Shield 'buff' balancing.

[LappySheep]

(copying from my discord messages)

i've been tweaking some balancing for some maps i had planned, i've been busy for a while and i only really got actual time/motivation lately so yea.

currently i have a system where shield keys on old maps will grant buffs to the 'final map' in a star system, and the shield gets two buffs from two other maps (planned at least).

previously i wanted the buffs to be mutually exclusive, but that may lead to boring or unchallenging maps to play to initially unlock the buff (or at least that was what ended up happening in the design process), so in this case i want the actual "unlocking" part to be difficult too, so that having both buffs mutually isn't too overpowered.

the buffs are:
- generate 0.6 ac/energy/s up to a maximum of 9 ac/s (at 15 unit energy)
- deal 0.65 damage/s to creeper in a range of 4

these would be active alongside the actual shield unit, so would benefit from pushing creeper out as well. i need to think about the buffs separately though, i don't think everyone who plays the maps will play all of them.

i'd say the 2nd buff is better overall but the first one has the ability to be used to stall creeper (since it doesnt 'instantly' flow) and can be used later on to generate good amounts of ac (for ore) if ore mines aren't sufficient or are hard to access.

i was just wondering what other people would think about it, and about if the buffs could potentially be very unbalanced (not even just in terms of strength, but in terms of one being significantly better/worse than the other).

[teknotiss]

generating AC is not a problem in itself dude, but the balance is key.

if you don't put other sources of AC in that buff idea is fine, but if you are putting in sources it might just slow the map down for no reason.

sorry for the late reply too!