The Shield discussion thread

Do you think Shield Cells are:

  • Good the way they are in 1.03

    Votes: 62 20.3%
  • Ok but should be limited to 1 bank per ship

    Votes: 93 30.5%
  • Ok but Limit to 1 bank per ship and only a few cells (4?)

    Votes: 66 21.6%
  • Broken Mechanic - Should be removed from game

    Votes: 68 22.3%
  • Other : please leave comment

    Votes: 16 5.2%

  • Total voters
    305
Then just give Cell banks to NPC and The AI to use them in the right way,then you would have a good fight verses an Anaconda and then people will complain about that as well,one reason that people complain could be that it does make killing an Anaconda to easy or is that people complain because "Its no fair that guy with all the shield cells wont let me kill him" i agree skill is important but its not the only way to win a fight.You maybe the best shot in the world but you will never destroy a Tank with a Air pistol.Shield cell could be made much more expensive maybe half cost of an eqivelent shield generator making having multiple ones very expensive.
 
Limit it to one bank per ship, leave the ammo counts alone on the various class banks , double the ammo cost and make ammo take up cargo space, double the weight and half again as power hungry to it it ... problem solved.
 
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Lots of posts about whether Shield Cells are a valid part of the game, broken mechanic or should be nerfed.
Whats your view?

Let's just remove every item in the game and not even allow people to put anything on their ship.

That's exactly where these casuals want the game to head.

Limit it to one bank per ship, leave the ammo counts alone on the various class banks , double the ammo cost and make ammo take up cargo space, double the weight and half again as power hungry to it it ... problem solved.

Who is your drug dealer?
 
I used other - they are probably making the game too easy, It will take me much longer to kill elite anaconda in a viper without them, but should I even be able to kill elite anaconda in a viper in 2 minutes or less ? On the other hand, the last thing we need is another gimp for people who are trying to make living from bountyhunting or combat in general.
 
There should be a mandatory cooldown on shield bank cells, in addition to the "one bank per ship" thing. Combat should be based on relying on your shield generators, not relying on what basically amount to stacks of health potions. This isn't diablo 2.

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In addition, I feel there really should be more variety to shield generators (and all parts as well) instead of the stupid Rank: A, B, C, etc. Especially given that the specs of each part are not listed, so you can't tell what a higher rank actually confers.
 
Wow, I might be a very average pilot but I lost all my cells against cheney the elite mission anaconda in a very well upgraded viper.
I cant wait to see your video of you taking on the 180k elite mission in a stock sidey with a few shield cells and winning. Bring it on!

Not to be rude, but it's been done. Multiple times. There already are videos about it floating about youtube, and posts about it. All you have to do is get multicannons and shield banks, and just aim for the power plant. It's weak, multicannons pierce the armor which makes it easier to hit internals, and an anaconda's weapons generally don't hit you that well. I've done it myself in a sidewinder, it's how I bought my current viper.
 
Not to be rude, but it's been done. Multiple times. There already are videos about it floating about youtube, and posts about it. All you have to do is get multicannons and shield banks, and just aim for the power plant. It's weak, multicannons pierce the armor which makes it easier to hit internals, and an anaconda's weapons generally don't hit you that well. I've done it myself in a sidewinder, it's how I bought my current viper.

No offense taken, naturally. The quote was "Easy Prey with a stock Sidewinder with shield cells" so I'm assuming stock fixed loaned pulses.
I'm not saying it is not impossible, just that I would like to see it - although I would not expect it to be a short movie.

Many Cmdrs who would consider an assassination mission(187k?) against a good elite NPC a real tough proposition, even with a well decked out cobra/viper, might be excused for finding "Easy Prey" a bit of a stretch of the imagination.

I suppose I should expect Elitist language in Elite eh?

I also took down anacondas with my (very un-stock) sidewinder in order to afford a viper, but they where nowhere near as dangerous as the Elite I met in the high value assassination mission.
 
Broken Mechanic - Should be removed from game

I would vote to remove shield cells from the game, but I won't vote this answer : not neutral enough !

My point is that it is not a broken mechanic (it's clear that it's intended and it works), but it's a totally wrong design decision in the first place.

Any designer resorting to that kind of artifice is simply short of ideas and deserves being slapped. Insta-heal is inherently flawed whatever the game. Period.
 
