Originally posted by Pnakotus
Shields absorb and redirect energy: why should beams automatically penetrate shields?
They don't "automatically penetrate shields". Compare when you get hit by an AAAf
with shields to when you get hit
without your shields. You take a lot more damage (that's what I've noticed, honestly) from a lack of shields.
So, in this sense, they don't automatically go through your shields; your shields
do absorb some energy, just not
all of the energy from the beam.
I'd direct 'V intended' people to broken turrets, awful models and everything else the SCP has fixed. We're here to improve, not recreate.
By this logic, you imply (at least to me) that everything :V: did in FS2 is misguided and wrong, simply by pointing out a few problems with the original game.
Believe or not, :V: did something
right... that's why FS2 had such a loyal fanbase. I found AAAf beams to be one of the better points of FS2, and I liked how they worked; shields can absorb almost all of the damage done by any other weapon in the game, but there is still one weapon that can get past that: beams.
That's what made FS2 so involving--you knew the danger of an AAAf beam, so you knew that you had to take steps to disable it, whether that be loading your ships out with Trebs/Stilletos/etc to destroy the turret or by evading a ship altogether to let the bigger ships take it down. Beams should pierce shields; otherwise, bombers can often bomb cruisers and corvettes while the fighter escort is distracted with no real fear of danger.