I always keep deactivate Beam Pierce, I haven't seen much, but only FS2 and Volition are the only game or universe where Beams pirce Shield.....
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A laser shoot, is energy, a Plasma shoot is also considered energy. If a shield can stop a Shoot, then why not Beam, it's the same, maybe density, power and Heat are different, but it doesn't mean a Shield won't stop a Beam, even if it is a second or even a fraction, it can be the difference between vaporized and not.
A Flag with Shields: 15000 and Power Output: 100, will providy the Ship with lot of defense, however Bombs will affect it after the Shield energy is drained. The Vinaashak uses 25000............
If no one wan't to make a Shield Mesh, you can use the $Flag: ( "surface shields" ), but the ShieldHit is not used for impacts, pretty bad, it would have been the solution for Iblis's and Diablo's shield meshes (maybe it could be reported as a feature request, after all ShieldHit is somewhat like an impact decal......)
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If "it breaks balance", that's no stopping anyone from doing a good balance, it's just an excuse.......better than giving an excuse, just make a good balance......I known testing things, like TBL changes, sometimes bother a lot more than doing the changes...............