Forged Alliance Forever

Re: Are mobile shields underused?

2016-09-22T11:40:20+02:00

well, on the ''balancing'' topic of this (kinda what zock and what not are talking about)

why not just make mobile shields a bit less expensive in drain per tick? they're currently -75/tick E, meaning you can run a small handful on a single t2 gen (roughly 7, if you got a little extra E) this makes them considerably less viable, why not make them -65/tick instead?

small adjustment, but it does mean you can actually get 7 mobile shields up with 1 t2 gen and it doesnt punish you for forgetting that you have them in your queue

that, and Im not sure how the damage transfer works, just 50% of the damage is also given to surrounding shields?
why not make it that when a shield is stacked, it'll take 90% damage (only mobile shields) when directly hit, and still keep the 50% damage transfer

Statistics: Posted by RoQe — 22 Sep 2016, 11:40

Re: Are mobile shields underused?

2016-09-22T11:08:21+02:00

In my feeling shield stacking nerf feels pretty bad.
But maybe because 50% transfer is huge number.

But that shield damage transfer nerf is doing it job brilliant, it makes multiple shields suck.
However there were addictional nerfs to mobile shields, to hp, drain... they make single shields suck, imo that is bad.

My conclusion: maybe 50%transfer is bit to much for mobile
And mobile shields need direct buffs to hp/drain for sure

Statistics: Posted by ZLO_RD — 22 Sep 2016, 11:08

Re: Are mobile shields underused?

2016-09-21T18:43:20+02:00

Well, i like the Aeon shields, especially for naval support. I always send shields, blaze and a few T2 flaks with my fleet.
If i play on a map with islands or something similar to capture they are really usefull.

Statistics: Posted by PsychoBoB — 21 Sep 2016, 18:43

Re: Are mobile shields underused?

2016-09-21T13:23:37+02:00

Hawkei wrote:
can also field heavily armoured T2 units (PIllar

stopped reading
but yes shield obs

Statistics: Posted by biass — 21 Sep 2016, 13:23

Re: Are mobile shields underused?

2016-09-21T13:17:41+02:00

Sera have mobile shields too...

Statistics: Posted by ZOB — 21 Sep 2016, 13:17

Re: Are mobile shields underused?

2016-09-21T13:10:47+02:00

The two factions that field mobile shields (UEF and Aeon) can also field heavily armoured T2 units (PIllar and Obsidian). These two units are not really in need of shield protection, because, the have the best HP to mass ratio in the entire game.

In the early T2 stages you will find that power is at a premium as the building of mobile shield greatly increases one's power needs. Such that several more T2 pgens will be required to support them... The easier solution is simply to spam more T2 tank and absorb the damage.

Statistics: Posted by Hawkei — 21 Sep 2016, 13:10

Re: Are mobile shields underused?

2016-09-21T12:19:20+02:00

zeroAPM wrote:
Zock wrote:I have some ideas about shields and how to improve the stacking nerfs, but there are more important things to do before that, so it'll probably be a while before we'd get to that (if i'm still doing balance then )

Please, post it so we can commence bitching about it this instant in true FAF fashion.

I prefer people bitching about well thought out and somewhat tested concepts rather than wild ideas, but i don't want to be spoilsport after all

First, a small simple stats buff can be investigated, but it needs to be done with a lot of care to not make shields too strong again. Currently, shields are not efficient to mix with normal tanks, but it is open if its possible to make them so without making them extremely good with low hp/high range units.

Then, i believe the shield stack penality is not perfect at the moment. Especially for mobile shields, it makes additional shields very weak quickly. One solution is to simply reduce the penalty, but i am not sure if it's possible to have additional shields being worth it, without brining back the massive shield spam from the past.

If not, the alternative idea i had was to replace the damage penalty of the current shield stack with a reload penalty . That way, the original shield power would be as strong as before the nerfs, but it would take longer to reload your shields, as more you have. The original problem with shields was not so much that they'd shield too much, but that by the time you managed to disable the last shield, the first (and more) shields would already be back up. This solution would probably solve a lot of problems (also one i don't want to point out to not encourage abusing it), but it'd need more thought if it's not causing potential problems, and some testing, before i'd seriously consider it. (And other balance team members might have a different take on it too..) And if the easier solutions can solve the problem, they'd be preferred.

Statistics: Posted by Zock — 21 Sep 2016, 12:19

Re: Are mobile shields underused?

2016-09-21T11:45:03+02:00

Shields also get wrecked by t1 arty and mml, cause they take damage that otherwise could have been dodged

Statistics: Posted by ZLO_RD — 21 Sep 2016, 11:45

Re: Are mobile shields underused?

2016-09-21T11:41:23+02:00

Well, some shields with your mongoose army can save you from kitting them so much, also saves them from random bombers.

Statistics: Posted by NapSpan — 21 Sep 2016, 11:41

Re: Are mobile shields underused?

2016-09-21T09:25:32+02:00

I find UEF shields are extremely useful for assaulting enemy firebases. Stopping artillery shells / enemy MML landing in my army is quite a nice thing. Then again, I´m a seton´s player.

Statistics: Posted by Vanguard — 21 Sep 2016, 09:25

Re: Are mobile shields underused?

2016-09-20T16:09:31+02:00

Ithilis already mentioned the inefficiency of t2 shields compare to getting more standard tanks.

But the problem of mobile shields lies a bit deeper. Standard tanks are not units that should be combined with mobile shields. It should be Mongoose and Blaze. Why? Getting 3.5k HP shield for a bunch of 650 HP t2 units is absurdly important survivability boost. And it is as important for aeon when you fight range bots: you need shield to tank damage while paper Blazes get in range.

But than 99% of time players prefer Pillar over Mongoose because this unit requires a lot of micro and dies as soon as you make a single mistake.

Statistics: Posted by Apofenas — 20 Sep 2016, 16:09

Re: Are mobile shields underused?

2016-09-20T14:57:11+02:00

Zock wrote:
I have some ideas about shields and how to improve the stacking nerfs, but there are more important things to do before that, so it'll probably be a while before we'd get to that (if i'm still doing balance then )

Please, post it so we can commence bitching about it this instant in true FAF fashion.

Statistics: Posted by zeroAPM — 20 Sep 2016, 14:57

Re: Are mobile shields underused?

2016-09-19T23:44:16+02:00

Aeon shields are really useful with destroyers. Sera are OK but having to get to T3 land makes it hard to use them with anything but battleships. Both should have great synergy with cruisers, but with Sera it's never worth the trouble to me since you can just build carriers by then.

Statistics: Posted by crispyambulance — 19 Sep 2016, 23:44

Re: Are mobile shields underused?

2016-09-19T13:29:23+02:00

Shields are not that great at the moment. They are not useless, but they could probably use some buff, especially considering that they often require quite some attention to be used effectively. But its not so easy, because they can very quickly become as OP as they were before the shield stacking nerf.

I have some ideas about shields and how to improve the stacking nerfs, but there are more important things to do before that, so it'll probably be a while before we'd get to that (if i'm still doing balance then )

Statistics: Posted by Zock — 19 Sep 2016, 13:29

Re: Are mobile shields underused?

2016-09-19T12:11:31+02:00

Hello, im an early Percival, i have 9000hp
I dropped next to an enemy acu, i escaped but he managed to fire an overcharge at me
With the parashield that i took with me on the transport, i now survive the overcharge with 500 health remaining instead of instantly dying and being reclaimed

Spoiler: show

Statistics: Posted by biass — 19 Sep 2016, 12:11