noob question about generators

[daveelton]

hey all,

i've only been playing this game for about a week, but am having trouble finding details about base generators. firstly, i understand that destroying a generator takes it "offline", but can a generator be brought offline without destroying it and while a base still has NTUs? in other words, is there something than can be hacked, jammed, etc. to shut down a generator? yesterday a squad jumped into our base while it was mostly empty due to having an AMS farther down the battlefield and they managed to take our generator "offline", but i do not remember seeing any messages about it being under attack or destroyed. did i miss this message, or is there a way to bring it offline? the primary reason i am interested in this is because we were pushing pretty hard into an enemy base but once they did this, even though it was a temporary problem, our offensive was quite crippled by it.

next question: how much firepower does it take to destroy a generator, from a cloaker/engi standpoint? would an inventory full of ACEs (plus an REK) deployed to boomers do it? if so, can anyone tell me specifically how many boomers it takes? a couple time i have managed to sneak into an enemy base while the enemy is primarily respawning from an AMS, but i am reluctant to spend 5 cert points to get advanced engineering just to find out its not enough to blow the generator and then have to wait to unlearn it.

any thoughts?