New Module: Directional Shield/Armor Reinforcer

EVE Technology and Research Center Player Features & Ideas
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I have an idea for a new module, that could make small scale PVP much more fun, and give pilots who are aware of their surroundings a good advantage. The implementation might be difficult, since it’s something completely new, but who knows.

The module ‘Directional Shield/Armor Reinforcer’ would give the pilot the ability to reinforce parts of his shields or the armor (e.g. the front half), where the resistances would go up significantly. However, this would come with the drawback, that the resistances on the other side would be much weaker. The module would run with a certain cycle time (maybe 10-20 sec) and can’t be switched off during the cycle. The module would take a mid or low slot for the shield and armor versions, respectively.

This could be used for example if you try to get at closer range to your target, because you have short range weapons, or for tackle that needs to burn toward the target. A possible counter to this would be drones, that orbit you and shoot from all sides (making much more damage on your weak side), or maybe even a new kind of auto-targeting missiles, that find the weak parts of your shield.

In a more complex version, the pilot could decide whether he wants to reinforce the front or back, the left or right side, or the top and bottom half. Then you could reinforce your shields when you try to get away from an attacker, or when you orbit your target etc.

The implementation might be a bit difficult, since you need to track the direction where the damage come from. I also have no idea how one could implement different states into a module (front, back, left, right, upper, lower). Maybe this would be something for a new class of ships (e.g. T3 frigs).

I think this would allow a whole set of new otpions and tactics in small scale and 1v1 fights, that would benefit players with good piloting skills (real life skills not in-game skills) who have a good idea about the location and orientation of the ships on the battlefield.

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To my knowledge the game does not currently track which side of the ship is getting hit.

3 Likes
3

Sounds like it would make for interesting gameplay. Although I have doubts that could be implemented in our submarines in space game in a way that works. I imagine it would be very difficult to handle on fast ships like interceptors, if at all. If you are not “steering” yourself but are anchored in a fleet it would require additional commands I guess.
In PvE that could be extremly powerful too. There you can dictate very easy from what direction you are being shot, and it rarley changes surprisingly.

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Sure, only CCP knows how difficult this would be to implement.

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Then lets assume that they could possibly do things like you’re stating them just for the sake of argument.

Missiles would not need to be given the option to find the weak point as that is their objective by default.

Drones would go whatever direction they go with an orbit and would need to be checked on firing angle every shot for each drone.

Every other weapon format would be getting a nerf.

2 Likes
6

It must do for the shield and armour effects you see when getting hit. It may not be very sophisticated right now, but the client or server does track hit locations.

The problem i have with this idea is that the shooter doesn’t get a choice and this may be very powerful when used by kiters.

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That’s just visual effects. It does not mean that you have been tracking point A of a ship to be hit or that hitting point A is actually a critical system. Armor peels off on the opposite side of your ship if you take enough damage and structures are great at proving this point.

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Right, the shield effects show that the data from which direction the damage comes, is already there. That would make the implementation much easier.

Sure, these modules would be better against turrets and lasers and weaker against drones an missiles. But this is just the point here, since it would give you more options to fit your ships and allow different types of gameplay. Balance of kiting ships is indeed an issue, but they would be again very vulnerable to missiles.

Also capital fights might cause problem, because you often have two capital blobs that don’t really move. So if one blob could reinforce the shields toward the other blob, they would be much stronger. On the other hand, all you need is a bomber wing that gets on the weak side that melt the HPs of the capitals with a few bombs. So now your caps need destroyers with defender missiles to protect your weak side. These are the gameplay options I’m talking about.

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That’s client side information where your client approximates it.
This is also why you can warp sideways.
The server doesn’t track any of that, and the server tracking it is what is needed for it to be used as a game mechanic.

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The biggest problem this idea has (and what kills it) is that Calculating direction is not cheap performance-wise. CCP use AOE-calculations or directional calculations very carefully, as they lead to a lot of performance-loss when used in-mass.

A module like this would likely cut down the amount of players that can fight in a singly system by 10% or more.

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Or backwards with enough webs… Obelisks are hilarious to watch warping backwards.

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Right, but if the client calculates it, it can tell the server. Information is sent both ways.

Like i said, it may not be sophisticated, but hit locations are taken.

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Not viable. At least not viable enough to do it just because some rando posts about it. Also not a new idea.

1 Like
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Not really. It’s a one way information street. Server tells client it got hit by X. Client if it wishes to expend the graphic resources gets a pretty “look you got hit” effect.

What you are asking for is after a baseball is thrown it gets returned to the pitcher before it crosses the batting area.

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It’s not one way. The client tells the server what buttons we press. With one server tick per second the information may even be able to be put into a queue without us noticing much. Though the more i think about it, it would have to be server side.

But anyways, i just want to put an end to the poo poo’s of hit locations. We already have them.

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Those are only visuals. They have ZERO effect on how much armor/shield/structure damage you can take. One side of your ship can look like Swiss cheese, turning it to the other side doesn’t magically give you more armor/shield/structure points. There are no strong side or weak sides of the ship in any format. To even claim that we have hit locations is purely graphics and nothing more.

You can’t target your opponents guns and disable them. You can’t aim for their engines and prevent them from moving. You can’t even aim for the pod and get them killed before their ship. There are no hit boxes on damage calculations.

2 Likes
17

Yeah, just like i said.

No there isn’t. But the hit box calculation would be identical for damage as it is graphics, which is all there.

The problem is it’s done client side, and a damage one would have to be server side.

Buuuuuuuut back to my point, like you admit above, hit locations ARE already calculated.

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Which is exactly what I said.
But the server never ever sees these hit locations.
So instead of 500 people on grid having their computers calculate hit locations only on objects with sufficient LOD, the server would now have to store a facing (Yes the server doesn’t even know the facing of your ship), and then calculate hit locations for all 500 people.
This is not a simple proposition to change the basic combat code.

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I also thought this for a while but then mjd’s appeared. What happens when you mjd from stationary position? You still jump forward.

Is it remembering your last movement? So what happens if you mjd after decloaking off a gate?

I know full well that calculating hit points could add to server load. That’s not my point. I’m just telling people that didn’t think this calculation exists, it does.

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But it exists on a totally unrelated computer to the server. Which means it’s pretty irrelevant the fact it exists.
Also MJD stationary used to have a whole lot of bugs like throwing you in a random direction. The same as bombs did if you were stationary (didn’t go anywhere).