Does shield recharge time need a buff?

JughedJones · Mar 19, 2015

I just came back after a month or two off.

Shield cells don't recharge like they used to, and I love it.

The fact you can't just hit the button and have your shields instantaneously get fresh is awesome.

I think that was just the right amount of balancing. It feels hard enough, but not prohibitive at all. That's what they're going for.

In short: shields are just fine. (to me.)

Huita · Mar 19, 2015

There are so many neat little things, like subsystem damage and canopy breaching, you will never see because it makes sense to jump out as soon as shield is down... or almost down.

That's such a shame.

Morbad · Mar 19, 2015

The only thing I would change with the current system is the removal of SC restoring shields and SCB use contributing to the energy required to restore shields (they come back up after 50% of their capacity has been restored) after collapse.

Coccolino · Mar 19, 2015

jgm said:
Then you're running with an inadequate power distributor or not feeding your SYS capacitor.

A 5A shield generator has a capacity of 475MJ and a 6A power distributor has a recharge rate of 3.2MJ/s. That gives you a time to 50% of about 75 seconds, plus the 15 seconds between losing shields and start of recharge. If you add two A0 shield boosters then your time for shields to come back goes up to 104 seconds plus the 15 seconds.

There needs to be some downside to running around with larger shields and recharge time is it.

No, I tested it using a maxed out power distributor (6A on the FDL). And 4 pips to SYS of course.

Dominico · Mar 19, 2015

I agree the big ships don't dominate enough already, small ships can blow them up if they get together in a group and work in team spirit.

So on top of insanely ridiculous repair costs to encourage big ships to stay in combat, and the broken jump out jump in mechanic to repair shields lets also give them a faster shield recharge rate.

Also a free Cruiser for anyone who can fly to the Sol system, with a 200 credit rebuy. Can only make this game more indepth and amazing

*disable sarcasm mode*

Coccolino · Mar 19, 2015

Dominico said:
I agree the big ships don't dominate enough already, small ships can blow them up if they get together in a group and work in team spirit.

So on top of insanely ridiculous repair costs to encourage big ships to stay in combat, and the broken jump out jump in mechanic to repair shields lets also give them a faster shield recharge rate.

Also a free Cruiser for anyone who can fly to the Sol system, with a 200 credit rebuy. Can only make this game more indepth and amazing

*disable sarcasm mode*

You are taking it the wrong way.
And I guess not many people like the jump-restore shields mechanism, I hope it will be addressed.

SiriusSeven · Mar 19, 2015

No. Shield recharge rate seems reasonable to me.

timbow · Mar 19, 2015

In my Vulture I can take out a Sidewinder in around 30 seconds, certainly within full capacitors worth of beam laser charge. My shields can also withstand a pretty large broadside from an Anaconda for quite some time, and my armour yet more damage. I don't think shields need a buff, I think people need to learn how to fight, understand shields are one line of defence, and when to bug out for a recharge (and I don't mean using the SC exploit, I mean running away to allow shields to recover, and then going back for more).

As always, if you can't afford to repair it or replace it, don't fly it!

Mephane · Mar 19, 2015

imashination said:
Handle it the same way that mana is handled in WoW. If a person is in combat (ie. theyve taken damage in the last 15 seconds) then only allow the shields to very slowly trickle charge as they do now; so slow that even a small ship wont have trouble taking them down.

Arbitrarily distinguishing between combat and non-combat situations is 4th-wall-breaking and therefore a no-go. It is also not needed. Shields resume regeneration only a few seconds after they have been hit the last time. Even a single class 1 pulse laser can eventually get through the biggest shields with enough patience.

timbow said:
In my Vulture I can take out a Sidewinder in around 30 seconds, certainly within full capacitors worth of beam laser charge. My shields can also withstand a pretty large broadside from an Anaconda for quite some time, and my armour yet more damage. I don't think shields need a buff, I think people need to learn how to fight, understand shields are one line of defence, and when to bug out for a recharge (and I don't mean using the SC exploit, I mean running away to allow shields to recover, and then going back for more).

As always, if you can't afford to repair it or replace it, don't fly it!

Le sigh. That argument has been brought up before in this thread, and the response is still the same: this thread is about the time it takes for shields to replenish (and reboot when failed) in the very case that you have got some breathing room, or even entirely withdrawn from a fight, not about the fact that you may eventually have to do so in the first place. And as I just said, as long as you are still being hit, shields to not regenerate at all anyway.

jgm · Mar 19, 2015

Coccolino said:
No, I tested it using a maxed out power distributor (6A on the FDL). And 4 pips to SYS of course.

Care to post a video?

Coccolino · Mar 19, 2015

jgm said:
Care to post a video?

Really? A 4-8minute video just because you don't trust me? If you are this lazy I can do it, yes. But why don't you trust me?

jgm · Mar 19, 2015

Coccolino said:
Really? A 4-8minute video just because you don't trust me? If you are this lazy I can do it, yes. But why don't you trust me?

Because it suggests that there is something wrong with the numbers we have been using to date, and I'd like to see exact loadout and timings to try to work out what it is. For exact timings I figure that a video is best.

