Varoth Drac wrote:I made these two proto suits for comparison. Both are pure tanked, rather than dual tanked and are as similar as I could make them whilst being racially appropriate.
Caldari assaultGallente assaultThe Caldari assault has 662 hp and regens shields in 11.8 seconds.
The Gallente assault has 702 hp and regens armour in 17 seconds.
So Gallente has better hp by 40, Caldari has better regen.
Perhaps a better comparison of regen would be what happens if either suit takes 400 damage from full hp.
The Caldari suit will regen fully in 9.7 seconds.
The Gallente suit will regen it's armour in 6.9 seconds, but will not even start regenerating shields until after 10 seconds. It will take the suit 19.7 seconds to return to full hp.
One final thing to consider is the armour regen on the Caldari suit. If the Cal assault loses half it's armour, it will take it over a minute to fully regen.
So in conclusion, I really don't think there's much in it. Caldari also have the option to forgo damage and regen for max shields, Gallente have the option to forgo mobility and fit armour plates. Neither of these options are very good in my opinion, but there we are.
I personally think that if shields should be buffed at all, the buff should go to energizers. Considering the fact that shield suits sacrifice hp for regen when compared to armour, and that they have to contend with a recharge delay, shield energizers could stand a buff. However, I really don't think that shields are nearly as underpowered as some people claim.
Because you are considering things at the dropsuit level, which is a much more even playing field, especially comparing gallente assault vs. caldari assault. Lets consider some other stuff...
Caldari vs. other suits:
Minmatar, not going to give caldari time to regen ever, basically hard countering the supposed advantage of caldari, which is high regen speed, with high speed and comparable hp, the minmatar can apply unyielding pressure on the caldari which will shut down anyone trying to play a regen game.
Amarr, scramblers will just whipe out a shield tnaked suit in t=0, its not even cool how good scramblers and assault scramblers are against shield suits. in addition a single kincat on an amarr will again give them pressure dominance against the caldari which once again removes their regen advantage.
Against scouts:
Scouts will, just like any other faster suit, be able to pressure away the cal's regen advantage, while due to the HP differential it will have a harder time doing this, it can also use ambush and stealth to initiate or escape situations to bend things heavily in its favor. Once again the Cal will not be able to escape or dictate the terms of engagement, which is vital to take advantage of the nature of its "superior" regen.
Against ANYONE WITH A LOGI:
Caldari now has zero advantage, regen advantage is completely overwhelmed by the rep tool which gives more reps per second than you can reasonably fit.
Against ANYONE WITH REP NANOHIVES:
Same as above, though the advantage is easier to remove via flux/marksmanship
In skirmishing:
Higher HP + leisure time to regen due to distance each person needs to travel makes skirmishing, long range play, actually favor the armor tanker, not the shield tanker, and this is where caldari are actually supposed to dominate, and once again the scrambler rifle spoils things as well, since it is deadly at almost any viable range for even the Breach Rail Rifle (which by the way is easily the worst rifle in the game right now)
tl;dr: the overall high level picture for shield suits is pretty grim, they have ONE advantage, regen, that is easily countered by alot of different tactics, and a ton of disadvantages that make them (comparatively) easy pickings for someone who knows what they are doing. The only dedicated shield suit that is any good right now is the Caldari Scout, and even there Im not sure it can claim the crown as best in class since Gal Scout has a better dampening/speed situation.