Shield Mitigation

does it make the game better?

from Sins Forums

I never completely understood whats the point of this feature:

From game mechanics POV, it makes more bad than good. Battles take very long time and turn out to be rather boring when all ships under fire max out their mitigations and the action slows down. Also, it makes focus firing, target preference and related tactics useless. The player has two options to make use of his his DPS optimally: either focus fire and change targets when the mitigation maxes out (which is dull), or just order all his ships to attack whole enemy fleet (which is no tactic at all).

From realism POV, its even worse. The shields are supposed to weaken both in capacity and intensity as they take damage, not the other way around. Adapting to enemy weapons? This could be explanation, but it feels adhoc and artificial (like the whole mitigation thingy). Why then weapons dont adapt to the shields? Also, mitigation works even when shields are down, wtf? Also, it looks funny when the whole fleet is finishing off damaged ship with maxed out miti and the damage it does is quarter compared to the damage it was dealing when the ship had intact shields and hull.

I have modded the thing out (set it to 10% with no increase actually) and the game is better without it in my view. Battles no longer take eons (but they are still reasonably long, now its just matter of dps/hp ratios), and gameplay is more dynamic and one pointless parameter i out.

Your opinions?

20,185 views 10 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

As far as game mechanics go, shield mitigation is kinda broken and you can just consider it a flat 60-70% damage reduction that kicks in a few seconds after the fight starts.  The thing is, most frigates have high enough DPS that given enough time, their attack on its own will max out the target's mitigation.  So in practice you may as well just focus everything on the target, since the first volley will hit before mitigation kicks in and deal maximum damage.

Realism-wise... you are aware we're talking about a game with faster-than-light travel and instant communication.  It's all applied phlebotinum anyways...

Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

I think it was intended to keep valuable, expensive assets (like capitalships and starbases) from being destroyed to quickly in very large fleet battles. Wether it sucseeded or not is up for debate, but over all I like the feature. I am trying methods to make battles faster without changing it though.

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Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top

I'm with you on the whole shield mitigation thing.

 

I say either have it stop working when shields drop (but remain in effect if they come back up)

 

Or have them work golf score. I.E. start at max and drop as more fire is taken.

Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting GoaFan77, reply 2
I think it was intended to keep valuable, expensive assets (like capitalships and starbases) from being destroyed to quickly in very large fleet battles. Wether it sucseeded or not is up for debate, but over all I like the feature. I am trying methods to make battles faster without changing it though.
End of GoaFan77's quote

 

Well, if that is the point, then why not just increase capital ships and starbases hitpoints? And all ships, even frigates have miti.

Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting ShotmanMaslo, reply 4

Well, if that is the point, then why not just increase capital ships and starbases hitpoints? And all ships, even frigates have miti.
End of ShotmanMaslo's quote

I should have clarified, it is to protect them from focus fire only.When you have over 100 LRF or bombers focus firing on a capitalship (or anything else for that matter), it is going to get destroyed almost instantly. This makes building more powerful ships useless because their superior stats and abilities won't be felt on the battle before they are destroyed. While they could have given them more shields/hit points, the amount to make up for a 57% damage reduction would be pretty rediculous.

 

It would also hurt the repair abilities that are so crucial in this game, as 20 hp/sec all of a sudden isn't that much without shield mitigation to reduce some of the incoming damage. Perhaps it shouldn't have been put on frigates, though maybe it made more sense in the Beta when it was first introduced (you'll have to ask someone who was there at the time about that though).

 

Also at least one mod does do away with shield mitigation completely, and while the battles are indeed faster, it seems to take something out of the game somehow. I guess I just don't like that battles can be reduced to those DPS/HP ratios like you seem to.

Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top

imho stardock did it all wrong!

Shield mitigation should only apply to those assets worth the technology investment:

- Starbases

- Capital ships

All else should still have shields, but not shield mitigation. It might be an idea to slightly raise the shield regeneration for frigates and cruisers instead, but in moderation...

Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting GoaFan77, reply 5
Quoting ShotmanMaslo, reply 4
Well, if that is the point, then why not just increase capital ships and starbases hitpoints? And all ships, even frigates have miti.

I should have clarified, it is to protect them from focus fire only.When you have over 100 LRF or bombers focus firing on a capitalship (or anything else for that matter), it is going to get destroyed almost instantly. This makes building more powerful ships useless because their superior stats and abilities won't be felt on the battle before they are destroyed. While they could have given them more shields/hit points, the amount to make up for a 57% damage reduction would be pretty rediculous.

 

It would also hurt the repair abilities that are so crucial in this game, as 20 hp/sec all of a sudden isn't that much without shield mitigation to reduce some of the incoming damage. Perhaps it shouldn't have been put on frigates, though maybe it made more sense in the Beta when it was first introduced (you'll have to ask someone who was there at the time about that though).

 

Also at least one mod does do away with shield mitigation completely, and while the battles are indeed faster, it seems to take something out of the game somehow. I guess I just don't like that battles can be reduced to those DPS/HP ratios like you seem to.
End of GoaFan77's quote

 

Well, if you allow the enemy to take a few shots at your favorite capital ship with his whole armada in the scale of 100+ frigates and bombers, its only natural you loose it fairly quickly, there is no reason why one capital ship should survive focus fire of whole enemy armada. But thats when your own 100+ fleet should kick in to reduce the threat to something manageable before they take a shot at your beloved and valuable cap. Without fleet support, caps should fail spectacularly.

And without mitigation, softening that enemy fleet should also be easier, so it cuts both ways. :thumbsup:

 

57% damage reduction is equivalent to 57% hp increase, it doesnt seem so rediculous to me without mitigation. The same applies for repair abilities.

Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top

I think your right miti doesn't make that much sense. i cant think though of what Advent ships should get as a bonus while in their culture to replace it.

Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top

Isn't this discussion 2 years late?

Reply #10 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Myles, reply 9
Isn't this discussion 2 years late?
End of Myles's quote

Yeah, removing mitigation would be too much of a change for current Sins. But maybe for Sins 2, if the devs agree..