How the normal shield (let's call it "envelope shield") works? Generally, it covers some area in a uniform manner, then, when something hits it, it depletes, and, when depleted, lets everything through until regenerated.



Now, from some experience in military, I thought of another kind of shields I call "cell shields". Essentially it's made of small shields, or "cells". Like an envelope shield, each cell of cellular shield has a finite amount of hit points, but here the similarities end. If the cell is depleted, it sure lets everything past, but!

First, it's just one cell of who knows how many.

Second, all the damage it couldn't absorb, it doesn't let through, but redistributes evenly to the adjacent cells.

An example.

Let's say we have an envelope shield which has 500 hit points and negates first 50 points of any attack.

And our cellular shield is 7*7 shield cells, each 10 hit points tough (effectively 490 hit points) and negating 5 points of any damage.

Let's say we hit both with a 600 pt slug.

The envelope shield negates 50 of it and absorbs the rest 500, wrecking the hull for 50hp.

The cellular shield disperses the damage, each cell negating 5 and then absorbing 10 before shattering and distributing damage to the neighbouring cells. As a result, 16 cells survive the impact: 12 come out with 5hp left, and 4 are completely intact, which makes roughly 100hp left, ready for next strike.

Yeah, that's right, a 490hp cellular shield took 600 damage and not only absorbed it all, but also had about 100hp left.

That's how it happened, in visualisation:





Now, let's hit our shields with a 100-pt AOE, where AOE means the whole entirety of the shield takes damage.

The envelope shield negated 50 damage of that AOE, and suffered another 50, thinning down to 450hp.

The cellular shield... well, frankly, it's a mess. 5 damage negated and 10 more absorbed on cell death, and the hull is struck with 85 damage. Yep, even if we'd raise its negation ratio to par with envelope shield, it would still let past 40 damage out of 100.



So, in essence, a cellular shield isn't a straight upgrade from standard envelope shield. It provides excellent protection against singular powerful attacks, but can do little against mosquito bites an envelope shield won't even notice.

Pretty good idea, I like it

Damn good idea. Want to have this in a mod for sure It will create even more interesting choices in the millitary part of the game.

Eysteinh wrote:
Damn good idea. Want to have this in a mod for sure It will create even more interesting choices in the millitary part of the game.

yeah, if not ingame, at least a mod would be cool!

That's a brilliant idea. Would love to have the option to choose between them as an option

hsramy wrote:
That's a brilliant idea. Would love to have the option to choose between them as an option

Interesting idea, an on/off option for some game contents... hm.. but I think providing it as mod would be easier.

Thanks for reading my post ^_^

And for your approval, too.

Tredecim wrote:
I think providing it as mod would be easier.

Eysteinh wrote:
Damn good idea. Want to have this in a mod for sure

Sorry, but, from what I see about general modding, I'm afraid it's not possible to mod those shields in. They require whole new game mechanics, like uniform damage negation, in-battle regeneration delay, shield area (smaller should regenerate faster and after a shorter period of time), etc, etc. It's precisely why I tagged the idea "for ES2".

Mods can create new game mechanics, but it requires a lot of coding haha. Why is everyone saying ES2 Its only an expansion, not a new game XD

stasik28 wrote:
Mods can create new game mechanics, but it requires a lot of coding haha. Why is everyone saying ES2 Its only an expansion, not a new game XD

I don't know, I'd prefer the term "new expansion" too



Although I agree, including this kind of idea is pretty much work.. almost too much for an mod.

I'm saying ES2 because what I want requires quite a lot to work in a different way than it does now. Like, completely so. For instance, weapons hit the ship, not an area, so I have nothing to work with to calculate which cell is hit. The game simply does not work that way. Hence, ES2.



Though I can's say everyone's reason is the same as mine ^_^

Hisu wrote:
I'm saying ES2 because what I want requires quite a lot to work in a different way than it does now. Like, completely so. For instance, weapons hit the ship, not an area, so I have nothing to work with to calculate which cell is hit. The game simply does not work that way. Hence, ES2.



Though I can's say everyone's reason is the same as mine ^_^

Ahh, I see your point - well, in this case ES2 even might be better

Awesome idea, and well, kinda necro, but a sweet idea nonetheless. Also I think you explained to us how immortal shields work in Starcraft

If I didn't get this wrong;



Envelope Shield: Good against Kinetic, Mediocre against Laser, Bad against Missile

Cellular Shield: Good against Missile, Mediocre against Laser, Bad against Kinetic



This would change the boring THROW THE BEST MODULES YO type of ship creation into something much more strategical.

This is how shield 'upgrades' should have been done. Different shields with different functionalities, not this 100hp > 150hp > 200hp. Thanks for the picture.

Scrivener07 wrote:
This is how shield 'upgrades' should have been done. Different shields with different functionalities, not this 100hp > 150hp > 200hp. Thanks for the picture.

Yes. I also hope they really re-work the tech ring, and give each faction more than 4-6 unique techs. How about a dozen unique techs, and each tech has a different set of names. How about each faction has it's own calendar, or better yet, a turn counter. I hated the year counter in ES.