Couple of Noob Questions

#1

I’ve noticed when shields go down, they go down forever. They don’t turn on again.
Also those little bars under each shield module you see when battling? When one of those hit the bottom those stay down forever.

Are they supposed to stay down or do they turn again after a while?
Same thing for armor, when one armor plate hits zero, it can’t be repaired.

Also when selected missile launchers for my cruiser one of the attributes says: “Has Decoy:”
If a missile has a decoy what does it mean/do, similarly what does it mean/do when it says no?

#2

The shield strength of your ship is the sum of the shield strengths of all of its shield modules. Each shield module takes damage individually, and on average each will take the same amount of damage as any other. The bar is that module’s strength, and when it runs out that module goes down. The damage that it would be taking goes through to the hull instead. They never come back online.

Armor works roughly the same way.

‘Has decoy’ means that, as the missile is closing with its target, it will split into multiple missiles, only one of which does damage. Guidance scramblers and point defense don’t know which one it is (unless there’s a point defense scanner mounted? I’m not sure here), so you’re basically adding a bunch of superfluous targets to overload your opponent’s point defense systems. The exception is the multiple warhead missile; it’s listed as ‘has decoy’, but every missile does damage.

#3

Oh thanks for clearing that up.

Also when armor takes damage, the armor rating also goes down making it more vulnerable to weaker weapons.
When you repair that armor via repair system, does the rating go back up as its getting repaired or does only the health get restored?

When you use multiple shield modules with different resistance ratings do they add up or is it an average of the different ratings?

When using rockets I notice that they swerve left and right, not in a straight line, so sometimes they don’t hit, even with a target painter.
What’s the benefit of rockets, as opposed to just using fast missiles?

#4

Resistance is restored to armor with repairs. Shields use the highest value of all non-collapsed shields.

#5

Yes it goes back up, the armor resistance is equal to the current armor level.

The highest resistance level among the currently active shields (i.e. not totally destroyed) is used for all active shields. If you mix a Reflective shield and some Multiphasics they all have a resistance of 27 until and unless the Reflective Shield is completely taken down.

Yes

They are cheaper.

#6

They are cheaper.
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and also they fire faster