Should there be shield domes around surface combat zones?

[JTFireblaze]

As a counter to people dumbfiring frontline CZs from the skies, should settlements have a shield dome?

Make it something that can be enabled and disabled. A player/squad should be able to make their way to the shield generator and disable it to allow ships to rain down fire on the CZ.

And proper AA turrets too...

Something something sphere of combat.

 

[SlouchMonster]

There's a lot of things that 'should' be in Odyssey.
But yeah AA guns and shields as objectives to capture would be good.

Can you imagine how awesome it would be to have a CZ where you're dropped outside the settlement and you have to run/SRV in to shut down the defences so your Dropships can drop you in the settlement propper. Or defending a settlement that's being attacked like that. Different CZ types depending on how the war is going. Attack/Defend/Gain Control etc.

 

[Mikiy]

I'd say yes cause it would be cool to have more ground objectives like repair/destroy/man AA-cannons and for the sake of immersion it never feels right that the soldiers on ground have zero protection against ships gunning down on them.

But considering i've never ran into any other players yet in conflict zones except in alpha im kinda curious.. have you? And if yes where?

 

[JTFireblaze]

I'd say yes cause it would be cool to have more ground objectives like repair/destroy/man AA-cannons and for the sake of immersion it never feels right that the soldiers on ground have zero protection against ships gunning down on them.

But considering i've never ran into any other players yet in conflict zones except in alpha im kinda curious.. have you? And if yes where?

Considering the galaxy is pretty big, and instancing, people in Solo/Private Groups, it does make it somewhat more difficult to find other people!

I've only done a couple of conflict zones so far so maybe I'll bump into someone eventually...

Even if it is just solo commanders or in a small squad, having the shield domes would look cool!

Also, these bases are in tenuous atmospheres at best, they have no protection from meteorites. It would make sense to have some laser defence at the very least, a shield dome preferably.

 

[Ninjitsu]

Yeah absolutely! In fact not just CZs, when they introduce odyssey team missions finally, tougher settlements should absolutely get shield domes that people have to infiltrate and turn off.

 

[Ydiss]

I'd say the biggest issue with ships in CZs is the derps who mow down dropship combatants as they drop from the ship.

 

[CMDR Yates]

Shields.

AA guns.

Improved AI so NPCs take actual cover and duck into hard-to-reach places when ships attack.

NPCs returning fire on ships at a longer range.

NPCs with anti-aircraft weaponry, like Stinger missile-type launchers, anti-aircraft SRVs (maybe reduce the effectiveness of regular hand weapons against ships a bit though).

Enemy dropships that actually engage in ship combat against enemy pilots after dropping off their troops (as a bonus, conflict zones made more dramatic by dogfights happening overhead).

Shield bubbles around falling dropship combatants to make ramming and mid-air blasting a bit less effective.

There's lots that could be done to better balance ship-to-ground combat, yeah. At the moment, the only thing working against you if you decide to attack from the air is that shooting guys on the ground is really boring.

 

[Drelthar]

Definately, along with a load of other things that would help make the combat triangle a thing.

I probably mention a few in this thread (as well as.. elsewhere)

CM's a Question for the devs? - Just where is the combat triangle, exactly?

Taken from the video linked below about the combat in Odyssey. I pulled out several relevant sections where I am struggling to see the intended design come through. One of the key elements of Odyssey's combat is what we consider the Combat Triangle. "Key elements" - Not, additional...

forums.frontier.co.uk

 

[Murfelton]

In one CZ in Solo, my Frontline ship was hit by AA fire in the final stage of combat. (Ship survived, at least until I jumped.) I had no idea what triggered that response.

 

[JTFireblaze]

Is this another fix for an imaginary problem?

Maybe it’s the instancing issues, but I’ve yet to see another CMDR in Open let alone be bombed by one while in a CZ.

There have been dozens of videos of people carpet bombing combat zones with missiles. Definitely not an "imaginary problem". I'll chalk your "not seen any in Open" argument up in the Instancing Issues column.

I just question why these surface settlements wouldn't have some kind of shielding to protect against weaponry from ships. Or even, since they're in zero or tenuous atmo, why there wouldn't be sufficient shielding/AA to protect against meteorites.

 

[Drelthar]

I've heard of people doing it, but not of it being a problem for other players. I've given it a try, in Solo, and it gets boring pretty quick. I don't see how it's really a problem.



If they're powered down? Most CZs are in some state of disrepair.

Would be good if you could power them back up wouldn;t it, instead of all the interactable stuff being, well, just set to be none interactable making it way more boring.

 

[Muzz UK]

On foot conflict zones need a bit of work.

