belt runs and getting yarded

there must be some rules which oversee what you encounter in a belt run, relative to your weapons, shields, etc. whatever they are, i seem to be getting yarded a lot lately.

The general rule

Weapons+Shields = the enemies you encounter

Weapons = the damage you do to enemies
Shields = nothing
Engines = your chance to evade being hit

In short, for survivability:
Engines>Weapons>Shields

If you keep getting walloped, uninstall your shields and pop on some engines

wait. seriously? shields don't help deep belt runs at all? That seems really strange. why bother having shields then?

i've been keeping my stats pretty even, putting the research into whichever one is the lowest when it comes time to click, and yeah, i've noticed lately that i've been getting smeared a lot more than about a week ago. I must have crossed some stat-threshold or something.

: \.

Just to make sure I understand... so the defense stat is only useful against other players? Against NPCs it's just weapons and engines?

Bingo

JKWSN_ wrote:Bingo

Cool, thanks for explaining that. Changed my gear accordingly. Belt runs much improved.

Shield do actually help - but not nearly so much as guns... but they boost the strength of your opponents just as much as guns it seems (whereas engines are a wild card).

Once you hit a certain level/stats most enemies you meet will have a secondary weapon, and these are the NPC version of critical and ignore shields to a lesser or (more frequently) greater amount. But even then shields still reduce their damage a small amount.

Generally you will want to have zero malfunction chance, and as much guns, drives and armour (for hull) as you can. The exact balance depends on your stats and what you tend to meet... Adding additional shields is not worth it, but raw-stat turtles can still succeed in belt running.

Thanks for this topic! I am now educated and doing much better in my deep belt runs as well!

since my last post, i've increased my engines considerably, and still seem to be getting yarded as frequently. porkrinds. back to cranking up the weapons, i think.

Really not looking forward to going back to Sol and the DB - the AC belt is incredibly forgiving and insanely lucrative. I'm unlucky if I get yarded more than once a day and I'll often get more than 6k in a single run.

Why are you all wasting your fuel on belt runs?? 6 fuel = 1 raid, and I get a minimum of 1.5K per raid (assuming cargo of 30K).
You can easily find loads of cows sitting around with their cargo for more than 10 seconds - ample time to raid them at least once.

I'd suggest trying the raider lifestyle - it is addictive
Come on over to the dark side!

IMO i DB because it takes less thought than raiding. The last several weeks have been very busy irl and I've been Pirating via my phone more often than not. It's just easier to DB that way. And even when I'm on the computer, I haven't had a ton of time. I kinda sorta want to get into raiding a bit more, but ... having the DB there as an acceptable means of dumping fuel is kinda nice. Even when the belt bites back : x.

Belt runs get experience as well as cargo, and can get items too if you are lucky (though less often since they altered the methods a year or more ago).

Also belt runs might get you yarded once per run. Raids can get you yarded a lot more than once per raid

If you runs are not working or you regularly fail to get through a tank of fuel then try replacing a gun with a drive... My current belter load is 6 drives, 8 guns and an MTC. I'm wondering about dropping the malfy gun and the MTC for 2 more drives... Maybe should try that for a week and let you know how it goes. (I don't use armour because I'm lazy about waiting for it to refill the hull when I put it on)