System Damage Mod

[GrandpaTrout]

System Damage mod created by Flamineo allows subsystems to be fully destroyed. All repairs consume limited resources. It also replaces the engineering screen with a new Compact Engineering GUI.

(moving this topic out of another thread).

What I have done is work on repackaging this mod to run standalone. And added a feature to the mod so that it uses Repair Units out of the player inventory. This makes all combat somewhat costly.

Ran into some trouble adding new cargo items that could be manufactured. What I would like to do instead is replace the Gnat Rockets. Basically rename them. Then give the player the blueprints and let them manufacture as many as they have resources to create.

I don't think too many people make use of Gnats. There are several other much better rockets available (if you like rockets).

I will add a configuration switch to the damage mod that lets you run without using any player inventory changes.

[Red_Hex]

but... gnat is such a cool word? its like gnu. or the old TA clan the gnugs. or even gnomes, except gnomes suck.

[sauron1]

Never use rockets, especially gnats (despite the cool name, and I admit it's cool). Please go ahead and mod them. :)

[GrandpaTrout]

I need someone comfortable with using mods to give this build a try. There are actually 3 mods inside this zip. They need to be extracted and placed in the mods directory. And then the html files read, and a keybind added.


http://www.i-war2.com/epic/files/DamageMod1a.zip


Some notes: I could not change the name of the Gnat Rockets. Just so you know, they are now actually repair units. And you can manufacture them. If you use them up taking damage, you can see your inventory drop.

I did not add the switch. This version of the mod does use inventory. It turns out the standard version works just fine. And I will post that one up as well. So you can pick how you want your game to play.

Cougaris, would you care to write up a short manual? Just a few pages to describe how the mod works (of course that will take some question and answer in the forum. But I don't trust to forums holding info any longer).

[Cougaris]

I'll download the mod later and give it a twirl.

Will write up the manual when I've played around with it a bit more, hopefully by Friday or Saturday, if thats alright.

Looking forward to give this a blast!

[MichaelShane]

I was working on the helper mod which raises the ship's hit points and lowers the autorepair speeds. I'd also promised a mod to restore the 'big ship' feel.

I decided to split this up into two seperate mods; one which sets the autorepair and hit points to the correct levels for the Damage Interface... the other mod would do the same plus rebalance the speed and acceleration values of the ships.

The first mod is finished. GrandpaTrout, I'll send that to you for posting later this morning, so that Cougaris has the helper mod to assist his writeup.

[GrandpaTrout]

Here is Shane's helper mod:

http://www.i-war2.com/epic/files/Constitution_Upgrade.zip

You do need to make some adjustments to the flux.ini file to get any real damage to your ships subsystems. Find these two lines in the flux.ini file and change them to values like these:

critical_damage_scale = 0.5
criticals_per_impact = 0.5

These two numbers are multiplied together. So with these values your subsystems will take 0.25 or 25% of the damage that your ships hull takes. Increase these numbers if you like more subsystem damage.

critical_damage_scale is the percent of damage of a weapon that is applied to a subsim. High numbers tend to make subsystems go from perfect to smashed quickly. Low numbers slowly grind down subsystems as the hull gets damaged.

criticals_per_impact is the percent chance that a weapon hit will do critical damage. A low number means that most hits will do nothing, and then all of a sudden, blam, dead subsim. A high number means that every hit will do at least a little bit of critical damage. Again, a slow grinding down.

Try these numbers for "dramatic" failures:
critical_damage_scale = 1.0
criticals_per_impact = 0.25

Quick overview of using the damage mod:

Use UniGUI to open the damage mod Engineering Compact screen. This screen lets you look at your subsims, and the subsims of ships you have targeted. It lets you turn on/off your subsims, and change the damage control teams priority in repairing them.

Most of the objects on this screen are buttons and can be pressed.

Along the top edge, the little cross hair changes subsim view to your current target. The eye changes it back to your ship.

The little arrows will expand the screen to see the power and repair priority numbers. Or collapse the screen into a narrow band.

The list shows all the ships subsims. Clicking on a subsim will "contain" it. Once the subsim is "contained" it cannot stop working and it cannot be destroyed. Containment uses up Repair Units very quickly, so only protect your most important subsystems. Clicking the subsim a second time takes the subsim out of containment.

If a subsim is badly damaged, it can become "trashed" or destroyed for good. You will get a hud warning and 5 seconds to "contain" the subsim. If you don't get it covered in time, it will be destroyed. There is a keybind for a command that lets you "contain" any failing subsystem. Memorize it, or you could find yourself with a trashed a reactor.

