I noticed a lot of people slamming shield cell banks. I don't think they are only available for just certain people, are they?
Whats with all the hate for shield cell banks?
- Thread starter starhawkprime
- Start date
Everyone can get them, the issue is that it trivialised combat. With some SCBs even the worst pilot can kill any elite NPC. As for PvP, it has basically been reduced to a slugfest until someone runs out and runs away. Due to SCB, noone will ever win or lose a PvP battle against a decent opponent. Yet it takes forever and basically demands a SCB/PvP build which takes all the fun out of outfitting ships.
Space simulation + magic potion = epic fail.
People are hating on the shield cell meta game where everyone boosts shields with as many shield boosters as possible then loads up on as many shield cell banks as possible and then runs away when/if they loose shields because otherwise their power plant will be targetted and they will be dead in no time at all. It makes certain ships basically useless (I'm looking at you Federal Dropship) for PvP especially.
Thankfully Frontier are looking to alter the Power plant mechanic so that there is a chance that instead of death you get 50% power when it reaches 0%. This might help a little, but no-one is going to want to test those odds IMO.
If you ask me the underlying problem is actually that missiles got nerfed. Instead of removing all the shield damage that missiles did, they should have restricted the number of missiles on smaller racks and encouraged people to run ECM and point defence on the larger ships (which were the ones complaining of being killed by small ships with missiles). If people were actually using ECM and point defence then they would have less utility slots for shield boosters. If missiles could annihilate shields, then SCBs would be useful but not the be-all-and-end-all, and instead you would be better of increasing armor/hull to survive after shields were dropped.
It all started with the great missile nerf.
Thankfully Frontier are looking to alter the Power plant mechanic so that there is a chance that instead of death you get 50% power when it reaches 0%. This might help a little, but no-one is going to want to test those odds IMO.
If you ask me the underlying problem is actually that missiles got nerfed. Instead of removing all the shield damage that missiles did, they should have restricted the number of missiles on smaller racks and encouraged people to run ECM and point defence on the larger ships (which were the ones complaining of being killed by small ships with missiles). If people were actually using ECM and point defence then they would have less utility slots for shield boosters. If missiles could annihilate shields, then SCBs would be useful but not the be-all-and-end-all, and instead you would be better of increasing armor/hull to survive after shields were dropped.
It all started with the great missile nerf.
There wouldn't be any fuss over SCBs if you could only use then when you lost shields.
So it that example firing a SCB when you have shields would do nothing, when your shields drop you fire SCBs and the timer cycles around faster (5s after pressing), a big enough SCB and you might even bring the shields back online.
Would make combat more fun, as you'd have a short window to cripple the shields before the SCBs bring them back up (to 50%), plus shields would become a favourite subsys to aim for (to keep them down) so that would be PP, Drives and Shields all competing for subsys target selection.
Would also make life easier for Python and Conda pilots, who have to wait almost 10minutess for shields to come back online.
So it that example firing a SCB when you have shields would do nothing, when your shields drop you fire SCBs and the timer cycles around faster (5s after pressing), a big enough SCB and you might even bring the shields back online.
Would make combat more fun, as you'd have a short window to cripple the shields before the SCBs bring them back up (to 50%), plus shields would become a favourite subsys to aim for (to keep them down) so that would be PP, Drives and Shields all competing for subsys target selection.
Would also make life easier for Python and Conda pilots, who have to wait almost 10minutess for shields to come back online.
That is a pretty nifty idea I hadn't heared before. +rep!
Because of escalation.
You have a trade ship, I have a combat ship, I win.
You have a combat ship, I have a combat ship with a SCB, I win.
You have a combat ship with a SCB, I have a combat ship with 2 SCBs, I win.
You have a combat ship maxed out with SCBs, I have a different combat ship with room for one more SCB, I win.
You have the same combat ship as me, maxed out with SCBs... ok, now it's an even contest.
But much of the potential ship and module diversity has been removed in this race to have the tankiest ship. Limit the number of SCBs that can be carried and you still reach the same stalemate, but with fewer SCBs and more available slots for other modules/roles.
You have a trade ship, I have a combat ship, I win.
You have a combat ship, I have a combat ship with a SCB, I win.
You have a combat ship with a SCB, I have a combat ship with 2 SCBs, I win.
You have a combat ship maxed out with SCBs, I have a different combat ship with room for one more SCB, I win.
You have the same combat ship as me, maxed out with SCBs... ok, now it's an even contest.
But much of the potential ship and module diversity has been removed in this race to have the tankiest ship. Limit the number of SCBs that can be carried and you still reach the same stalemate, but with fewer SCBs and more available slots for other modules/roles.
Pretty much that. In addition, if you are outfitted for anything else other than full combat with tons of SCB's you can forget about fighting another player who attacks you since it's pretty much certain that he is outfitted like that. There needs to be a limit of 1 for SCB's.
i was wondering whether it would be worth a bug report, that elite npc anacondas don't fit shieldbanks even in CZ. i mean, everyone can get them...
beside that: for many pve-combat people and for some pvp-combat people scb are part of their fun playing the game.
That's a pretty good idea. I like it.
they are available for everyone my biggot with them is they make the canda, python, clipper, to good at combat while combat ships which cant hall cargo and are extremely power starved are only viable pve
they made one trick ponie ships completely useless and mutlie roll ships which are suppose to be jack of all trade masters of non supreme gods of combat and moderate cargo haulers.
The game was simply more challenging and interesting without them.
Very good question OP.
People seem disappointed that more SCB can make a difference in combat. I don't see how it is a problem, as the same can be said about a lot of other module: better guns = you win, better maneuverability = you win, better something = you win. Remove SCBs and another module will eventually become the tiebreaker.
People seem disappointed that more SCB can make a difference in combat. I don't see how it is a problem, as the same can be said about a lot of other module: better guns = you win, better maneuverability = you win, better something = you win. Remove SCBs and another module will eventually become the tiebreaker.
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It's basically having extra lives. It's purely a PVP concern. NPCs never have them.
It boils down to(regarding PVP):
Pure fighters are useless since they will never hold as many cells as a multi purpose ship.
There's no such thing as casual PVP, you have to be specifically outfitted for it. So no trading or exploration if you want to slug it out with another commander.
It boils down to(regarding PVP):
Pure fighters are useless since they will never hold as many cells as a multi purpose ship.
There's no such thing as casual PVP, you have to be specifically outfitted for it. So no trading or exploration if you want to slug it out with another commander.
So logic dictates that the further you get away from shield cell banks the better it is for pvp. So then they should go the route of the empire of star wars and get rid of shields all together, kinda like the tie fighter! If that were done it would open another can of worms in that how much Armour is too much Armour! "Gameplay Dilemma, Interesting it is!" - Yoda
The difference is that with SCBs you wont win. Nobody wins. It is a guaranteed draw, every single time. It just takes a lot longer to get there. If you make it so the FSD cant spool up within 2 minutes of using a SCB, no problem there. I'll just keep plugging at it. But now there is no point: it takes ten minutes to work through five SCB modules, after which you just high-wake out. Its pointless.