Capships shields are pretty easy to knock out and when it goes down, it just disappears like nothing ever happened.

What if when capship shields go down it releases a concussive explosion. It will deal 0 damage but it will spin you around with about double the force of the Xang Xi concussion launcher. Its radius will be around 250-500m (depending on the capship size, Goliath having the smallest, HAC having the largest). The blast will also destroy all incoming ordinances in the blast radius like a shield turret.

Feel free to modify the idea.

I like this idea, myself. i'd also say, other than range, the "max shield" amount should also determine actual force applied.

+1

It would be nice is there is a nice visual when this happens as well. Something like time and space being ripped apart for a split second.

I like that addition

Instead of space time being distorted, maybe like a large electrical blast like a device being shorted that you see in movies

+1!

Sounds awesome!

I'd also support more towards the EMP-style effect. Even if it were just a large-sized "sheild turret popping" effect - you know, the bubbly effect sheilds from a shield turret have when they hit something? That would work as a temporary effect until a better design could be made.

Perhaps it could distort the UI for a split second(make it noticeable,like static kr something)

another potential option, but how well would this work across platforms? I havent seen any distortion effects in mobile games [yet], except for maybe some cheap screen shakes.

+1 this sounds cool af although it probably would depend heavily on graphics settings

+1! This is a great idea.

It would be cool visually, but in action it would severely diminish the already underperforming effectiveness of the only anti-capital ship weapon out there: the PCB. It's already difficult to use a PCB against a fleeing capship. A conc effect will knock the PCB off target and allow a jump when it would otherwise not be possible.

I definitely do not like the idea of mitigating or repulsion of incoming fire at the moment the shield drops.

I'd be happy with even just a really weak concussive effect. Just something to give a more tactile sense that the shield is down. Capships are big enough that a deflection of a few degrees wouldn't interfere with hitting them.

+1 this with perhaps a visual aid - some small burst of energy from the capship - would add a lot to the experience. Tactile feedback in varying degrees from player capships to hive queens and Levis even!!

+1 - there could even be some acknowledgement of the energy containment potential of a capital ship being far higher than a small ship, the emp effect could temporarily (a one off subtraction) reduce the affected ships energy levels.

The idea of a graphical special effect in particular is very attractive, even if all that happened was that there was an expanding electrical sphere from the capship, that would be so cool.

Conc/emp effects seem quite appropriate as the amount of potential energy being released -from both the shield collapse and the ordnance being used to collapse it - would be enormous.

With reference to the comment by greenwall about pcbs, maybe the best option would be to limit the explosion's effective range to be quite close, say 250m rather than 500m, as a sensible pcb pilot would then simply need to manage their distance from the ship they are attacking.

Well for ships like Tridents and Goliaths which are player pilotable, 250m for goli and 300m for trident seems fair. Capships such as capellas, HACs and constellations would have a larger and stronger blast for having a massive shield hp

Deathstrike001 here....
+1

+1 excellent

I think bax's comment is very relevant. When a connie/hac shield drops a concussion wave extending as far as 1000m doesnt sound unlikely. But, for the balance, player cappies should be limited to 250m-300m as he says.

honestly I don't understand why a shield would deactivate with a shockwave. Shields work by absorbing energy. Their failure is marked by the loss of ability to absorb energy, not by some massive shockwave.

I think I would be more interested in a shockwave feature that is the result of deactivating a functional shield. I.e. you exchange your shield energy for a big enemy-knocking blast.

There really shouldn't be a reward for losing your shield, which is what this is.