Why upgrade biocell capacity?

[Top Pomeranian]

Is there much point in upgrading biocell capacity?

It means I can invis/titan...etc for slightly longer, but I could get the same effect from just eating biocells mid activation.

It would make sense if a biocell takes you to 100%, but it doesn't. Takes 2 biocells to fill to max from empty, but your energy bar isn't twice as big with biggest battery. You would get longer duration by letting the bar almost run out then using a biocell. Only advantage I see, is you get more "free" power between areas when you get recharged.

This will be like HR again, where I just get regen and remove cooldown, ignore capacity and constantly sit on low power because it recharges.

Also what aug do I get next for stealth? Titan looks cool, but seems no point for stealth. Maybe dash or tesla?

[the_SLVRFOX]

I upgraded the energy tree completely, but I'm doing a ghost run playthrough, and it seems almost useless. On normal difficulty, enemies will only search you out one-by-one, even if they all hear / notice the same suspicious activity. So you can use the same distraction technique to lure each enemy one at a time, then take them out silently. No need for a full bar of energy, which never gets max filled in red zones anyway, without using biocells.

[Top Pomeranian]

I have all but capacity at max. I haven't used a single biocell yet, and this way it is quick to recharge that last little bit at the end.

I am saving my cells for when I "need" them (ie, I will have all of them left after finishing the game)

[nightblade628]

To me, the whole energy system is in dire need of improving.

For one, auto charge should cover the whole energy bar, not just stop at one takedown's worth of energy. Fine, maybe after it charges to its minimum level the recharge rate halves for the rest of the bar.

And why do takedown take energy? You're not using any augs to do it. You're punching someone. It's no different to walking, and walking doesn't require energy. But Icarus Landing, something that generates huge amounts of power to use, doesn't affect the energy bar at all!! It's like having a car that only uses petrol when braking, but not while driving - just don't brake as much and there will be no need to keep buying fuel at all. Same with this game!

[Kai]

You do realize that with optimal augments, like low energy consumption on cloaking, if you stand still the drain is MUCH lower.

The soft cap on the energy reduces if you activate a augment, but not while it's being used.

If you use a melee attack, it drains that soft cap by a huge chunk.

This means cloaking is a viable way to hack or steal stuff in front of people's vision since standing still does not drain a ton.

Smart Vision, apparently drains a bit too much even at the most optimial settings, this is because people generally turn them on and off, each time reducing the soft cap by a small chunk.

They should make it so melee attacks drains the current energy, not the soft cap, so you retain the capacity instead of losing a ton of it.

A example:

50/50/100
Current / Soft Cap / Hard Cap
If you melee attack someone, you lose both 25 points of current and soft cap energy, this means it will not recharge at all, you simply waste energy.

If you use smart vision, it drains 10 points off of soft cap, and drains current energy over time, but even if it is emptied and the aug stops:

0/40/100

You still have your soft cap which the battery will charge over time, saving you from having to use a biocell all the time like in HR.

Increasing Capcity is useful for 'energy over time' augments, like Smart Vision, Silent Footsteps, Cloaking, etc.

[VIOLATORu666]

seems that capacity doesn't help on constant battery degradation.. so yes like previous Regen and cool-down only is fine

about next aug suppose Dash is best (with Icarus fall upgrades)

[Kai]

What the developer should do is implement a multi-battery system where each augment you have takes up a specific amount of capacity of which it can regen over time. Allow players to 'optimize' and organize the priority or importance of the bar, to determine what 'turns off' if the battery level goes down.

What i Mean is that your battery gauge should look like this:

[ Fixed Energy (30) points ][ Augment A (20) points ][Free Space (50) points]
While using energy, the soft cap decreases, which will lock down augments that's assigned to the gauge from being used in order to conserve energy.

30+20+50 = 100% energy.

Lets say you optimize all energy drain augments in a gauge:

[Smart Vision 25%][Cloaking 35%][Silent Footsteps40%]
If you decrease energy, you can still cloak until you reach the 25% mark, after which it disables.

[Reddy]

You guys aren't playing on the right difficulty or are just playing the game as if it's Call of Duty if you seriously don't need Biocells at all.

[Top Pomeranian]

I think dishonored did it well. It was a good compromise between limiting your energy, whilst still letting you use your abilities somewhat freely. Your energy would recharge, but only as much as the most recent ability used. So chaining abilities would result in loss of energy, but the occasional activation would not.

I do not like that I am encouraged to remain on low energy. Punching a wall/performing a takedown feels like a huge waste otherwise.

Actually thinking about it... why not just use what Deus Ex did? Remove regen altogether, keep consumables for when energy is needed in a pinch, and add recharging stations scattered across the world.

[Ap2000]

I hate that it regenerates, because it's the easy way out for the developer to not have to actually balance the game around biocells. Plus, the casuals love it.
In DX:HR you had the choice of playing without the first battery since that just regenerates automatically, but now the WHOLE bar regenerates automatically, which makes using the augmentations a lot more casual and less intriguing.