Damaged Ships

[Adaven]

Spin off from the Corruption-skins thread. Along with the source code came a lot of unused artwork, including overlays for various ship textures, some of which give the ships a damaged look. All I've done is put the "damage" file into a new layer set to overlay mode on top of the normal texture.

Here are the main IC ships, the links go to the textures for your converting pleasure:

Scout


Fig


SF/SB


Bombers don't win games


HTT


Miner


mrah - There isn't a proper int overlay in the repository, this is just using the htt overlay as a placeholder until me or someone else makes a real one for it.


All the IC caps and bases have damage overlays in the art repository as well. Pretty much all of giga seems to be there too. A couple of rix ships make up the remainder.

[Weedman]

hot @#(!!

[Grimmwolf_GB]

That is so very cool. If we could now get real battle damage as well!
Like losing some mini guns to damage, or sensor failure, engine troubles...
That's what I always missed in Allegiance. Wing Commander and X-Wing had that feature and I loved it. No more 1% hull ints running away, since they are likely to have broken engines.
It would also make fighters stronger, because only hull damage would cause internal damage...

I know, it is unlikely, that we will see that added, but I can dream...

[strike700]

What might be possible without too much code change would be to make textures linked to hull level so as to institute damaged looking ships.

[Adaven]

QUOTE (strike700 @ Jul 7 2006, 11:30 AM) What might be possible without too much code change would be to make textures linked to hull level so as to institute damaged looking ships.

Yeah, I kind of get the impression that is what the devs were intending at one point. All the ships I posted actually have 3 separate damage overlays in the repository, usually in the same "pattern" but with different degrees of severity. So the ships could go from perfect shape to moderately damaged to completely blasted in a series of steps.

[Dogbones]

QUOTE (Grimmwolf_GB @ Jul 7 2006, 03:54 AM) That is so very cool. If we could now get real battle damage as well!
...
I know, it is unlikely, that we will see that added, but I can dream...

I like the idea as well so perhaps once we get another release or two out we can entertain a few of these more interesting ideas.

But this would be a 'game play' change and would need to go through the senate (and thus presumably have the support of the community) before proceeding.

I think a first pass at this would not be too hard if we implimented a heiristic based system% Hull damage25% select one item from minor damage table50% select another minor75% select another minor + 1 major95% select another minor + 1 major (3 minor 2 major in total)99% select a catastrophic (likely overkill as you are going to die anyway so the effect will be in 'name only' but still interesting if you happen to survive to tell the story)Minor damage table20% sensor range reduction10% max speed reduction5% agility reduction5% accel reduction5% less thrust from thrusters5% reduction to max shield5% reduction to max energy20% slower missile lockone side thruster off lineMajor damage tableWeapon failure (one weapon goes off line)Cannot drop mines/probes/dronesCannot drop counter measures50% less thrust from boosters25% reduction in max speed50% reduction to max energy50% reduction to max shieldsauto-pilot off lineetcCatastrophic damage tableshields off lineall weapons off linerip cord off linemain engines off line (95% reduction in max speed, i.e. impulse power)booster off linemissiles off linesensors off linemain controls off line (you cannot turn you have to use side thrusters)

[TheBored]

I would only like visible damage... I like the idea but it would suck to play.

TB

[Adaven]

Dog, that would be a wonderful system, but on the even shorter term, shouldn't just coding the aesthetics be even faster and not require senate approval?

0-25% - normal skin
26-50% - *dm01 skin
50-75% - *dm02 skin
76-99%- *dm03 skin

[Dogbones]

QUOTE (Adaven @ Jul 7 2006, 02:51 PM) Dog, that would be a wonderful system, but on the even shorter term, shouldn't just coding the aesthetics be even faster and not require senate approval?

I am guessing there is a 'snag' otherwise they would have done it. This is just a guess however. I think the 'trick' is forcing all of the clients to update the textures on existing (i.e. already loaded) models when their texture changes. I am sure it can be done, games change textures dynamically all the time, but if that ability is not built in from the start it might be a bit trickier.

But yes we could stick this in provided we could code it up.

It is not like you could 'spot' the damaged ships using this anyway, at least not easily, most of the time the enemy is not close enough to actually see much of the texture, and if they are you are going to target them regardless of damage if they are that close.

[Raveen]

It'd show up clearly in the enemy view part of the HUD though. It wouldn't even be obscured by the damage jets.

Obviously it's a low priority, but it'd be a nice touch to add in if it's not a stupid amount of hassle.

Edit: As for full on damage simulation you'd need to provide a way for a player to eject from a ship with no engines and pod ride home.