Firstly the AI is too easy at the moment I've not yet lost a zone low, med and high... I've always won by 300-400 points its even easier with a group. I do think they'd be very fun PvP though. Your shield dome idea is a good one

 

[CMDR Morkar]

Since everything and its dog has a shield in ED it would be logical to at least have some partially covered buildings or at least weapons like turrets.

 

[Valorin]

As a counter to people dumbfiring frontline CZs from the skies, should settlements have a shield dome?

Make it something that can be enabled and disabled. A player/squad should be able to make their way to the shield generator and disable it to allow ships to rain down fire on the CZ.

And proper AA turrets too...

Something something sphere of combat.

I'm sure the lore says "NO!", but that didn't stop telepresence either...

 

[CMDR Sophie Joanne]

NO!

If Settlements have shields, why don't Starports, or Outposts, or FCs, or Megaships? Why can't a Starport just turn on it's shields and repel a Thargoid attack?

 

[CMDR Yates]

NO!

If Settlements have shields, why don't Starports, or Outposts, or FCs, or Megaships? Why can't a Starport just turn on it's shields and repel a Thargoid attack?

I mean, we can't cause damage at any of the things you mentioned anyway, so it would make some degree of sense for them to have shields as a justification for that, I guess.

But I think shields at surface conflict zones would need to be a bit more nuanced than that. Not an impenetrable dome over the whole base, but maybe something like a much beefed-up, fixed-position version of the shield grenade that we currently have, giving players and NPCs somewhere to shelter and return fire, but concentrates them in one place, vulnerable to ground attack, can be sabotaged by enemy troops, etc.

An extra strategic dimension that balances ground vs ship a bit, rather than just something that makes ship attack blanket obsolete or absolutely OP (as currently).

 

[CMDR Sophie Joanne]

I mean, we can't cause damage at any of the things you mentioned anyway, so it would make some degree of sense for them to have shields as a justification for that, I guess.

But I think shields at surface conflict zones would need to be a bit more nuanced than that. Not an impenetrable dome over the whole base, but maybe something like a much beefed-up, fixed-position version of the shield grenade that we currently have, giving players and NPCs somewhere to shelter and return fire, but concentrates them in one place, vulnerable to ground attack, can be sabotaged by enemy troops, etc.

but there is no lore that allows shields that big... In fact, in original lore, it was stated that shields that big wasn't possible!

 

[CMDR Yates]

but there is no lore that allows shields that big... In fact, in original lore, it was stated that shields that big wasn't possible!

New inventions are a thing in the 3300s... surely. There's lots of tech companies and militaries and stuff all working on different things...

In a world completely created by the devs and story writers at FDev (and their predecessors), the devs and story writers at FDev are in the position of being able to add any new story justification they want for adding a new piece of technology...

In the context of conflict zones though, what exactly are you imagining?

A dome over the whole base?

Cos if you read my edit above, that's not what I'm talking about with regards to that.

 

[drew]

As a counter to people dumbfiring frontline CZs from the skies, should settlements have a shield dome?

Yes. It's a nonsense they aren't there.

Cheers,

Drew.

 

[CMDR Sophie Joanne]

New inventions are a thing in the 3300s... surely. There's lots of tech companies and militaries and stuff all working on different things...

In a world completely created by the devs and story writers at FDev (and their predecessors), the devs and story writers at FDev are in the position of being able to add any new story justification they want for adding a new piece of technology...

In the context of conflict zones though, what exactly are you imagining?

A dome over the whole base?

Cos if you read my edit above, that's not what I'm talking about with regards to that.

Why not just drop a shield grenade if you need somewhere to take cover? or go indoors?
Maybe i'm not understanding your idea properly, but I think it's an answer to a problem that doesn't exist...

At the moment there isn't really any ship > ground combat. I would have ship-based combat zones spawn above ground-based combat zones.
It would add excitement and danger to the GCZs, having ships flying above you, exploding and raining scrap metal on you.
It would also add a new danger to the ship combat - you have gravity and the ground to be aware of, and the possibility of being hit from below.
Stray fire would go both ways.
I would have the AA guns controlable, much in the same way the SRV turret is, for taking down ships from the ground (telepresence from the CMD centre maybe?). I would also have a trigger (attacking faction looses half their troops, or something) which would cause the attacking faction to call in some kind of air-strike - the defending (ship CZ-based) faction would then have a CZ side-quest to take out the 'bombers' before they get a chance to do the bombing run. This would tie the CZs and the GCZs together, allowing them to influence each other, but keeping the results seperate (you can win in the air but lose on the ground, or vice-versa).