Cooldowns are for mmorpgs,

and look at the results, pretty even

so this is the status quo, leave as is

the game is wonderful

leran to play, stop cryin nerf

i hate all of you crynerfers

get a life
 
Not to be rude, but it's been done. Multiple times. There already are videos about it floating about youtube, and posts about it. All you have to do is get multicannons and shield banks, and just aim for the power plant. It's weak, multicannons pierce the armor which makes it easier to hit internals, and an anaconda's weapons generally don't hit you that well. I've done it myself in a sidewinder, it's how I bought my current viper.

It's likely been nerfed a bit since you did it. I find it really hard to believe that 2x MC will even be able to get through one of the Anaconda's shields I fought tonight, let alone before running out of ammo or being wasted.

I got pretty close in my Eagle - not stock but not fully pimped either. I took two Shield Cells (9 banks + 5 banks) but they both fire at the same time when using a keybind like I do so really that was only one working.

Got it down to 5% on the power plant but it still didn't blow. I would have made it easily had I not had an awful start.

I think a lot depends on which Anaconda you get also. I fought two so far and one of them (the one I got to 5% on the power plant) was clearly better than the other.

For all that, Shield Cells are clearly far too overpowered. I shouldn't be able to even get close to taking these guys out on my 2nd attempt, flying completely differently to normal (SYS pips instead of Engines) and using Shield Cells which I almost never do.
 
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This argument is a perfect example of how PvP ruins the PvE game. The only thing wrong with shield cells is that they cant be used to restart shields.

What all ye PvP muppets need is a equipment matched even playing field league, stay away from PvE mechanics.
 
The ability to equip more than one seems like an oversight, as being able to do so is FAR too powerful.

Having said that, I agree that the idea of the 'Healing Item' in Elite feels a little bit out of place. Especially considering, aside from ammo, they don't cost you anything. I don't mind the idea of a shield surging in power in sci-fi, that's fine. It's the fact that it happens without any seeming cost to the ship's power. Ammo or not, forcing the shields to output heavily and so suddenly should be more violent to the ship's systems.

1 Shield Bank per ship and it damages the hull to use it?
 
I think one of the best suggestions I've seen to date concerning shield cells was to rework the mechanics somewhat to the following.


  1. Only one shield cell is permitted on a ship
  2. The shield cell no longer takes ammunition
  3. When the shield cell is activated, it discharges into the shield, boosting the shield
  4. Once discharged, the shield cell must be recharged. To do this, energy should be diverted to shields, and will split between charging the battery and the shield.

This would make a shield cell bank a way of storing shield energy to enable you to hang in longer without energy diverted to charging the shields, but not permit the current possibility of popping charges every time your shields drop as an alternative to energy management.
 
This argument is a perfect example of how PvP ruins the PvE game. The only thing wrong with shield cells is that they cant be used to restart shields.

What all ye PvP muppets need is a equipment matched even playing field league, stay away from PvE mechanics.

I haven't done any PvP. I just don't believe an Eagle should be able to take out an Elite Anaconda, period. It's only doable because of Shield Cells - it would be impossible otherwise.
 
This argument is a perfect example of how PvP ruins the PvE game. The only thing wrong with shield cells is that they cant be used to restart shields.

What all ye PvP muppets need is a equipment matched even playing field league, stay away from PvE mechanics.

This isn't about PVP. It's about combat in general. A heal mechanic, similar to MMO potion chugging, has no place in a game like Elite's combat.
 
I have to say, I use a lot of this cells, and I think this make any combat too redundant, I would like to remove or keep max 1 cell.
 
Am i the only one that likes them as they are? it could have a higher cost to refill them to chip away at the bounties and make cmdr's think twice before using masses of them to be fair, but they're a great option to have if you want to go for the big bounties solo and cant afford all the latest pc accessories to use all the flight options. my £25 joystick lacks the buttons to have all the strafey stuff so shield cells save my ass against those elite anacondas :)
 
The issue really is simple, it was poorly implemented, but not a junk mechanic. The main oversight is mutiple banks being equipped. meh whatever , it's not THAT problematic . the big big issue is honestly very little , negligent cost of opperating them. almost no powert plant costs, ammo is cheap, and unlike limpets dont take cargo space ... these things are capacitors (big ass car batteries already charged and one use disposable) depending on rating depends how fully charged you get from 1% in accordance with rated shield genny as far as i can tell ... either way , it's not that they are OP so much as they have NO downside... feeding from shield regen is just dumb , it already costs power to fit it , make that larger. Ammo should cost , (these things arent cheap) double or triple the cost to resupply them and make the ammo take cargo. (no more dropping cargo racks completely and mounting 5 banks :p
 
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