Before everyone complains of lag:
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The gameplay features I am suggesting can be turned off (I'm talking about the damage effects which may cause lag)
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Now for the talk:
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I think we really need damage effects. When a ship is on 1% hull, that shouldn't mean it looks like a ship anymore. It should be burning, tearing, stuttering and failing - engines hanging on by shreds, fires raging all over, extreme instability.
.
Well in comes procedural damage effects! When you lose a conaiderable amount of hull in one go (aka crashing into a large, sharp ridge in an imperial clipper at a high speed) the part of the ship that was hit should be damaged. I mean a lot of the hull in that area is taken away (not a texture) and replaced with a gaping hole/gap where that hull used to be. Calculating the precise damage effect would be very processor demanding, so it should only be a rough estimate and not a full structural, weakness and analysis of the debris.
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So anyway, say I crash the engine nacelle of my clipper into a large mass, I expect it to be obliterated instead of losing a percentage on my dashboard. The nacelle tears off the ship and blows up immediately after the impact, as I would in real life. The hull percentage is calculated by the amount of mass I just lost from my ship, in which case would be probably around 8%.
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Comparison:
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Now: Crash my engine nacelle into a wall really fast (so that the rest of my ship will technically just fly past without impact) and my whole ships will spin. I will probably instantly die from the impact.
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What I'm suggesting: Do exactly the same manoeuvre, but instead the nacelle is destroyed completely, I lose the percentage of mass lost in hull points, and I fly past only just changing direction from the impact.
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Another change like this would be:
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flight assist on: the engine is gone, so the thrust is gone. The engine opposite powers down a lot so I don't spin out uncontrollably. If I only have 2 engines on my ship and one of them goes down, the other will still provide thrust but a lot less, with the RCS compensating for the soon out.
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Flight assist off: I spin out, and have to manually shut down the opposite engine (via Modules tab) to stop spinning.
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For other modules such as the power plant, when it is destroyed it explodes, leaving a hole (one out of three presets for that ship to reduce calculations). When any part of the ship takes a lot of Impact damage (hitting something quickly), there is a gash or hole left where the object hit it.
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In combat, the same applies (what I explained about other modules exploding above)
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Final notes:
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This only works if the shields are offline or taken offline by the impact/damage
If a ship ploughs straight through another (clipper vs Viper off), the viper loses a lot of hull and breaks up if it is taken to 0%, whilst the anaconda suffers less but still significant damage.
Again, the option for these effects can be turned off but the effects such as Engines creating a spin effect still applies.
.
Feedback would be appreciated!
.
The gameplay features I am suggesting can be turned off (I'm talking about the damage effects which may cause lag)
.
Now for the talk:
.
I think we really need damage effects. When a ship is on 1% hull, that shouldn't mean it looks like a ship anymore. It should be burning, tearing, stuttering and failing - engines hanging on by shreds, fires raging all over, extreme instability.
.
Well in comes procedural damage effects! When you lose a conaiderable amount of hull in one go (aka crashing into a large, sharp ridge in an imperial clipper at a high speed) the part of the ship that was hit should be damaged. I mean a lot of the hull in that area is taken away (not a texture) and replaced with a gaping hole/gap where that hull used to be. Calculating the precise damage effect would be very processor demanding, so it should only be a rough estimate and not a full structural, weakness and analysis of the debris.
.
So anyway, say I crash the engine nacelle of my clipper into a large mass, I expect it to be obliterated instead of losing a percentage on my dashboard. The nacelle tears off the ship and blows up immediately after the impact, as I would in real life. The hull percentage is calculated by the amount of mass I just lost from my ship, in which case would be probably around 8%.
.
Comparison:
.
Now: Crash my engine nacelle into a wall really fast (so that the rest of my ship will technically just fly past without impact) and my whole ships will spin. I will probably instantly die from the impact.
.
What I'm suggesting: Do exactly the same manoeuvre, but instead the nacelle is destroyed completely, I lose the percentage of mass lost in hull points, and I fly past only just changing direction from the impact.
.
Another change like this would be:
.
flight assist on: the engine is gone, so the thrust is gone. The engine opposite powers down a lot so I don't spin out uncontrollably. If I only have 2 engines on my ship and one of them goes down, the other will still provide thrust but a lot less, with the RCS compensating for the soon out.
.
Flight assist off: I spin out, and have to manually shut down the opposite engine (via Modules tab) to stop spinning.
.
For other modules such as the power plant, when it is destroyed it explodes, leaving a hole (one out of three presets for that ship to reduce calculations). When any part of the ship takes a lot of Impact damage (hitting something quickly), there is a gash or hole left where the object hit it.
.
In combat, the same applies (what I explained about other modules exploding above)
.
Final notes:
.
This only works if the shields are offline or taken offline by the impact/damage
If a ship ploughs straight through another (clipper vs Viper off), the viper loses a lot of hull and breaks up if it is taken to 0%, whilst the anaconda suffers less but still significant damage.
Again, the option for these effects can be turned off but the effects such as Engines creating a spin effect still applies.
.
Feedback would be appreciated!
