Basically, it switches shield strength and regeneration priority between the forward and rear shields. Unfortunately, it has to completely drop the un-prioritized shield in order to do this. On top of this, you have to cycle through the settings from forward, rear, to default. This means, if you want to go back to default shields, you need to lower both shields and start regenerating from red.

 

It just seems like too much risk for little reward. For something that sounds versatile, from what little description the tooltip provides, I still think Quick Regen shields are infinitely more useful than these.

 

Or maybe I'm just terrible. I don't know. Has anyone else tried these out, too?

Ya, I thought it would be great, but when I tried it I am just not twitchy enough to keep track of it. So far, for me the quick regen shield is the best, but I admit the directional is probably better for someone whose really good at the game.

I have used them well on some ships esp if trying to go head to head with another ship. And in some cases with a ship on your 6 you can gain a few seconds. But this seems to rely on you having your power converter set to shields also.

At the moment (although I don't have the full upgrades) they seem a lot of effort for little gain. YES they are fantastically Starwarsy but I feel they need more power when set to double front or double rear as the risk of having no shield in the other direction is a big risk.

Also on a slightly side note maybe this is not helped by the UI as you have to cycle through the modes (with a slight cool down) rather than having a setting for each available. This mean if your in the furthest from optimal setting it take a precious few seconds to get them in the right direction.

 

So to agree with the OP please give these a boost to make the "double" setting a big gain for the effort of manually choosing them and timing it right.

I really love my directional shields but you NEED to get the first upgrade, which stops it from draining shield power for using it (it's only 1k so it's not going to break your req points)

 

Although I do wish there were a way to bind keys to which side you wanted the shield on. Also, it does make a difference to the amount of shield you have on the active side. It will make the active side blue, which is a stronger shield.

Directional Shields are the best shields available for most ships. They have no penalty to capacity (unlike Quick-Charge, which have a -30% capacity).

 

Some key things to note:

If you do not have the first upgrade (1000 req), you will lose power each time you change the angling. So make sure to pick up this upgrade.

 

Some reasons why DS are great:

 

1) Someone on your tail and eating through your shields? Hit 2 once and your butt is covered.

 

2) Preparing to attack a turret? Hit 2 twice and you'll destroy it well before it gets to your hull. "Angle your deflector shields, double front!"

 

3) Did your shields get out of whack and unbalanced? Hit 2 thrice and they are evenly distributed once more. "Stabilize your rear deflectors!"

 

Yes, DS require more attention than most other shield types, but that's why they are fundamentally more powerful. If you aren't minding them, you're getting no advantage. Though you definitely need to get the first upgrade before you do any angling. Without it, DS are very strong if left alone, but angling is much too costly.

 

Directional Shields are straight out of X-wing and TIE Fighter, which took them from A New Hope.

Edited December 5, 2013 by Nemarus

Directional Shields are the best shields available for most ships. They have no penalty to capacity (unlike Quick-Charge, which have a -30% capacity).

 

Some key things to note:

If you do not have the first upgrade (1000 req), you will lose power each time you change the angling. So make sure to pick up this upgrade.

 

Some reasons why DS are great:

 

1) Someone on your tail and eating through your shields? Hit 2 once and your butt is covered.

 

2) Preparing to attack a turret? Hit 2 twice and you'll destroy it well before it gets to your hull. "Angle your deflector shields, double front!"

 

3) Did your shields get out of whack and unbalanced? Hit 2 thrice and they are evenly distributed once more. "Stabilize your rear deflectors!"

 

Yes, DS require more attention than most other shield types, but that's why they are fundamentally more powerful. If you aren't minding them, you're getting no advantage. Though you definitely need to get the first upgrade before you do any angling. Without it, DS are very strong if left alone, but angling is much too costly.

 

Directional Shields are straight out of X-wing and TIE Fighter, which took them from A New Hope.

 

It sounds similar but as I recall in those games (which I loved) you didn't have to cycle through the different settings and could bind different buttons to set power to rear, front, or even. I may be wrong though, it's been years since I played those games.

 

Regardless I agree that being able to bind specific keys to front, rear, and even would be a good step in truly tapping their potential.