What's better in eve-online.. Armor Tanking or Shield Tanking, if all other things are equal.?

Answer 1

there are pros and cons to each. Whichever one you choose, just remember to refit to get resists to match whatever type damage the NPC you're fighting dishes out. I prefer shield tanking myself. With the right shield rigs, I can take a fairly decent amount of hits--i.e. I kill at least 4 NPCs before I lose all shields and need to warp out to recharge at a station; and those NPCs can even be battleships on level 4 missions. Plus, if you shield tank, you just have to warp out, dock at a station, undock immediately and warp back to the fight. As soon as you dock, your shields and capacitor get recharged to 100%--no matter if the graphic on your HUD gets updated or not, you're at 100% when you undock. If you armor tank and take armor damage, you have to warp out, repair--which takes time--and then warp back to the fight. By that time, the NPC has more than likely recharged its shields and you're back at having to go through his shields again. The right combination of hardeners for resists and right sized shield booster can prolong your fight time.
But, this whole strategy only works for NPCs, if you're trying it PvP, it probably won't work.