Shield Generator Relay

[Mouse Trap]

At the moment, the Shield Generator Relay feels useless - Maybe I'm not using it right, maybe I'm not in the right situations, but based on my experiences, it could use some changes / buffs. One of the ways I was thinking of buffing or altering the stratagem, would be to make it something that you call down, but can also be manually turned on and off - If it's turned off, it lets the generator recharge for use again

[Ben.Wasden]

Originally posted by Prowler™:

The shield relay is actually extremely OP vs bots
However to get the big value you really need some teamplay and multiple copies in play which negates its cool down.
4 players in chat together running it vs automations is an easy win with pretty much 0 damage taken every time.

vs bugs its obviously worthless.

The shield backpack is actually the noob trap of this game. You think its helping you but it is in fact a dead weight thats taking up a slot you could put something actually useful in lol :evadebullets:
Even a jetpack is more use than the shield pack. By a huge margin as it lets you skip otherwise impassable terrain.

Basically you are saying in order to make this Stratagem useful you need 4 Players to negate the cooldown. To me that supports the argument it needs reviewing doesn't it? You shouldn't need 4 people to make one stratagem useful.

I am not a very high level as I only recently started playing, but I am not convinced taking 4 shield generators instead of one backpack and 3 offensive stratagems would be the better option. Especially as the shield doesn't regenerate and just cuts out after enough damage or the timer expires with no warning that I have noticed.

It's interesting ideas you have proposed though to working around it's failings and others have commented on whether it could survive against orbital or eagle stratagems which would make it more viable potentially. All interesting, thank you for everyone's view points.

[Ben.Wasden]

Originally posted by The Ironguard:

Originally posted by Snazzy n' Classy:

At the moment, the Shield Generator Relay feels useless - Maybe I'm not using it right, maybe I'm not in the right situations, but based on my experiences, it could use some changes / buffs. One of the ways I was thinking of buffing or altering the stratagem, would be to make it something that you call down, but can also be manually turned on and off - If it's turned off, it lets the generator recharge for use again

Well, the main issue with the shield generator, is basically the rate of incoming enemy fire.

To give you some specifics, the shield generator has a 4000 health shield, with a 5 second delay on shield regen, at 300/sec regen. Shield broken delay is 8 seconds, though i am not aware if it then fully regenerates after 8 seconds, or just starts up at 300/sec.

Now, 4000 might sound like a good deal. It's more health than the main body of a bile titan. The problem is of course, that the shield takes full damage from everything. While i don't have hard damage numbers for bots, a HMG can do 3600 damage in about 2 seconds at the highest RPM. While bots are probably a bit lower on damage, you can see how the bubble might not last long against multiple opponents. Especially given that it is an ENORMOUS target.

Frankly, i think the shield would be best for protecting a very specific asset for a short amount of time, or assisting a fortified position against enemies with slow but powerful attacks.

Example: HMG emplacement + shield generator versus a factory strider would likely work out very well, as long as you take out its miniguns fast. The shield can absorb several hits from the back mounted canon, while the HMG emplacement clears out the chaff that can burn the shield down, and takes out the strider.

Oh wow it does regenerate ??? I honestly never noticed. It always felt like after the shield took X damage then it just shutdown. Maybe all it needs is a modification of the amount of damage it takes to be more or feel more useful?

[LeftIsBest-James]

Originally posted by Ben.Wasden:

Oh wow it does regenerate ??? I honestly never noticed. It always felt like after the shield took X damage then it just shutdown. Maybe all it needs is a modification of the amount of damage it takes to be more or feel more useful?

https://helldivers.wiki.gg/wiki/SH-32_Shield_Generator_Pack (info is a little out of date)
- It starts growing back if damaged after a 12 sec day.
- If you totally blow it out: it takes 60sec to raise a new bubble.
- ShieldHealth is near your ammo-count, laser/sickle/quasar-cooldown, jumppack-cooldown.

