Some Idea On Damage and Malfunctions

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
Morning all,

I was having a think last night, while driving my van that was sort of breaking down (but luckily never did!).
Anyhoo, I didn't think it would be particularly fun, if random modules just stopped working, because 'reasons'.

But them having more pressing malfunctions at very low health, could make life more interesting. Obviously depends on your point of view.

Anyhoo, I shall begin!

Critical Hits
When a module takes critical damage, a(down to 15%?), there's a chance any further damage will cause a 'critical hit' of sorts, on that particular module.
This will trigger a debuff state, which can not be fixed using reboot/repair, or AFMU.
You can repair the module to a maximum of 75% using an AFMU, but it will not remove the debuff.
Station services can repair these for you, at an added repair cost of 5% of the modules value, per debuff, which can become rather expensive for some modules.
Sounds a bit harsh, but it's not really.
Read on.

The Debuffs
There are various types of Debuffs, modules can suffer from multiple Debuffs at once.
You can view the Debuffs by selecting the module from the modules tab.
I won't go in to the various Debuffs, because listing 4-5 for each module will take ages.
But in general, each stat for each module can get a +/-50% debuff applied.
For example, a weapon could have -50% RoF, Damage, etc. Or +50% capacitor draw, heat production, Etc
The FSD could have -50% optimal mass, and/or 100% charge time.
And so on.

These Debuffs remain in place until fixed at a station.


Or...

Module Repair Synthesis
Yes, all is not lost.
You can synthesise away the Debuffs, aswell as have them fixed at stations.
Each module effected by a debuff will have an icon next to it in the modules panel to show which are in need of more urgent repairs, and which debuffs are applied.
Selecting these modules will bring up a more detailed list of the Debuffs, and selecting the debuff will bring up a synthesis menu, with 2 recipes.
1 is elements, which can be gathered anywhere. These recipes require more varied elements, but can be gathered anywhere in the galaxy.
The other recipe is manufactured and data. These require less resources, but obviously require you to have access to them.

Each type of debuff has a different recipe for both elements and manufactured.

The repair process requires the module to be offline, and will take a few moments to complete, and then the module will come back online, minus that specific debuff.
You are then free to repair your module using the AFMU beyond 75%.

Thoughts?

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
 

MBaldelli

MBaldelli
CMDR_Cosmicspacehead said:
I was having a think last night, while driving my van that was sort of breaking down (but luckily never did!).
Anyhoo, I didn't think it would be particularly fun, if random modules just stopped working, because 'reasons'.
Click to expand...

This already happens when the percentages on the modules are below 90%. I have seen this happen to some streamers doing Deep Space Exploring. But this happening at 100%, I'm completely against. Why? This is a game, not real life. Please don't add grief to our already annoying lives.

[Rest Snipped]

I'll say it again. This is a game, not real life. If you want this sort of adventure in a game, perhaps it's time to play more games away from your house and away from your computer.
 

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
MBaldelli said:
This already happens when the percentages on the modules are below 90%. I have seen this happen to some streamers doing Deep Space Exploring. But this happening at 100%, I'm completely against. Why? This is a game, not real life. Please don't add grief to our already annoying lives.

[Rest Snipped]

I'll say it again. This is a game, not real life. If you want this sort of adventure in a game, perhaps it's time to play more games away from your house and away from your computer.
Click to expand...

Lol

You read the wrong part of my thread. And I assume you didn't even read that paragraph properly.

Go back and read it again please.

Don't make me quote myself. :p

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
 
Last edited:

Marc_Hicks

Marc_Hicks
CMDR_Cosmicspacehead said:
Great minds and all. :D

We do bump each others ideas quite often though... Lol

Have you suggested something similar before?

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
Click to expand...

I have bumped around the ideas of module "wear & tear", module malfunctions from module damage, & doing module diagnostics & jury rigging whilst in super cruise.
 

AdmiralTigerclaw

A
I have always wanted, yet not wanted games like this to have requirements for maintenance.

The part of me that wants it is the part of me that like the immersion of having to remember that you're not just making money to fluff an account, but making money to keep your equipment in working order, and that ships ARE money sinks.

The part of me that DOESN'T moans about how poorly such a feature could be implemented, and how much it would detract from other gameplay elements to have to fuss over an FSD that breaks down every thousand jumps, a life support system that needs the CO2 filter changed regularly, and in general a ship that becomes temperamental 30,000 LYs from the nearest station.

Essentially, if the maintenance system becomes too 'needy', the rest of the game stops being fun. Things get more hairy if the system connects with vehicle and module integrity directly, where module 'wear and tear' translates into loss of integrity, THEORETICALLY, making it possible for wear and tear to KILL you. (As in, an unmaintenanced power plant hits zero, and your ship blows up).


If I were to employ a maintenance system into the game, it would be isolated into its own field of values.

Each module and the hull would have a value of some kind of ambiguous 'Maintained' state.
New >> Like New >> Professionally Maintained >> Personally Maintained >> Adequate >> Inadequate >> Neglected >> Jury-rigged >> Clunky >> Falling Apart

Maintenance levels affect certain types of malfunction from an error in operation, to downright dangerous (but never instantly kill you, unless the situation you're in exacerbates things.

The maintenance level of a component would be affected by time active (on or in use), and accumulated damage. To make that second part more clear, accumulated damage is not the damaged integrity of the part, but the number of times, and how severe the part was damaged over the lifetime of your ship's part use. A part can be damaged, but selectively working on it can keep it running like new, even if half the casing is shot full of holes. Or, say, overheating your FSD, even if you repair the damage, starts causing problems with metal fatigue and weaknesses exacerbating in alloys. Essentially, damage causes invisible damage, which ages the part prematurely.

