Area Shields

Hello!

I'd like to request some replays with some good high level effective usage of area shields. It can be Aegis, Aspis, even com area shield, whatever. It just needs to be efficiently used.

Why am I asking for this?

Well, I have a suspicion that area shields in general kinda suck. They are really expensive, and don't really defend against anything. Artillery seems to stack better then area shields. Bertha completely counters them. (Well fine, Bertha counters everything, but still) Shield regen/cost is just lower then artillery DPS/cost. But these are just feelings. I'd like to see some real uses of area shields.

A single aspis is about rightly balanced imo.
When you group them up, they become a little OP.

1. cloaker

2. pls no buffs to defensive stuff, we already have way too long stalemates.

I may not be a high-level player, but maybe my casual matches could provide some insight into how shields could act as a force multiplier for your remaining forces?

- http://zero-k.info/Battles/Detail/612753 - In this battle, my Funnelwebs' shields did a good job at protecting my other striders from damage that could've been fatal for them, or at least severe enough to force them to retreat for repairs (such as Merlin fire). Although my striders, including my Funnelwebs, had eventually fallen in battle once the Funnelwebs' shields gave out, by then, they had cleared out so much enemy territory that we were able to secure the win.
- http://zero-k.info/Battles/Detail/610979 - Here, you'll see some Funnelwebs, Aspis, and other shielded units prolong the lives of their unshielded, oftentimes more fragile, comrades in arms.

I agree with Psaniac that area shields are generally sucky.

Even in a shieldball, I need at least 4 before I start feeling my ball can handle most stuff. And that's 2400 metal that essentially does nothing and just sucks up damage. Plus, area shields in porc can be pretty underwhelming. The Aegis unit itself is made out of toilet paper and all you need is stacked artillery to reduce them to rubble.

But.

But I like the premise of ZK as an offensive game.

I'm a long time TA / SupCom player where mega bases are viable and while I enjoy the grind I don't want every single game to end up like this. I like porc and the challenge of building up viable porc against a balance that is by design stacked against me. I think area shields are exactly the right strength where they are still useful - and in very large overlapping numbers more than useful, they are overwhelming - but where you'd rather build attacking units for your 600 metal.

Please don't buff shields.

If devs feel the need to buff aegis / aspis, a hp buff to the actual unit would be the most useful.

Lately, I did an experiment to see if I could take out an enemy Detriment with Glaives or Bandits supported by Aspis and Iris (totaling almost 11,000 metal's worth), and well, here are the results of my experiment, though I wish I was able to share the replay with you guys.

Long story short, the Aspis did a really, REALLY good job at keeping my Glaives and Bandits alive when they were up against the Detriment (along with a handful of other enemy units.

Firepluk's comment is a good one, I had a similar idea for a unit that could defend very well from one direction only. It could maybe help break stalemates by helping units tank and survive massed artillery until they get into attack range. Just not sure how feasible it is from a programming point of view, and whether it would create problems that are as yet unforeseen right now.

Shields could become extremely OP if shield sharing were to be made default option. AKA shield strength combines with all interlocking shields, meaning 10 Aegis at full power near each other have a shield of 36000 strength rather than 10 shields with 3600 strength.
This makes them useful against stronger impacting weapons from just breaching through 1 shield in a shield line and opening a hole, but it also makes them weak to a massed attack since all shields lose power at the same time.

On the topic of different types of shields, EvoRTS has a massive Anti-Nuke shield that covers a vastly larger area. Perhaps we could have that in-game but at offset that it'd basically take a singularity gen to power the damn thing at some -200 to -250 power drain.

Make a shield that has a 120 degree arc of coverage so you have to manually rotate it to block incoming fire. Its wide enough to cover 1/3 of a circle but leaves plenty of space for surprise attacks. Also give it a setting to point straight up where it doesn't cover shots coming in at ground level at all but does screen out incoming high angle arty with high efficiency.

That would make shields more skill based so they could be stronger and more efficient and would only become overpowered if the player themselves are skilled at placement and controlling them.

A mobile version of the 120 degree arc coverage would also be great for assaulting porc lines while still being totally open and vulnerable to counter attacks.