New Shield Type Idea: Ionized Shield

[Brewski]

With the upcoming of EMP missiles and Bombers, plus the prevalence of the AoE Ion gun, it got me thinking about a new shield variation. Not that I expect this to be in anytime soon, if ever, but once the thought occurred to me I thought it might be worth sharing.

 

Ionized Shield

-30% shield capacity

+10% bleed through against non-ion weapons

Power drain effects have reduced effect based on the shield charge. (Shields at 100% means no effect, Shield at 75%, 25% effect, etc.)

Active ability: Shield Discharge - Reduces shield power to 0% but destroys all mines and drones within 5000m.

 

 

Upgrades could include increased shield capacity, quicker cooldown and longer range for the active and maybe a reduction in the amount of shield consumed. I'd see this shield belong on the Blackbolt/Novadive scout variant and possibly the Starguard/Rycer.

 

Like I said, more of a mental exercise at this point, especially since we haven't seen what effect bombers and EMPs will have on the game in wide release. Also, the usefulness of this would be partially dependent on Distortion Field no longer being the must-have it is now, but I thought this might be a fun alternative for clearing minefields and such while also providing some defense against Ions.

 

Thoughts?

[tunewalker]

With the upcoming of EMP missiles and Bombers, plus the prevalence of the AoE Ion gun, it got me thinking about a new shield variation. Not that I expect this to be in anytime soon, if ever, but once the thought occurred to me I thought it might be worth sharing.

 

Ionized Shield

-30% shield capacity

+10% bleed through against non-ion weapons

Power drain effects have reduced effect based on the shield charge. (Shields at 100% means no effect, Shield at 75%, 25% effect, etc.)

Active ability: Shield Discharge - Reduces shield power to 0% but destroys all mines and drones within 5000m.

 

 

Upgrades could include increased shield capacity, quicker cooldown and longer range for the active and maybe a reduction in the amount of shield consumed. I'd see this shield belong on the Blackbolt/Novadive scout variant and possibly the Starguard/Rycer.

 

Like I said, more of a mental exercise at this point, especially since we haven't seen what effect bombers and EMPs will have on the game in wide release. Also, the usefulness of this would be partially dependent on Distortion Field no longer being the must-have it is now, but I thought this might be a fun alternative for clearing minefields and such while also providing some defense against Ions.

 

Thoughts?

 

 

They would likely never get used for lack of any kind of stopping power. With 10% bleed through and an ability that makes you lose your shields you get sneezed on and your dead.

[Brewski]

True, although their usefulness for clearing nodes of mines and drones shouldn't be underestimated. That said, it does lack a bit of survivability.

 

Perhaps if the first tier upgrade removed the bleed through, and the second increased overall capacity? Also, the discharge effect could consume 50% of your shield capacity instead of 100%, and then you could not be able to activate it if you didn't have your shields charged to at least 50%.

[TheWookinator]

This sounds like a cool idea on paper or as a mental exercise, but I think there would be a disconnect with implementation and proper balancing. Sure that's an issue with any new ability, but I personally would prefer to see balancing of existing abilities (so that, if played correctly, most/any combos of component choices would at least be viable). A lot of current components are conceptually interesting but no one would use them because they're at a disadvantage (e.g., ion missile). This one might end up the same. It's interesting, but only provides situational advantages (which could also be said of many other component choices). I guess my point is that if it were in game, I don't see who would take the ionized shield over other options (i.e., I could use distortion and have regular shielding plus 6 secs virtually unhittable on use OR have a gimped shield that can pop mines on use IF you encounter them).

[Verain]

Ion weapons have a built in weakness- in fact, none of them are good enough except for the railgun, which is largely unfair because of the small tap effect. The weakness is that they are poor against hulls- laughably so- and as such I don't really think that a counter for them would be that needed.

 

 

That being said- the idea isn't bad at all. I think "discharge all remaining shields" needs to have a proportionate effect (discharging 1% shield shouldn't do much of anything, discharging 100% shield should do more), and the bleedthrough is too steep of a cost- anything that buys you is going to be too powerful. But I think if someone really super wants resistance to ion weapons at some cost, it should be available to at least some ships.

[tunewalker]

True, although their usefulness for clearing nodes of mines and drones shouldn't be underestimated. That said, it does lack a bit of survivability.

 

Perhaps if the first tier upgrade removed the bleed through, and the second increased overall capacity? Also, the discharge effect could consume 50% of your shield capacity instead of 100%, and then you could not be able to activate it if you didn't have your shields charged to at least 50%.

 

Well Maybe for the star gaurd like that but it would still be useless for the Nova Dive since its getting hte EMP Feild system which essentially already does the same thing with out using a shield slot.

[Verain]

I would think this would be a cool version of it:

 

Shield capacity -30%.

Shield recharge rate -50%

Damage from ion attacks reduced by 66%.

Secondary effects from ion attacks reduced by percentage of shield arc remaining when hit.

 

Special: Discharges remaining shield effects for an ion blast that deals moderate shield damage and disables drones and mines. The damage and period disabled would scale smoothly from 0 to 100% of a maximum of 500 shield damage and 10 seconds of disable.

[TheWookinator]

I would think this would be a cool version of it:

 

Shield capacity -30%.

Shield recharge rate -50%

Damage from ion attacks reduced by 66%.

Secondary effects from ion attacks reduced by percentage of shield arc remaining when hit.

 

Special: Discharges remaining shield effects for an ion blast that deals moderate shield damage and disables drones and mines. The damage and period disabled would scale smoothly from 0 to 100% of a maximum of 500 shield damage and 10 seconds of disable.

 

 

Maybe add an additional on-use effect too. Something similar to ion rail's effect on ships, so any ships in the same 5000m range would be slowed or have regen disabled for x amount of time (but proportional to the amount of shield discharged). This could make it more enticing as it's also useful in dogfights.

[Zharik]

Ion weapons have a built in weakness- in fact, none of them are good enough except for the railgun, which is largely unfair because of the small tap effect. The weakness is that they are poor against hulls- laughably so- and as such I don't really think that a counter for them would be that needed.

 

 

That being said- the idea isn't bad at all. I think "discharge all remaining shields" needs to have a proportionate effect (discharging 1% shield shouldn't do much of anything, discharging 100% shield should do more), and the bleedthrough is too steep of a cost- anything that buys you is going to be too powerful. But I think if someone really super wants resistance to ion weapons at some cost, it should be available to at least some ships.

 

Ion guns on a Strike Fighter are very useful, because you carry a 2nd weapon for damaging the hull. I use the rapid-fire lasers and cluster missiles. It takes a while to get used to the timing for switching weapons, but it works, and works well.

[Slivovidze]

I like the general idea.

 

I'd just change it a bit.

 

-30% capacity okay. Faster recharge though. Not on par with Quick-charge, something in between. No bleedthrough, or a bleedthrough that would get neglected by one of the cheaper upgrades. Active ability that would require full shields and would consume 75% shields (possibly lowered to 50% by one of the upgrades) and some weapon power (20%?), while destroying mines and disabling drones (for like 5-10 seconds) in 5k range, and dealing area damage (worth like one ion cannon shot), in, say, 3k range. (top tier upgrade could expand the range to the disable range, or add a crit chance to the effect, or a short slow to all hit enemies, or short evasion/accuracy reduction to affected enemies, or increase damage reduction on self for a while, or give a short boost of any regen, or weapon power reduction or any combination of these)

 

I'd give that one a chance.