Talk:Tanking skills

It is important to note that the (Capital Armor) Repair Systems skill(s) can cripple your tank if you increase them to the point that the faster cycle time results in your capacitor being drained away, forcing you to "pulse" your reppers instead of letting them run continuously. A build that is only barely cap-stable at Repair Systems 3 can actually end up tanking less DPS at Repair Systems 5, because it ends up spending more time turned off than turned on.

This also affects rigs that reduce module cycle times: the Nanobot Accelerator and the Core Defence Operational Solidifier. It does NOT affect the Shield Operation skill, as the skill affects your ship's innate shield recharge time, rather than the cycle time of any active modules. --Tatterdemalian 23:07, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

I subtly disagree with your point. The number of hitpoints repaired per unit of capacator does not change.

If the repairer uses less capacitor than the ship is capable of producing, the rep rate is limited by the repair rate of the repper itself. If the repper is capable of using more capacitor than the ship is capable of producing, then the ship's max sustainable rep rate is limited by the rate at which the capacitor recharges. Thus a faster repper is better.

Moreover, it is possible to improve your tank by increasing your capacitor recharge rate, for example by fitting capacitor power relays. Sandy Brown 01:21, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

If someone had said the number of hitpoints repaired per unit of capacitor changes, I would have disagreed with it too. However, that was not the point I made. Reducing the cycle time does not reduce the number of hit points repaired per unit of capacitor, nor does it increase it. It does, however, significantly increase both the amount of damage repaired per unit time, as well as substantially increase the amount of capacitor energy drained per unit time. If the capacitor is drained faster than it can recharge, even at its top recharge rate, the repper will have to shut down eventually. When the repper is shut off, it can no longer repair any damage, and the DPS your ship can tank will drop to either DPS tanked by the ship's passive shield regeneration in the case of shield tankers, or to zero, in the case of armor tankers.

I'm surprised I have to explain this, as it should be obvious that if the reppers on any armor tank are shut down for the lack of capacitor energy, the damage can no longer be tanked until the capacitor recharges. --Tatterdemalian 02:21, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

It is quite simple. By pulsing a repper, you are manually reducing its repetition rate. It is even possible to manually lower the repetition rate to cancel out the increased repetition rate from training repair systems to almost exactly replecate the slower repper's operation. Sandy Brown 07:35, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

Worst case scenario, you manually deactivate your repper to conserve cap. However, if you are taking a lot of damage, chances are your HP will run out before your cap. At least you have a choice on how much cap it consumes when manually deactivating it. I will take faster rep over slower rep any day... --ISD Salpsan 06:36, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

Suit yourself... I would rather repair more damage in a shorter time, than repair tiny amounts of damage quickly. It just seems more in line with the concept of "taking damage without getting destroyed by it." --Tatterdemalian 06:39, 11 January 2009 (UTC)