With the current debate on shield cells, some crying for nerfs, others saying that it's fine as it is, some wanting them to be removed entirely, and some wishing for a redesign of the module, I've been thinking about ways to potentially improve the mechanic of them. I fall into the last camp of people, and am in favor of their design being altered.
Currently, shield cells function similarly to health potions in games such as Diablo, leading many people to refer to them as "shield potions." Personally, I believe that a game as deep as Elite can do better than a simple potion mechanic. So, my basic idea is to redesign SCBs to be a skill based mechanic instead of a simple heal button, to make it fit better with the overall heavily skill-based combat philosophy of Elite.
- Instead of shield cells rapidly replenishing, have shield cells temporarily bolster your shields significantly for a short period of a second or so, with a reasonable cooldown to prevent spamming. This way, it becomes more context sensitive. You only want to bolster your shields when you're about to have some dangerous smackdown heading your way, right? Say, an anconda's PAC is heading right for you, and you can't stop it. You can however block it if you have good timing. Of course, those without good timing, intuition, reflexes, or predictive capabilities wouldn't be able to abuse shield cells this way very effectively.
-Furthermore, it could be useful if you see some jerk trying to ram you
I prefer a skill-based blocking mechanic, that is only as effective as the player using it makes it, as opposed to a useful in all situations healing potion. What do you guys think?
Currently, shield cells function similarly to health potions in games such as Diablo, leading many people to refer to them as "shield potions." Personally, I believe that a game as deep as Elite can do better than a simple potion mechanic. So, my basic idea is to redesign SCBs to be a skill based mechanic instead of a simple heal button, to make it fit better with the overall heavily skill-based combat philosophy of Elite.
- Instead of shield cells rapidly replenishing, have shield cells temporarily bolster your shields significantly for a short period of a second or so, with a reasonable cooldown to prevent spamming. This way, it becomes more context sensitive. You only want to bolster your shields when you're about to have some dangerous smackdown heading your way, right? Say, an anconda's PAC is heading right for you, and you can't stop it. You can however block it if you have good timing. Of course, those without good timing, intuition, reflexes, or predictive capabilities wouldn't be able to abuse shield cells this way very effectively.
-Furthermore, it could be useful if you see some jerk trying to ram you
I prefer a skill-based blocking mechanic, that is only as effective as the player using it makes it, as opposed to a useful in all situations healing potion. What do you guys think?
