Shields as armor

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    Idea: Make shields no longer provide complete protection; instead they would work like armor does and cut damage to a smaller amount.

    The efficacy of shields would depend on ship mass; a small fighter would have a 99% reduction in damage taken while a massive million block monster would be closer to 80-90%.

    They'd otherwise function as they do - getting hit reduces your shield meter, requires power to recharge, etc.
     
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    To clarify, he is suggesting the shields have bleed thru damage of 10-20%. Mathematically, if you deal a 100 damage to a ship the shields would take 80-90 damage and the blocks under the shield would take 10-20 damage.
     
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    I could get behind weakened shields having a bleed through when they get stressed but 100% shields should be 100% effective and not bleed shots through. I don't want to have to deploy repair drones every time somebody takes a pot shot.
     
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    You make a sound point. Even with hardened hulls, that 10 damage per block would be 5 damage to the blocks 400 health. Still, your enemy is spamming small 100 damage guns, you could easily die while the shields are up.
     
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    This idea sounds good. I would personally say that as the shield % gos down, the bleed gets stronger. Personally something like 100% protection above 50% Shield, and as it gos down have it build up till it reaches its full amount(X% Bleed threw, what ever seams balanced), and the shields fall.

    But thats just me, take it with a grain of salt.
     
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    That seems like an interesting addition. It seems like it may appeal more for role-playing rather than gaming. I could be wrong about that, though.
     
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    Shields don't need changing. They work fine the way they are, and plus the way your putting it large ships sustain ten to twenty times more damage not even including Armour. and the little fighters end up being almost invincible until you get their shields down. The point of a fighter is you need a lot of them, not just one. Really, I cant think of a reason to change them. Plus, people like me would be fleeing from isanths in giant double decker monsters with turrets because that *Boom boom* noise makes me want an ejector seat. In real life.
     
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    We need to get rid of the core-vulnerability before changes like this become reasonable, as it has been already pointed out that a bleedthrough would only make it easier to drill and kill a ship. Moving the target from core to the dimensional center of the ship might be the shortest way to fix this, and would in general make battles more interesting, since you'd actually have to focus crippling the enemy, not just shoot at clearly marked spot until you reach the core.

    Dismissing the drilling factor, I'd actually rather have the bleedthrough depend on the attackers weapons system, not the receiving shield system. Heavy enough weapon would make more sense punching (bleeding) through the shields than allowing somebody to destroy blocks through shield with laser pistol. I'd imagine that we might actually see shields collapsing altogether with heavy enough impact, i.e. massive collision. (But at this point we'd also need some kind of phasing, hyperspace or deflectors just to not turn into swiss cheese while flying through space, so nothing like this is likely to happen anytime soon.)

    Changeable power distribution could allow both traditional shields and bleedthrough shields, or in smaller scale just adjustable shield system. Harder shields with less bleedthrough could have less shield points, while softer shields with bleedthrough could have longer overall stamina.

    I wonder how schema sleeps at nights, holding in his hands unlimited possibilities and facing equally unlimited opinions about them. He could be millionaire in a year, or accidentally flop the development and live happily ever after. :D
     
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    Absolutely not, it would destroy the combat system.

    Having a small chance at some damage bleed through when your shield falls critically low would make a little sense, but having some damage go through all the time? No way. Not with how block damage works in this game.
     
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    I'm curious as to how this would mesh with the new weapons system. Pierce, for example, seems like it would suddenly be way OP. I like shields being the way they are now, just because it's simpler to not have to do repairs all the time, like Sven said.

    IMO, this should be a tertiary effect rather than a standard for of doing damage.
     
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    Perhaps bleed-through only initiates when there are too many projectiles hitting the shield at once. I think there are two ways to do this:

    1. When too many projectiles hit the shield, a percentage of damage bleeds through. For example, ten projectiles would allow for 10% bleed-through

    2.When too many projectiles hit the shield, one actually gets through. Though this sounds OP and has a high... uh... manipulability, it could be countered by making the cannon-hit limit proportional to the shields, allowing for bigger ships to not have it as much, but a common problem for smaller ships.