Shields should have a buffer so their recharge rate more consistant

CGDW

As things are now shields hold energy, which directly translates to hp. When a shield gets depleted, either by damage or base power usage, a crew member will bring a battery which instantaneously replenishes shield strength. If a shield is right next to a power source, it will start getting resupplied in just a few seconds after initial damage, and is extremely likely to restrengthen before going down. If a shield is farther away from power supplies, then it is far more likely to go down before any batteries arrive.
Now obviously it is intended that putting any device closer to whatever fuels it will make it perform better, but I feel that in the case of shields, the difference between a shield that has a reactor right next to it and one that has a reactor like 3 blocks away was already too big, and it's especially the time lag between initial damage and the first battery arriving that does it.
I also believe that if double/triple batteries will be as they are in the current large reactor test version, this will exacerbate the issue.

So what I propose is that shields will be buffered: they will store the same (well, similar, numbers would have to be changed to not have this be a general buff or nerf) amount of energy they do now, but rather than shield hp being equivalent to the current amount of energy, they will convert energy into shield hp at a set rate while the shield is not at full strength, and do so immediately after taking damage.
This way placing reactors closer to shields will still be rewarded as their buffers will get resupplied faster, but the initial difference in virtual hp pool is not nearly as big.

Aditionally, buffer to shield conversion rate is an extra tool that may help to balance different sizes/varieties of shields, including in mods.

Walt

I would prefer to keep the shield mechanics as they currently are, because I think that's the most intuitive for the player.

However, if large reactors are making shields OP, then I'm open to making crew take longer to pick up batteries from larger reactors (maybe 1-2 seconds) in order to add a delay when powering shields.

Atarlost

I don't see why having a buffer between power and HP is unintuitive. All other energy using rooms have a buffer between energy and their output.

I don't think there's any worry about shields becoming OP except in very small engagements in the ion prism era. Weapons within their accurate range can concentrate damage but shield generators cannot concentrate defense and this should be true whether you have them on one large or many small ships. Only at the small scale not generally played in MP can shields potentially dominate over concentrated firepower and this can be worked around by purging fully shielded small ships from the enemy library. Even for railguns methods have been developed to concentrate fire in MP, though in SP they might lose viability with stronger shields.

Lafiel

Shield are fine the way they are now. And this forces people to come up with better building schemes than just slapping shields where ever they want. Only small shields like 1x1 (usually mods) need a buffer to delay their recharge otherwise they would be virtually undying.

CGDW

Lafiel
Shields are good as they are now, but I made my suggestion because I believe they could be better. What I was suggesting definitely would not allow players to place shields where ever, it would merely bring the extremes of performance a little bit more to the center. After all, the power to shield hp ratio would remain exactly the same and reactor output and crew throughput would still be the limiting factors in shield recovery.
It's a moot point though, since Walt already said it's not gonna happen.

Kroom

I would like to see something like this just for the sake of consistency, Right now is not very clear what is the maximum regeneration a shield can have.