Corvette lost to Scout because of Boost

[dcarver]

Can I disable my pilots using Boost (shields) in combat?

I watched a Corvette get destroyed to a Scout because he used all his shields during a dog-fight to boost around. One of my pilots was a 4 star, not sure the other. I like having to build and command defense fleets, although lets make it fair. I don't see the enemy using that tactic.

-WTH

[breizhbugs]

I am quite doubtfull when i see Xenon burn their shied the same way when i engage them with my plasma corvette as i dont even have to boost to catch them up cause they are just going 10km away.
I like the mechanism of the boost pumping the shield , because it is "Flee Or Fight", but it is totally inefficient if they "Flee And Fight" !

[Axeface]

Which engines does (did ) the Corvette have equipped? Combat engines can boost for a lot longer, which means they drain shield more slowly. A 1 second boost on a travel engine might drain half your shields, but on a combat engine almost none of it.

[Invasion]

Combat AI is just trash and ships boost at the wrong time
If you watch a fight closely on the map, you will notice that they boost after passing the enemy in an attack run
There is no need to boost when the enemy isn't facing you anymore...
As a result, the enemy turns around and damages your hull right away

So sending ships to fight without combat engines is practically suicide, because they use up their shields too quickly when boosting
Combat thrusters also help ships make tighter turns with roll+pitch

[dcarver]

Thanks for the comments! I'll try combat equipment. Didn't know it helped on boost.

Still want a mod to disable this feature.

[csaba]

To be honest combat ships should use the combat engines travel mode. It's instant and gives a significant boost for fights without draining shields. I catch all my boosting away enemies this way, I arrive 4 seconds later than they do....

[mr.WHO]

That's why boosters should have separate fuel/energy bar like in all other normal space sims - easier to use by players and by AI.
In one of pre-release stream Egosoft dev said they considered adding fuel to booster, but I don't know why they didn't pushed the idea.

[Scoob]

ES really need to get away from this shared Shield / Booster energy pool, it' makes something cool largely broken in the hands of the AI. Travel Drive is a good boost tool, though it's a bit slower accelerating of course, plus it too cannot be used if the shields are out oddly. I.e. if your shields get drained = no Travel Drive, if you have no shields at all then Travel Drive works. Weird.

Seeing ships boost in combat is cool...the result is dumb lol.

Scoob.

[desiriel]

That's why boosters should have separate fuel/energy bar like in all other normal space sims - easier to use by players and by AI.
In one of pre-release stream Egosoft dev said they considered adding fuel to booster, but I don't know why they didn't pushed the idea.

This +1

[Bubonosaure]

That's why I'm in favor of a hybrid system where ships use fuel to boost. Once their reserves are depleted, it drains out the shield. It would also make carrier very useful as a refueler, among other things. That's ofc assuming we'd have resupply commands among other features. This situation is quite ridiculous.

[Lost Captain]

As others have said,I think boost should be linked to fuel or a battery that recharges.

Boost should also work differently for small fighters and larger ships.

[Requiemfang]

Blackrain has introduced some sanity to the AI by having them not boost once their shields reach 50% in his mod. Hopefully the devs pick up on this and introduce it game wide.

[SparvieroGed]

I like the boost using the shield. It a simply way to the old "power to the engine or power to the shield." Of course I will prefer a more complex system where using boost delay the recharge of the shield or something like that.
But before asking for more complexity...I will wait to see bugs fixed.

[hawkeye099]

The combat AI -as is- and shield drain mechanism simply don't fit together.

Spent some time watching npcs fighting:
AI often uses boost to close in, so shield is down when fighting begins. As soon shield is available and an frontal attack cycle is done, it uses boost to get away from the enemy in a huge arc. In bigger fights this is fatal, ships are running right into the crowd with shields down. Often enough they draw in the next group of enemies by this, which they then can't escape and die.

Watching this is over and over is killing much of the fun I'm having visiting Xenon sectors - one of the next things that should be addressed...

[Socratatus]

Blackrain has introduced some sanity to the AI by having them not boost once their shields reach 50% in his mod. Hopefully the devs pick up on this and introduce it game wide.

I would prefer if this was randomised or set to skill level, so noob AI would have a greater chance to burn out their shields or take risks which might cause that.

[PainGod85]

TBH combat boost draining shields doesn't fit together at all, under any circumstances. There really should be a separate boost gauge.

The only time I've ever used combat boost was outside of combat, to get around stations more quickly.

[Socratatus]

I remember my initial confusion when I first got into a fight, boosted, and then my shield power was at half strength even though I hadn`t been hit.

[Sirilius]

Blackrain has introduced some sanity to the AI by having them not boost once their shields reach 50% in his mod. Hopefully the devs pick up on this and introduce it game wide.

Unfortunately this change caused all AI fighters to not fire their guns. Seems like the AI logic in combat is to boost first then fire. It probs requires the fighters to be at a certain distance before beginning their attack, if they cant get to said distance without boosting (rather than it being depleted) then the AI wont begin their firing pattern.

So during in sector combat, your corvettes are trying to pull distance but by the time they pull enough distance, the enemy fighter is already beginning its attack run and closes the distance in the time it takes your corvette to make a 180 degree turn . Corvette then has to pull distance again....

Out of sector combat seems alright though, my single Cerberus was able to take out 3 pirate fighters. Compare that to my single Cerberus losing to a single xenon N..

[AdmiralTigerclaw]

Honestly, if it was within my skill set and within my time, I would do the following to boost.

1: Disconnect it from shields.

2: Make Boost and Travel Drive utilize some kind of fuel commodity that must be kept in supply. Not something that depletes very quickly, but something that can be used as a variable in engine stats to drive configuration selections. Such as efficiency of fuel use. Without the fuel in vehicle stock, only the regular throttle can be used (Slowboat mode). This drives engine selection to be more than the typical 'good, better, best'.

3: Make Boost have a heat gauge. While it uses a consumable fuel, the use of a thermal gauge would keep it from being effectively sat on all the time. Like fuel consumption, engine selection also affects this.


Given that each race has three sets of engines at three classes, you could even make a 3x3 engine matrix.

Collumn: Engine type from most fuel efficient to most powerful
1: Travel, 2: All-rounder, 3: Combat

Row: Engine 'Mark' from coolest, lowest thrust, longest running boost; to hottest, highest thrust, shortest running boost.
1: Mk I, 2: Mk 2, 3: Mk 3

[KreXx]

The whole Shield/boost/combat system is a mess. How the **** could this crap (sorry, but i have no other words for it) could get into the release version?

Just a few of the Problems:

• Even Capital Ships can be destroyed by one fighter, because the shield is not recharging while taking damage
• AI uses Boost deplete their shield in the middle of combat
• As soon as i'm realising i cannot win a fight, i press ESC and load the last save game. Because i know i will die anyway, because if i boost away my shield is gone and i'm dead either way

And there is more than one reason for this

• no recharging while taking damage
• recharge delay is way to long
• The boost itself sucks, because unlike travel mode, for some unexplainable **** reason, my ship stops right after the boost is over (escaping is impossible)
• when i notice i am gonna lose, i have no to little shield energy, so escaping is no longer possible
• and when i try to flee in normal cruise speed and wait for my shield/boost to recharge, even the smallest hit i am taking is making it impossible

How in gods name could anyone at egosoft thought that this is a good game mechanic? This is so stupid, it drives me crazy.....

It's simply not making any fun.

Also: Why is egosoft not commenting on this topic? People have complained all over it, but Ego is ghosting us. WTF? I don't want to do it, but i feel like a bad steam review is the only thing left.....