[Concept] Shields

[Futuza]

DISCLAIMER: These numbers and descriptions may not fit lore or represent the final implementation.  This concept also hasn't had as much discussion as some others, such as armor, and thus largely reflects my personal ideas.

 

 

Personal shields are a defensive technology that protects its wearer from blaster fire, elemental damage, and/or other harm.  Shields are equipped in a valid shield inventory slot (such as on the wrists or belt) in the ACI, and are automatically fully charged when purchased. Only one shield may be active at a time.  Shields are designed to act as a scapegoat between the user and damage being done.  Shields only absorb certain types of damage (except extremely expensive rare hybrids which protect from more than one type), such as electrical, ion, or blaster based damage. Different damage may drain the shield faster than other types. (See here for more info).  When combined with armor, shields will first absorb damage and then any spillover is applied to reduced by the armor (see here for details).  In order to function properly a shield must be fully have at least one point of charge, however it takes time for the shield's generator to propagate a charge strong enough to absorb incoming damage.  Attempting to take fire with a shield not at full charge can result in damaging the shield unit overloading the shield more quickly and rendering it useless.  Only one type of shield can be equipped at once. Your current shield's charge is indicated below the health bar, and when you spawn will start out with a full charge.  Some types of shields cannot be equipped at the same time as certain armor, weapons, or clothing.

 

Most shields (other than temporary time based booster shields), are never disabled, nor do they cease to function until overloaded or disabled.  Each shield has a number of stats which describe it's effectiveness:

 

• Regen Rate: The amount of energy, a shield's generator can charge per second.  A typical personal shield generates two points of charge per second.  Shields do not regenerate when taking fire.
• Cooldown Rate: The amount of time a shield's generator takes before it can begin regenerating charge.  If the shield absorbs damage, the cooldown variable is reset.  Most shields take about seven seconds before they can begin regenerating.
• Charge Capacity: The amount of charge a shield can hold when fully charged.  A typical value is 50.  In this example, it means the shield would absorb 50 points of damage before overloading.
• Overload Effect: This describes what happens when the shield is overloaded (overloaded == take enough damage to overwhelm it's current charge).  The default effect is simply that the shield is destroyed and disappears from the player's inventory damaged and may become broken disabled until the cooldown rate expires and the shield can begin regenerating a charge.  In later phrases, durability damage may occur whenever the shield is overloaded.  Some cheaper shields may explode causing damage to the player and those nearby, so use caution when selecting a brand of shield to use! Your shield unit (and also armor) may be repaired from some vendors.
• Type: The type of damage the shield will absorb.  Some shields will only absorb a specific damage type.  A typical example is blaster damage. This is typically only seen on booster shields.  If type is not indicated, the shield will default to absorbing most damage types (eg: blaster, fire, ion, pulse, sonic, cold, fire, electric, explosion, emp, stun, etc), while continuing to be useless against damage types like slugthrowers, sabers, etc.

 

A special type of shield, known as a booster shield - lasts for a set period of time before it ceases to function.  The player becomes invulnerable to that type of damage, while the booster is functioning.  Most booster shields are extremely expensive and last for only about 10 seconds.  These types of shields only overload after their set time period expires.

 

 

 

Some example shields:

==========================

 

Blastech Personnel Shield

Regen Rate: 3

Cooldown Rate: 10

Charge Capacity: 50

Overload Effect: Default

 

Eirriss Ryloth Defense Tech Personal Shield

Regen Rate: 4

Cooldown Rate: 5

Charge Capacity: 25

Overload Effect: 25% chance of 10 electrical damage to player and the surrounding 3 meter radius

 

Taim & Bak Environmental Shield

Regen Rate: 2

Cooldown Rate: 8

Charge Capacity: 80

Overload Effect: Default

 

SoroSuub Personal Projectile Shield

Regen Rate: 1

Cooldown Rate: 10

Charge Capacity: 45

Overload Effect: Causes 5 concussive stun damage to player

Edited April 9 by Futuza
Updated to reflect the current version of the shield

[eezstreet]

Your concept was mostly on point. I just changed a few things (see the strikethrough) that have been discussed privately between me and user @@Silverfang. Type can only be seen on Booster shields also.

 

Note also: some shields can have a cooldown rate of 0. This simply means that they don't have a cooldown (ie they passively regenerate during combat)

[Futuza]

Your concept was mostly on point. I just changed a few things (see the strikethrough) that have been discussed privately between me and user @@Silverfang. Type can only be seen on Booster shields also.

