Combat Timer & Shields

[AshKior]

First let me say I love this game & the work NQ has put into it.

 

I am proposing that Shields become the buffer of time needed for a pilot / crew to determine "Fight or Flight". 

 

Pilots / Crew often have little to no time to do much of anything. By the time the system warns of a contact, if I didn't already have a warp destination plotted w/ enough warp cells, that ship will take a hit within the next 5 or so seconds. That Crew / Pilot is now stuck in combat for 10 minutes, getting out of combat long enough to warp ..... it's just as likely hell freezes over.

 

Having the ability to Warp as long as Shield are up is also a little more lore friendly. It also gives players Less PvP oriented the "Fight Time" needed to gain experience w/o the total loss of assets.

 

Doing Hauling Missions some won't allow you to warp, It would be nice to have a "Dump Cargo" selection when right clicking. Also for a non-refundable deposit if you want a DSAT beacon placed with it. Ya know .... So ya can Han Solo that Shit at 1st sign of Pirates, then come back for it later. Shields would allow for a more varied and enjoyable game play if they are that Buffer.

 

Instead of a combat timer. I would think a damping field generator that has an AOE w/ less than max weapon range for that size core. The combat timer is now the DFG operational time limit before (x) amount of time cool down. Also a DFG can not stop a core larger than the one it is linked to.

 

Once power is brought into play the combat timer can be replaced with power draw per minute. 

[Taelessael]

An interesting thought...

Depending on the ships involved shields are likely to take several minutes to go down once people start getting their hands on the big ones.

 

Given the information provided, your issue seems entirely and immediately fixable, just not in the way you are suggesting. This is a "change in strategy problem", not a "change the rules to make a non-functional strategy viable" problem. Get friends or mercs to scout ahead/fly escort, or fly the route differently. I've flown dozens of missions. All of em' were through pvp space, several were when I'd expect people to be on and waiting to shoot at me (near about all hours through the weekend on more than a few runs), and I've yet to see anyone even make an attempt at chasing me (not that I see all that many people on radar when hauling).

PvP in a game that isn't going to just hand all your stuff right back when you respawn is never going to be a "forgiving" experience for people that get themselves shot. Trying to change the rules to better accommodate careless/reckless players will just make conventional piracy a non-viable play style.

The idea of dumping cargo to re-collect it later is an interesting idea, but the cargo would need a decay timer to keep people from just flooding space with single liters of dirt. Of note though... pirate players are not storm-troopers, they are not blind and/or stupid because of the dictates of plot. Odds are if you can dump cargo to scan down again later, any experienced group of pirates will know you can do that and will have a ship with the scanner to go look for that cargo.

 

As warp interdiction goes, tis already a planned thing that NQ is supposedly working on, though with the added function of pulling people that try to warp through it out of warp.

 

As for power interacting with things, I could see this as a way to escape interdiction (not enough power left in the system to keep the field going), but I don't see how power could be used in a function similar to the combat timer currently functions.