Originally Posted by Nagorak

Don't try "hull tanking". That just doesn't work. If the enemies are hitting you hard enough to actually get your shields down, then your hull is going to be slagged in about 10 seconds. As soon as your shields are down, the next torpedoes or mines that hit you do massive damage.

In my opinion for a cruiser, the regenerative shields are the best. In easy encounters that don't last long, it's not going to matter what shield you have. If the enemy ship dies quickly it most likely isn't a major threat and isn't going to be putting out that much damage.

In a challenging encounter, the battle will last long enough for regen shields to come out ahead. If you're being pressured and you put yourself on shield power setting, you'll be regening at three times the normal rate and regen catches up that much faster.

Generally if a group of enemies hits you so hard that you absolutely can't maintain your shields with power transfer and Emergency Power to the Shields, then the extra capacity of a covariant shield is only going to last a few seconds anyway.

The extra 5% shield absorption doesn't matter much on a cruiser with a strong hull. On a science ship, which has pretty strong shields but a weak hull, those might be a good choice.

For an escort that doesn't plan on taking a lot of fire, the higher capacity shields are probably better, because they allow for more hit and run tactics. Head in, nail the enemy and then get back out of range before drawing too much fire. If you're not going to sit there slugging it out then going with a regen shield won't benefit you.

Originally Posted by Nagorak

Don't try "hull tanking". That just doesn't work. If the enemies are hitting you hard enough to actually get your shields down, then your hull is going to be slagged in about 10 seconds. As soon as your shields are down, the next torpedoes or mines that hit you do massive damage.