[sweng]

The only time i find it useful is the soil survey mission. It provide enough protection period for you to complete the sub objective provided that bot doesnt directly drop above and inside the shield.
Or it can be a decoy for you to run away

[Ben.Wasden]

Originally posted by LeftIsBest-James:

Originally posted by Ben.Wasden:

Oh wow it does regenerate ??? I honestly never noticed. It always felt like after the shield took X damage then it just shutdown. Maybe all it needs is a modification of the amount of damage it takes to be more or feel more useful?

https://helldivers.wiki.gg/wiki/SH-32_Shield_Generator_Pack (info is a little out of date)
- It starts growing back if damaged after a 12 sec day.
- If you totally blow it out: it takes 60sec to raise a new bubble.
- ShieldHealth is near your ammo-count, laser/sickle/quasar-cooldown, jumppack-cooldown.

Oh sorry I misread I thought you were talking about the stationary relay. The stationary relay to my knowledge is just timed or fails after a certain amount of damage.

Having it not on a timed life and be able to recharge would in my opinion make it more viable.

[Midas]

Originally posted by Niliu:

Originally posted by Ben.Wasden:

I recently used this stratagem and I found this stratagem to be more of a handicap on higher difficulties.... I honestly don't understand why anyone would ever choose it over having another orbital or eagle stratagem.

To me versus the backpack shield generator it's very underpowered.

Shield relay Vs Backpack shield
Timed - Permanent
Doesn't recover shield - Recovers shield
Stationery - Mobile
Covers wider area - Personal use only

The last two on the list in my opinion make absolute sense. But the first two on the list don't make sense to me. Why would the shield relay not be a permanent stratagem until destroyed? Also why is it not able to recover like the backpack stratagem?

If they just changed these two things it would suddenly be very viable, but still a trade off from taking other offensive stratagems. It also wouldn't be as immersion breaking because there is no way a backpack battery is bigger than a stationary shield battery. If the backpack shield is permanent and can recover then the stationary much larger generator should also as a minimum do this and really should be better at it.

Also if they were to change to permanent and allow it to recover it's shield overtime, they would need to increase the call down timer.

Does anyone agree with the above? Has anyone other thoughts on this?

dude... necro? Really?

In fairness, it basically hasn't changed at all since launch, and pretty much everything said is as relevant now as it was back then.

[Ben.Wasden]

Originally posted by sweng:

The only time i find it useful is the soil survey mission. It provide enough protection period for you to complete the sub objective provided that bot doesnt directly drop above and inside the shield.
Or it can be a decoy for you to run away

I never actually tried this tactic or didn't notice the behaviour of the AI as probably busy moving position. Does it aggro the AI behaviour and they ignore you as you leave the safety of the bubble? Obviously instinct is shield = safety so you just automatically run to get underneath it, not away from it so I genuinely don't remember seeing the AI behaviour you described.

[Netaris]

This stratagem is good if used correctly : As a decoy, it's very good on the terminid front to concentrate insects before a massive strike on them or to give you some time to disengage. It also block charges and can kill enemies with AoE damages at close range (especially usefull for bile titans with good positioning).

[しひろ Wow War Tonight]

Originally posted by Netaris:

This stratagem is good if used correctly : As a decoy, it's very good on the terminid front to concentrate insects before a massive strike on them or to give you some time to disengage. It also block charges and can kill enemies with AoE damages at close range (especially usefull for bile titans with good positioning).

you know you can use your teammates or yourself as a legit decoy right?

my friend and I take turns for soil missions

as many comments said, the value from having an offensive strategem is way better than whatever use this poop currently has. "best defence is a good offence" works in Helldivers 2.

smoke strategems are also useless as hell on higher difficulties considering there's so much stray fire they'll hit you no matter where they shoot unless you're using it strictly to disengage

[J[_]ne B[_]9 [GB]]

Originally posted by Ben.Wasden:

I recently used this stratagem and I found this stratagem to be more of a handicap on higher difficulties.... I honestly don't understand why anyone would ever choose it over having another orbital or eagle stratagem.

