As we approach the release of Discovery Freelancer 5.2, it's time to dive into some of the balance changes coming with it. This first blog post — assuming we can squeeze in a few more before its launch this Saturday — will focus on shields, which are receiving significant updates in 5.2.

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Overview

The three main shield types — Graviton, Molecular, and Positron — have historically been more of a cosmetic choice. In some cases, if you're piloting a smaller ship, there's a slight advantage to picking the right shield for the enemies you encounter, but generally, shield types haven't played a large role for a while now. That's all changing in 5.2. One of the major gameplay balance features we're introducing is shield boosting, which we hope will bring more "active" defensive play into the mix.

Before we get into how each shield type is changing, let's quickly break down what shield boosting is.

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Shield Boosting

Shield boosting temporarily reinforces a ship's shields, reducing incoming damage by a percentage. It's activated by simply using shield batteries. The duration of the boost depends on how many batteries you consume — each one adds a fraction of a second to the boost's time. Note: there's a minimum and maximum duration to these boosts. Using a single shield battery to tank a Heavy Mortar hit isn't an option, though using a few dozen is.

Shield boosting is usually more effective when your shields are partially depleted rather than completely down. Timing your boosts properly can provide a major tactical advantage, letting you squeeze more value out of your shield batteries.

Now, let's look at how the different shield types are changing with 5.2, along with new features unique to Molecular and Positron shields.

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Shield Types

Graviton

Graviton shields offer the most straightforward option — they're simple but effective. These shields have the highest recharge rate of the three types and provide the highest damage reduction — 75% — during a boost. While they may not come with any flashy features, their reliability and efficiency make them a strong choice.

Molecular

Thanks to some new FLHook developments, explosions can now also be given weapon types. This has allowed us to make Molecular shields resilient to explosive weapons: they take 50% less damage from all mines, including environmental hazards like minefields and gas pockets, and 10% less damage from other explosives, such as missiles and capital ship flaks. This makes Molecular shields particularly useful for smaller ships like Fighters and Gunboats, which often have to face opponents' mines.

Additionally, Molecular shields boast the highest capacity of any shield type, providing a substantial buffer. However, this comes at a cost: they have the slowest recharge rate. When boosted, Molecular shields last longer than Graviton shields, but only offer 65% damage reduction.

Positron

Positron shields bring a new dynamic to combat. While they have the smallest capacity and slightly less recharge than Graviton shields, their boosts come with a unique feature. During a shield boost, any damage absorbed by the shield is stored. If the shield holds for the entire boost duration, it triggers a powerful explosion with a large blast radius, dealing a multiplier of the damage taken split between hull and shield, with a large emphasis on shield damage.

Positron shields also provide the longest boost duration per battery, though their damage reduction is the lowest at 50%.

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As we've also bumped up the base amount of shield restored by a shield battery from 120 to 180, expect shield batteries to be a much more valuable resource going forward. No longer do they have to stand in the shadow of the mighty nanobot. To keep the largest ships with the strongest shields in check, we have done some rescaling of battery counts, however, as it's nice to get to shoot a Battlecruiser's hull once in a while.

We’ll be closely monitoring how these changes impact gameplay once the update is live and the community gets its hands on it. It's unlikely we aced all our changes, so player feedback is more than welcome so we can tune as needed.