kabill Posted August 15, 2014 Share Posted August 15, 2014 Inspired by Trashman's let's play: Would it be possible to make a shield provide protection to soldiers other than the one carrying it if the shield soldier is covering them? At the moment, to the best of my knowledge, a shield only protects the soldier carrying it and doesn't increase a soldier's stopping chance. Therefore a soldier positioned behind a shield-bearing soldier is still an easy target, when in reality the shield would still provide considerable cover. I'm not sure how exactly this would be implemented and can imagine it being too complex to be worthwhile. But I thought I'd throw it out there in case there's any interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solver Posted August 15, 2014 Share Posted August 15, 2014 Keep in mind the redshirt in that playthrough was to tiles behind the shield. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kabill Posted August 15, 2014 Author Share Posted August 15, 2014 For sure, but (in reality) the shield would still provide significant cover (although perhaps the problem is more how low the stopping chance for units is generally). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GerbilSchooler Posted August 15, 2014 Share Posted August 15, 2014 I am pretty sure the shield person already counts as cover. It's like when you line up a shot on two aliens one in front of the other, your shot is 45% blocked by the first alien. I believe that if an alien were to target a person behind a guy with a shield, the shield would count as 45%cover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kabill Posted August 16, 2014 Author Share Posted August 16, 2014 For sure, a shield soldier has a stopping chance value but it's no higher than a regular soldier (and it's actually pretty low: 25% for standing and 19% for crouching). So it leads to what can appear to be an odd situation where a soldier with a shield cannot be hit from the front at all, but a soldier standing just behind them gains no benefit. Really, it would make most sense for the shield to count like cover and apply it's stopping chance to shots made both at the soldier but also at things behind them. However, I suppose this would be difficult because you'd have to factor in facing somehow which sounds like it would be a lot of effort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silencer Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 I always find strange that even without a shield, a shot can pass the first soldier and hit the one standing behind. I know it is a game, but there must be some logic involved in some aspects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kabill Posted August 16, 2014 Author Share Posted August 16, 2014 If I remember correctly, it's to avoid an exploit of shooting behind a target and scoring hits more easily than if you were targeting directly (although there's an indirect fire miss chance as well, so maybe not?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
llunak Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 I always find strange that even without a shield, a shot can pass the first soldier and hit the one standing behind. I know it is a game, but there must be some logic involved in some aspects. The logic can be that since the second soldier is not operating the shield, he's more likely to get hit than the one holding it. But yes, it is somewhere in my todo to make soldiers with shield count as easier targets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muskrat Posted August 29, 2014 Share Posted August 29, 2014 In previous game's (pre-launch) this strategy was very effective. In my current 0.27 CE game, I have noticed alien's tend to target the soldier behind the shield unit a lot more, making this strategy of advancing using a shield unit less viable. Possible due to AI update? Also, does the shield only cover the center cell, or does it cover all 3 cells across the front, a least to some extent? I seem to be getting hit a lot more from a slight angle than I remember. All this seems to be making the shield a lot less worth-while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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