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[Cik]

yeah i don't really understand the problem here

the complaint is "my ship can't 1v1 the enemy and/or kills the enemy very slowly" (i mean, if a few HE gets through, and then a few more they will die eventually..)

so the solution is "get a better ship, get more ships, or wait"

what exactly is broken here(?) i'd hardly call the AI too good, it dies all the time after all. on both sides.

part of the reason is skills, which make every ship rotate far too fast so flanking is no longer an option unless you are a phase frigate, but if you are shooting at them and they are dying, surely there isn't really a problem?

[Megas]

Two ships to one is hardly a scenario that matters for weapon balance. Of course shields get worse when you're outnumbered. Everything gets worse when you're outnumbered.

It matters when the player is stuck with the 25 ship limit but the AI is not.  There is no way the player can match numbers with an enemy endgame fleet (let alone several that merge), and because your fleet is (badly) outnumbered, some of your AI wingmen will die.  The only way to stop your AI from dying is to solo everything.  Once again, fleet action by player is punished, solo reigns supreme.

[Kaucukovnik]

If the enemy manages to catch most of your HE with shield, you have major disadvantage in the flux war. What use is it to have huge anti-armor capability if you are the first one to drop the shield?

On the other hand the only time kinetic weapons are at clear disadvantage is when the target is too weak or unprepared to shield itself. Which is the most acceptable time, you don't want a penalty when it's being decided which ship is heading for overload.

Even 1-2 second delay before re-activating shields would make their use more of a tactical decision, rather than a twitch reflex thing. Such a short pause wouldn't even need any UI indicator. The quick shield hullmod could reduce the delay to make agile shields still an option.

[Megas]

Yes, loading up on HE alone (when you have a choice) is not a very good idea.  This is one reason the old classic Hammerhead with Sabots for anti-shield and assault chaingun for all-purpose assault was such a terrible configuration.  However...

Kinetics are good, but kinetic alone is not as efficient as kinetic plus one or two HE.  Not only HE gets rid of armor faster, but also tends to have more DPS vs. armor or hull.  Most kinetic weapons have worse base DPS (compare autocannons vs. assault guns) - they only have a DPS advantage when attacking shields.  Shields are the most frequent, but not the only defense.  Occasionally, your ship(s) need to chew through a lot of armor, or even hull in case of battleships with hull regeneration.

[Thaago]

Another bonus to mixing in HE is that it keeps the AI 'honest': they won't flicker their shield if there is a decent HE payload incoming, so your Kinetic shots will land true. Mauler are slow enough firing that the AI sometimes flickers, but often times not.

I would say that the difference between the Hellbore and Hephaestus is a good example of a weapon that can be shield flickered against and one that can't, except everyone should just be using heavy maulers instead...

[TaLaR]

Even 1-2 second delay before re-activating shields would make their use more of a tactical decision, rather than a twitch reflex thing. Such a short pause wouldn't even need any UI indicator. The quick shield hullmod could reduce the delay to make agile shields still an option.

I like the way it works now. I also don't consider AI shield flicker particularly impressive: AI at best drops shields for kinetics, while I only enable shields when I need to catch a projectile (unless constant stream/beams or too fast projectiles are incoming). Which means I usually pay very little shield upkeep.

[Megas]

I would say that the difference between the Hellbore and Hephaestus is a good example of a weapon that can be shield flickered against and one that can't, except everyone should just be using heavy maulers instead...

It depends what other weapons I have available.  For Dominator/Onslaught/Conquest, if I have plenty of Mjolnir to go around, then Heavy Mauler is a no-brainer (cheaper than HVD and fires faster).  Otherwise, I probably would prefer Hellbore and Heavy Needler (Dominator and Onslaught have OP to burn) or HAG and HVD.  For smaller ships, Heavy Mauler would be the best because other smaller HE has less range than railgun or better kinetics.  However, for Hammerhead, it does not have enough OP to afford elite ballistics without sacrificing other things it needs (such as high capacitors to offset terrible base flux capacity and not overload after activating ammo feeder, and maybe Extended Shields for 360 shields and less need for to rely on two rear Vulcans for PD, all in addition to the top three to four obligatory hullmods every other top-tier combat ship can afford and should take), so it gets stuck with LAGs for HE and 8-10 OP kinetics (i.e., Arbalest, Heavy AC, or HMG).  I would love Hammerhead with Heavy Mauler+HVD, plus Tactical Lasers for PD/poking (to emulate beam Falcon or Eagle), but it does not have enough OP to pull that configuration off effectively.