Poll: Shield Generator Types

[koonschi]

Hi guys!

 

I'm soon going to add shield generators to the game. Now there are two (edit: three) ways to implement those, and I wanted to present them to let the community decide which way they're going to work.

In either case, there will be shield generator blocks that will create a shield in some way, depending on material and volume.

The actual size of a shield created by a shield generator is not yet known, but I'd say it will be approximately 5x to 10x its size.

 

FIrst option:

Each shield generator block creates its own shield. In order to cover your entire ship, you'd have to either create many generator blocks or one big generator block. Those would be destroyable one by one and one weak shield generator can expose your ship when destroyed/shield collapses.This  would generally be the more 'tactical', but also much more complex and dangerous approach.

 

Pros:

- Cool 'Shields collapse where they are shot' effect

- More tactical as you have to watch out for weak points

 

Cons:

- One misplaced shield generator can expose your ship when its shield collapses

- Very complex

- When expanding your ship you have to watch out for uncovered parts

 

Second option:

Each shield generator block contributes to a big shield, that always contains the entire ship, no matter the size. The shield would look like some sort of skin for the ship. You can build as many generator blocks as you wish, whereever you want them to be. In order to damage your ship, the entire shield has to be destroyed. This is the far easier approach.

 

Pros:

- Much easier to implement as the generator does not have to watch out that everything is covered with shield generators (I'm serious about this, but don't make this point influence you)

- More comfort as you don't have to watch out for uncovered parts (Everything will always be covered)

- Much easier for beginners

 

Cons:

- No 'Shields collapse where they are shot'-effect

- Not as tactical

 

Third option:

Just while writing this I was thinking of a third approach:

Shield generators are placed just like in option 1 and generate local shields around them. But those shields are not destructible one by one but, as in option 2, share a common lifespan. So in order to make shields collapse, you'd have to fire enough on the ship to make all shield generators fail before the shields collapse. 

 

Pros:

- Still tactical (you have to watch out that every part of your ship is covered in shields)

- Easy enough for beginners (I guess)

 

Cons:

- Might still be difficult to build a ship

- When expanding your ship you have to watch out for uncovered parts

 

Tell me what you think about it, or tell me if you have a better idea.

[DoomAngelBlade]

1 and 2 in same time.

1)Local shield generator

2)Ship shield generator

These 2 blocks in same time will be awesome

Like Ship shield generator is used but when it goes down - Local shield generator is used to protect most needed parts(Engine, generator or so on that will be in game... Or turrets... In this case)

[koonschi]

1 and 2 in same time.

1)Local shield generator

2)Ship shield generator

These 2 blocks in same time will be awesome

Like Ship shield generator is used but when it goes down - Local shield generator is used to protect most needed parts(Engine, generator or so on that will be in game... Or turrets... In this case)

Assuming I'd do this: Why would anybody use the shield generators from option 1)? I could make them stronger, but I think this would be even more complex/confusing.

[akagetsu]

Number 2 is the most commonly used in games, therefore I think it's a good idea to do it that way and not really fuss about it.

On the other hand number 1 seems really cool and I've never seen anyone implement this so...if you can pull that off, then it would be nice to see how it works.

[DoomAngelBlade]

1 And 2 once again.

It will be really good to have local shield emitters\generators.

It will be like.

Main shield down - armor gets damaged, vital ship systems still protected by shielding.

[akagetsu]

Main shield down - armor gets damaged, vital ship systems still protected by shielding.

It doesn't work like that...

You normally have a main shield generator. When that goes down, you receive armor damage on whatever part you are being shot at. And that brings down the whole hull/structure levels of the ship down. (usually in geek-culture, that's how it works)

[koonschi]

It doesn't work like that...

You normally have a main shield generator. When that goes down, you receive armor damage on whatever part you are being shot at. And that brings down the whole hull/structure levels of the ship down. (usually in geek-culture, that's how it works)

Pretty much what I think, too.

 

1 And 2 once again.

It will be really good to have local shield emitters\generators.

It will be like.

Main shield down - armor gets damaged, vital ship systems still protected by shielding.

And again - why would anybody build additional local generators, when you can just build global generators instead and have a better effect?

[akagetsu]

I think the one that comes to mind is the system of FTL (Faster Than Light). Where you have the shield which when destroyed leaves your ship bare naked any kind of attacks. Those attacks can destroy parts of your ship which take a part of your general structural HitPoints. When your HitPoints are too low or too many parts of the ship are destroyed you die.

Or a more general view like in Freelancer. Where you have the 3 bars. Shield, Hull and Structure (or something like that).

[DoomAngelBlade]

In freelancer you have

BLUE - SHIELD

RED - HULL\STRUCTURE\ARMOR(Health anyway.)

YELLOW - ENERGY.

[akagetsu]

Oh okay...my bad! I haven't played that game in ages, sorry

[Bers40k]

my oppinion - one generator one sector of shield.

 

but if it possible i want to make somekind of armor plates too

[Soosisya_san]

i had voted for the second one and only then thought that third option would be cool too. If you could bouild many generators which covering the entire ship and then increase or decrease energy of some shield generators to make parts of the ship more or less protected. And if you don't want to think "tactical" you can just devide the energy evenly between all the shields. So, actually i'm for the third option too

[koonschi]

The poll is now closed and I will begin to work on the shield generators.

I will see if I can implement option number 3, as most people voted for this, even if the amount of voters is not representative.

[vladiskov]

you know what, in reality the tactical aproach woulndt be very tactical as would make too dificult desing a ship, i would rather vote the second obtion as it would be more realistic (some shield generator under the ship exterior :D!)