Amp Gems and shields

[joe130794]

Just wondering what Amp Gems do when mounted to a ship. I'm currently on mission 6 and have been playing on custom levels and I just wondered what they do when mounted. I noticed the bridge of the ships look different but didnt know if they have a impact on weapons and such.

Also is it better to have a few shield generators or does one suffice given enough power. I made a battlestation and it can take a lot of hits but it eventually drains the power tanks. I didnt know if it might be better having one shield generator or multiple generators.

Thanks in advance.

[knucracker]

Whenever a section of hull takes damage from something, a shield will reduce that damage by some amount.

D = Damage from a particle, emergent, etc. (D=1 for a soft particle, 3 for a hard particle, and much more, like 20, for a large emergent)
E = Damage after the shield reduction

E = D / (1+Shield_Count + 0.2*Amp_Gem_Count)

So for example:
E = D when there are no shields and no amp gems
E = D/2 when there is a shield and no amp gem
E = D/3 when there are two shields and no amp gem
E = D/2.2 when there is a shield and an amp gem
And...
E = D/1.2 when there is no shield but there is an amp gem.

That last one may come as a surprise... an amp gem makes a ship a bit tougher, even without a shield present.

[Sorrontis]

Thank you Joe for asking this question. I was curious about how shields worked, and this gave me my answer. Virgil, thanks for the details. I need to rethink some ship designs.

[Darkmega]

so if I took say my vanguard ship, 4 shields, a tank, and more hull than a hammer it'd be like.... E=D/8 or something, cause each shield is 2, but then it becomes /9 when an amp is thrown on?  Yum. No wonder that thing is basically unsinkable from the front when it gets enough power to go indefinitely and just sits there... are ram collisions and missiles etc similar damage? like 3 for crashing through armor hull, 1 for normal hull, feels like 2 or so for a missile impact etc?

[GoodMorning]

The words "virtual particle" are relevant here.

A shield module takes (correct me if I'm wrong) 15eps to run, so more than two shields will be constantly draining internal energy. Perhaps with a Guppy fleet onboard...

[Relli]

so if I took say my vanguard ship, 4 shields, a tank, and more hull than a hammer it'd be like.... E=D/8 or something, cause each shield is 2, but then it becomes /9 when an amp is thrown on?

Actually you got that completely wrong. You're assuming each shield counts as 2, but they only count as one. Four shields plus the initial 1 from being a ship that is alive comes out to E = D/5. If you add the amp gem, it's not D/6, just D/5.2. Which is still amazing. But it's no D/9.
And I knew there was a good reason to give a Hammer an Amp Gem :D

[Tigershawk]

Interesting that you use "Amp gem count".  I wonder if that implies there could be times when you could mount multiple amp gems on a ship.

[Darkmega]

that was my bad for looking at the math wrong. >_> cause I see it now. normal is one, and a shield basically just adds one to make D/3, I took the D/2 to meaning that a shield is worth 2 damage reduction. -_-'. but the entirety only getting .2 with an amp and not .2 for each wasn't mentioned so thanks for yet another dunking on after a misunderstanding, Relli. :P
but still, not too bad. So my missile ramming ship used for chain stomping doppels only takes a third damage (2 shields and a tank so it can withstand the drain while charging in, behind several layers of armor with high thrust), which is pretty good actually. I've had it take out a Varro from the side, and make it retreat from the front after taking all three rounds after another, so pretty good.

@Goodmorning, shields are on auto, so it's not perpetually on, so sometimes it gets energy back, I just gotta turn off the particle beams or just set them to plasma sometimes so it's not perpetually using literally all it's energy slowing stuff down it should just be eating and then regenning through, but it's got a tank between the shields and a guppy right at the rear, but it's mostly for sitting right at the front usually with a tanker near it just soaking up and drawing aggro while my frigates and other things hammer away. while constantly repairing and like the missile. It's quite spectacular to watch the full brunt of the particulate come down on it and it just repairing through it. then of course, it can get it's hands dirty and reverse eat a few doppels from time to time.

[The_Mell]

Interesting that you use "Amp gem count".  I wonder if that implies there could be times when you could mount multiple amp gems on a ship.

Or he is just lazy&intelligent and avoided some 'if'-constructs. ;)