Starting a new MOD ...

[Pax]

I wonder; how many people besides myself owuld like to see more variety in mine-design than just "biggest type, best warheads, pack 'em in" ... ?

I'm talking about the option to build mines with warheads set to specific types of damage (i.e. engine-only for the ship-capture fanatic; burn the engines out, they can't run, capture them at your leisure).

Has such been done before? If so, did it work? And where was it tried ... ?

I'm also planning on including a "small XXXXX" for most special armor types (where applicable; picture a Small Organic armor with 6 or 9 hp that regenerates 3hp per turn; would that be workable for Troop and Fighter units?).

*sigh* I'll tell you though, if I'd realised BEFOREHAND, howmuch I was letting myself in for ... *gak* I might've decided against trying to make a mod! heh!

My biggest problem will be finding enough suitable/appropriate artwork for the hug eincrease in number of components available. I have the general pack of stuff for everyone to use, and it's a -start- ... but only a start, and just barely that! Any suggestions ... ?

[Phoenix-D]

Special mine warheads can work. They'll work better with the next Gold patch IIRC.

"I'm also planning on including a "small XXXXX" for most special armor types (where applicable; picture a Small Organic armor with 6 or 9 hp that regenerates 3hp per turn; would that be workable for Troop and Fighter units?)."

Won't work. Units don't take partial damage; they're either dead or not. And if they're dead, organic armor isn't going to help

Phoenix-D

[Skulky]

check the mine thread IIRC i posted in it recently heha (I'm a horse) wtf wow im tired and drunk.

[Pax]

Originally posted by Phoenix-D:
Special mine warheads can work. They'll work better with the next Gold patch IIRC.

More impetus to get SE4 gold for myself ... heh.

"I'm also planning on including a "small XXXXX" for most special armor types (where applicable; picture a Small Organic armor with 6 or 9 hp that regenerates 3hp per turn; would that be workable for Troop and Fighter units?)."

Won't work. Units don't take partial damage; they're either dead or not. And if they're dead, organic armor isn't going to help

Phoenix-D

Hmm. How EXACTLY does partial damage not work on small units ... do you have to do sufficient damage in a single hit to destroy the entire unit, or is it only that specific -components- aren't destroyed one at a time?

I could then maybe at least give the Organic tech tree self-repairing/regenerating (in combat, even!) features for sattelites and fighters, and just let the small organic armor bebased on some other sort of organic armor (I plan on more than just the basic type in SE4), if the total HP is still tracked per unit. As a rough guess, maybe 1/10 the "hull" size in hp per round ... d'you think that would work?

Small Stealth and Small Scattering armors should work at least, that's just adds to the ECM defense total.

... right?

I'll have to delve into how mines are swept, how I can maybe change that process, and see if armored (even shielded?) -mines- might not be possible, too. Less bang per mine, but harder to sweep ... if I had that choice, I'd REALLY have to weigh both sides carefully ...

Anyway, thanks for pointing out the problem inherent in regeneratign -small- armor types. 8) Especially helpful, since at this stage I'm working solely pencil-and-notebook on the ideas stage ... so it's easy enough to cross out an idea and put a "why not" note next to it. Much easier than hunting down an errant line or three of code, later.

[Phoenix-D]

Armored mines aren't possible.

"Hmm. How EXACTLY does partial damage not work on small units ... do you have to do sufficient damage in a single hit to destroy the entire unit, or is it only that specific -components- aren't destroyed one at a time?"

They track damage; when it gets to a certain point they poof. Example: a fighter with a cockpit (1kt) life support (2kt) and one shield generator (4kt, 40 shields) will take 46 points of damage and then die; doesn't have to be one shot. It will be fully funcitonal until it dies.

Ship damage works a bit differently. Shields stop a flat amount of damage, as you can see in the shield gauge. Internal components take their kt amount in damage, then are destroyed. However, *only one component is hurt at a time*. If a colony component that has 200 kt in damage resistance is hit with 10 points of damage, it will continue to be hit until it's destroyed. No other components will be damaged until it dies. (not sure what affect "only X" weapons have on this)

EDIT: a few more ship damage tidbits.
-Partial damage is LOST after combat. If that 200kt component takes 199 kt of damage, then combat ends, all the damage disappears. No effect, it just vanishes. So that component will need 200kt of damage to destroy next time.

Phoenix-D

[ July 12, 2002, 07:01: Message edited by: Phoenix-D ]

[Pax]

Originally posted by Phoenix-D:
Armored mines aren't possible.

Shame, that.

Well, at least I know I can build in the regeneration into the HULL for organic units, and maybe come up with an "self-autorepair" component for one or more other technology types, to slowly-but-steadily restore HP lost during combat by fighters and other unit-class objects. "Fighter shield regenerator" and the like seems possible, too.

Thanks again!

[Krsqk]

"If a colony component that has 200 kt in damage resistance is hit with 10 points of damage, it will continue to be hit until it's destroyed. No other components will be damaged until it dies. (not sure what affect "only X" weapons have on this)"

IIRC, "only X" weapons "pull out" the partial damage and add it to the current weapon's damage. I.e., if you hit a colony comp with 30 points of normal damage and then hit with 10 points of shield-generator-only damage, you'll destroy one shield generator (40kt).

It gets more exciting. If you hit an OAIII (150kt) with a WMG III (140 damage), followed by a Shard Cannon X (35 damage, and range 8 btw), you suddenly have 175 points of armor-skipping damage (voila!). What could be better?

There's a lengthy thread (Armor, Shields, and Damage FAQ) on this subject, as well as a much smaller addendum(Armor, Shields, and Damage FAQ--Correction)--this is a very brief summary of it.

(edits--get URLs, fix URLs, fix UBBcode, fix fixes...)

[ July 12, 2002, 21:20: Message edited by: Krsqk ]