 

Note also: some shields can have a cooldown rate of 0. This simply means that they don't have a cooldown (ie they passively regenerate during combat)

If shields are damaged when they get overloaded, this implies you can do something with the leftover product, does this mean we're still trying to implement durability stuff when we introduce shields? 

 

I should just talk to you guys so I can clarify some things, as the post is now slightly unclear in my mind.

[eezstreet]

When you have your shield active when it is out of charge, and you take damage, the shield suffers durability damage and can therefore be broken, same as with other items.

Durability will be implemented probably at a later time. For right now, the shields will do their overcharge effect.

[Futuza]

When you have your shield active when it is out of charge, and you take damage, the shield suffers durability damage and can therefore be broken, same as with other items.

Durability will be implemented probably at a later time. For right now, the shields will do their overcharge effect.

So for the first release of shields we'll likely just have them disappear from inventory/be destroyed when they get overcharged by default?  And we can toggle our shields on/off then (or is that just unequipping them)?

 

Also, my intention with the types was mostly so that there wouldn't be different kinds of shields to buy that specialize in protecting users from certain types of opponents.  eg: You know your going to be fighting jedi, you invest in energy shields (or whatever damage lightsabers are), if you know you're going to run into a lot of slugthrowers you invest in expensive projectile based shields, etc.  That sort of thing.

 

I don't want to use the forum to chat back and forth, just to clarify some things, I can hop on irc somewhere if you want and leave jkhub all nice and clean and then come back and edit the post with your corrections/clarifications. 

[eezstreet]

There is no "equipping" of a shield, they are just turned on/off, via the ACI. Or inventory, whichever.

[Seven]

Yesterday I make a concept model for the personnel shield (the part that goes on a characters hip when equipped)

 

 

 

 

[eezstreet]

OK, so I've coded in the shields. Currently there are no overload effects and no bubble shields yet, just normal personnel shields. Here's how they work ingame:

1. Buy a shield from the vendor. They come in several tiers of quality, and there's a few different types, some with special effects. Generally you will need to get a kill or two before you're able to afford the basic shield tier.
2. Equip the shield in the ACI. They occupy an ACI slot while in use, and removing them from the ACI will turn off the shield. (More on this)
3. Wait for it to charge. Some shields will start charging immediately, some may take up to 10-25 seconds for the shield to start charging.
4. When your shield is broken, get to cover! Unless the shield starts recharging immediately, you need to not take damage for the shield to start recharging.

Note that if you remove a shield while it is charged, your shield points will slowly tick down to 0, so you will still have a limited window of protection after selling it.

You cannot have more than one shield in your ACI. Equipping a new shield will replace the existing one.

 

Here's a screenshot of a basic tier shield. Note that the stats are WIP and subject to change in the near future.

 

 

It can't be seen in the screenshot, but this animated graphic plays over top of the shield in your ACI, notifying you of its protection.

 

 

[Silverfang]

So are the shield items defined in something similar to a .wpn file so we can change its stats, or is it hardcoded for now?

[eezstreet]

So are the shield items defined in something similar to a .wpn file so we can change its stats, or is it hardcoded for now?

The stats are changeable on the .itm file.

[Futuza]

Excellent eezstreet, you've been busy!

[eezstreet]

How are these as basic shield items (balance wise)?

 

Instant Recharge, Slow Recharge Rate:

• BlasTech AA-24 Imperial Shield: 50 capacity, 0.8 shield per second [400 credits]
• BlasTech AA-45 Dreadnought Shield: 100 capacity, 1 shield per second [800 credits]
• BlasTech AA-49 Fleet Protector: 150 capacity, 1.2 shield per second [1200 credits]
• Soru-Suub Outrigger Shield: 75 capacity, 1.5 shield per second [1175 credits]

 

Delayed Recharge, Fast Recharge Rate:

• Merr-Sonn PSX-1 Portable Shield: 50 capacity, 10 second delay, 5 shield per second [600 credits]
• Merr-Sonn PSX-1a Ultracharge: 50 capacity, 5 second delay, 10 shield per second [1500 credits]
• Merr-Sonn PSX-2 Portable Shield: 100 capacity, 10 second delay, 5 shield per second [1200 credits]
• Merr-Sonn PSX-2a Ultracharge: 100 capacity, 5 second delay, 10 shield per second [2200 credits]
• BlasTech DS-1 Surge Protection: 10 capacity, 3 second delay, 10 shield per second [900 credits]
• BlasTech DS-2 Critical Surge Protection: 20 capacity, 3 second delay, 20 shield per second [1800 credits]

[Silverfang]

Looks good for initial testing, not sure about the prices (yet).

