Please 'shield stacking penalty'

[OmegaMan]

I saw this mentioned in another thread but I was unable to find an explanation of this by searching. Could someone please link to the balance patch explaining this? Or barring that explain the mechanic?

As a related question, I assume aoe attacks damage all shields within the Aoe?

Is it worth building t2 shield under t3 shields to cover high value targets like sml/Smd / t3 Arty? Or mobile shields?

I read Shields have a time period of taking damage where they don't regenerate, how long is that?

And one more shield related question, if an aoe weapon impacts on edge of shield or right by edge does I assume no damage comes through right? It would be kinda a crappy shield otherwise....

[NapSpan]

Aoe attacks inflict same damage to stacked shields.
Is worth building T2 shield under T3 shield because T2 shield bubble cover the other one without suffering damage from outside.

I read Shields have a time period of taking damage where they don't regenerate, how long is that?

No idea, so i guess its maybe 5 seconds if not less, anyway you can put engies to assist that shield so it will recover HP faster and under fire.
-If the shell impacts in the shield, i guess it suffer full damage no matter where. If the shell impacts on the ground near the shield, it suffer some splash damage.

[Plasma_Wolf]

I saw this mentioned in another thread but I was unable to find an explanation of this by searching. Could someone please link to the balance patch explaining this? Or barring that explain the mechanic?

If you have two shields overlap with each other and the first shield takes some damage, then the second shield takes 10% of that damage. This isn't damage being carried over from the first shield, it's 10% additional damage.

As a related question, I assume aoe attacks damage all shields within the Aoe?

Yes, and I think in addition, the shield stacking penalty will still be applied. So if a 5k artillery shell hits the border between shields, they may both get 5.5k damage.

Is it worth building t2 shield under t3 shields to cover high value targets like sml/Smd / t3 Arty? Or mobile shields?

Yes, it is. For T2 shields under T3 shields, it may not be exceptionally more useful. T3 shields have more HP after all. If you have a T2 shield underneath the T3 shield, then that will take the 10% damage from the stacking penalty IIRC. So avoiding the stacking penalty is not a reason to get T2 shields underneath T3 shields.

The main reason for the T2 shields underneath the T3 shields is the extra layer. An artillery hitting the T3 shield won't damage the T2 shield, like it may very well do if there are T3 shields near each other. The AoE can hit the border and then both take damage. The T2 shield won't suffer from this as long as the T3 shield takes the hit and has some HP left. That answers your last question:

And one more shield related question, if an aoe weapon impacts on edge of shield or right by edge does I assume no damage comes through right? It would be kinda a crappy shield otherwise....

Correct, no damage comes through, but only as long as a shield has some HP left after the shot. For example, a T2 Cybran Pgen is right behind the T2 shield (no part of the Pgen pokes out). The shield has 4k HP and the Pgen 1800. A TML does 6k damage. The shield will collapse and 2k damage is carried over to whatever is underneath, within the missile's AoE. It can kill the Pgen.

You can easily demonstrate this with an Ahwassa. It has much larger AoE and 11k damage. It'll destroy the puny 4k shield and anything with 7k HP or less (These are the T3 SAM sites)

I read Shields have a time period of taking damage where they don't regenerate, how long is that?

This is true, for about two seconds (I didn't check the time when I tested it), the shield stays at it's lower HP value, before regenerating a set value per second. You can see this regen value below the shield HP bar. The regeneration is discrete. So a second nothing, then it jumps a number. If the shield collapses, you'll see a much higher regeneration value that is continuous.

As NapSpan said, you can assist shields with engineers or Hives or Kennel drones. The cost of helping a shield regenerate will be the same as a shield costs to build in mass and energy. These values are massive if you have e.g. 16 hives assist your fully upgraded Cybran shield but it'll let you hold against an enemy artillery shot with ease. It may even hold against two artillery shots.

[OmegaMan]

Thanks for the great reply!

[zeroAPM]

So is better to build more offensive stuff than to bother with shields? Since for every shield after the first my units are 10% more effective at no mass cost for me. Plus if i deal enough damage to overkill it i still destroy anything under it

[Plasma_Wolf]

Not necessarily. If there is one shield of 10K HP, your units have to kill 10K HP before they can kill what's underneath. If a second shield is built, then your units still have to kill 19K HP before they can kill what's underneath. That's still relatively cheap. So if you need e.g. 15 seconds to kill a shield with your units then you'll need 27 seconds to kill both shields. You can bring it down to 13.5 seconds by doubling the units you have but the units you have cost more than the shield. Doubling the units will cost more than 2 shields.

Your opponent has time to get PDs or (if you're using MMLs) upgrade to T3 mobile artillery.

When to use shields and when not is not a straightforward problem.

[IceDreamer]

Ricochet damage applies only to shields not hit directly by the initial blast, and only once. So an AOE shot hitting 2 shields with a 3rd instersecting both, two shields take full projectile damage, and the 3rd takes one tick of ricochet damage, not two.

[Mel_Gibson]

Shields inside shields also take damage, as can be evidenced by an aeon t2 mobile shield taking damage inside a UEF Shield boat being struck by a t1 bomber.

[Plasma_Wolf]

I tested it with a Seraphim T3 shield generator and an aeon T2 shield generator fully underneath it. The Aeon one takes damage and even fully collapses when an Ahwassa hits it...

[ZeRen]

I tested it with a Seraphim T3 shield generator and an aeon T2 shield generator fully underneath it. The Aeon one takes damage and even fully collapses when an Ahwassa hits it...

yes I tested this with Cyb´s ED1 inside ED5 shooted by T3 arty, both damaged