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What Is the Difference Between a Reverse Shield Polarity 1 and a Reverse Shield Polarity 2 in STO?

"Star Trek Online" is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, or MMORPG, based on Gene Roddenberry̵7;s Star Trek universe. Players engage in space combat by controlling starships in a 3-D environment using abilities borrowed from the Star Trek series and the motion pictures, along with other skills created by the STO developers. Damage mitigation through abilities such as Reverse Shield Polarity is crucial to the survivability of the starships, whether you engage in the player-versus-environment scenarios or in player-versus-player combat.

Reverse Shield Polarity I
- Reverse Shield Polarity I converts incoming energy damage into shield strength points on the shields receiving damage. Beam weapons and cannon weapons of all energy types except Tachyon-type weapons are affected by RSP. Engineering Bridge Officers of Lieutenant level and above are eligible to learn and use RSP I. The Bridge Officer must be assigned to an Engineering or Universal Bridge Slot of Lieutenant level or higher for the ability to be available for use.
Reverse Shield Polarity II
- RSP II is an enhanced version of RSP I that converts more of the incoming energy damage into shield strength. Engineering Bridge officers of Lieutenant Commander level and above are eligible to learn and use RSP II. The Bridge Officer must be assigned to an Engineering or Universal Bridge Slot of Lieutenant Commander level or higher for the ability to be available for use.
When to Use
- RSP has a rather long cool down of one minute and 30 seconds. It's best used at points of crisis, such as when energy weapons are stripping your shields and there are kinetic damage weapons such as torpedoes or mines incoming. Boosting your shields before the kinetic damage weapons hit your hull will help to mitigate a large percentage of the hull damage potential, as kinetic weapons affect shields much less than they do hulls, even with the 10 percent Shield Bleed-through effect. There is a slight cool down differential of 15 seconds between the two levels of the ability. RSP II should be used at the first crisis point. After one minute and 15 seconds, RSP I will be available if needed, but since this will reset the cool down on RSP II, it should only be used if under extreme duress and you cannot wait the additional 15 seconds for the higher level cool down to expire. Using either rank of RSP may cause a surplus of shield energy. When used in conjunction with the Balance Shields ability, the extra shield strength can be shunted off to the other shields that are low. Balancing Shields while RSP is active can increase shield strength to all shields up to the maximum, providing that there is enough energy damage available for conversion.
Building for Maximum Effect
- Placing a maximum of nine points in the Lieutenant level skill Starship Engineering Training will apply a +18 modifier to both ranks of RSP. Placing a maximum of nine points in the Lieutenant Commander level skill Starship Shield Maintenance will yield a +30 modifier and placing nine points in the Captain level skill Starship Shield Performance will add a +52 modifier. No other skills in your build will affect RSP. Additional boosts through Engineering or Science Consoles do not affect RSP, though Consoles that increase Shield Capacity will increase the converted shield strength that may be allocated before the maximum shield strength is reached and any further conversion is wasted.

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