Make the Shilds "Real"

posted on June 13th, 2011, 1:13 am

Hi,

i know this would require an rewrite of the engine - so i have only little hope for it

ATM the shild is working not as an real shild like an bubble - it is worked that IF unit1 shot,
and hit , and have shild - the weapon hit the shild.If the unit have no shild the weapon hit the unit1.
Its dont matter if other units with or without shild in the way of the weapon to unit1.

So the real way of the weapon (beam or projectil) if not checked if he hit an other shild bubble or an other ship as the ship it is targeted ...

This is much easyer to calculate - but far away from real

With an real calculating, an ship can be protectet from other ships or an base shild.

Regards
R-TEAM

posted on June 13th, 2011, 2:33 am

Personally I would love the option to give shields the ability to allow transport or not and the possibility to have skin shields, bubble shields or something that would work like the ENT era polarised hull plates.

I can understand there would be a great deal of work involved in this, but I think it would benefit both FO stock and modders as well.

posted on June 13th, 2011, 9:02 am

ENT-era 'Polerized Hull' in A2 style is no shields and a strong hull, similar to the Borg style.

posted on June 13th, 2011, 1:44 pm

ENT-era 'Polerized Hull' in A2 style is no shields and a strong hull, similar to the Borg style.

Not exactly. That's how normal hull plating would work, but in ENT the hull plating was normally "switched off", only turned on during battle, so my guess is it's more like a special weapon that increases the hull strength temporarily, maybe running out after a certain time or when special energy runs out.

posted on June 13th, 2011, 1:50 pm

So kinda like how Phase Plates works...?

posted on June 13th, 2011, 1:52 pm

I think you're talking about line of sight? Where one ship can intercept/block weapon fire if it passes between the two ships? Would be easier to understand in German (assuming you are german) but that's not a bad idea if I understood correctly.

posted on June 13th, 2011, 3:14 pm

Not exactly. That's how normal hull plating would work, but in ENT the hull plating was normally "switched off", only turned on during battle, so my guess is it's more like a special weapon that increases the hull strength temporarily, maybe running out after a certain time or when special energy runs out.

Normal shields can be turned off at will and often were normally, so that logic says they should be special weapons too. The Polarized hull is just shields in a low-techy ENT style.

posted on June 13th, 2011, 3:18 pm

Personally I would love the option to give shields the ability to allow transport or not and the possibility to have skin shields, bubble shields or something that would work like the ENT era polarised hull plates.

I can understand there would be a great deal of work involved in this, but I think it would benefit both FO stock and modders as well.

Would it be possible to make ship specific shield bubbles that were merely low poly versions of the ships themselves, slightly bigger and transparent blue?  I don't know that I understand shield geometry at all, however if the FO team has gotten past the issue of having one universal shield, it seems possible to have a different one for each ship.  I don't know if a non symmetrical shield bubble would work at all, but it seems like something to pursue at some point.

posted on June 13th, 2011, 4:44 pm

Would it be possible to make ship specific shield bubbles that were merely low poly versions of the ships themselves, slightly bigger and transparent blue?  I don't know that I understand shield geometry at all, however if the FO team has gotten past the issue of having one universal shield, it seems possible to have a different one for each ship.  I don't know if a non symmetrical shield bubble would work at all, but it seems like something to pursue at some point.

Nah, I tried that before. For some reason, the shield is scaled up quite a bit; and it doesn't change direction with the ship if it's under fire.

posted on June 13th, 2011, 4:44 pm

I think the idea of blocking incoming weapons fire is the most interesting to me. I always wondered if you hooked up a  huge battery to a shield could you expand it to cover an entire base so nothing could get in or shoot in until it was destroyed?
A concept idea for the devs. rather than make a specific bubble for every ship use "shield hardpoints" so that when a weapon comes close to the end of a ship a shield "plate" is triggered rather than half of the entire bubble. Or have an extra LOD in the model itself whos name is hardwired to be used as a shield bubble instead. Just some brain musings.

posted on June 13th, 2011, 4:54 pm

That could be done by just making the area that glows when hit smaller. It would be the same sphere shield, but if the area that glows when hit is small enough, it'll be indistinguishable from individual shield arcs.

posted on June 13th, 2011, 5:08 pm

Tbh I think how FO handles shields at the moment is probably the best implementation of the shield concept that I've seen in any Trek game. For one, FO is the only game whereby the shield visual effect actually looks like the effect seen in the TV series. That alone sets it above a lot of other even modern games (see ST:O).

On the subject of line of sight targeting, I think for the purpose of this game adding the ability for a beam or pulse weapon to have an actual trajectory wouldn't really add any tactical depth. Most combat is in open space and "cover" is not a viable strategy in that respect. Furthermore, the ships themselves aren't micro-manageable enough with respect to their individual movement and formation for this concept to work even if that feature alone was added.

If we also consider that canon Trek, i.e. Nemesis, introduced ship contoured shielding from out of nowhere without really showing, in an obvious fashion, what if any benefit that would provide a vessel, I have always seen that as a reason to discount it. Star Trek has bubble shields, that is just how it should be.

posted on June 13th, 2011, 5:10 pm

Star Trek has bubble shields, that is just how it should be.

they didnt in tmp era, shields were tight fitting then.

i think both shields are acceptable.

posted on June 13th, 2011, 5:14 pm

I believe 'hull hugger' shields has been suggested and is on the list.

I remember posting the suggestion that ones close to the hull were less energy draining but weaker, while bubble ones were stronger but more energy intenive. Form-fitting ones could possibly have higher regen rates.

posted on June 13th, 2011, 6:15 pm

Nah, I tried that before. For some reason, the shield is scaled up quite a bit; and it doesn't change direction with the ship if it's under fire.

Ah, that makes sense.  maybe the devs could find a way around it though?