Damage/Shield Mitigation Questions

OK, sorry if these have been answered.  I've done my best to search and scour on this topic and I'm still not 100% clear. 

1)  The general gist is:  the more damage a vessel takes, the less effective firepower becomes on the vessel, right?

2)  Are damage & shield mitigation the same things, just one applies to reducing damage to hull and one applies to reducing it to shields?

3)  So I understand for this reason that I generally don't want to focus fire on a single target with a big fleet.  So, one option is to let the AI pick targets.  However, in some situations, I absolutely want to destroy a particular enemy vessel first -- for example, an Advent Battlecruiser that keeps casting shield restore.   How can I tell what the right amount of vessels are to have firing on it, without wasting firepower?

 

 

 

 

6,320 views 2 replies
Reply #1 Top
1. To a certain point(the mitigation cap), you get diminishing returns. After that, mitigation goes no higher and more fire can be piled on for no further penalty.

2. Damage mitigation is mentioned in the manual, but I'm not sure if it actually exists. The hull already gets mitigation from Armor, so I do not understand why it would need another layer of defense.

3. Focus fire is in fact better because mitigation WILL eventually cap out no matter what unless you're doing <12.5 DPS(which is pathetic). Of course, focus fire is best with groups of units attacking targets according to what's best against what, like Fighters -> Bombers & LR Frigates, Bombers -> Capitals & Heavy Cruisers, Light Frigates -> Flaks & Support Cruisers, etc.

The right amount of vessels to fire on one target are as many as possible, but of the correct damage type for that target. It's useless to send all your Fighters after a Capital Ship when there are Bombers around to kill. For Vasari, with Phase Missiles, focus fire is a complete no-brainer with more shots being fired translating into more missiles bypassing shields(and mitigation), meaning less firepower wasted on mitigation and repair/regen.
Reply #2 Top
OK, this is very helpful, thanks. Still getting the hang of how to appropriately micro manage my battles. Any other tips would be appreciated...