Once again, I'm trying to figure out how to translate EVO values to the EVN engine. This time its shield recharge. First, I'm not too sure how this actually worked in EVO. I've read through some topics from several years ago, but there never seemed to be a consensus reached on how it worked. I'm familiar with what both the EVO and EVN bibles say on the subject, but quite a bit still remains unclear.

Quote

From the EVO Bible
ShieldRe: Shield recharge speed, in number of frames per shield
percentage point regenerated; bigger numbers here make for
slower recharging. 30 ˜ 1% per second.

Example: A ship has a shield value of 100, and a recharge value of 30. If there are 30 frames/second, then this ship will regenerate 1 shield point every second. (Or, 1%/second). Easy enough.

To translate this into Nova terms we use:

Quote

Originally posted by Regulus
To convert from EV values to EVN values, use this equation:
( ( EV Shields / 100 ) / EV ShieldRe ) * 1000 = EVN Shield Recharge

Makes sense to me. So, in Nova terms this ship has a shield recharge value of 33.3. (33or 34). Again, easy enough.

Now here's the part that has me stumped. How do EVO shield recharge values behave when modified by an outfit? Looking at the first equation above, there are 2 different mod types that should have an effect on shield recharge.

1. Mod Type 4 - More shield capacity: The number of shield points to add.

2)Mod Type 5 - Faster shield recharge: How much to speed up (-30 = one more
point per second).

So, let's say that the ship used in the above example was given an outfit with mod type 4 (more shield capacity), and a value of 100. Does this mean that the percentage points in overall shield recharge will be recalculated as if it has 200 shields? If so, then the same ship will now be recharging at a rate of 2 shield points every second. Translated to Nova terms, this would be a recharge value of 66.67. (66 or 67). Do Override experts hold this to be true? Or, is the recharge rate uneffected by this?

My next question refers to the behavior of mod type 5 (faster shield recharge). Does the "one more point per second" mean one more percentage point per second? Or, simply one more single shield point per second? Yep, there's a big difference.

For this example, let's raise the ship's shield value to 1000, but keep the shield recharge value at 30. This ship will regenerate 10 shield points every second. If percentage point is true: given an outfit with mod type 5, and mod value -30, the ship's recharge rate will be 20 shield points/second. (Or, 2%/second). If single shield point is true: the ship's recharge rate will be 11 shield points/second. I could use some help as to which of these two scenarios is true.

Ultimately, I'm wondering if it is possible to duplicate the shield recharge characteristics used in EVO on the EVN engine. If percentage does get recalculated, then this would be quite difficult. Basically, I don't get it. Please help me understand.

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(This message has been edited by slouch (edited 03-05-2004).)

(This message has been edited by slouch (edited 03-05-2004).)

I know for sure that përs with higher shields in EV and EVO also get a proportionnally higher shield recharge, just try to -hit- Matt Burch in these games. I am almost sure that, when you get a shield enancer in EVO, you shield recharge rate is also proportionally increased (you fully recharge your shields from 0 to 100 in the same time). So yes, I'm pretty sure it's recalculated with the new shields capacity in EVO should you buy an outfit which increases the shield capacity.

As for shield recharge improving outfits, I think that in EVN they simply work by adding their value to the shieldrech stat of the ship it is applied to, like it, it is not a percentage but a raw shield point value. Therefore, it will be hard to duplicate the exact same behavior of the shield enhancer and shield generator in Nova: in Nova the shield enhancer will not increase your absolute shield recharge rate, but I think it makes better sense this way; while the sheild generator will work better on fighters and less on warships compared with their effect in EVO.

I don't think it is important enough to try to be workarounded: just let the shield enhancer enhance the same way without caring for the loss of shield recharge, and put for the value of the shield generator something corresponding to the increase of shield regeneration of an average-shielded ship in EVO. It should actually be this way - check. I have values 50 for the shield enhancer, -10 for the shield generator, and -50 for the experimental shield generator in my original EVO data.

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I was afraid that would be the answer. It makes conversion a bit sloppier, and less accurate. But, bitching about it won't fix anything, I suppose.

I agree that the shield enhancer outfit from EVO should just be a straight shield point boost in a port. But a shield regeneration outfit is much more tricky. For example, the shield generator and experimental shield generator in EVO. Due to the issues discussed previously, they effect every shield point total differently. And, the differences are somewhat extreme. In the EVO scenario, the Turncoat and the UE Destroyer both regenerate shields at a rate of 1.125 shield points/second. Now, equip each ship with an experimental shield generator, and they are very different. The Turncoat gets a boost of 37.5 shield points/second, while the UE Destroyer gets 60/second. The Igazra? 250/second. The Azdara? 8/second. It's tough to find a middle ground that won't effect gameplay.

Also, the pers are another question. Should they get an extra shield mod boost to make up for their lack of shield regeneration bonuses? Maybe. Maybe not.

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Well, the fact is shield recharge accelerators will favor more fighters and less warships than they did in EVO. The fact is the azdara is already quite powered, so we should try to make the exp shield generator not too powerful - maybe a bit more, but not much. It will make it far less interesting for warships, but it's unavoidable. The azdara should be the reference since it is popularly considered to be invincible should you give it a shield generator and dospect armor.

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The feeling you're a Nova geek - priceless.
There are things you can't buy or that are free, for everything else, there's indeed Eurocard Mastercard.

If you were feeling extremely anal, of course, you could create a variety of shield recharge outfits and key their availability to ships of a certain initial shield range using the Contribute/Require flags...

-reg

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"As a rule we believe as much as we can. We would believe everything if only we could."
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Yeah, right! No, I mean, I thought about it, but porting EVO to the Nova engine is already complicated enough as it is. Plus, to be accurate (and not have jumps in the shield recharge) you would need a ridiculous number of different outfits.

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There are things you can't buy or that are free, for everything else, there's indeed Eurocard Mastercard.

It would probably be sufficient to have one each for large, medium and small warships, large and small freighters and the various Azdara configurations.

-reg

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"As a rule we believe as much as we can. We would believe everything if only we could."
~ William James

Yup, shields and recharge make MUCH more sense in the EVN scenario. In EV and EVO, ships recharged a set percentage of their shields per unit time, no matter what their shield total actually was. So, if you really wanted to duplicate EV's shield mod ability in EVN, you would need to add a shield regen property as well.

EV's and EVOs system led to loopholes in such plugs as the Empire series that had the combination of quickly regenerating fighters and massive shield mod outfits. Add these two together, plus a spare shield regen mod outfit, and you created ships that were almost impossible to destroy.

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