I don't know that I'd have it randomly pick a component with each hit, since that would be a big change. I'm not sure it'd would've been a bad design to start with, but changing it now...
I don't think adding just one more damage value type would be sufficient. You have weapons which damage just shield generators, engines, weapons, etc. Wouldn't you need to remember each type separately?
I guess the real reason I favored component damage tracking is it more accurately reflects the 'common sense' approach of what would really happen in combat. The way it now works might have been considered an easier way to achieve the same results, but ended up giving us some odd behavior. I guess I view coming up with another workaround that should better approximate things to be more prone to bugs than new code would be.
quote:
Of course, all of this isn't very useful because, in the end, the fix will be whatever Aaron decides and will likely be based on information we have no way of knowing.
I couldn't have said it better. Without access to how it was originally written, it's hard to say with certainty that it would be easier to fix one method vs another, IMO.
-Drake