Disassembling shields

[bankshot (OP)]

Excavation of the ruins on Gilese 526-A II uncovered a cache of 97x Delta R300/420 shields.   As I am currently researching Beta shields this is a major find.   Based on what I've read on other salvage questions I assume I should at minimum complete my research into Beta shields and shield regeneration rate 1. 5 before disassembling any of these so I dont waste research points.   But several questions remain:

1) Is completing Beta enough or do I also need to partially or fully research Gamma shields to properly make use of these? Ditto Shield Regen 1. 5 vs.  2.

2) Does the number of research labs matter?  I only have one lab on Gilese as terraforming is in progress.   Would I get better yields transporting the shields to Earth?

3) How large are these shields?  re: how much cargo capacity will I need to haul 97 shields?  Is this a one-freighter job (1x standard 25KT cargo hold), a 5-freighter Task Group job, or will I need to set up a repeating cargo haul?

4) How would I go about constructing/refitting ships with whatever shields escape disassembly?  I created a new class design but I don't see the shields listed in Design View.   I know shields are designed systems but I thought captured components could be used even if the underlying design has not been researched yet.   

[Father Tim]

1.  That's more of a 'how do you run your empire' question.  I don't think there is a game-mechanics right answer.

2.  Only in that unfinished research projects can't be tranferred to other colonies.  If you were, for example, to end up with 90% of the research points needed for Delta Shields, you'd have to earn the remaining 10% at Gilese, or start from scratch at Earth.

3.  Looking at the components in the F2 'Population & Production' window should tell you their size in cargo points.  (I think it might be 1/5 of a Factory per shield generator.)

4.  There's a "Use Captured Components" checkbox you need to tick to design a ship using them.

[JacenHan]

To clarify on 1: Disassembling components gives you a small percentage (1-5%, I think) of research points toward the next level of that technology. So, if you disassembled them now, you would get points towards Beta shields, and if you waited till you finished that, you would get points toward Gamma shields. As mentioned, these points will only go toward the colony you disassemble them on. This mechanic means that, strictly speaking, it is most efficient to wait until you are able to research Delta shields, since 1-5% of 8000 RP is worth more than 1-5% of 2000 RP. The trade-off is fewer research points now versus more research points later, and the "right decision" totally depends on what situation your empire is in.

[bankshot (OP)]

Thanks for the info, my goal was to finish research for Delta shields and the associated shield regen.    if it is 1-5% that should be an average of 3% gain per disassembly, so if I fully research Beta shields and 1.  5 shield regen I should be able to complete Gamma and Delta research via disassembly, with some shields left over.    But if I just disassembled in place I would probably not complete Delta.   

I dispatched my high speed freighter for the pickup and  97 shields fit into a cargo hold with enough room leftover for room 375 Duranium, but curiously it still shows Available capacity as 24,347 even though no more minerals can be loaded.   

I didn't see any way to view component details on the stockpile screen of population and production.    But I unchecked "Own tech only" in ship design and the shields now show up - thanks for pointing me to that!  the component shows as size 1 under design spec, where a standard cargo hold is 500.    So the information I found on an earlier thread appears to be correct - ship components appear to use about 5x their Hull space in cargo size.

edit:  Somehow I messed up the URL link.   here it is:  http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=9699.0

[Father Tim]

edit:  Somehow I messed up the URL link.   here it is:  https://aurora2.pentarch.org/index. php?topic=9699.0

New people need at least ten board posts before they can share URLs.  It's an anti-spam thing.

[Michael Sandy]

Interestingly, you can design and build fighters and PDCs with enemy components without consuming any components.  So I occasionally make a Watchtower PDC that uses the best sensor I have, even if it is of alien design.

Disassembling becomes more and more research point effective the higher tier you go.  You get more bang disassembling a tier 4 when you have tier 3 than you do disassembling a tier 3 tech when you only have tier 1.  Also, if you have a research anomaly colony with a research lab on it, you get more points.  This knowledge is delaying a lot of my disassembling projects right now.

Getting the research lab to the anomaly world is easy, but I don't have enough of my own colony ships to get them manned.

[bankshot (OP)]

I expedited research into beta shields and 1. 5 shield regen.   After completing those I started disaseembling shields.   As JacenHan indicated I received 1-5% of the tech for the next level from each disassembly.   The distribution seemed pretty random, and it required 32 disassemblies to reach gamma shields and regen 2. 5.   Disassembling another 31 shields got me regen 2. 5, and I completed delta after 34.   So my shields are now tech level 4 after using 66 shields, and I still have 31 banked for my first set of missile warships.   

Next I plan to concentrate research on ceramic composite armor then missile  launcher and missile techs.   I am Ion Drive era tech, and I found a fleet design guide that seems geared towards my level by ser Bastian at https://imgur. com/a/yxqmw but it is 3 years old - is this still reasonably accurate or should I look elsewhere for guidance? 

[Garfunkel]

It'll be accurate, there have been no changes to Aurora in the last 3 years.