Localized Subsim Damage - Exists!

[GrandpaTrout]

One of the items on my if-we-only-had-the-source wish list was localized damage for subsystems.

I just realized that we already have it. I was looking at the collision hull for the old destroyer. It does not cover the turrets. Yet firing directly on the turrets does damage them. They take extra damage, above and beyond the subsystem damage.

So I just realized that if we turn all subsystem damage off (in flux.ini) - we still get destroyable subsystems. But all the subsystems would need a physical model, like a turret.

I bring this up, because when you guys/gals are building models, you might consider breaking them into chunks that correspond to the subsystems. Then a ship could be "assembled" into its full shape. Pieces would be blown off as the subsims were destroyed.

It would be too much work to go back and change all prior models, but new ones might not be any more difficult to create this new way - and it would give your ships something rather unique. And it requires no extra code or anything.

For the first time it might be possible to shoot a ship in the engines to disable it. (right now hitting a ship in the engines blows off the weapons, then the shields, then other low priority items, engines tend to go last).

I guess a bit more testing would be needed to make sure that all subsystems can have physical avatars. And if those need to stick out past the collision hull.

Another possible use would be to make some subsims act as armor. Place them so weapon fire strikes them first. Once they take enough damage, they will be destroyed and the internals will be exposed.

Just an idea to kick around. I wonder if Hotfoot already thought of this - it's been a couple of years - my memory is fading.

[MajorTom]

The turrets seem to have taken you on a wild goose chase. ;)

Unfortunatly turrets are one of the few sims that can have a physical avatar.
I tested with LDAs and capsule drive (when doing the visible hull thing for the player pilotable freighter) and they absolutly refuse to accept/display an avatar.

The 'systems' subsims like ships drive, cpu, auto repair, sensors, power plant, acummulators, heat sinks won't accept an avatar, analog to the LDA and capsule drive as noted above. (There is no avatar in the original ini file for any of those subsims.)

You can/could mount (child attach) an object such as a dummy turret as a sort of hull armor using the same technology we have on the Verona Freighter.
But, as you noted, one would have to disable subsystems damage in flux to make that child take damage seperatly.

Changing flux like that would however negate what the engine does now with with the subsims damage calculation

[Stephen Robertson]

How about this:

Have a script that creates and monitors a ship.

The ship is a basic hull, with child sims attached. Each child sim 'represents' a subsim on the parents ship. The script monitors damage to each attached child sim and damages the parent ship's equivalent subsim. When the child sim is destroyed the script removes the equivalent subsim from the parent ship, so it can't repair it.

So you get the effect of shooting off bits of a ship, which can't then magically repair. It might be a bit 'expensive' in terms of script processing time, but modern PCs should have no trouble doing it.

[GrandpaTrout]

Thanks for the info MajorTom, I am glad someone worked through the subsims. I was about to post in dispair.

Brilliant idea Steve. Flamineo wrote a damage mod that replaced standard autorepair. It checks all the subsims and deducts "Repair Units" to keep the ships from healing forever. That same script could easily watch the paired subsims and transfer the damage. Flamineo was the one to think up the idea of having ship trail flames (or something) if a subsim was destroyed. Never did figure out how to create flames in POG.