OK, I'll try to answer some of your questions. There are 3 types of shields in Freelancer: Graviton, Positron and Molecular. Positron and Molecular have the same strength, while Graviton is the strongest. However, you can only buy Graviton shields up to level 8, level 9 for Molecular and level 10 for Positron, so chances are that past level 30 you'll end up with a Positron shield. However, stick with a Graviton shield until then.

Weapons have a certain hull/shield damage ratio. They do extra damage against 1 certain type of shields, but less against another type of shield. The most common weapons in the game are laser, which are strong against Positron, but weak against Graviton. Hint: only a few weapons are strong against Graviton.

You can see what you ennemies use by scanning their ships. Or there are tables or guides available on the web that can help you.

When planning on what weapons to use, don't forget to think about energy consumption and refire rate. To get an accurate picture of how power draining a weapon is, just multiply refire rate X energy consumption = total energy drained (per second?). Usually, laser and photon weapons have the fastest refire rate, with weapons like tachytron and particle with an average fire rate, and plasma weapons with a slow refire rate.

Other hint: try matching your weapons as to be strong enough against all types of shield. Plus, avoid equipping your ship with only 1 kind of weapons.

At any rate, that's what I can think of.

I've always been confused as well, so I just make sure I have at least 1 Pulse weapon mounted(does more shield damage than hull) and then when the shields are down, it doesn't matter what kind of weapon it is, because it's pounding the hull.

Trent: It's not the time, it's the sides that keep changing.

thank you, this helps.

Graviton shields are have more strength than positron or molecular. They are resistant to laser, photon, and pulse. Graviton shields are weak against particle and plasma weapons.

Positron shields and equal in strength with molecular and are resistant to neutron and tachyon weapons. Lasers, photon, and pulse guns do more damage to positron shields.

Molecular shields are strong against plasma and particle; weak against tachyon and neutron. In general, molecular shields are better than positron because they are not weak against pulse which destroys shields.

If a weapon is strong against a particular type of shield, when it is used against that type of shield its shield damage will have a 20% bonus. When it is used against a shield type it is not effective against, it's shield damage will have a 20% penalty.

Sometimes, I use the class 8 graviton shield instead of the class 10 positron shield on my eagle because it is resistant to pulse but generally I stick with the shield that has the most strength. The class 8 graviton only comes with the titan.

Lasers and photons are similar but photons are usually more damaging. They move fast and have high refire rates. Pulse guns do lots of shield damage. Also, when a pulse gun strikes hull, it will take away some of the target ship's power based on how much shield damage it has. Tachyon guns have long range and high speed. However, tachyon guns are not efficient guns. Neutron guns are very efficient but they have lower range and are weak. Plasma guns are high damaging guns that are as efficient as neutron guns. However, they move slow and have low refire rates. Particle guns use more energy than plasma, but have better speed and refire rate. Not including class 10 weapons, particle guns are the most powerful weapons in the game.

I don't have multiple types of weapons on my ship because it will usually result in different refire rates and speeds. Just stick with one type of weapon and one or two pulse guns.

Edited by - VroomZo on 7/17/2004 6:26:26 PM

Although theses statements are all true, the differences in actual gameplay are minimal, and there really isn't a benefit to switching which sheild you use where. Generally, going with the highest sheild hit points is the best strategy.

lol, just follow the best shield. graviton is the best for all types of guns. ps: it has highest hit point for any shield

It does, but in an unmodded game you can't get Graviton shields above class 8, so if you want the strongest shield period you want the class 10 Positron one

I'd say Outcast weapons are the strongest. But that might be only me... Lasers are ok in early game because they don't consume too much power. But later tachytron, particle, photon and neutron weapons become better choices. Plasma usually suck because they consume a lot of power but have a low speed, so they are easy to avoid...

I personally never bother considering it, it doesn't actually have all that much effect IMO. I just get the strongest shield I can lay my hands on and the most powerful and fastest firing weapons (has to be a balance there). After all, if you can take down a shield in a few shots anyway (hint- get anti-shield weapons like tizona del cids) then the effect of this 'advantage' is negligable.

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