You are supposed to help, not to confuse ._.

Upgrading your health as example gives you shorter cooldown on your healing ability and a higher effect, upgrading your shield shortens the cooldown if you hardened shield ability. Also, these points are base-points, not total points, they scale with your level.

[Moridin63]

If you are a shield based ship, you still want health incase they break through your shields.

If you are a health based ship, you still want shields and shield regen so you can heal your health.

[Tommy Smith]

While these explanations were very useful (thank you, bullba1 !), and gave me more insight into ship building, I am more curious on the upgrading shield/armor tech in the upgrade stations, than general stat boosting through artifacts. As far as I can see, armor tech gives full... 15 points, while level 30 arts can easily give ~+200 armor.

[CaptainPOCK]

The fact you are missing here is that all the stats you upgrade (armor, shield) are based on your base stats and your level... while the upgrades show +17 armor (for max upgrade), in reality the value is way higher... Here is a proof of a level 0 hull upgrade and a level 6 hull upgrade (no arts used, same ship)

http://i.epvpimg.com/7m1Ig.png (Level 0)
http://i.epvpimg.com/1Lfbg.png (Level 6)

The same counts for Health, Shield and Shield Regeneration. So no worries, the values shown there are actually higher. So you can safely upgrade your hull, shield without worrying that an artifact outclasses them...

[Tommy Smith]

Originally posted by Nightsky:

The same counts for Health, Shield and Shield Regeneration. So no worries, the values shown there are actually higher. So you can safely upgrade your hull, shield without worrying that an artifact outclasses them...

Yep, I totally missed that! Then it turns around my investment schedule. I still don't have millions of steel lying around for an upgrade, so I have to plan.

But... shield regeneration? That is... encouraging! I only wish there was some kind of full stat page for a ship.

[76561198290368660]

i don't really know. but i'm starting to get the hang of this game

[76561198334424633]

there is a page with ship stats
{LINK REMOVED}http://astroflux.org/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

click on ships

mind you the numbers.. . are just a rough idea...

my advice.. go all shields. and here is why

when you get damage, and your shields 'absorb all the damage' your resistance max is increased from 75% to I think 83.5% or something... That Alone makes shields more important than health or armor come end game..

but it depends on you... your artifacts.. your weapons... your ship... all that come into play..

[Tommy Smith]

Originally posted by SleazyGranny:

there is a page with ship stats
http://astroflux.org/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

click on ships

I meant in-game, like you get when clicking "X", but stats there are very incomplete.

There are ton of enemies that rip through shields like hot knife through butter. So far (level 55-ish) I think being balanced gives you more survival chance, but it's really beginning of the game.

[[CTR]Lamp]

Originally posted by Tommy 'Vatharian' Smith:

There are ton of enemies that rip through shields like hot knife through butter. So far (level 55-ish) I think being balanced gives you more survival chance, but it's really beginning of the game.

Basic rule of thumb is to get all ship upgrades to level 6. Once you are there then start to upgrade your elite techs. That's when more survivability comes into play. That and applying arts.

If you are dying fast. Think about resist arts. The higher the resists;the better (cap is 75%). Resists really do stop a lot of damge. Without them.. getting sliced like butter is exactly what happens.

Also, know your enemy. If the enemy is using Energy Weapons... use high Energy Resist art. If, it's using a combination of Energy and Kinetic dmg. Use both Energy and Kinetic resists.

Going to the wiki to view the enemy you are facing lets you know what type of damage they deal. Knowing that.. let's you have an idea of what arts you need in order to change your build to suit each enemy you face.

For the most part. Having Energy and Kinetic resists are recomended for almost the entire game. You only really need Corr Resists for specific enemies.

Eventually, you should start to find All Resist arts. Those are great but hard to find. Typically, the single resists have higher %. It's far easier to find a 50% energy resist than a 50% all resist.