I have 70 more attack than I do defense, but what is the best way to have it set?

i would say max out att then hull then def/energy

that depends on what tech lvl your modules are at....but if for every space used of either def or attack modules all things were equal then exactly half attack and half defense should prevail.

Attack saves you energy. Defense saves you repair costs (credits and artifacts). The optimal ratio depends on your personal availability of energy and minerals/artifacts.

attack build is probably better, energy usually is more important. but pure attack build does run the risk of unable to finish a kill when u resort to using sub-par attack modules like pisonic amplifier for further attack instead of def. And well... that means unless u got a repair nano or a shield recharge, u need to either wait for shield regen(and hope they regen less than you) or give up the kill by closing the battle window(which cause u lose the lock on the target as u repair)

I would say do atk, as long as the module provide at least half as much power/deck as ur best def modules.

But yeah, overall preference is atk, hull, def in that order

or open the repair ship link in new tab and carry on about your day having not lost the target lock on the enemy

I think 2:1 personally, although I know 2 players with 1000+ kills who like to keep it fairly balanced.(Slightly more attack due to Konqul+Special modules)

I carry 3k attack and 800 defense. Works great for me, although I'm working on getting my defense up to that 2:1

It really depends on your early ranks.

1-150
Max attack, max hull, max defense in that order. At the very least, have a minimum 3:1 A/D ratio.

150+
Attack is still priority, but Hull and defense become equals. When people have thousands of attack, you need defense to mitigate the damage.

I agree with Ferros. It's basically the formula for NPC hunters and NPC hunters make tough PvP ships.

A good defence is combat rep.

I like it closely matched I have have around 2700 attack & defence at rank 256
I like it when people have a low defence because its quite quick to beat them and whilst they do little damage to my ship

I also find players hid with combat rep so average+ ships are quicker to take down than weak reps

Well, I have 3 dominion cannons installed, and I can get my att to over 800 with them installed, but that isn't even close to my max apparently. Should I uninstall them for now? I'm a level 82 Inergon Physicist.

I personally like it better at an even ratio, take fewer heavy hits, and dish out some decent ones, I also dont have any hull installed but I'm guessing at my level its not as important.

rank 97 Vygoid Spy:

attack 1230
defense 1238

hull 1280 - no hull platings, but 3 protean armories

Hull always made the biggest difference at low ranks but 3 protean armories at rank 97 is obviously a huge bonus compared to what you'd have for hull platings then using that freed up space for defence makes sense.

There's a lot of easy kills at your rank. I'd stick with a decent attack to shred those ships quickly. Defence slows down an attacker and might put some people off.

The attack/size ratio of DM cannons is pretty good. It's stuff like the Psionic Amplifier you might want to uninstall in favour of hull or defence. Stow things like Drannik power cores while you're PvPing and you might be able to squeeze in more defences.

I really don't think your attack needs to be maxed out. I say get a "decent" attack score, then pack on a ton of hull + a defense mod if you can spare it.

but thats just what i think (930 kills, 67 deaths)

I run with 6.5K Attack and USUALLY around 5.5K defense, I just toned that down to 5K lately, but that works perfect for me.
Combined with 5 hull platings and fixer, i find less need for those costly 200M repairs.
I think a having around 1K more attack (in this instance) is good, maybe for you it is an extra 500? I dont know, but probably about 1/5 more attack then def.

I run about 6k+ attack unbuffed with 10k+ defense and I can thoroughly shred pretty much anyone I find on my BT while only getting disabled by players in the 800's. I gave a free shot to a guy that pops up on my tab often and even at half hull and half (buffed) shield it took him about 600 energy to get the kill. So I'd have tosaya higher defense is a good option. You'll still have enough strength to kill people, but it just isn't worth the time/energy for them to try to kill you. Recommendation: full set of your best defenses (4 & 4) plus maximize your attack for the remaining deckspace.

attack: 521
defense: 441
does that tell you much? lol.