Mechanics and Tools

• Scoopable stars: KGBFOAM. K, G, B, F, O, A, M. Everything else leaves you stranded.
• Rebuy is about 5% of your ship plus modules. Keep it in cash, always.
• Notoriety blocks Interstellar Factors. Lay low until it decays before paying off bounties.
• BGS states follow a bucket system. Player actions fill pools. The biggest pool triggers.
• NPC interdictions are easy to beat. Submit and fight, or just boost away.
• Synthesis refills ammo and fuel from raw materials. Free and often forgotten.

### KGBFOAM

Filter the galaxy map to scoopable stars and you never pay for fuel again. Look for "Fastest routes" plus the scoopable filter. Danger: White Dwarfs and Neutron Stars have exclusion zones that damage modules or kill you. Black Holes distort space around you. Out of fuel? The Fuel Rats are a player run rescue group. Call them at fuelrats.com.

Complete mathematical breakdown of shield hit points, booster stacking, diminishing returns on resistance, and regeneration mechanics. Based on the original guide and research by Down To Earth Astronomy (CMDRS Toolbox / Wanderer's Toolbox).

• Only ship hull mass matters for shield strength. Outfitting and module mass have zero impact on your shield multiplier.
• Every ship has an innate 'Base Shield Strength'. The generator applies a multiplier to this value based on your ship's hull mass.
• Shield Boosters multiply the generator's shield strength (not base shield). Booster percentages add together before multiplying.
• Guardian Shield Reinforcements add flat MJ after all multipliers. They are never scaled by boosters or generators.
• Booster Resistance Diminishing Returns kick in below 0.7 modifier (30% resistance). Anything past 30% is halved, giving a hard mathematical ceiling of 65% resistance from boosters alone.
• Broken Regeneration is NOT stopped by incoming fire. Shots hit your hull, so the 0% to 50% broken recharge continues uninterrupted.
• SYS pips do not alter shield regeneration speed. As long as your SYS capacitor has any charge, shields recharge at the exact same rate. Pips only determine damage resistance on active shields and how fast the capacitor refills.

Compute total shield strength (hull-mass power curve + boosters + Guardian flat MJ) and final resistance (booster diminishing returns at the 0.7 cutoff). The Federal Corvette preset reproduces the worked example above. Formulas credited to Down To Earth Astronomy.

The shield generator has Minimum, Optimal, and Maximum Hull Mass ratings paired with Minimum, Optimal, and Maximum Strength multipliers (typically 50%, 100%, and 150%).

Step-by-step numbers demonstrating the full Down To Earth Astronomy formula in action:

Notice that Guardian Shield Reinforcements do not scale with the 1.9x booster multiplier. However, they bypass hull mass scaling entirely, making them exceptionally potent on heavy combat hulls.

Damage in Elite Dangerous uses resistance modifiers applied directly to incoming damage. E.g., 200 thermal damage against 25% thermal resistance deals `200 * (1 - 0.25) = 150` damage.

Every shield generator has two distinct regeneration rates: Passive (repairing damaged active shields) and Broken (reforming a collapsed shield).

Bi-Weave shields excel precisely because of broken regeneration: their high broken regen rate allows collapsed shields to snap back online to 50% mid-dogfight even while under continuous enemy fire.

• 1 point per ship destroyed, up to 10.
• Killing innocent NPCs on foot builds it slower, roughly 1 point per 3 to 5 kills.
• Interstellar Factors will not serve you with any Notoriety. Lay low first, then pay.
• High Notoriety attracts Advanced Tactical Response units, which are very dangerous.
• Bounties and fines never expire. Notoriety does.
• The Sidewinder trick is dead. Dying does not clear bounties. You still pay at the Detention Centre.

• Always scan a ship before firing. Shooting a Clean ship is the classic beginner mistake.
• Never tag system security.
• One veteran's rule: do not take missions against the faction that owns the station you fly from.

Every populated system has minor factions with influence, a zero-sum split totaling 100%.

• Influence does not decay on its own. It is only earned and lost.
• Player actions add points to pools, one per state. When a pool is big enough, that state queues with a countdown and triggers if it is the largest.
• When a state triggers, all other pools reset to zero, except Outbreak and Famine, which are halved.

State Priority. When two states trigger at once: Conflicts first (War, Civil War, Election), then Expansions (Expansion, Investment, Retreat), then everything else.

• HGE farming depends on faction state (Module 2)
• Powerplay mining merits are best in Boom systems, where prices spike (Module 12)
• Navy rank grinding breaks when your loop system goes to war (Module 6)
• The BGS ticks daily, usually around 14:00 to 15:00 UTC. Many people just say "the tick." ⚠️

Free consumables made from raw materials. Most players forget this exists.

Since raw materials pile up from everything you do, synthesis is effectively free. Fit it into your habits.

Useful for knowing where to buy, sell, and find services.

• Never spend your rebuy.
• Check the date on any guide. This game changes constantly. Your original materials guide had several claims that were years out of date.
• Scan before you shoot.
• A rated for performance. D rated for range.
• Farm what is abundant. Trade for the rest.
• Specialize your ships. No weapons on a trader. No cargo racks on a fighter.
• Buy limpets. Every time.
• Sell exploration and exobiology data before you take risks.
• If you are not enjoying it, do something else. Every path in this game leads to the same credits.