Are forcefields useful?

[Panpiper]

Are the new forcefields useful for anything yet other than fancy doors? Can they be used to block damage effects? If so, what are their properties in this regard? Do they simply stop one hit and go down? Do they absorb damage like armor does?

They have an armor rating of 75% but no hit points listed. They do not appear to have mass or to use energy. I expect they have no utility other than cosmetic, but I would hate to be wrong.

 

[SkylordLuke]

well,they are as tough as blast doors,even more i think..so yeah,rhey can stop more than a few shots

 

[Bench]

they will have their functionality expanded more at some date.

 

[Panpiper]

they will have their functionality expanded more at some date.

The problem is that I do not understand their functionality right now. Do they have 'any' function right now other than doors? If I coat the exterior of my ship with them, will they absorb damage like armor would? Do they absorb damage before shields, after shields? Can they be brought down by weapon's fire? Will they go down all at once, or will they get destroyed piecemeal like armor blocks do? Do they use energy to absorb fire, if so, how much?

 

[kupu]

The problem is that I do not understand their functionality right now. Do they have 'any' function right now other than doors? If I coat the exterior of my ship with them, will they absorb damage like armor would? Do they absorb damage before shields, after shields? Can they be brought down by weapon's fire? Will they go down all at once, or will they get destroyed piecemeal like armor blocks do? Do they use energy to absorb fire, if so, how much?

They're blast doors with a different texture currently. Same HP, Armour and function.

they will have their functionality expanded more at some date.

There is a plan! But it relies on upcoming features Calbiri is working out.

 

[Panpiper]

There is a plan! But it relies on upcoming features Calbiri is working out.

May I 'strongly' recommend that until those upcoming features are in place, that you quickly do a hotfix patch to give those blocks mass? Right now there is nothing to stop me from adding a few dozen layers of massless armor to the exterior of my ship.

 

[jstenholt]

A new feature? gib detales pls

 

[Keptick]

Creativity is your friend.

 

[jstenholt]

Damn... that would work so well on a factioned station, so nobody accidentally deactivates it.

 

[Master_Artificer]

Hmmmm, this gives me an Idea.

Armor that takes damage by draining your ships energy. Weak to EMP of course, but could be something like these force-fields that we have now, or something new, like power armor. Maybe it has a negative armor rating, so it takes more damage per shot, but it doesn't have a hitpoints value, but is destroyed once it trys to draw from your energy pool but can't.

Do force-fields take damage when deactivated?

That gave me another idea. Has a good armor value, and still damages your energy pool and not your blocks, BUT also has an activation cost and an energy upkeep cost when activated. No energy but no protection when inactive. Would be a whole new armor type, and ships that steal energy/ cause debuffs to energy would be effective aginst them as well.

Just a thought I had as I eat this bowl of rice.

 

[Snk]

I say we let them keep their mass lessness. Forcefields on the exterior of ships are cool. Besides, it's an asset they have.

 

[Panpiper]

I say we let them keep their mass lessness. Forcefields on the exterior of ships are cool. Besides, it's an asset they have.

By all means, let them be massless when they are feature complete. When their absorbing damage uses up energy reserves, when running out of energy collapses your entire field, then absolutely they should be massless. However right now they are 100% identical to advanced armor/blast doors but have zero mass. We really do not want to spend the next few months where ships have zero mass armor, fifty blocks deep. For right now, they need to have the same mass as armor/doors, and later when the rest of the features are there, they can be made massless.

 

[jayman38]

Interesting idea, Panpiper. I think that hits to energy fields should not only damage the field blocks themselves, but also equally damage the host structure's energy store. Essentially, every hit on the fields should drain power. Reason: Power is our primary system limiter right now.

"[throat clear] This thing on? I'm gonna be brief. Because I'm dying. Because I got shivved. A lot. I just wanna get it on record that using force fields for doors in a space prison is a bad idea. You know what would have been better? Regular doors. With locks. Locks that don't open when the power goes out. [cough cough] Man, those blue force fields looked good, though. Every time I saw one, I thought, Wow. I am in space. Still though. A door made out of paper would have been better in the long run. Would have at least slowed 'em down for a second. Anyway. [cough] Anybody not escaping or shivving me, get back to work." - Cave Johnson

 

[Master_Artificer]

Interesting idea, Panpiper. I think that hits to energy fields should not only damage the field blocks themselves, but also equally damage the host structure's energy store. Essentially, every hit on the fields should drain power. Reason: Power is our primary system limiter right now.

"[throat clear] This thing on? I'm gonna be brief. Because I'm dying. Because I got shivved. A lot. I just wanna get it on record that using force fields for doors in a space prison is a bad idea. You know what would have been better? Regular doors. With locks. Locks that don't open when the power goes out. [cough cough] Man, those blue force fields looked good, though. Every time I saw one, I thought, Wow. I am in space. Still though. A door made out of paper would have been better in the long run. Would have at least slowed 'em down for a second. Anyway. [cough] Anybody not escaping or shivving me, get back to work." - Cave Johnson

I've got to say, I don't recall that one.

 

[Keptick]

Damn... that would work so well on a factioned station, so nobody accidentally deactivates it.

It actually only activates when a player enters the room and it deactivates afterwards :P

 

[Malacodor]

It actually only activates when a player enters the room and it deactivates afterwards :p

Can you proof that?

 

[zigyzigy]

On the cosmetic usefulness of these things they are the only block that has all 3 of these elements

1) emits lights
2) is invisible behind glass and
3) can be turned on/off with logic.

This makes them incredibly useful for creating more dynamic/subtle lighting. as you can now have a window that is also a light that can be turned on/off

 

[Keptick]

On the cosmetic usefulness of these things they are the only block that has all 3 of these elements

1) emits lights
2) is invisible behind glass and
3) can be turned on/off with logic.

This makes them incredibly useful for creating more dynamic/subtle lighting. as you can now have a window that is also a light that can be turned on/off

It's also amazing for dynamic 3D glass ship "holograms" since it can't be seen behind the glass, instead giving it a nice glow. And it can be logic controlled for damage displays and such

 

[kiddan]

Creativity is your friend.

Add some lava under this, when an enemy is in the room (somehow, enemies get around... xP ) you could 'open' the forcefield, dropping them to a burning doom! Very useful =D

 

[Vakna]

If I ask real nice and promise not to assimilate your homeworld will you artsy guys make a green version of the forcefield blocks? <3