Shields idea (i know PA wont have them)

The only problem I ran into with SupCom shields was that they would get a bit ridiculous when people started laying them. A lot of shield problems in the old games could be fixed by saying "Whenever one shield pops, it pops all the other shields it's touching."

The problem with bubble shields is due to three of their properties. First, they directly increase the durability of everything under their shield by a flat number. Second, they stack. And third, their durability increase can be applied to anything in the game (including other shield generators). As a result, if any number of shields might be applied to any number of any type of units..... you get the idea.

Bubble shields create focused positional play, not really spread positional play. Now, there's nothing wrong with being incentivized to invest a lot of resources in a particular position. The problem is how universal an investment bubble shields are, and that they make anything beneath them practically indestructible in sufficient quantity. Units and structures from within the shield function normally- they just are effectively much, much tougher than they would be outside the shield. And the regeneration power of the shields (which also stacks) means you may actually be able to out-defend all incoming damage. You won't be taking huge hits, constantly losing units, have half your army running around damaged, etc. It's clean, convenient, static defense, and I think that's why players seem drawn to bubble shields.

It's much better to have casualties. Perhaps a player having their units killed would disagree, but it is better for the game to lose assets worth resources when you take damage. When the enemy is shooting at you, they should be killing stuff which you have to replace. Artillery should hurt.

Bubble shields are like a safety blanket used by young children because they can't take having their precious little soldiers be killed.

Bubble shields also irretrievably break any unit that is balanced using low hit points.