As many seasoned CMDRs know, shield cell banks are a vital part of any combat build. These modules only refill your shields if they are NOT broken, i.e. you have at least 1 megajewl of energy left in them. This is not a problem for people who have full visual range, or those who at least take the time to glance down at their shield rings to determine when they should pop that "Oh CRAP!" button.
What many do not know however, is that the API used by third party tools like EDDI and EDDiscovery to give emersive feedback to the cmdr through voice or other various hooks only sees the shields as either up or down. there's no warning, no middle ground, they're either working or not.
This wouldn't be an issue for most as they can glance down to that fancy shield ring and see they only have one ring left and pop that bank in time to save themselves some unnecessary hull damage.
I would love to see shield state reflected as a percentage, in the same way as hull state in the journal. This would help pilots like myself who use these tools for accessibility reasons know when they're about to start eating multicannon pellets like a bowl of chips. While we're at it, why not give a direct percentage to our fully capable pilots? Shield rings are such a nebulous value and it's difficult to see the minute details in between say 50% and 55%? We already have percentages for remaining hull on the UI, why not shields as well?
To those who may complain about this suggestion, keep in mind that this could result in even more precise and strategic use of SCBs. Would it not be nice to know that you have exactly 15% shield left instead of gauging the last half of your third ring in order to know that you should now use your fast activating bank followed by a slower one that gives more shields in order to space them out so as to not overheat too quickly?
What many do not know however, is that the API used by third party tools like EDDI and EDDiscovery to give emersive feedback to the cmdr through voice or other various hooks only sees the shields as either up or down. there's no warning, no middle ground, they're either working or not.
This wouldn't be an issue for most as they can glance down to that fancy shield ring and see they only have one ring left and pop that bank in time to save themselves some unnecessary hull damage.
I would love to see shield state reflected as a percentage, in the same way as hull state in the journal. This would help pilots like myself who use these tools for accessibility reasons know when they're about to start eating multicannon pellets like a bowl of chips. While we're at it, why not give a direct percentage to our fully capable pilots? Shield rings are such a nebulous value and it's difficult to see the minute details in between say 50% and 55%? We already have percentages for remaining hull on the UI, why not shields as well?
To those who may complain about this suggestion, keep in mind that this could result in even more precise and strategic use of SCBs. Would it not be nice to know that you have exactly 15% shield left instead of gauging the last half of your third ring in order to know that you should now use your fast activating bank followed by a slower one that gives more shields in order to space them out so as to not overheat too quickly?