Shield Cells OP

[fergal]

But if two good pilots meets one with shield cell bank, other without? And even novice pilot can fly backward shooting with gimbaled weapons and ignore damage spamming shield cell banks.

Its strange that module so OP wasnt changed at alfa/beta/gamma.
well said that it removes more from game than adds.

I havent used them yet, but I have had other commanders use them while fighting me, and its a bit disheartening seeing their shields just go back to full health.

I'll wait until I actually use them before I call them OP, but I assumed they would be nerfed before now.

 

[Vovolov]

Except that if you don't fit one, you stand very little chance to win vs. someone that does. It has too big an impact on combat as it currently stands. Whether or not I fit chaff, or point defence or whatever you will, does not have anywhere near as big an impact. The choice is there, sure, but if you're going into combat (against players) and you don't fit one you're at a massive disadvantage. Which actually limits your options, because choosing not to fit one would be silly.

 

[CreepyD]

I dunno but I tried shield cell and yeah it was good.
But I had to sacrifice a whole other module to have one.. Not worth it imo unless I am literally just killing ships and not doing anything else.
Having 2 attached? No way I'm losing two modules.
I'm now back up and running with my 'balanced' ship able to fight / mine / haul cargo.

I find you make more money in general if you're open to opportunities of what ever comes at you.

Shields cells have very limited ammo and only work with the shields up and take up a module slot, I think they're fine.

 

[SmileyMan]

Just fit quad rail guns on a Viper. Shield cells are useless if your shields are gone in the first hit!

 

[Jarek Storm]

Except that if you don't fit one, you stand very little chance to win vs. someone that does. It has too big an impact on combat as it currently stands. Whether or not I fit chaff, or point defence or whatever you will, does not have anywhere near as big an impact. The choice is there, sure, but if you're going into combat (against players) and you don't fit one you're at a massive disadvantage. Which actually limits your options, because choosing not to fit one would be silly.

Yes going into pvp without shield cell is silly, like going without shields, which you can remove by the way and replace with cargo racks, or going without guns, which you can do to save weight for longer jump range.

That's part of the pvp load out, like guns, and shields.

 

[Miimis Maks]

So yeah. you got two choices. quad rail gun viper or cobra. Or fit shield cell banks into your ship.

 

[JACyo]

Maybe change to you can only use x number of shield cells in a roll (depending on the class and size ) and then the shield has to be depleted and recharged before you can use shield cells again?

I have to admit that I do use it quiet often when the situation start to get out of hand and shield cells is kind of like a must have module in my combat ships now...

 

[Kestril]

They are OP because shields counter everything. Heatsink is only good for stealthing and evading heatseekers, while chaff stops gimbal lock and scans. With those two modules, there are some nice choices to make, like "am I worried about gimabl weaponry and turrets?" or "how much do I value being able to stealth away?"

Shield banks, however, cancel out ALL weapon damage you take to your shields--They're OP as hell and a no-brainier. These "well duh" decisions are bad game design. The module needs to be tweaked for balance or just simply removed.

 

[jptreen]

They are OP because shields counter everything. Heatsink is only good for stealthing and evading heatseekers, while chaff stops gimbal lock and scans. With those two modules, there are some nice choices to make, like "am I worried about gimabl weaponry and turrets?" or "how much do I value being able to stealth away?"

Shield banks, however, cancel out ALL weapon damage you take to your shields--They're OP as hell and a no-brainier. These "well duh" decisions are bad game design. The module needs to be tweaked for balance or just simply removed.

I see your point. But they're only a near-no-brainer for PvP. Like cargo racks are a no-brainer for trading.

They are not quite an unalloyed good. Fitting them on a ship increases your weight and reduces manoeuvrability and speed, so there is a trade-off there.

 

[Jarek Storm]

Did you even play the game before there were shield cells? It wasn't very fun. Combat was shields go down instantly, boost away, recharge slowly, come back, shields down, boost away...

They are a good addition and have been for months.

 

[Dr Roly]

I like shield cells as they are.

