Hang on...what happened to shields?
- Thread starter digitalscream
- Start date
I, too, can support the OP on this. My FAS with 4 boosters went in to a low intensity CZ to see what's up. Shot a couple of ships and things seem normal. Then 2 vipers target me, I suspect with rails, and boom shields gone. Kick in the recharge and heat 160% or something and damage arriving in spades. Ran away. Got shields back, hull 79%. Thought - OK - probably just coincidence, placebo, whatever, take it more carefully and watch out. Bang - 2 vipers (easy meat yesterday) and shields gone again! Run away - recharge - 
! Think about it - what it boils down to is this. Even with the best gear, best situational awareness, good combat skills, etc. etc. as soon as you are targeted by 2 ships you better run because by the time you get some speed up you will be hurting.
So CZ's in a vulture or FAS are now like this - enter, shoot, paranoia, "I hear rails or is it PA's" - run away, shields now gone, wait for recharge, take damage from heat plus ships that followed you, come back with less hull and try again. Rinse and repeat. Yeah - that's fun. Not! I earned 52,000 credits before having to hightail back for repairs - 10 minutes in the zone.
! Think about it - what it boils down to is this. Even with the best gear, best situational awareness, good combat skills, etc. etc. as soon as you are targeted by 2 ships you better run because by the time you get some speed up you will be hurting. So CZ's in a vulture or FAS are now like this - enter, shoot, paranoia, "I hear rails or is it PA's" - run away, shields now gone, wait for recharge, take damage from heat plus ships that followed you, come back with less hull and try again. Rinse and repeat. Yeah - that's fun. Not! I earned 52,000 credits before having to hightail back for repairs - 10 minutes in the zone.
It's not the shields. It's the weaponry! NPC's seem to be outfitted with much higher DPS loadouts and some classy new moves. Fine for the big boys and their mega SCB's (FDL, Python, Anaconda, Corvette, etc...) but is going to tear smaller ships a new one, especially now that lower class SCB's have been nerfed to oblivion. We can just add it to the growing list of heavy handed balance changes that make the game less enjoyable, and possibly unplayable for those not combat savvy.
Quoted myself because I can't be bothered to type it all out again.
This thread is exactly why before the patch I parked my python and swapped over to an eagle. I'll sacrifice that to pre-hotfix wonkiness rather than risk the expensive stuff when I only have 30million in the bank.
Granted the patch is still about 7 hours from being downloaded at this point so it might hotfix before I even get to fly in horizons...
Granted the patch is still about 7 hours from being downloaded at this point so it might hotfix before I even get to fly in horizons...
Grab that stick, and pull it out, ok? I didn't say he couldn't post anything, I said he needed to BUG REPORT IT, as did others, and we all said it for the same reason, complaining there doesn't get it fixed. SOME of us aren't experiencing the same thing, I'm not and I'm in a Python with only 5A shields and 2 boosters, oddly enough, they do just fine against NPCs in 2.0. Either it's the pilot or there's a bug, report it, and stop telling those of us who aren't having the problem to get lost.
I'm starting to think it really IS a pilot issue, comprehension of those afflicted would support that hypothesis it seems.
I like the shift. look at it this way for a sec:
How interesting would combat be if you could just keep shields up ALL THE TIME? - I mean- what kind of play is that? boooring!
I believe Shields became a crutch to many many players, and now that they cannot lean on it as much- they feel betrayed.
So now we actually take armor damage in combat. Shields are never eternal (and probably was never intended to be). System failures, hull reinforcements, and several many other elements of the game will now get a chance to emerge. [... you did buy armor for going into combat... right? why not? eh? Crutch much?]
This - awesome. A challenge in a game makes it worth playing. I must say even as a relatively new ED player (7 weeks now), I would tear through wave after wave in CZ's or stay out in HazRes's and maybe only return when I have been out of ammo for 20 minutes and was sick of ramming ships to death in FAS
Obviously the only issue with moving the goal posts around is that upcoming players like myself who have managed to only make whatever in credits (I stand at approx 230m in assets) will find it a bit harder to get this to jump up. But like you said, I'd rather have fun and a challenge than a bore fest and credits. Makes the achievement worth something, every game seems to get easier every year - i like this direction. I'll try it out tonight..
Maybe they bring out a hardcore mode like in Diablo, you die you are dead. Lose your ship, lose your credits, you die, cease to exist.. Now that would be an interesting challenge
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Note that fully dropped shields now come back up significantly faster than in v1.4.
This has mid-dogfight implications, both if shields get knocked out, and if you dropped them on purpose to use Silent Running.
This has mid-dogfight implications, both if shields get knocked out, and if you dropped them on purpose to use Silent Running.
Maybe they bring out a hardcore mode like in Diablo, you die you are dead. Lose your ship, lose your credits, you die, cease to exist.. Now that would be an interesting challenge
Iron man mode was mooted back in the DDF days but not heard any word on it from FD. Would make for a more exciting experience, but not sure I want it lol. You can always chose to reset your save if you die.
