New shield regen system

[BlisAx]

I've read some topics on how some people think that the shield system needs some attention. I believe I have a good idea to improve the existing shield mechanics.

First I think it's rather annoying to build huge ships and all it takes to bring down my shields is to have a little fighter sit in a blind spot and fire repeatedly. To fix this I would use the current recovery time and just impose a penalty for shield regeneration. So, during that recovery time and as long as you're under fire, the shields get inefficient ie use more power and regenerate slower. While under fire they would use:

(damage/(shieldstrength/2))*2

eg1:

damage = 1000 (large ship)

shield regen= 10000 (large ship)

(1000/(10000/5)) = 0.50

damage represents the amount of damage the shields took during the last recovery period. shield strength is the max strength of your shields. Using the result from this equation (or something similar) the shields will decide how efficient the shields would be in this case the shields would be 50% less efficient using 25% more power and regenerating 25% less shields per second. This would make shields less efficient under fire, but still address the complaints of no regeneration for the recovery period. The recovery period system would still be used as it is. Just during that period the shields use more power while regenerating slower.

Eg 2:

damage = 100 ( small ship)

shield regen = 10000(large ship)

(100/(10000/5)) = 0.05.

In this case the shield would only be 5% less efficient using 2.5% more power and regening 2.5% Less.



Pros:

This system would provide the balance between large ships and small ships. While addressing the issue with completely invincible ships that the current system obviously tried to address.

It would make defeating a large capital ship more difficult and more fun. (as it is no fun when you spend days or weeks designing a huge ship and having it destroyed by someone with a small ship build in 20 min. It is my opinion that capital ships should be harder to destroy. If someone wants to destroy a capital, they need either to gather a fleet and overwhelm said capital with sheer numbers or build a capital themselves.

Provides a system of equality no large ships being overwhelmed by a small fighter sitting in a blind spot. Also provides a "sci fi real" effect since I haven't seen many cases where 1 small fighter take down a large ship. Since we all have access to the same technology, all cases where one large ship is less technologically advanced is taken by a smaller more advanced ship can be dis-regarded.

Cons:

Small ships would easily destroyed by a capital (as expected) but this may induce grievers who just go around destroying new players that have smaller ships.

Small ships would have more difficulty destroying a larger ship (also to be expected)

I believe the pros outweigh the cons because a lone small ship should not even have a chance against a huge ship. Also if one wants to protect their smaller ships all they need to do is dock with their home and it will be protected.

This is just example of how I think the shields should work, weather the equation is balanced or not it is just a model of the ideal shield system.

Sorry for the long post.

 

[MrFURB]

The current shield regeneration mechanic lowers your regeneration for a time based on how many shields you have. This reduction is at 99% when you just start taking damage and scales down to 75% reduction when you\'re at 1% shielding. Unless the enemy can deal 25% of your shield regeneration (Which isn\'t too hard unless their ship is either tiny compared to you or not built for combat) then they simply cannot break your shields, period. There\'s also a large margin where someone can break an enemy\'s shielding but it would take them an unfathomably long time, which is also fine since there\'s no circumstances where that\'s a disruptive problem and I have yet to see any misuse cases for it.

Your system is quite brilliant though. The only problem I have with it is that it would require shields taking a bit more energy than they currently do (1 energy per 1 base regen) in order to balance the efficiency penalty they take when under fire.

 

[ltmauve]

Shields do regenerate under fire. I don\'t know what you are talking about with shields not regenerating. Also, when was the last time you saw a fighter take down a capital?

 

[BlisAx]

That is correct I should have chosen my words more carefully. I just think that the regeneration rate while under fire should depend on how much damage you are taking. I think shield regeneration should be scaled and determined by the damage taking place. Why should my shields be restricted down to %1 regen if i\'m being fired by a single AMC. I think this is more amusing and \"sci fi real\". I guess the main point is for the shield effiency to be proportional to the damaged being taken.

 

[NeonSturm]

I would do:

1. shieldDamage = projectile.damage /(shield.hardeningLevel[type](0..0.2..1) +0.9) * (1- hull.armor(0..1))
2. hullDamage = shieldDamage * shield.level
3. shieldRecharge = 1%/s + (1- shieldLevel(0..1))* shield.regeneration

HardeningLevel is a new balancing tool for the new master-slave system. Example:

5 damage types, each type got 20% shieldHardening by default, but every time you fire a gun, your own shield also takes 20%*f damage and the damage is reduced by 20%*f. (f = penalty/balance factor)

• A bomber-pilot may choose to remove the resistance against bombs (bombs have 100 range or less, inherit inertia), because he will make more damage then, but buff vs AMCs to be more resistant vs fighters and anti-bomber flaks.
• A fighter pilot might choose to remove amc resistance as well as bomb resistance, because you will never hit a fighter with a bomb.
• Carriers may choose to not use guns on the main ship, thus do not damage their own shields (at least not these on the ship).

You can\'t instantly switch, because hardeners are blocks which remove one resistence and transfer it to all others - they have weight too.

Each type \"has\" 1 hardener per 10 shield blocks and as much as you put onto the ship (for this type).

shield.hardeningLevel = 1- (number in type) / sum(number in all 5 types).