This is how the vanguard shield should look.

3D Vanguard Model with shield



The current vanguard shield should never have been put in the game. What it needs is a directional shield that requires skill. It should have similar characteristics as the current one such as duration but should not cover the entire tank.

I could care less if you see this as a nerf, this is what it needs to be.

RadarX, show this to whoever you need to.

Is that a railgun update the NC should have had from day1?. Then yes please i'll take the rail gun with 0 drop and a 1000ms muzzle velocity, you can take my shield.

UT3 Paladin

Agreed, it would also help reduce incidences where you will get one psycho Vanguard that plows through your defenses, pops shield, and nukes your sundie before you can take it down because its invulnerable from all sides.

Problem with a directional shield is how to let the user control its direction independently from the turret or chassis facing.

If its only forward facing it'd be useless due to how quickly the vanguard turns
If it follows the turret that makes it 100% useless against ESFs, or fleeing while avoiding friendly tanks/obstacles.

The shield last 8seconds at max rank, factor in reload speed of primary and secondary if you have one, and you can only fire of 4 shots. Failing to defend you're spawn is on your head and nobody else, you could have laid mines. c4, use av rockets once the shield ran out.

It's on the barrel, so it faces wherever the barrel is facing. Up, down, left or right. Same exact way on the NC MAX.

No tank should have that much power. You're also not taking into account more than one vanguard. That's an unstoppable force.

No, terrible idea. The only change that needs to be made to the Vanguard Shield is a damage threshold like the NMG. That's it.

The NC does use railguns, this is the future and they just made it look more ergonomic. What you want is this perceived stereotype of what railguns look like. which is already in the game; it's a recruiter reward.

That's not nearly enough coverage, it wouldn't even cover enough of your front to make a difference. And if it still lasted only 8 seconds then went down for 45 it'd be a joke. The sole redeeming feature of the MAX Aegis shield is that we can toggle it whenever we want.

A better option IMO would be a half-shell that projects about 5-10m in front of the tank's hull, extends about 15m out to each side, and curves back to cover about half your sides and enough of your top that it will stop aircraft shots from your front arc. This way the tank gets full frontal coverage, and enough extra room on the sides that a group of Vanguards can overlap their shields to help cover each other. Allies should be able to shoot through of course, since blocking your own team's shots would make it too easy to troll.

Though if we're going to lose coverage then it'd be nice to get more uptime and agility in return. For example, make it a toggle ability with an energy bar representing the shield's health that gradually regenerates while it's down.

This will create a situation where you've got to actively manage your shield's health, and the enemy has three options for countering: shoot it until its health is depleted and force it to drop/overheat, get into an arc it doesn't cover (ie the rear, half the sides/top), or get inside so it can't block anything.

tl;dr: if you're going to insist on that design then make it a shield not a dinner plate.

Directional shield is a good idea. Its exact mechanics may vary though...

It covers the entire front or anywhere you look with the turret. Only the NC would complain about having a shield for their tank when other tanks don't have a shield at all.

I know its going to be hard but you will have to learn to be more careful with the vanguard. Also, no to everything you just said. Everyone had their chance to offer ideas to fix the vanguard's shield. Since the game has come out, not one person has come up with a balanced solution that works. Your idea just takes an op ability and makes it slightly less op without fixing the root of the problem.

This thread isn't about balancing every little detail. It's about showing the devs what the shield should look like.

Look at the size of it. Stop complaining. The devs will see the concept and decide what to do with it, not you.

Make it like the HA shield, taking damage drains the shield, then they might still have the advantage in a 1 vs 1, but not in 1 v 2 etc..

How does that solve anything? Besides, this has been mentioned dozens of times. The vanguard needs a directional shield just like their MAX. It's that simple.

Dear god, the balance issues... How are they going to make it "fair" for a tank that excels at CQB to have a railgun!?!
A railgun will probably have next to no bullet drop as you said, and a stupid muzzle velocity while being powerful, OP powerful.

Please explain to me how it will be balanced, this is not a hate/rage/troll post.

Also, yes, the shield is getting a nerf, but having a "riot shield" on the vanguard turret seems kind of... meh?

You're right, it looks so meh...



I wouldn't get caught dead looking like that.

That is the dumbest reply ever. Its not on my head, its on everyones head, this isnt a one man army game.
Plus thats 4 shots whilst shield is up, they have armor beyond that as well and its usually enforcer titan AP combo.
Wastes sundies without max barricade.

There is not much fun in vehicles that just won everything through brute force rather than strategy.

Current Vanguard shield isnt OP its just bloody boring.

Your right, it is my fault, I assume you always place tank mines around your own sundies in anticipation of psycho tanks every time you deploy.

Yeah I dont either.

No, ii don't roll Sunderers they are easy to destroy and worth too much xp when destroyed. But complaining about Vanguard shield just because one got blown up is childish. Everyday TR VS complain about NC being OP this way or that, and guess what it's working, people are stopping playing NC because of it.

Whats next, delete the entire faction?, make all ESV identical?

Sunderers are number one top of the list priority target, players walk through fire to kill them because they are worth almost 2000xp if it's been alive a while plus the kills around it.
Nobody seems to complain about Magrider being too agile, being able to leap across buildings,scale areas no other faction MBT can, and if it gets into trouble afterburn away faster than any rocket can catch it.

single-directional shield on a tank ?

I wonder why they even put armor on the side and back if all they want is frontal protection...

-Your suggestion lacks any understanding of how directional damage works in this game.
-Fire Suppression would be better than that.
-It looks silly.
-How does that require skill to use? You mean always staring at whatever is shooting at you?
-In your OP you clearly state that you don't care about what the balance implications are of it and that the developers should change this for undisclosed reasons...