Meteorsteel tweaks, conductive paste

[Fossaman]

So, I've been thinking about meteorsteel armors. It rings just a little bit false that they just kill your shields: Period. No questions asked. So here are a few ideas to change them:

Idea 1:
Adjust meteorsteel armor so that instead of a true/false value for shield interference, it's a percentage. Shield hit points could be reduced by that percentage. So, light meteorsteel would be something like 40%, Heavy 75%, and Worldship would be 100%. Some shields would have an interferenceResistance="xx%" thingy tacked on to them. Simply subtract this percentage from the shieldInterference percentage to get the actual percentage it gets knocked down by.

Idea 2:
Conductive paste could be applied to meteorsteel segments that would allow shields to function. The bonus could be cumulative, so that each additional barrel reduced the effects of a single segment.

Idea 3:
Some sort of useable item that you apply to your shields. It would let them function with meteorsteel, but at the cost of additional power consumption. Defective versions of this item would damage your shield.

Ideas two and three are probably the most feasible for ease of implementation. But I think idea one would give the player the widest variety of options for configuration.

[Betelgeuse]

meteor steel armor is very powerful its main weakness is ion damaging (and disintegration but thats rare)
I would like it if they where immune to those types of effects. They already are not self healing like shields and harder to get due to you need a full set or its suicidal.
Another solution would be a device that increased the resistance of your armor (damage proof and increases other resistances by a certain amount) but takes up your shield spot.

[Fossaman]

What about a device that takes up your shield slot and acts as a super-patcher? I'd be willing to use that, and it probably wouldn't be too unbalanced. Slap that and some dyon dust on a set of heavy meteorsteel and it would probably be pretty effective.

[george moromisato]

What about a device that takes up your shield slot and acts as a super-patcher? I'd be willing to use that, and it probably wouldn't be too unbalanced. Slap that and some dyon dust on a set of heavy meteorsteel and it would probably be pretty effective.

I like that idea--makes for some interesting combos.

[F50]

I like ideas I and II (with say -10% bonus out of 400% (100% per segment)) but nothing cumulative. As a side note the Trenton field generator becomes more interesting because hp means less to it. This also would help fix the problem that the Xenophobes are underpowered (by giving them shields). A lesser/greater Trenton field generator might be in order for the lesser xenophobe ships (it is a very interesting shield, if the xenophobes don't have their own shields). Worldship plate might be 110% or 120% shield disable (-10% for paste + -x% for right shield). Barrels of meteorsteel dust could be something like +50%?.

[Sponge]

I like option I the best. I also like the idea of a patcher shield. To be honest, I think the shield slot needs to be more versatile. I think it would be awesome if there were a lot of non-shield devices that you could put in your shield slot. They could be very powerful without being overpowered, because short of a weapon, the shield is currently the most important piece of equipment.

[OddBob]

I second the idea of non-shield devices that do shield things. Possibly as well some sort of beefed up ICX that requires ammo/needs to recharge - or a device which causes enemies to mis-aim a percentage of the time.

[Fossaman]

Thinking about it, I like the idea of non-shield devices that take up that slot more and more. Gravitational field generator that reflects 90% of the shots fired at you, anybody?

[OddBob]

I was also thinking about some shields similar to fossa's idea: shields which ignore damage and instead focus on hits. So if it takes twenty shots to bring it down, it doesn't matter if they are lasers or archcannons.

[Betelgeuse]

well remember that anything you make that makes all weapons equal (other than fire rate) would put post heritic weapons on a level ground with pre heritic weapons and I am not a fan of that (post heritic should be very scary for anything pre heritic)

[dvlenk6]

I think it would be cool if the game changed signifigantly for post heretic.
Perhaps pick up a crew.
Or the chance to switch ships.
Or a major alien refit station. All new equipment (except stuff you got from the Iocrym). The aliens could take credits and rin at grostesque conversion rate (which could give some reason for having millions of credits). That would be the last time either of those currencies were used, then they just become memorabilia (like the medals).
A new equipment power scale would help bring back the early game feel. I get bored by end game, just crush everything with no challenge.
New mysterious items = lots of new fun stuff to explore.

EDIT - I think I'll go start a new thread for Post Heretic ideas...