A laggy thought.

[Cavemaniac]

I've got the habit of 'tidying up' maps I'm playing - like destroying unneeded shields after they've served their purpose.

And I got to thinking...

From a game-play point of view, it's well understood that there's no point keeping all those tech-domes around after they've provided all the upgrades you need as they just slow the processor down.

Ditto any other outmoded units once you've fired up the uber-weapons.

However, does a shield make any demands of the processor? Does it check every frame to see if creeper is touching it? Would destroying it speed up the game?

On the other hand, if the shield is holding back anti-creeper, would destroying the shield allow that anti-creeper to 'slosh around', thereby actually slowing things down?

Roll on CW3 - then I'll have brand new things to worry about/obsess over!

[Katra]

I'm curious too. Though I mostly go on the 'get it out of my way' theory for no longer needed items. (If I need the space I'll move not currently needed weapons to a handy staging area. (Occasionally I'll destroy phantom coils after the last phantom launching gate is gone; but generally only if there isn't a handy open space to park them.) If I really need to maximize power for an attack and have maxed the upgrades I need I'll destroy tech domes. (and on occasion deactivate beacons that were made redundant by beacons added later or by beacon range upgrades.)

There are sometimes good uses for conventional weapons even with conversion bombs and dark beams available. Mopping up leftover creeper, and blasters (generally on 'drones only') to cover my mirrors so drones don't destroy them. On more than one occasion I've lined up bunches of blasters to cover my mirrors while attacking a nexus.

[thepenguin]

(Occasionally I'll destroy phantom coils after the last phantom launching gate is gone; but generally only if there isn't a handy open space to park them.)

phantom coils = drone stoppers

[ctuna]

phantom coils = drone stoppers

Sorry, say that again? How does that work?

[mpete]

move them in front of the drones

[Katra]

Kamikazes.  ;D

Rarely practical in my experience.

[Grauniad]

Cavemaniac, to answer your original question, even shields contribute to processor load. They have health values that need to be checked for adjustment, etc. Not sure how much of a hit, but it should be trivial to create a test map to validate the load.

[Cavemaniac]

Cavemaniac, to answer your original question, even shields contribute to processor load. They have health values that need to be checked for adjustment, etc. Not sure how much of a hit, but it should be trivial to create a test map to validate the load.

Ah - forgot about checking the health and adjusting.

Definitely worth deleting extraneous shields - if only on principle!

[Ebon Heart]

Cavemaniac, to answer your original question, even shields contribute to processor load. They have health values that need to be checked for adjustment, etc. Not sure how much of a hit, but it should be trivial to create a test map to validate the load.

Ah - forgot about checking the health and adjusting.

Definitely worth deleting extraneous shields - if only on principle!

Unless it's a hard map. If there's a chance of having to retreat, having some backup shields is a great thing!