The tooltip of all converters is easy to understand, but there are couple things I'd like clarified:

 

1) Cost reduction perk:

- I hope the cost reduction from 20% to 10% does not also reduce the income to other power pool? I don't suspect it does, just want to be sure.

 

2) ammount swapped:

- Let's talk shield to engine converter. Description says that it would transfer 20% of my shield power to engine power. Now, on activation, it should take 10% (because upgrade) of my shield (~170) and put 20% of my shield (~340) to my engine. Obviously, since my engine capacity is only 110, that would be a bit overcharge, eh. Also, retroactively, engine to shield converter would add whopping ~10 shield. Obviously that is not how it works in practice, so, is it just that it does not "convert" nothing, it just drains 10% of my shield and adds 20% of my engine?

 

3) ammount swapped, vol.2, the most important one:

- Let's talk the shield to engine converter again. Last upgrade choice is between 10% (or was it 20) increase of total engine capacity or total shield capacity. Now, obviously, if it truly worked like "take percentage of shield, add that value to engine", then the upgrade to shield capacity would be better choice. 20% of 1870 shield is better than 20% of 1700 shield, making the ability more powerful in the heat of battle. But if it just drains 20% (10%) of shield and adds 20% engine, then obviously the engine capacity is better choice (20% of 121 is more than 20% of 110, again). Where lies the truth? Or does it just add a flat amount of energy, no matter what upgrade I chose?

 

Well now I see that what I wrote is kinda a mess. I hope you will understand what I mean if I add these nice numbers and ---nope, still mess.

 

What do you guys think about these? And are your reasons based on your wishes, logic, theory, experience, or even practical testing?

Thanks!

Edited April 9, 2014 by Slivovidze

I don't know if anyone knows the answers to your questions directly because Shield-to-Engine is kind of bad. Distortion is a better choice. If you want to buff your engines take Booster Recharge as your system. Edited April 9, 2014 by Kuciwalker

I'm not "thinking" of taking the shield to engine converter, I already roll with it for several months. I am now just looking for some clarifications to support my thoughts about slight tweaks.

 

You would be surprised by the great mobility and damage output provided by Nova with the converter and Targetting Telemetry. Of course the mobility is lesser than with Engine Recharge, nut not by much. And the shield itself sure has slow regen, but it is surprisingly strong and it does hold its own in combat.

If you'd want to continue promoting other shields over the Converter component, please refrain from doing so, because I have my experience and results to back me up, no matter what other possibilites you'd offer. (I used to fly Nova exclusively and thus have tried out a wide varriety of possible builds, if not all of them)

- no offense, of course, I just don't want much offtopic discussion, I just want my questions answered, if possible, and then this thread may die in silence.

I don't know if anyone knows the answers to your questions directly because Shield-to-Engine is kind of bad. Distortion is a better choice. If you want to buff your engines take Booster Recharge as your system.

 

Is that so?

 

OP, let them think it's bad if they want. More dominance for us. I am a mobility god among insects in my Blackbolt with S2E, especially now that everyone's "false mobility" from Barrel Roll has been nerfed.

 

As for your questions, consider Chris' answers on shield %'s last week (paraphrase: "Whenever you see a percentage of shields, assume it is a percentage of unmodified class base shields--we don't ever take a percentage of a percentage").

 

I suspect this means that S2E's active ability, unupgraded, costs 260 shields from both arcs (scout shield base is 1300 per arc, 20% of 1300 is 260). Once upgraded to reduce the cost, it costs 130 shields per arc and adds 20 engine points to your capacity (regardless of whether you have any upgrades or crew which increase engine capacity, because Scout base engine pool is 100 points). That's assuming the T2 upgrade means "20% - 10% = 10%", not "-10% of 20% = 18%". I'm fairly certain it's the former.

 

The interesting case is that I know you can use S2E's active ability even if one arc is empty. Does it take double the price from a single arc then? It doesn't seem to, but I'm not sure.