Regular maintenance can keep things functional, but different qualities of maintenance can keep your ship running.

In this case, from the list of 'categories' above, you have New. New, is NEW. You cannot restore a module to 'new', unless you buy a new one and replace the old one. The highest it can be maintained is 'like new', which can only be done some place that can do major overhauls of modules, which are pricey. Professionally Maintained would be akin to taking your car to a reputable shop, who do all the standard checks and keep things in good working order. Only the slightest of malfunctions may start showing up at this level. Usually warning lights, or slight tweaks in how fast something is working.

Below that, you have personally maintained, which is like going to that skeevy shop down the street, or doing it yourself. (Let's face it, how many commanders are going to be engineering experts on every module on a ship?) Personally maintained requires decent quality micro-resources. Adequate, would require moderate resources, but you risk medium malfunctions and failures, but nothing that would be 'life threatening'... Yet.

Inadequate is the maintenance level you get when you start running into problems maintaining part stocks. You have the right part, but it might be made of poor allows, fit awkwardly, and just be a general pain to do repairs with, and fail quickly. Neglected is when you start letting things age and use worn out bits while crossing your fingers because you're out of parts.

Jury-rigged is where things start getting dangerous. You just melted your cup holder to the fuel scoop tank connect to seal it. Half the gaskets in your air handling system are rubber bands, and you're pretty sure that pin on the console went to something, but you're not sure what.

At 'Clunky', you're flirting with disaster. Know those ships you keep finding wrecked in deep space in unexpected USSs? That's YOU if you don't DO SOMETHING! At this point, you're cannibalizing parts from non-essential systems to keep essential systems running. Your chair is bolted to the floor with two screws instead of four. You ripped a panel out and welded it to your FSD jump tank to keep it from leaking. And half the AI voice speakers have burned out.

Falling Apart? Your modules are in a state where you may actually be considering just buying something new to keep from screaming at the repair list. You've lost half the screws to the panels you've removed, you're duct taping parts back together, and hoping the next fuel scoop doesn't once again MELT it, and the engine rattles when you idle. You're almost afraid to push a button for fear your ship might go nova on you.


But... Never fear.

Like real maintenance, it only ever gets that bad if you just let it go.

Maintenance can be done either any place you can dock, or by yourself. The only caveat to direct maintenance is that 1: You need synthesis materials to do it. 2: You can only do said maintenance up to the quality level determined by the synthesis. 3: Personal Maintenance maxes out at PERSONALLY Maintained, and 4: You have to stop, shut the module in question down, and hit the 'maintain' button. (It's instant like all things though, so you won't suffocate if you have to fix life support and you have an 'E'.)


For dealing with what kind of malfunctions you'd encounter, I would imagine some thinking would have to be done on each module type. Example here will be an FSD.

As an FSD degrades, you're going to see moving parts, hot parts, and non-metal parts go first. Pumps, seals, and whatever amounts to the high energy working components. So an FSD may start out fine, but over time, range decreases, fuel consumption increases, OR the turbopump that shoves fuel into the FSD for that 3 to 5 ton 'shot' on jump can't pump as fast as it used to. Which of course, translates into less range.

As the FSD starts to get into inadequate and neglected states, you start having jumps where the Witchspace conduit drops you short, couple thousand lightseconds out from a star. Not every time, but it happens. Jump charging takes longer, heat builds up faster. Essentially your grade A FSD starts acting like it's struggling to do its job.

When you get to dangerous levels like jury-rigged and clunky, the drive starts doing things, you really don't want it doing. You have misjumps: Half way through the high-wake charging cycle, the FSD fires early (say, bad internal sensor), and you jump maybe a quarter the distance and get dumped in deep space, losing a full-jump's fuel. You get FSD unstarts... where you charge to full, the FSD fires, but instead of jumping, the ship jolts, goes nowhere, and a heat surge floods the ship as you emergency drop (if you're in supercruise).

At falling apart, all the stuff have high chances of happening, and you get Catastrophic FSD malfunctions, like uncontrolled jump, or drive blowout. Uncontrolled jump would effectively be 'you set a course, but the FSD doesn't care, you land where you land'. Which doesn't seem too bad in the void until you remember that every jump burns a chunk of your fuel tank, and you can't reliably get to a star to scoop. PANIC! A drive blowout would be that you try to jump too far, and your FSD blows up, not only dumping you wherever in the process, your drive is now SCRAP. (The only way to keep a drive blowout from happening, would be to keep your jumps as short as possible, find a system where you can get enough synthesis materials to get yourself up to an okay condition, and get home to a station for full repairs.)


It's got potential to change how players think and operate. But implementing it so you're not constantly fretting over your ship deciding to kill you half way past Sagitarius A* would take work. And it would definitely be more notable to explorer players than local bubble players (because just about anywhere you can dock can do quick repairs and maintenance).
 
Last edited:

MBaldelli

MBaldelli
CMDR_Cosmicspacehead said:
Lol

You read the wrong part of my thread. And I assume you didn't even read that paragraph properly.

Go back and read it again please.

Don't make me quote myself. :p

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
Click to expand...

Actually I did read it twice... And the first part is what caught me.. Because in spite of the fact that I (used to perform) routine maintenance on my car, it can still break down based on unseen mechanical failures created through simple wear and tear. You might be giving specific causes for it, I say again... This... is... not... real... life. This is a game.

There's no need to set up specific criteria on this when it already exists in certain situations and further clarification and mechanical failures seems to create a form of realistic (even simulated realistic) grief to a player already limping home to get their ship fixed.

Try this suggestion out on the Microsoft Flight Simulator group and see how welcomed it would be. I guarantee you, you'll get the same few saying, "good idea", and people like me telling you, "Go fly a plane in real life..."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom