Ship's Armor
 

Here I want to discuss which you think is the best armor you think to use on any ship as I am having diffculty understand which is the best to use for my sovereign class. Even though canonly it is stated to have ablative armor but in the game you have Neutronium Alloy which can protect a ship from all kinetic and energy types in the game and its highest mark is 12. So which would you use the genereal, the canonly stated ablative armor or the Neutronium Alloy? I know each armor has a specific use depending who your fighting against but here i would like to know which one would you use overall?


Edit: I do apologise if a thread like this has been made before I have looked but could not find one and I have also looked on STO wiki but it doesn't give alot of details on the subject other than a chart.

You have a Sovereign which has 4 eng consoles.

I will assume that one of those is taken up by the +35% shield capacity console because I don't think anyone should leave spacedock without it. :D

That leaves three spots for armor assuming you do not wish to make use of any other types of console.

In the case of using all three slots for armor;

• Neutronium Alloy
• Tetraburnium Alloy
• Diburmium Alloy

Diburmium is specifically tailored to fight off phasers and Disruptors, the two most common weapon types you will face.
Neutronium strikes a nice balance between kinetic and all-energy protection.
Tetraburnium covers the rest of the energy spectrum that Diburmium doesn't cover.

So you get one 'layer' of kinetic protection and two 'layers' of energy protection with slightly extra phaser/disruptor resistance.

If you only want to use two consoles for armor I suggest;

• Neutronium Alloy
• Ablative Hull Armor

Neutronium because it covers both energy and kinetic, Ablative because it covers phasers and Disruptors plus several other energy types.

If you only want to use one armor console I suggest Neutronium because it protects against both energy and torpedoes.

LOL I try to avoid using my 35% maxium shield cap. When fighting I have noticed with the 1 or 4 slots filled Neutronium Alloy imy hull strenght still drops at the same rate even with any other type o armor/alloy used. Could it be that ther armors/alloys are bugged?

I cast my vote for Neutronium Alloy. My preference is that no ship should be without this armor, much like people say to always have the +35 cap to shields console (Which I recommend on all ships except the defiant)
This armor protects you from all energy, and kinetic damage. There are three most common weapon types in the game.(If you are only doing FED vs FED PvP, which is what I do) Phaser, Tetyon, & Anti-Proton.
Since I fly the defiant, I can't afford to have more then two armors, so I have Neutronium Alloy. If you can have two armors, Then I would do Ablative, and Neutronium Alloy. If you can devote 3 slots to armor, I would do +35 to kinetic, Ablative, and Tetraburnium. That will save you from pretty much all energy, and torpedoes.

Cool. May I ask why not have the 35% max shield cap for the defiant class?

Tetraburnium and Diburnium are the two I recommend. Covers I believe all energy types. From there, you can add kinetic or energy resists if you want, but those two are my primary suggestion.

Probably cause it only has 2 eng slots. I'm running the defiant, and I'm using Tetraburnium and Diburnium, as I mentioned above. If I used the field generator, I would be leaving my hull exposed to half of the damage types out there.

Think of it this way. Let's say you have around 6,000 shields on your defiant. Is it better to bump that up by 35%, or to add resistance to 30,000 hp of hull? In my opinion the extra 35% shield is less important than extra hull resistance. Paired with a hull repair ability, you can probably tank with your hull just as well as with your shield. Not that the Defiant can tank at all, mind you.

Also keep in mind that I believe the Defiant has an overall 90% shield modifier. Basically the defiant shields(and all escorts for that matter) are made of glass. You can use some boff skills to keep you in the fight for a while (reverse shield polarity) but in the long run if you plan to stick around, plan to be needing hull resists.

Also note that I'm talking about PVP here. You can get away with a lot in PVE that you can't in PVP.

I agree with this post. See, in my opinion, the 35% max shield cap console really is only good against alpha strikes. So lets say a klink, or a fed, decloaks and unloads everything he has at you. Your shields are basically what stops him from killing you. If your shields are only 6,000 he can do that pretty easily. But if your shields are 9,000, then it will take a little more firepower to take those shields down, and you will have a better chance of survival. With the Defiant-R,(and pretty much all escorts) I think it is best to hull tank since like the above post said,"Escorts have a shield modifier of .9). Cruisers have a shield modifier of 1.0, and Science vessals have a shield modifier of 1.3. With the aegis set, and the 35% max shield cap console, a Science ships shields can be 14,865. So with escorts, and especially the defiant, you want hull armor.

You don't want RSP on an escort because it only lasts for 6 seconds, and the second it ends, you are going to be dead. You are better going with Emergency Power to Shields 1 & 2.

OKay but using more than two types armour considered spamming? With PvE it won't matter of course but with PvP?

I recommend checking our the Armor Consoles section of this page :

http://www.stowiki.org/Engineering_Consoles