If you're anything like me in Arc Raiders, chances are you come back to Speranza with a broken shield more often than not. Maybe you got into a tussle with another raider or stumbled into the path of a very angry arc; regardless of how it happens, you have to fix yourself up before heading topside again.
If you're just using a light shield, then repairs aren't an issue at all, as all you need are regular plastic parts. But if you have a medium shield it'll cost much more. Repairing a medium shield costs requires arc circuitry and one battery. Now, the battery isn't exactly a precious resource, but the arc circuitry is. I only have seven lying around in my inventory right now, and if your shield is damaged below 50% you'll need two of these to repair it.
So if you find yourself in a particularly rough spot, with your medium shield below 50%, it actually makes more sense to just recycle it and make a new one. Scrapping your medium shield will give you one arc circuitry, which you can then reuse to make a fresh shield alongside one battery.
It's a much more reasonable asking price than the power rod and voltage converter that the heavy shield needs, but it's still not cheap. It may sound tedious, but little hacks like this ensure that you can keep items that are harder to come by in your stash, saved for a rainy day, like when you die and lose your shield for good.
I've certainly gotten out of the habit of recycling items as I've built up a good pile of coins that I can use to upgrade my stash and buy high-level weapons and gear with. But the recycling system in Arc Raiders is pretty fantastic, giving you the option to make gold out of trash, as long as you know what you're scrapping.
