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Shield Harmonics
janewaywarrior
Member Posts: 93 Arc User
One of the things that bugs me the most about Star Trek: Online is a completely lack of complication in the way that systems onboard a ship work. Do not get me wrong, the game is good and I am enjoying myself much more now then I was (partially because I stopped playing it more often and gone down to a couple of hours each night)
However I have a suggestion,
Every shield the game should have a number attached to it. This number is the "shield frequency" and helps bolster the resistance of the shield. This number can also be exploited if another player manages to match shield frequency and then can make kinetic damage pass right through shields.
This opens up a whole new world of tactical gameplay in which an Engineering Boff level ability can be gained called
"Randomize Shield Harmonics" which effectively allows you to change that base shield number and would be essential in Borg STF's to prevent the Borg from penetrating your shields.
This can also be tied into science in a way that they can do deep invasive scans and uncover a range of possible shield harmonics which they can adjust their weapons to during a fight.
Beams could also have their "frequency" shifted via a tactical ability to do 100% damage through shields with a frequency match in the same way that a BoP was able to take on the Enterprise-D until the other player either "resets" or "randomises" shield harmonics.
These concepts are seen in multiple different Star Trek Episodes.
Like I said, this is a rough idea to bring a more Star Trek element into the game. Please do not just say things like "this is terrible" or "this would never work in game" but please try to provide constructive ideas and criticisms. If you do not care for the idea, please state the reasons WHY you do not care for it.
However I have a suggestion,
Every shield the game should have a number attached to it. This number is the "shield frequency" and helps bolster the resistance of the shield. This number can also be exploited if another player manages to match shield frequency and then can make kinetic damage pass right through shields.
This opens up a whole new world of tactical gameplay in which an Engineering Boff level ability can be gained called
"Randomize Shield Harmonics" which effectively allows you to change that base shield number and would be essential in Borg STF's to prevent the Borg from penetrating your shields.
This can also be tied into science in a way that they can do deep invasive scans and uncover a range of possible shield harmonics which they can adjust their weapons to during a fight.
Beams could also have their "frequency" shifted via a tactical ability to do 100% damage through shields with a frequency match in the same way that a BoP was able to take on the Enterprise-D until the other player either "resets" or "randomises" shield harmonics.
These concepts are seen in multiple different Star Trek Episodes.
Like I said, this is a rough idea to bring a more Star Trek element into the game. Please do not just say things like "this is terrible" or "this would never work in game" but please try to provide constructive ideas and criticisms. If you do not care for the idea, please state the reasons WHY you do not care for it.
Post edited by janewaywarrior on
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Depends what you class "unnecessary"... Star Trek fans would probably not consider a vital function of how shields actually work as "unnecessary". I mean sure... if you want Star Trek: Online to be something akin to the simplicity of Star Wars... then sure...
But Star Trek has always explained how its technology works and I think that is what gives it somewhat more credibility then other Sci-Fi genres.
Some of us enjoy technobabble and complication because thats how Star Trek has always been... well to me at least. Details are important.
"Unnecessary" means "unnecessary". If we started to want STO gameplay to depend on the often times contradictory technobabble we may as well just freeform RP everything. You do realize that in Trek technobabble was often used merely to pad out episodes and needlessly create drama when none was called for? Excessive technobabble was sloppy or downright terrible writing, the last two trek series were notorious for it.
There's always somebody who will think an idea is no good, but this is a BRILLIANT idea. For those who don't like it, they can still run around with any shield frequency they want, or have an auto-randomize option checked. Meanwhile, those who like the concept of advanced & sophisticated technology can optimize their weapons/shields to be more effective.
I've actually read that ST weapons may 'sample' an enemy's shield harmonics and send the data in feed-back pulses through a phaser beam to optimize weapons systems. This provides an excellent strategy aspect in that approaching phaser range would allow several strikes that would ultimately optimize the effect of your weapons.
Oh, and as for technobabble, the word is defined by an audience's lack of understanding, regardless of whether it's scientifically valid or not. A laymen's 'technobabble' is in many cases legitimate science to those who know the technology.
You might have a point if Star Trek or anything in it were real but its not. As it stands you have your head shoved to far up your own behind to realize that MOST of the games population are casual gamers and many aren't even star trek fans! Did you know only 10% of the games population even use the forums? For RP purposes this might be fun but it would ruin the game for any casual players and would deter any new players from joining.
STO is fun because it can be simple or if you want it can be complex if you like to optimize your ships. But optimization is not necessary. Its like the best players in game expect Cryptic to make the game ludicrously hard just for them because they find it easy. Well I've got news for you! They wont and they cant, people would leave the game so fast they would have to shut down the servers inside a month and nobody wants that. So on behalf of the other 95% of STO gamers..... SHUT THE HELL UP!!!
P.S. If everyone can shut off the feature at the click of a button then what was the point of having it? No use in PVP and id imagine little use against NPC'S... *see raider mechanics*
Praetor of the -RTS- Romulan Tal Shiar fleet!
On second thought...let's just flush this floater and get it over with.
*raises hand*
That would be me. Never been a huge trek fan. I'm generally a sci fi fan, and I like shooting things in space. I find STO to be a fun game to play. Fun enough to put down money on an LTS.
Sorry if I'm polluting y'all's anorak-fanboy-Trek-utopia-canon-lore-abiding wonderland. :cool:
No, it really is an unnecessary complication. You're asking the devs to put a shield bypass ability into the game by way of players occasionally getting lucky and matching numbers. And since its player controlled, what would stop a player from simply changing frequency every few seconds to avoid this? It has a cooldown? Ok, so another player gets lucky and matches your frequency right after you've switched it. This means that for the cooldown period, your shields are useless against that player. And pvp would be worse than it is now because teams would be shouting out shield frequencies to their members. And besides all this, eng captain already have this ability. And let's not forget the huge mess of bugs we'd be seeing if this ever did happen. No, I really don't think this is a good idea. I love trek, but making a game too much like it is going to lead to catastrophe.