I managed to get aboard a Junker base and I bought Rampart shileds for my Starflier, and they work VERY well. If I can get more money I'll buy a Patriot.

"Life against remotes is one thing. Life against the living? That's something else."
-Han Solo, Star Wars Epidode IV: A New Hope

I bought the level 2 shields for my patriot, I can kill anything in New York without landing for a VERY long time.

Well of course a shield with a higher capacity is better than a lower class shield. But what if you have a normal and a rampart shield with the same capacity and class - the only difference is then that the normal shield "offers improved protection from laser, photon and pulse weapons" while the rampart shield does the same for "plasma and particle weapons".

So I was wondering what that improved protection was, i.e. if you have a rampart shield and are attacked with plasma weapons what is you capacity compared to the normal shield with the same "base capacity".

Either way I have no problem surviving in New York but you know there probably is bigger fish behind those jump gates....

I understand your question but I don't know the answer. Maybe someone playing the full version can enlighten us as to whether or not positron or gravitron shields are better. I'd guess that most enemies are using weapons that are effective against both types, so they are probably similar in effectiveness.

Don't confuse the names of the shields with the TYPE of shield (tho, they will be related). What you are concerned with are the terms MOLECULAR, POSITRON, GRAVITON. They are the 3 TYPES. All the wepons will indicate they are more effective against one type and less effective against another. I seriously don't know what numerical value "effective" means, but from my experience it maybe as high as 33%. Some foes will eat my LVL 6 Graviton sheilds like candy and other's will be unable to make them move (with 4 or 5 foes almost constantly pounding me).

I'm not quite sure WHY, but the general concensus here is that GRAVITON shields are superior, but that's just stuff I've picked up. I guess I SHOULD look into it further.

I've only had the Marketing Beta for about a week, so maybe some of the beta testers around here could be more specific.

If you fly primarily in Liberty or Bretonian space, go buy a Rhineland shield and laugh at the Rogues and Xenos as they try to hurt you

(Xenos in Hudson are a different story!)

Shields make a difference. Later on in the game the weapons you will be facing can take you out pretty fast depending on your shield.

Case in point, I was in the Dublin system, exploring some of the jump holes. But I have bad rep with both Outcast, Bounty Hunters, and Junkers. After landing and changing shields, I was ripped to shreds. Even though it was of a higher capacity . . . let's just say it wasn't a pretty sight.

Whatever you do, don't try going to Rheinland when you're still around level 6 with a Defender. As soon as I arrived from the jump gate, before I even had control of my ship, I was dead. There was some group guarding it, and they got what they came for, apparently.


Stormtrooper Tactics 101: Okay class, repeat after me. "There he is! Blast em!" Very good.

So shield types have a big influence then - nice

Now all we need to know is who (and where) is using what kind of weapon....
Anyone with the full version cares to compile a list? Or maybe run a few MP tests?

I had the same question about the shield types as well.

As far as I know, I used graviton shields until I hit Bretonian space. Once there, I was shredded by the Outcasts, Bount Hunters, Mollys, and by the Rhineland Valkryies when doing the story missions. The Rhineland Valkryies did the worse; they shot those damn green particle weapons at me, which just shredded my graviton shields.

So I switched to positron shields, and I found out that while the Rhineland Valkryies still depleted my shields, they didn't shred it. However, when I was going up against several pirates who had Drails or Scorpions, my positron shields got shredded.

I noticed that graviton shields have more damage capacity (i.e. HP) than positron or neutron shields, but positron / neutron shields regen faster.

I think later on in the SP campaign, most ships use gun types that shred graviton shields easily, so in theory, it would be better to switch to positron or neutron shields. On the other hand, I found out that whatever type of shield I use, if there's 4 or 5 enemies on me, my shield gets depleted quite fast no matter what the type is...

Although I'm probably wrong, I had the opposite effect when reaching Bretonia: I switched over to positron shields (keeping the lvl 3 graviton shield gotten from the Hackers base) and found that every random mission I took I was getting ripped a new one each time. (even death a few times, but that might be accounted by that I also stink at flight sims ;P)

To Summarize: Graviton - Random MIssions; Positron - Storyline German missions?