Shields

TheGibbonOfLif

Perhaps the shape of a shield could be changed? But have the length of the line constant? to make it a more advanced thing, maybe we have to define the shape of shields through equations?

Walt

Are you talking about by modding, or as a player option?

duttyfly1

Killerdove That would work really good actually as well.

Walt What do you say, Master? Is this idea good for the game to have some day?

aladin

I have similar idea, to have shield generators merge into single shield bubble.
It would make more sense for shield generator to be placeable inside the ship, behind your weapons.

TheGibbonOfLif

As a player option? Although it does sound quite complicated to implement.

Ohm

Personally, I would not allow to change the shape and orientation of shields, since I think it's part of the design challenge, but what would be nice is the ability to grab the barrier part in build mode and be able to:

Drag it closer to the module or back to its original distance, but not further, to prevent abuse.
Grab the edge and drag it the arc up to 180 degrees or down to an even smaller/shorter arc. Shield durability is the same, meaning a smaller coverage makes it "stronger" by simply reducing the exposed surface while an extended arc opens it to more angles.
Maybe allow an option between a straight line and the current curve.

I don't know about the OP, but I'm talking about a player option here, not modding.

duttyfly1

Why not have both?

a bubble generator, that would be less durable but covers the whole ship and can be placed anywhere on the ship.
a disk/curved shield module, that can be only placed on the outside of the ship, but is more durable and can be changed in shape like said before by Ohm.

Gho

duttyfly1 i would say The bubble shield is as strong as the disk shield but uses WAAAAY more energy like the bigger the ship the more energy

duttyfly1

Gho yeah, that's actually a better idea, maybe eve a bit stronger of a shield than the disk one, but still uses a lot more energy, but it has to be nurfed somehow, so that the disk shields are still used. Maybe have it so that you can only have one of the bubble shield generators as well.

Killerdove

Or maybe the bubble shields take dubble or tripple the damage from Ion weapons

Walt

Unsure about bubble shields because they might make ship design less interesting (less strategy about where to place them). Gonna leave it up to mods for now.

duttyfly1

Walt seems reasonable... Gotta start learning modding then, it's about time anyway, since I'm learning Software Development but haven't made my own mods yet, only have edited them to my own likeing.

Hassie

I made some changes to the shields. Wait makes the modding extremely easy, to the point that after 15 minutes of reading different files, you can figure out what does what. Changing the arc of the shield and the radius it extends from the shield generator are fix constants in the files that can be changed to suit your preferences. You can make several versions of the shield generators, each either different features, be it stronger, weaker longer arc and so forth. I agree that it should be handled by modders for the time being, as it is not difficult, and I would prefer the Dev work on things that cannot be handled by modders, or at least not easily by them.

duttyfly1

Hassie well... I think makeing multiple different generators would be stupid. It would be much more convenient to be able to grab the edge or end of the shield and change its size that way. Although it is a lot harder to implement.

Hassie

duttyfly1 I see a need for it. Smaller generators that are weaker and cheaper for smaller ships, and vice versa. Making a huge generator that makes a complete circle and is 10 times in strength, yet 30 times the cost could server a purpose for larger ships.

duttyfly1

Hassie true, but still, having a load of different shield in the menu isn't convenient, maybe implementing a upgrade or a block merging system would me easier for the player to use, and also faster...