Edited April 9, 2014 by Nemarus

I suspect this means that S2E's active ability, unupgraded, costs 260 shields from both arcs (scout shield base is 1300 per arc, 20% of 1300 is 260). Once upgraded to reduce the cost, it costs 130 shields per arc and adds 20 engine points to your capacity (regardless of whether you have any upgrades or crew which increase engine capacity, because Scout base engine pool is 100 points). That's assuming the T2 upgrade means "20% - 10%", not "-10% of 20%", which would be 18%. I'm fairly certain it's the former.

 

The interesting case is that I know you can use S2E's active ability even if one arc is empty. Does it take double the price from a single arc then? It doesn't seem to, but I'm not sure.

 

Ah, so that means that the choice is rather just between more survivability or more mobility, rather than the strength of the active ability. Thanks.

 

To the second case, I'd say that it does take its 130 from the empty arc, but as it is already empty, it just goes from zero to zero.

Ah, so that means that the choice is rather just between more survivability or more mobility, rather than the strength of the active ability. Thanks.

 

To the second case, I'd say that it does take its 130 from the empty arc, but as it is already empty, it just goes from zero to zero.

 

Well, choosing the "I want more shields" option also means you'll be able to use S2E's active more before you run out of shields. It doesn't increase the amount that is transferred, but it increases the number of times you can transfer. 25% more shields is 325 more shields, which is 2.5 uses of S2E transfer ... which is 50 engine energy, which is more than the 25 that the "I want more engines" upgrade grants...

 

Note that the cooldown of S2E is 6 seconds once upgraded. That's the same as the shield regeneration delay. So if you use S2E as soon as it is ready every time, you'll never regain any shields. If you want to "break even" and keep the same level of shields while also feeding your engines, you have to wait to use S2E every 8 seconds (2 seconds of regen at 65.0 shields/second = 130).

 

If only we could get a Turbo Reactor

 

Over time (assuming you are using Regeneration Thrusters), the difference between S2Eing every 6 seconds and every 8 seconds is that:

* at 6 seconds, boosting costs net 3.0 engine power per second

* at 8 seconds, boosting costs net 3.8 engine power per second

 

If you've got a full energy tank, this means a difference of boosting for 32 seconds (S2Eing every 6 seconds) vs. boosting for 25 seconds (S2Eing every 8 seconds). And that's assuming you aren't Barrel Rolling.

 

Of course, you have to make the call yourself how much you want to conserve engine energy at the expense of shield, or maintain shield at the expense of higher engine energy loss. Of course, if you get where you're going and then don't take any damage for a few seconds, you make up all that shield loss anyway. And if you get where you're going and then don't boost, you get that engine energy back fairly quickly.

 

It's why S2E is my favorite component in the game It takes energy management to the extreme, making it a constant part of gameplay. You are rewarded for this additional mental tax with consistent mobility well beyond what any other ship can match--even those using Booster Recharge. Plus you get a shield capacity much bigger than anything else a Blackbolt or NovaDrive can field.

 

In my mind, there are several components like S2E that require deeper system understanding and moment-to-moment attention, but which are exceedingly (sometimes situationally) effective when used skillfully. S2E, Directional Shield, Charged Plating, Ion Cannons, Range Capacitor ... a lot of people look at all of these once, decide they are "kind of bad" and then proclaim how "the only obvious choice is <blah>".

 

And then they get farmed for 30 kills by people like me, in my S2E Blackbolt.

 

Not to say there aren't truly bad components. Ion Missile and Plasma Railgun come to mind....

 

 

 

Anyway, getting back on topic ... as for the "arc is empty" question, I guess I just find it funny that S2E steals 130 from both arcs, but you can still use it even if only one arc has <= 130 left (or so it seems). If neither arc has at least 130, then you can't use it and get an error message (or so it seems).

Edited April 9, 2014 by Nemarus

Honestly, I don't put half as much thought into using the Converter as you do...

 

When I need to get somewhere, I pop it on CD. It has not happened yet that I'd need to go so far that I'd consume more than the first shield arc. Then, when I arrive at location, the shield usually recharges while I do my stuff.

 

Then, if I need to escape, I don't give a damn about my shield values, I again pop Converter on CD. When I'm safe-ish, I rest and recharge both engine and shield.

 

Works brilliant, so far