If Zarel comes back and implements Mod support we could make a mod along the lines suggested earlier today in the The Command Turret thread.
To wit as such:
Rman Virgil» Wed Feb 09, 2011 10:10 am wrote:.
Perhaps something along the lines of a Commander exclusive Special Ability - SEE Droid Shield
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This is by no means an entirely original idea. Others have mentioned the connections to other games like C & C but my inspiration is closer to Halo and the Master Chief's shield mechanic when he's leading shield-less troops.
But wait ! Halo is an FPS and this is an RTS !!
You might voice as objection.
And my answer would be 2-fold.
1.) So what. (There's a more detailed & formal logical counter to the above objection but it's not really necessary to elaborate on for reason # 2 that follows.)
2.) This would only be a Mod to test the hypothesis that this could be a new fun and deeper mechanic to enhance viable commander usage in MP.
While thinking about shields once again I had another thought, but this time it´s a slightly difficult question:
If you enable shields for droids only, wouldn´t that make defence structures being almost effectless?
I mean by adding shields to droids only you would need probably twice of defence structures to destroy the same number of droids.
That would be a great change of balance
maybe I guess it depends on how much damage the shield can block before it collapse a heavy shield on an already massively armored unit like a tracked Vengeance heavy cannon might be a bit op but then again you have to consider that against a target like that you would be using Scourge Missiles which as it stand right now are so powerful that it can flatten a unit like that in 2 or 3 hits anyway and adding a shield would only increase that to maybe 4 or 5 hits before it goes down that’s assuming that both missiles hit each time the Scourge Missile unit fires plus the heavy cannon isn't what you could call the most effective weapon even against other vehicles usually there only normally used to protect lighter missile/artillery units as the heavy cannon by compassion is pretty weak and there so slow that the traditional mass attack by heavy tanks doesn't really work as well in warzone as it does in a game like C&C where that's actually a pretty effective tactic unless your opponent is extremely well entrenched
you also have to take in to account that no amount of turrets is going to do you any good against a barrage from Archangel Missiles or plasmite vtols which effectively render all turrets obsolete anyway unless the opponent is also using Archangel Missiles and a CB tower and has an insane amount of AAA
i guess if it was felt that shields on heavy units or on massively powerful units like heavy Scourge Missile units was to OP you could limit them to none combat units like trucks scanners command unit repair unit and to light units that have crap firepower and almost no body points like a bug wheels mini rocket which only has like 300 or 400 body points and bugger all attack power
a tactical usage then would be to make the shield massively powerful so there difficult to destroy and then use them as swarm bots to overwhelm the enemy with weight of number
Is it OK to bump a thread as inactive as this? Only one way to find out...
Personally, instead of adding a new tab specifically for whether or not players would want to add shields to their vehicles (in which case you might as well use the same tab for other optional add-ons, like additional armor, a more powerful engine, or a cloaking device), I'd make the personal shields an automatic upgrade (like Auto Repair), and make them a T3 research (probably requiring Vapor Turbine Generator or Synapse Research Brain as a research prerequisite) since they seem to be about as high tech as lasers or railguns are. Moreover, I'd make it so that shields, even when fully charged, aren't usually able to block all of an opponent's attack (much like the Stoneskin spell from the rpg game Neverwinter Nights), and that shields wouldn't stop EMPs, Nexus Link Turrets, or burn damage from flamers from affecting the unit or structure. (Reason why EMPs would still affect the vehicle is because I fear that shields would make EMPs less useful if shields were able to block EMPs, or even if they were deactivated temporarily upon being hit by an EMP, though increasing the EMPs rate-of-fire, in the form of a research upgrade if need be, could compensate for this.) Finally, I'd make it so that shields would not deactivate if all of their shield points were depleted, though if that happened, then the shields would probably absorb much less damage than normal.
Light vehicles, cyborgs, and light towers (such as machinegun towers and sensor towers) would initially start with 50 max shield points, be able to absorb up to 10 points of damage per hit before damage is applied straight towards the body, and regenerate 1 shield point per second. Medium vehicles, heavy cyborgs, concrete towers (such as hardened sensor towers and mini-rocket towers), and emplacements (such as HPV and howitzer emplacements) would start with 100 max shield points, be able to absorb up to 20 points of damage per hit, and regenerate 2 shield points per second. Finally, heavy vehicles, cyborg transports, bunkers, and hardpoints would start with 150 max shield points, be able to absorb up to 30 points of damage per hit, and regenerate 3 shield points per second. Obviously, some upgrades to max shield points, absorption power, and recharge rate would be available to make these shields more useful at absorbing damage.
