Mod idea...possible?

[Berkut]

I was reading about the leaky shields mod, and thought of something a little different, and was wondering if it would be possible.

I know very little beyond the basics of playing about this game, so feel free to correct me.

Anyway, I was thinking about something similar to the leaky shields mod in that it would be a change to how the combat resolution worked. Something to make it more like "real" combat. Most games use some form of "hitpoint" system where all damage wears away some number of hitpoints before it starts actually hurting/ Those hitpoints might be armor, shields, whatever.

But in real combat, it never actually works that way. Armor does not wear away, it is either penetrated or not. If it is penetrated, it might reduce the energy of the round, or not, depnding on the type of round. In WW2 naval combat, ships used extensive armor. But even by WW2 the advent of torpedoes and bombs made armor somewhat useless, and by todays navy, armor is all but ignored in favor of making the round miss to begin with, since it is too easy to defeat.

So I am thinking of a SEIV mod that would give weapons a penetration value, or several penetration values depneding on what they were trying to penetrate and the range. Then armor and shields would be more of a binary system; they repel the round, or they do not. If they do not, they may or may not reduce the effectiveness of the round, but in any case the ability of the armor or shield to stop the next round is largely unchanged.

Maybe make shields work more like they do now, maybe not.

Is this possible? I think it would be hell to balance, but make for a VERY different kind of game.

Berkut

[geoschmo]

Er, sounds like the emmisive armor ability is what you want. Although getting it to work the way you want is easier said then done. But I am lazy, so I will only say it.

Geoschmo

[capnq]

a SEIV mod that would give weapons a penetration value, or several penetration values depneding on what they were trying to penetrate and the range.

The closest thing to multiple penetration values would be the specialized damage types like "Skips Armor" or "Quad Damage To Shields".

[Suicide Junkie]

You can give weapons varying penetration levels in a variety of ways.

It is harder to give varying armor/shield resistance levels, though.

First:
If you have a ship with extremely high crystalline ability, the following will happen:
Skips Shields/Ships armor: 100% penetration.
Quad 2 shields: 80% penetration.
Double to shields: 66% penetration.
Normal: 50% penetration.
Half to shields: 33% penetration.
quarter to shields: 20% penetration.

Second:
If you have a ship with limited/varying crystalline ability;
If hull damage each shot < crytalline ability amount: use the above numbers.
If hull damage each shot > crystalline ability amount:
Quad: 1/4 of crystalline ability amount is absorbed, the rest penetrates.
Double: 1/2 of crystalline ability amount is absorbed.
Normal: ability amount = damage absorbed.
Half: 2x ability amount = damage absorbed.
Quarter: 4x ability amount = damage absorbed.

So if a ship has too little armor, the penetration goes up, but once the armor is a certain thickness, any extra plating is redundant.

[PvK]

Proportions doesn't do exactly what's proposed, but it's sort of close, at least in that there are various kinds of armor, and most armor types are not "shot off" before any damage is done to the ship. Instead, it tends to offer some emissive ability, while not being destroyed, and often absorbs hits before useful components are damaged, but not always, depending on what type and quantity of armor is used. I also borrowed Baron Munch.'s idea of giving Graviton Hellbores armor-skipping ability, and of course large heavy weapons will also make the emissive abilities less signifigant, while other weapons have different advantages and trade-offs.

PvK