New Item: Ballistic shield

[bishop]

as the title says I would like to see Ballistic shields in UFO:AI, because I think they would bring some new (fun) strategies into the game.
Some thoughts for the implementation:

• the carrier has to activate the shield (bring it in front of him) and thus has to spent TU
• with activated shields he needs more TU for movement
• the carrier is only allowed to wear one handed weapons
• the carrier should only be fully covered, if he is crouching (and also the soldiers behind him)
• the shied should shouldn't give you full protection, but reduce the damage

If you think its too mighty, one could also think of:

• reduced TU's for the carrier (hes not so agile with shield)
• and/or always increased TU's for movement
• reduced viewing field (theres only a small window)

What do you think?

PS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballistic_shield

[SpaceWombat]

While it is an interesting idea I think I simply would not use it because of its tactical disadvantages.

1. It would just cover one soldier/one direction.
2. As alien weapons will get a huge punch sooner or later agility is critical for everyone.
3. If unmanned vehicles get implemented they will better serve this "tanking" purpose as I suggest.
4. I actually prefer firepower over protection in most scenarios since often first hard hit wins the battle.

I do not consider bunkering a successful strategy by now. The loss of TUs make you a sitting duck (using it's original purpose it would slow down your whole squad behind the shield while advancing).

I could only think of it to be useful on some special maps whre is might be useful to block certain ways or something like this.
Explosive will counter it too easily in my opinion.

[eleazar]

It sounds interesting to me.

The trick would be to balance the effectiveness with the inconvenience.

[SpaceWombat]

Yes. You should keep in mind that a shield will not protect you from a plasma charge while you are too slow to run.