I'd do it myself but don't have a Fer deLance handy.

Bangfish · Mar 19, 2015

Sure mate. But why not take it to the next level and make all ships indestructable?. Due to the shield boosters galore this game is more like World of Tanks than a proper space sim anyways now.

scorpyon · Mar 19, 2015

While I agree that shield recharge is currently way too slow, if you had a shield charger module, you could effectively combine it with Shield Boosters to get around the dowside to the boosters (making them a lot stronger).
Not sure if this would make them a little OP or not - would have to see it in action to tell either way.

Coccolino · Mar 19, 2015

scorpyon said:
While I agree that shield recharge is currently way too slow, if you had a shield charger module, you could effectively combine it with Shield Boosters to get around the dowside to the boosters (making them a lot stronger).
Not sure if this would make them a little OP or not - would have to see it in action to tell either way.

Even if you will counter-balance the slowness introduced by a shield booster (let's assume 1.2x speed for an A-rated "recharge booster"), the recharge rate at the moment wouldn't be enough to stay in combat anyways.
3 minutes instead of 4 to have the shields back at 50% (if you are not being attacked) is just not viable in a PvP context.

@Jgm... Video is uploading. It's even a more than 8 minutes for 100% shields.

Quineloe · Mar 19, 2015

I once timed my 7A shield on my Clipper without any shield boosters. It took a solid 4 minutes to recharge from "beep beep" warning back to full.
Now 7D with 2 boosters takes even longer

4 minutes is insane, there's no way around that. That's basically Everquest 1 meditation levels of downtime. I'd at very least cut the recharge time of shields down to 25%, or steadily increase the recharge rate the longer it's been recharging, so actually being out of any combat gives you full shields back fast while not being fired upon for 10 seconds isn't really noticeable.

Right now, you're better off using shield cells every time your shields are low, then returning to the station and rearming than you are off with removing yourself from combat and waiting for regular regeneration. The money isn't even a factor here, if I'm staying away from a conflict zone for 4 minutes, I'm losing easily 30k worth of bonds.

Poy · Mar 19, 2015

Quineloe said:
I once timed my 7A shield on my Clipper without any shield boosters. It took a solid 4 minutes to recharge from "beep beep" warning back to full.
Now 7D with 2 boosters takes even longer

4 minutes is insane, there's no way around that. That's basically Everquest 1 meditation levels of downtime. I'd at very least cut the recharge time of shields down to 25%, or steadily increase the recharge rate the longer it's been recharging, so actually being out of any combat gives you full shields back fast while not being fired upon for 10 seconds isn't really noticeable.

Right now, you're better off using shield cells every time your shields are low, then returning to the station and rearming than you are off with removing yourself from combat and waiting for regular regeneration. The money isn't even a factor here, if I'm staying away from a conflict zone for 4 minutes, I'm losing easily 30k worth of bonds.

Or ! let's do it by number of pips like everything else, or like weapons, number of pips plus amount of energy in the accu.

Mephane · Mar 19, 2015

Bangfish said:
Sure mate. But why not take it to the next level and make all ships indestructable?. Due to the shield boosters galore this game is more like World of Tanks than a proper space sim anyways now.

Did you read anything more than the thread title? Shields do not regenerate under fire, but when you have withdrawn from a fight or a quiet moment without enemies, and are therefore not under fire, they take ages to replenenish and reboot.

Arithon · Mar 19, 2015

The value of 0.9 MJ/s on a 3E Power Distributor on a Cobra is the rate at which systems recharge shields.

The default shield generator on a Cobra is a 4E with 93.58 MJ total strength. In theory therefore, a 4E shield should take 104 seconds (93.58 / 0.9) to recharge.

A class 3A Power Distributor pumps out 1.3 MJ/s, so the same 4E shield with an A rated distributor should take only 72 seconds.

For an example of how Shield Boosters affect recharge times, see my post here: http://www.elite-dangerous-blog.co.uk/Blog/2015/3/18/shield-recharge-times-in-elite-dangerous

I tested the effect Boosters have last night and the numbers seem to match.

Hope this helps.

Mephane · Mar 19, 2015

Arithon said:
The value of 0.9 MJ/s on a 3E Power Distributor on a Cobra is the rate at which systems recharge shields.

The default shield generator on a Cobra is a 4E with 93.58 MJ total strength. In theory therefore, a 4E shield should take 104 seconds (93.58 / 0.9) to recharge.

A class 3A Power Distributor pumps out 1.3 MJ/s, so the same 4E shield with an A rated distributor should take only 72 seconds.

View attachment 22524

For an example of how Shield Boosters affect recharge times, see my post here: http://www.elite-dangerous-blog.co.uk/Blog/2015/3/18/shield-recharge-times-in-elite-dangerous

I tested the effect Boosters have last night and the numbers seem to match.

Hope this helps.

Wait, do I understand this right? Stronger shields not only have proportionally slower regeneration, but also in absolute values?

Edit: Ah, no, I misread the table.