On Terminids, not a chance. It's worthless against a melee focus faction.

It's most useful for hellbomb guarding(gunship factories).

You CAN also use it for advancing if there's not much cover, so you get a few seconds to pick your targets & clear them more safely without needing to block most of your sightlines for safety from automaton gunfire & rockets.

Originally posted by Ben.Wasden:

To me versus the backpack shield generator it's very underpowered.

The relay CAN regen, but will be broken quickly because it doesn't regen to full before activating like the backpack does.

IMO, It deffo needs a buff.

It takes too long too deploy.
Has a really long cooldown for how long it lasts once active on high diff.
Once the relay shield is down, if it goes back up it's only up for about 1 second before broken again.

Originally posted by Ben.Wasden:

Also if they were to change to permanent and allow it to recover it's shield overtime, they would need to increase the call down timer.

Permanent, no. I don't know if enemies target the generator, or if they destroy it by accident, while aiming for you. So you would have shield generator pockets all across the map if their current ai doesn't actively target the generator.

Enemies could also use them against you, which would be funny, until you need to throw 3 strategems to clear it because the 5 heavy & rocket devastators make getting into the shield & shooting them, way too dangerous.

The buffs i would suggest:
Faster call in
Slightly shorter cooldowns
full durability recharges like the backpack.

The max durability can basically stay the same since that more or less is plenty of time to let you breathe & deal with the most dangerous ranged targets.

[Midas]

Originally posted by J_ne B_9 GB:

Originally posted by Ben.Wasden:

I recently used this stratagem and I found this stratagem to be more of a handicap on higher difficulties.... I honestly don't understand why anyone would ever choose it over having another orbital or eagle stratagem.

On Terminids, not a chance. It's worthless against a melee focus faction.

Shame the constellations are hidden. It wouldn't be too bad to have something like this when fighting massed bile spewers.

[Netaris]

Originally posted by しひろ Wanderlock:

you know you can use your teammates or yourself as a legit decoy right?

my friend and I take turns for soil missions

as many comments said, the value from having an offensive strategem is way better than whatever use this poop currently has. "best defence is a good offence" works in Helldivers 2.

smoke strategems are also useless as hell on higher difficulties considering there's so much stray fire they'll hit you no matter where they shoot unless you're using it strictly to disengage

It's not only a decoy, it's able to OS bile titans "if used correctly" : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TWu4iB0KQk

[Ben.Wasden]

Originally posted by J_ne B_9 GB:

The buffs i would suggest:
Faster call in
Slightly shorter cooldowns
full durability recharges like the backpack.

The max durability can basically stay the same since that more or less is plenty of time to let you breathe & deal with the most dangerous ranged targets.

I think the changes you proposed are good and I could support these.

[Ben.Wasden]

Originally posted by Netaris:

Originally posted by しひろ Wanderlock:

you know you can use your teammates or yourself as a legit decoy right?

my friend and I take turns for soil missions

as many comments said, the value from having an offensive strategem is way better than whatever use this poop currently has. "best defence is a good offence" works in Helldivers 2.

smoke strategems are also useless as hell on higher difficulties considering there's so much stray fire they'll hit you no matter where they shoot unless you're using it strictly to disengage

It's not only a decoy, it's able to OS bile titans "if used correctly" : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TWu4iB0KQk

That is a really interesting strategy / AI behaviour. We have been using our shields all wrong !? They should be called decoy beacons not shields.

In all seriousness though the tactic seems to be again working around this stratagems flaws and not working with how it was actually intended to be used (minus the bile titans).

[SexualChocolate]

The relay should prevent anything from entering but still let people leave. The fact bugs and bots just walk through makes it pretty useless compared to other strats. It should last a full minute at least too. That could be exploited though as people could just take turns with it at extract and never need to fire a shot. Maybe give it a health pool? Like no-one and nothing can get in but it can be overwhlemed if there's a couple bile titans and a few dozen trash bugs attacking it.