[Futuza]

Seems okay, we'll have to play test it to be sure, but I think its okay for now.

[Futuza]

So I have some suggestions after playing around with develop, want to see what y'all think. 

 

• When you unequip a shield, I think the shield charge should drain a lot quicker then it currently does.
• When a shield is on cooldown (no charge yet and thus no protection), icon should look different (no green glow)  eg:
• When a shield is fully charged, ui should look different. eg:
• When a shield is currently charging, the shield ui bar should blink green every now and then to indicate charge is increasing eg:

[eezstreet]

These seem like good changes (note that the number actually does change colors for a moment when it changes), although we need to finalize the art assets first.

[Silverfang]

flashing the bar green would get a little annoying, a good subtle "pulsing" effect shifting between two colors back and forth would be better

 

I wanted to make a note here about different kinds of shielding (I don't have the original concept on hand so I have to do some guesswork)

 

Ray Shielding deflects or scatters beam weaponry

 

Particle Shielding (or Shift Shielding) diffuses projectile weapons and "proton weaponry" (I think we decided that proton weapons were just going to be a special type of pulse weapon)

 

 

 

My guess is that particle shielding will only partially reduce damage from blasters and slughthrowers, letting a certain percentage "leak through" instead of taking the whole amount of damage. Pulse weapons on the other hand are actually even more ineffective against particle shields and do not "leak" damage through.

 

Ray shielding blocks full damage from blasters but is completely ignored by slugthrowers.
 

Concussion shielding is also a thing, but seems to function similar to particle shielding for starships.

[eezstreet]

How would the enemy (person hitting the shield) be able to tell the difference between them?

[Futuza]

Best way would probably be the efx that plays (purple color for one, green bubble for another, current efx for another, etc).

 

flashing the bar green would get a little annoying, a good subtle "pulsing" effect shifting between two colors back and forth would be better

Agreed, pulsing is probably more of what I had in mind anyway.

[eezstreet]

I'm saying to the uninitiated player, it's not immediately apparent what damage types and what shields correspond to one another. You'd need some sort of way of figuring that out.

[Futuza]

I'm saying to the uninitiated player, it's not immediately apparent what damage types and what shields correspond to one another. You'd need some sort of way of figuring that out.

Sounds might help.  eg: If you shoot at someone wearing a shield/armor that is resistant against the damage type being used, get like a plunking noise?  Otherwise normal sounds.

Also putting it in the weapon descriptions I guess (but who looks at those lol?), eg: "Especially effective against Ray Shielding...etc"

Maybe something similar to the floating damage numbers, such as a symbol that means 'ineffective' and/or a symbol that means 'effective'.  To help make it less confusing, only have it appear to the player doing the damage (you don't see if other players doing damage to someone else is resisted damage or not, only damage you do).  eg: floating little Ê when effective and a R when being resisted.

[Silverfang]

If you really want a player to be able to find out what type of shielding an enemy player is using before actually hitting them, we can implement some sort of scanner item that reveals this information.

 

As for visual queues, I was thinking Ray shielding has a blue or green hue (or anywhere inbetween) while particle shielding has a yellow or red hue (or anywhere inbetween)

 

Also, some shielding is active at all times, so you can see the color before firing.

 

 

As for describing damage types, I like the idea of having text that you can hover over and get a tool tip, possibly make damage types have different colors in their descriptions (and maybe italicize?) that shows you can hover over it for a tooltip. We should have an in-game codex to describe everything in JKG!

[Futuza]

So some more suggestions for shields:

• Silverfang wants flamethrowers/flame damage to alter the regen rate of all shields to -1/sec temporarily while in the cone of fire.  I'm not sure, seems a bit weird/complicated?
• An option for a shield to have a cooldown of 0 UNLESS it is overloaded (shield hits 0), in which case it has a temp cooldown.
• Shields block stun effects (but still get reduced from the damage).  Might also block other possible damage effects, depending.  This is implemented.

 

Shields working in the shop now, added a lot of shields with fairly similar stats to these suggestions (with a few extra, such as cheapo "knockoff" shields which are very ineffective, but cheap), probably still needs some work and playtesting, but they're working.  They all act basically the same, until new stuff is added to shields like "overload effects", differences between different damage types (eg: shield_prax is intended to block only slugthrower damage eventually).

And, yes, my assets are broken/out of date.