Overview
Basic mechanics and also tips for advanced players
Intro
This Guide is still under construction. (like my english skills)
Be free to give some suggestions.
Shield mechanic
So how does Shielding work?
Shields add extra hitpoints to our ship. The shield will only regenerate, if the energy bar is full! At best condition the Heavy Shield Generator can regenerate his full shield in 12 seconds! So keep this in mind. There are diffrent version with their own strenght:
Heavy Shield Generator – very balanced, comes with strong regeneration
Cost: 100$
Shield: 100
Regeneration: 8/s
Mass: 50T
Light Shield Generator – less weight per amount of shield it give, but more expensive
Cost: 65$
Shield: 50
Regeneration: 4/s
Mass: 20T
Shield Capacitator – a bit more shieldpints per cost, but less than half regeneration
Cost: 30$
Shield: 40
Regeneration: 0.96/s
Mass: 15T
Do Shields stack?
Yes, they stack. If u have 2 Heavy Shield Generators you have 200 shieldpoints and a regeneration of 16/s (=8/s+8/s). But the size (diameter) of the bubble doesnt stack. The bubblesize is determinante by a circle at the center of mass around the ship.
Do Shields use energy?
No, they dont require extra energy. But they only regenerate when the energy bar is full. This is some kind of balancing.
Shield vs Armor
So when are shields better then armor? Heavyweight Armor cost 8 times less per hitpoints, but lacks the ability of regeneration. Armor is prefered for first-line units, that may have no time to regenerate or do not recharge fast. So shielded units are prefered for kiting. Also shields come stronger as they stack, because breaking a shield become more difficult.
Cloak mechanic
Cloak generator
Cost: 20$
Mass: 5T
Powerusage: 400E/s
While cloaked, a ship becomes invunerable to damage, except Area-of-Effect-Damage and LookOnMissles. Also the ship cannot be targeted by weapons.
How cloaking works
Cloaking depends on the mass of the ship. I singel Cloak generator can cloak up to 60T per second. This is visualized by the healthbar becoming transperent. While moving the ship loses 40% of his cloak per second. This means a Cloak generator can only support 150T mass per module, while moving. Ships can still be bigger, but the cloak while not support it while moving. The ship becomes immediatly decloaked, when it fires or getting touched by an enemy ship.
For more informations see: [link]
Thrusters
Scout Thruster
Cost: 20$
Thrust: 1360 kN
Mass: 15T
Powerusage: 144E/s
Fighter Thruster
Cost: 45$
Thrust: 2080 kN
Mass: 15T
Powerusage: 192E/s
Cruiser Thruster
Cost: 65$
Thrust: 4320 kN
Mass: 60T
Powerusage: 208E/s
Bulk Thruster
Cost: 35$
Thrust: 2880 kN
Mass: 70T
Powerusage: 48E/s
Interceptor Afterburner
Cost: 145$
Thrust: 14400 kN
Mass: 80T
Powerusage: 2880E/s
Which thruster shall i use?
The great question. So which thruster gives the most speed for his cost? This depends on the speed.
Via Excel i ploted this graph which shows speed against mass. X-axis shows some kind of mass and the y-axis the speed. This is all relativ to the cost. Energy costs are not considered.
So for some reason the resolution is too low after downloading.
Light Blue = Interceptor Afterburner
Red = Fighter Thruster
Dark Blue = Scout Thruster
Green = Cruiser Thruster
Violett = Bulk Thruster
The results are:
The cost efficient thruster in all cases is the Interceptor Afterburner. But the huge powerusage makes it very situational. Also Scout Thruster gives a little advantage in some cases, but his relative powerusage is very high.
Most cost-effective thrusters by speed:
> 340 m/s => Fighter Thruster
140m/s – 340m/s => Cruiser Thruster
< 140m/s => Bulk Thruster
Keep in mind that Bulk Thruster is very powerefficient. So its still more effective at 140m/s than Cruiser Thruster. The same goes for Fighter Thruster vs. Cruiser Thruster at 340m/s.