1) There is some skill in using them. Try timing them right when your enemy is stripping your shields in less than a second and you are also trying to fly your ship, assign power etc.
2) Yes you need them if you take combat seriously, but it also means you cannot outfit a ship to be the best fighter AND the best trade ship AND the best mining ship etc. It means you have to specialise.
3) It buys weaker ships a precious few seconds to escape.

I think having them draw power from your WEP bank is a very, very good idea though.

 

[Kestril]

I see your point. But they're only a near-no-brainer for PvP. Like cargo racks are a no-brainer for trading.

They are not quite an unalloyed good. Fitting them on a ship increases your weight and reduces manoeuvrability and speed, so there is a trade-off there.

But it's not ENOUGH of a trade-off, is what I'm saying. Aside from PVP, they make PVE really boring.

 

[Vovolov]

Combat was perfectly fine before they were added. Keeping your shields up meant you had to manoeuvre well and keep some energy pips on systems. Now you just spam shield cell charges all day. Fun.

 

[starry]

I don't think the game designers will consider them OP unless they were essential to all, or most, ships and not just combat ships. They are certainly essential for PvP combat ships and a very, very good idea for any kind of combat ship, but that's just one role. Weapons are also essential to combat ships, although there's more variation to weapons the most powerful ones are pretty much required. One could even say that a fully A-class Python is essential for PvP, because it's a beast.

There might be ways to improve them of course, but one must consider the big picture and not just dedicated combat builds.

 

[Jordan Cobalt]

The fact that it is a module allows players the choice as to whether to fit one or not - they may not want to waste a module slot on shield cells, for example. It also introduces another element to the compromise that players will have to make when outfitting their ship between overall weight / cargo capacity / shields / scanners / interdiction devices / fuel scoop / refinery / etc..

The problem is it's too good, it's not really a choice whether or not to take one. Every role can benefit from it. Trader's basically become un pirateable, pirates and bounty hunters become unkillable. Just frame shift away while spamming your shield cells you'll get away easily.

Any pvp match between 2 people with them becomes a 10 minute "fight" before they can even get through each other's shield.

 

[Rankaze]

Essentially, fitting shield cells is something that separates a dedicated combat loadout from a multipurpose loadout.

If you are running a dedicated combat loadout, you need to have them. And they give you a decisive advantage over a non-dedicated loadout.

I don't see that as a problem. Also, they're one of the few things that allows the smaller fighters to actually have a chance against Anacondas with heavy weapon loads (and they are still no help against that thrice-bedamned plasma accelerator that drops your shields in one hit!)

 

[Wolf Starslayer]

I believe they need limiting to one module per ship other wise they seem mainly ok, maybe a small increase in cool down.

 

[Don_Von_Hulio]

Maybe if people didnt miss so much theyd take the shields down before the person has time use them. If they have more than one equipped they have to switch firegroups to use them otherwise they are wasting them.

Anyways, QQ more about the PvP which is entirely and completely optional as well as avoidable.

 

[Jordan Cobalt]

I don't think the game designers will consider them OP unless they were essential to all, or most, ships and not just combat ships. They are certainly essential for PvP combat ships and a very, very good idea for any kind of combat ship, but that's just one role. Weapons are also essential to combat ships, although there's more variation to weapons the most powerful ones are pretty much required. One could even say that a fully A-class Python is essential for PvP, because it's a beast.

There might be ways to improve them of course, but one must consider the big picture and not just dedicated combat builds.

Trader's can and should use shield cells too.

A fully upgraded python is around a 100mill, shield cells are between 1,000 and 100,000.

 

[Robert Maynard]

The problem is it's too good, it's not really a choice whether or not to take one. Every role can benefit from it. Trader's basically become un pirateable, pirates and bounty hunters become unkillable. Just frame shift away while spamming your shield cells you'll get away easily.

Any pvp match between 2 people with them becomes a 10 minute "fight" before they can even get through each other's shield.

As far as I can recollect, shield cells can only replenish a partially depleted shield - they cannot be used if a shield is down. That means that there is skill in their use (regarding the timing).

I would hope that Frontier will be looking at combat transactions to see when shield cells have been used and what the outcome of each encounter was.

Regarding the ten minute fight - is prolonging an equally matched encounter such a bad thing?