Module suggestion - Emergency barriers

[Firehawk894]

So I was in the fuel rats chat the other day and just threw an idea for a module out into it, which apparently a lot of them liked and told me I should share, so here it is:

Emergency Shielding:
At this point, I imagine it being an Optional Internal module, but I suppose that would be up to the devs, along with the stats

STATS:
For small ships
Class - 1C
Mass - 2.00T
Power Draw - 0.75 MW
Thermal load - 42.5
Fixed shield strength - 30
‘Reload’ time - 300 seconds

For medium ships
Class - 4C
Mass - 5.00T
Power Draw - 1.50 MW
Thermal load - 102.5
Fixed shield strength - 120
‘Reload’ time - 450 seconds

For large ships

Class - 7C
Mass - 8.00T
Power Draw - 3.00 MW
Thermal load - 180
Fixed shield strength - 480
‘Reload’ time - 600 seconds


Description:
Emergency force-fields are added to the ships sub-systems which have two distinct activation triggers;
Firstly, if a ship's shields go offline, the module will start a 3/5/8 second charge-up cycle during which it can be cancelled (with a keybind). If allowed to activate, the module automatically deploys a shield with half the strength of the first ring of primary shielding.
However while the module is active, the shields will recharge to full strength (not including boosters) but will not activate until the emergency shields are offline (You have to manually shut the emergency shields down via keybind or module screen).

The second instance is if a ships canopy is breached, the emergency shields will deploy after the standard 10 second charge-up, with the same shield health as the first instance.

Both deployments of the emergency shielding effectively seal off the ship from external space, temporarily re-sealing the environment inside the ship for Life Support to function, using the same technology present in starport ‘mail-slots’. The “sealing” properties of the shields prevent external sources from heating the ship*, If the shield is broken before the shut-down cycle, the shield bubble will pulse outwards and push away any nearby objects before breaking.

Another added bonus is that the emergency shields can function without the presence of a full shield generator. Without a shield generator, the shield strength given will be a fixed number.

*Your ship cannot be effected by external heat-increasing sources, such as flying near most stars, extreme heat (52,000K and up) will cause the shields to fail however and heat levels will still rise from powerplant use.

 

[ohforf3]

Shields that pop up when your shields go down, no. Shields are kind of broken with how strong they are thanks to engineering, boosters, and cell banks.

Now an emergency shield for in the event of the canopy breaking I can see getting added as it would be a backup for the canopy alone and not absorbing other damage.

 

[GroG79]

I do not want to give up a module to enable this 'option'. That is the problem with this proposal. A module that I need/use for when my shield goes down. I rather beef op my shield. Put a HRP. Add a scb etc

Also.. Powerdraw is HUGE.. And you can not enable it when you need it.. cause it is an emergency module so it needs to be ON

 

[Firehawk894]

I do not want to give up a module to enable this 'option'. That is the problem with this proposal. A module that I need/use for when my shield goes down. I rather beef op my shield. Put a HRP. Add a scb etc

Also.. Powerdraw is HUGE.. And you can not enable it when you need it.. cause it is an emergency module so it needs to be ON

In my initial idea, the emergency shield wouldn't draw any power while not currently active, almost like the module remained offline until it was needed, which is why it has a charge-up sequence.

Agreed with the power draw, I was looking at shield BOOSTERS rather than Cell banks when I was making my initial idea.

 

[Firehawk894]

Shields that pop up when your shields go down, no. Shields are kind of broken with how strong they are thanks to engineering, boosters, and cell banks.

Now an emergency shield for in the event of the canopy breaking I can see getting added as it would be a backup for the canopy alone and not absorbing other damage.

Why so against the idea of shields that come online as a backup? You wouldn't be able to mod the emergency shields at all, they would retain the same strength no matter what.
They wouldn't be intended as some sort of magical "instant shield full recharge" button in combat, hitting them with any kind of weapon would take them down almost immediately.

Honestly when I thought up the idea I thought of it as something explorers could use, or something like that idk.
I suppose we should just be glad that hull-breaching attacks like railguns don't cause atmosphere loss.

 

[varonica]

Honestly when I thought up the idea I thought of it as something explorers could use, or something like that idk.
I suppose we should just be glad that hull-breaching attacks like railguns don't cause atmosphere loss.

As an explorer that sounds.....just like something I would never, ever install! If my main shields go down it's always as a result of my ship being destroyed, so emergency shields are just going to sit there and reduce my jump range while never doing anything useful.

 

[metatheurgist]

Not a fan a "extra shields". I suggested 'force field' canopies as an alternative to the standard a while ago. So at the cost of using power your canopy never breaks.

 

[varonica]

Not a fan a "extra shields". I suggested 'force field' canopies as an alternative to the standard a while ago. So at the cost of using power your canopy never breaks.

See that might be something with utlity for many players, an emergency canopy shield generator, small, size 1 slot, wouldn't stop weapon fire, takes a minute or so to fire up, just gives you a chance to get away and dock.

 

[RamirezKurita]

See that might be something with utlity for many players, an emergency canopy shield generator, small, size 1 slot, wouldn't stop weapon fire, takes a minute or so to fire up, just gives you a chance to get away and dock.

Or they could actually make the higher grades of life support actually worth it by including this kind of functionality. No need for an entirely new module when the C+ rated life support systems need so much love.

 

[Firehawk894]

If they added customizable canopies into the game maybe my idea could be used.

You could have a standard glass canopy for everything, shielded canopy which adds more canopy integrity at the cost of power draw, or an armoured canopy that provides better integrity at the cost of mass, and you also can't see outside anymore, you have to rely on external cameras (which offer the exact same view as glass canopies but can be jammed or disrupted by chaff/ECM's/Weapon fire or something