Armour and Shields

Armour

Armour is skin of the fleet, and it is by this skin that the fleet survives.

Armour costs the same per strength point at the first rating (thickness) as it does at the last.

However, it takes more armour to cover the ship the thicker the armour is since the ship is becoming larger with each added layer.

This can be helped quite a bit by Armour tech increases.

But, Armour has positive negative sides.

Positive

Armour has a great strength per ton ratio compared to other ship components.

A ship with more armour rating can take much (deeper) hits from lasers and still have its internals intact.

Negative

Armour slows a ship down with its weight.

Armour adds to the breakdown chance of a ship.

Armour takes maintenance supplies to repair.

Overrall look at Armour

Now Armours main issue is it slows down your ship, but large heavily armored ships aren't meant to chase down the enemy and beat them, they are to meet the enemy's attack front on and beat them off while surviving the battle.

Armour on smaller ships is where this issue lies. Small ships under 10,000 tons require minimal Armour to reach high speeds.

These ships can also be considered of negligible risk to use as well so it is fine to armour them lightly for the possibility to close with

the enemy and unload their lethal cargo all the sooner. But they need to actually close with the enemy without dying which bring about the age old problem Armour, Speed, Firepower, Pick 2.

Ok so here we are.

I have Armour rating 13 on my ship now, that is a total weight of 4585 tons. providing a total of 1100.4 Armour strength

If i did that Tonnage amount in (3 strength 300 recharge shield) I would have only 276 shield strength!

92 shields x 50 weight each = 4600 tons, and the cost is actually just slightly cheaper than armor at that weight amount, 100 less cost.

but those 92 shields will regenerate 1 shield strength each every 100 seconds. (total recharge time is 300 seconds for a 3 strength shield)

so that is 92 damage you wont be taking against normal weapons every 100 seconds.

BUT 276 total damage stoppage by shields is... very anemic. that is only 50x6 strength missiles to blast right through! That is just 1 salvo from some NPR's!

Shields

Shields are the buffer between the armor and the incoming weapons fire.

Shields have a few positives and negatives as well.

Positives

Regenerate at variable speed depending on technology researched.

While they are up and running, require no maintenance to repair as they take damage.

Negatives

Strength per ton is much worse than armor at every point.

Nearly same cost as armour for worse protection.

General Shield Info

For weight they arent worth it at all when alone, and other than for ships that are large and meant for decade long voyages through enemy space you should think carefully about your approach to using them en mass.

shield strength tech goes from 1-15 per shield generator.

by lvl 3 strength you begin generating a noteworthy amount of protection along with recharge.

by lvl 10 strength you have a fairly decent protective field around the ship per generator. Take into account that with lvl 10 shield recharge you would have

10x94 = 940 shield strength at 4600 tons. That is the point where you can start exchanging shields for armor and easily shields would do better than armor due to regeneration technology! That is... if you dont take into account Armour advancing at the same pace.