Shield effects/missile impact

[Mekt-Hakkikt]

Hello again!

Just a little stupid question that's been nagging at me for some days now:

In the WC games that showed a shield effect when being hit (WCArmada, WC3,4, WCP and SOPS - any more?) - does the sheld effect also show when you hit only with a missile?

I can't remember for my life, I just see the explosions before my inner eye...

Nothing of importance, just the kind of weird questions that doesn't let you go.

 

[Spoon]

I remember it did for wincommander 3. Small explosion on the shields (for the ships that could survive it). Not sure about Wingcommander 4 though... most missiles just instantly destroyed ships (even thunderbolts etc)

 

[Edfilho]

You should play all the games in order to find out

 

[Pedro]

Pretty certain WCP had a shield effect as well as the explosion.

 

[Mekt-Hakkikt]

You should play all the games in order to find out

Yeah, I'd love to do that but sadly no WC game here at the moment. I don't even have a joystick ready! (Though I could borrow one from my brother who lives only 300m from my appartment). But since I have a little free time now, I think I will look into it to get some WC games to work on my Laptop.

But thanks for the answers so far - so you mostly remember the shields to flicker as well when hit by a missile. Well, I'll report back when I got to play the games

 

[ELTEE]

I think the shields did, if you survived...

Now you have me curious though!

 

[MjavTheGray]

That's looking strange though, isn't it?
Sure thing, when planning the WC1, Chris Roberts couldn't plan it so far.
So I do agree with Jalthi or Korlarh (or Broadsword, how could I forget it?) surviving missile impact with still some shields remaining (it's just the game specifics,nothing more).

But as WC fan I can't not ask myself:
Hey, the missiles do kill any ship in WCIV simply because they are not immaterial, and no shield can stop shem. Why then did they blow on shields 15 years ago? Was Jalthi SO HARD TO KILL?
Did Dart DF change so much since then?

It's not question to anyone. Just mentioning the question to myself

 

[Dyret]

Hey, the missiles do kill any ship in WCIV simply because they are not immaterial, and no shield can stop shem. Why then did they blow on shields 15 years ago?

Because shields can stop objects that are not immaterial? After all they protect you from mass drivers and stormfires. And mines and asteroids to a certain degree IIRC.

 

[Pulmonox]

I think the shield effect didn't appear most of the time because when the shields are overwhelemed, the effect will not appear IIRC. Since most missiles would overwhelm the shields in one hit, they usually wouldn't show an effect, but as far as prophecy goes, if you use the Tigershark's rocket pods or let loose with a missile at a corvette class it would usually show an effect.

 

[Dundradal]

The shields would show the hit. The thing behind shields on fighters is that they have a certain damage threshold and a recharge rate and if the damage is able to be greater than the recharge rate than things can start to penetrate the shields and hit armor. In certain cases the shields can fail for a few seconds allowing damage to the hull. We both see this in the games and read about it in the novels. It's a vicious fight between the recharge rate and the amount of incoming damage.

IIRC the shields flicker in WC3 when hit by a missile. I'm sure in both WC4 and WCP/SO that they show the missile impact on the shields.

 

[Red Coat]

IIRC the shields flicker in WC3 when hit by a missile. I'm sure in both WC4 and WCP/SO that they show the missile impact on the shields.

Yes, they do, even if it is only for a split second.

Cheers,

Red Coat

 

[MjavTheGray]

....and I was more than sure that stormfire hits the armor right through the shields (and that's why it is so efficient), and mass drivers are still non-ammo energy weapons...

Poor stupid me, must I say.
But then a question from mjav:

How does is happen that massdriver's ammo is unlimited?

 

[Dundradal]

How does is happen that massdriver's ammo is unlimited?

That's a good question, I'm not sure if we can get a complete answer on it however. The workings of the Mass Driver are slightly discussed in almost all the novels, IIRC ER and FA have some good tidbits, I seem to recall Bear thinking about mass drivers or something at some point.

I'm going to guess it works somehow by pulling stray mass in from space, but I don't feel very confident or comfortable with that idea. It is mentioned that they shoot a metallic mass, so I don't know.