I mentioned on the survey a while back I wanted shields, but I realized the way I'd like them to work might not be how others envisioned them. This isn't for or against shield bubbles, but more building a system to support multiple choices from shield walls, directional shields, shield zones that can be toggled, and bubble-like shield supports.
To do this, in the ship editor the player would be given multiple semi-transparent panels with different shapes and sizes with different colors representing the type of shield property. (At a high level I'm thinking defensive that blocks both directions and offensive that are one way. Different properties like how fast they toggle could be used or if they support collision). Ignoring the specifics, the player would be able to place these panels relative to a shield generator in the ship locking them into space. More shield panels would then be snapped together. These shield panels would be assigned a group name and could be reassigned to one or more generators.
As an example if you know your ship has a weakness around the engines you could place a shield generator in the ship then place panels in space building a barrier (acting like a skin or offset depending on the player's goal) blocking possible attack trajectories. The player could then bind a toggle for engine shields.
More specific implementation details would be that a shield type that supports collision can't be toggled if it intersects any geometry. So if a person builds a shield bubble from a type without collision they could land and activate a shield that clips the landing pad. Also each shield group must be made of panels that are snapped to each other. (Forces more logical design if shield generators only support a limited number of groups, say 4 each or more depending on different shield generator types).
Burnside in another post brought up things like shield capacitors and heat/cooling. I don't have strong views, but I think that shields should have infrastructure and strengths/weaknesses with their configuration. A small ship might have other priorities for energy and components that are more beneficial while a medium sized ship might have the room and power for more configuration choices. The volume of shield panels and type being restricted by the shield generator I think are key. On a large ship with a large shield you'd need to assign multiple generators to a shield group.
More shield type properties would be how close to the ship the shield panel could be. For people that want to make full or partial shield bubbles they could use this type to build an offset shield far from the ship's skin possibly allowing smaller ships to fly into them for protection. (Not sure people's goals with shield bubbles).
Also minor point I'd weight the energy demand by the volume and not the area of the panels. This would probably promote more expected shield designs rather than checkerboards or something weird looking.
Something else to consider would be having sliders/check boxes and letting people choose properties for shields and have the color change in predictable ways. If there are scanners the information could be displayed maybe especially if only certain types are visible without attacking them.
For controls the user would be able to tie the scripting and keys to shields. It would be nice to be able to tie shield toggles to damage sensors. So if you have turret shields they could turn on or if someone tries to target a large ship's engines then energy would be routed to protect them. Same for things like if missiles are detected at a certain range or direction one could script shields to protect key components.
I'm not going to talk about balance which would need to be tested with feedback in regards to other choices. I'm more into tradeoffs so I'm hoping the game offers a number of components for ship builders.
Thoughts?
To do this, in the ship editor the player would be given multiple semi-transparent panels with different shapes and sizes with different colors representing the type of shield property. (At a high level I'm thinking defensive that blocks both directions and offensive that are one way. Different properties like how fast they toggle could be used or if they support collision). Ignoring the specifics, the player would be able to place these panels relative to a shield generator in the ship locking them into space. More shield panels would then be snapped together. These shield panels would be assigned a group name and could be reassigned to one or more generators.
As an example if you know your ship has a weakness around the engines you could place a shield generator in the ship then place panels in space building a barrier (acting like a skin or offset depending on the player's goal) blocking possible attack trajectories. The player could then bind a toggle for engine shields.
More specific implementation details would be that a shield type that supports collision can't be toggled if it intersects any geometry. So if a person builds a shield bubble from a type without collision they could land and activate a shield that clips the landing pad. Also each shield group must be made of panels that are snapped to each other. (Forces more logical design if shield generators only support a limited number of groups, say 4 each or more depending on different shield generator types).
Burnside in another post brought up things like shield capacitors and heat/cooling. I don't have strong views, but I think that shields should have infrastructure and strengths/weaknesses with their configuration. A small ship might have other priorities for energy and components that are more beneficial while a medium sized ship might have the room and power for more configuration choices. The volume of shield panels and type being restricted by the shield generator I think are key. On a large ship with a large shield you'd need to assign multiple generators to a shield group.
More shield type properties would be how close to the ship the shield panel could be. For people that want to make full or partial shield bubbles they could use this type to build an offset shield far from the ship's skin possibly allowing smaller ships to fly into them for protection. (Not sure people's goals with shield bubbles).
Also minor point I'd weight the energy demand by the volume and not the area of the panels. This would probably promote more expected shield designs rather than checkerboards or something weird looking.
Something else to consider would be having sliders/check boxes and letting people choose properties for shields and have the color change in predictable ways. If there are scanners the information could be displayed maybe especially if only certain types are visible without attacking them.
For controls the user would be able to tie the scripting and keys to shields. It would be nice to be able to tie shield toggles to damage sensors. So if you have turret shields they could turn on or if someone tries to target a large ship's engines then energy would be routed to protect them. Same for things like if missiles are detected at a certain range or direction one could script shields to protect key components.
I'm not going to talk about balance which would need to be tested with feedback in regards to other choices. I'm more into tradeoffs so I'm hoping the game offers a number of components for ship builders.
Thoughts?