Hello,
I've been having nearly the same problem for the past 4 weeks or so. And I haven't even tried 1.5 yet. I fly a Python equipped with an A5 prismatic shield and 2 A shield boosters (ingame stats say that I have 588 Mj shields (Normal A6 + 2 A Shield boosters = 557Mj)). Also, Mil grade armour. It seems that nearly every NPC nowadays is fitted with a frag cannon (turreted, gimballed) that just seems to rip my shields apart. Chaff don't seem to have much effect as frag cannons do area damage. Also, the only way to avoid them is to keep your distance from the enemy but that is easier said then done against the faster smaller ships. Once the frags take care of the shields, the armour gets a nice beating from them too. Actually, it seems to me that all the kinetic weapons do alot of damage to shields and then do alot of damage to armour.
A major advantage NPCs have over players is their lack of self-preservation. They don't seem to care if they are down to 50% hull, and the only avoidance that they do is spam chaff. They still come straight at you trying their very best to kill you before they die.
Have fun, fly safe.
I've been having nearly the same problem for the past 4 weeks or so. And I haven't even tried 1.5 yet. I fly a Python equipped with an A5 prismatic shield and 2 A shield boosters (ingame stats say that I have 588 Mj shields (Normal A6 + 2 A Shield boosters = 557Mj)). Also, Mil grade armour. It seems that nearly every NPC nowadays is fitted with a frag cannon (turreted, gimballed) that just seems to rip my shields apart. Chaff don't seem to have much effect as frag cannons do area damage. Also, the only way to avoid them is to keep your distance from the enemy but that is easier said then done against the faster smaller ships. Once the frags take care of the shields, the armour gets a nice beating from them too. Actually, it seems to me that all the kinetic weapons do alot of damage to shields and then do alot of damage to armour.
A major advantage NPCs have over players is their lack of self-preservation. They don't seem to care if they are down to 50% hull, and the only avoidance that they do is spam chaff. They still come straight at you trying their very best to kill you before they die.
Have fun, fly safe.
I have the same issues, but only in things like interdictions and distress calls. In CZs and RES I am fine. I had an eagle strip my shields in a distress call faster than an Anaconda in a HIRES.
Getting a bit of the taste of my own medicine here methinks! I'm always telling people - stop moaning and become a better pilot. So trust me when I say - it has changed, drastically, to the point where the fun has been taken away. Now I'm not going to say that I can't get better - I sure intend to try to find ways to combat this new situation - but as it stands I have to say that the CZ is not fun anymore. It's a case of - enter zone, shoot, get shields stripped within a minute or two, retire to recharge or repair. That just isn't fun - it's lots of waiting! So I will probably try for a while and then leave combat to the better pilots forever and go find something else to do.
I don't think its shield nerfed as pointed out by many. Initially i thought it was buff to all weapons dmg. Cos seriously i feel the NPC burning through my shields so much faster now and my python herself burns through their shields even faster too. I personally hate the shorter TTK(time to kill). It feels more like a shooter now rather than a tactical space battle. Hopefully someone can dig through the codes for an answer.
People keep saying this and I feel the need to say one thing: Shields only recharge faster when powering back up from a broken state.
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I reported it as a bug. It only happens to me in some instances. I haven't tried a LICZ, but I was fine in HICZ and HAZRES/HIRES. But even when they strip my shields with ease if I ram them I take the same damage, so I think some NPCs are just getting godly weapons.
You may be right about that. I'll try a few more times to see if it is just the luck of the draw when it comes to the NPC's generated in a CZ. But I do have to add - I'm not at all sure that I like this new idea of overheating the ship to get a shield charge. As it was I simply used them as a means to stay in a zone for a longer time - that's all it was really, just a way to avoid having to retire and wait whilst the shields recharged. Now the shields go so fast that there isn't time to use the charge. But if I do want to get back in quickly then I tried using the charge once the shields were back to 50% but then I had to wait for the heat to come down plus take damage. I could always load a heat dispenser thingy but that's another hard point used up, one less booster, and the shields get stripped even quicker! and my fighter craft just becomes less somehow.
No - not happy about it at all at all! My Braben et al really do need to remember that the majority of players are not going to be combat maestros - just your average Joe Blow. And I do realise that it has to be Dangerous - no problem with that - truly - but the balance seems to have swung too far now.
No - not happy about it at all at all! My Braben et al really do need to remember that the majority of players are not going to be combat maestros - just your average Joe Blow. And I do realise that it has to be Dangerous - no problem with that - truly - but the balance seems to have swung too far now.
Well I just got mullered in my a rated asp by a courier, killed me before I could even get anywhere near sc, normally I would just stop and fight a courier but after nearly dying to a mk4 viper I new something wasn't right with combat and tried to run... have asp's just been nerfed into oblivion or is it the shields? the npc's boosted?
Dunno which it is but no more trading or missions for me for now!
Dunno which it is but no more trading or missions for me for now!