When the EngCompact screen is fully expanded you can see the power numbers (red and blue). Clicking on these will turn off a subsim and the power use will drop to zero. Powered off subsims repair faster - but cannot be contained. Clicking the numbers a second time will power the subsim back on.

Clicking the repair priority numbers will move the subsim up or down (see tiny arrows).

Some very small letters ("D" "T" "C" "R") are used for debug purposes. Be careful to avoid these or you can trash the subsims on your ship in seconds.

At the bottom is a reactor power slider. You can change your ships reactor output by adjusting this control.

Basically this screen does almost everything that the standard engineering screen does. But it works without blocking your flight view.

Flamineo did a great job. I hope you enjoy it and find it useful.

It would be worth thinking about some INI improvements that would make subsystem damage stand out. Shane has a few things underway. But it would be worth discussing how best to use the features!

[Stephen Robertson]

Sounds really good. If you're completely dead in the water, but somehow manage to destroy your enemies, but can't move the ship due to a trashed reactor or engines, how will you get home?

Could you call Jafs out to rescue you?

[Cougaris]

This mod is too cool. :D

I am playing through the story at the moment (got my saves working again - yes, it was the folder problem) and was doing second mission for Wolfgang out of Charlesworth Freight Depot (Act 0). The two boogies managed to get the drop on me and in their alpha strike, did a tremendous amount of damage - the hull damage klaxon was blaring continuously for a while and they managed to knock out one of my quad PBC's. They also damaged sensor's, but I contained them in time. Made that battle tougher then it should have, but conversely, much more enjoyable. It felt like a proper knife fight.

I do have a few questions though, in no specific order:
- Whats the effect for each susbsytem failing? (sensors, CPU, etc)
- Whats the keybind for auto-containment? (I might have missed it)
- I presume that the auto-repair rate was modified, if so, can I have the details on it (either that or the Storm Petrel's auto-repair is much worse then I thought - I had hull critical klaxon's sounding for a good 30 seconds)
- Stephen's questions above :D
- Will I get my quad light PBC back at base, or is it gone for good? (if so, thats a pretty neat thing)

The interface is very sw33t. Kind of obscures the weapons and comm panel when minimized, but still very cool. And being able to see the susbsytem damage on enemies is neat.

On a side note, does Epic have any sensor or stealth mods that could be made available? Kinda like the damage mod's "mini-mod" approach?

[GrandpaTrout]

It is great fun to watch enemy subsim damage. You can fire until they just lose weapons, then switch and pick on the next target. Kinda like the wild west movies where they shoot the gun out of the bad guys hand. :)

but can't move the ship due to a trashed reactor or engines, how will you get home

Good question. You cannot hop ships like in iFleet. Or abandon ship like in Epic. I guess we do need a call Jaff's function.

I was reading the loadout code last night, and it looks like there is a RearmShip function that pulls supplies from your inventory. So perhaps Jaff's could also do a rearm job?

Did find the keybind name in the code:

[SystemDamage.EmergencyContainment]
Keyboard, B, ALT

This attaches it to ALT-B, but You can attach it to any key you like.

Subsim failure effects: hopefully Shane can chime in. I have done the least testing.

For autorepair rates, check out the subsims inside the damage mod tweeks and constitution mod. But the rates are not exact, because the mod takes over all repair activity. And repair is metered out across subsims.

Sensors and Stealth: No, no mods for stealth. The problem is not modding the sensors - Flamineo has a mod that does that. It is changing the AI of the NP ships so they quit cheating and ignoring the fact they can no longer see the player. This is the kind of feature that needs the whole epic mod to even attempt.

[MichaelShane]

It's been over a year, and I'm quoting this from memory. So take it with a grain of salt. :D

The effects of each subsystem failing depend upon the system (of course). Some that I've experienced:

Sensors: This one's rough. You can't target anything... bases, ships, etc. If they're destroyed, you have a real problem. You can't even get home. I've managed to get to a station by hitching a ride with a larger ship-- but I couldn't get home.

Ship's reactor: This is worse than sensors... obviously. If any enemies are around, you're toast. Prepare to 'become one with the Universe'. :D

Cannon or Magazine failure: Just won't work until it's fixed above the min_effeciency percentage. Most systems fall into this category.

CPU's: The CPU is a special case. Flamineo had to use the CPU class to work out some of the code, so the CPU must never go offline or errors will occur. So you won't ever lose your CPU or programs.

If a subsim is damaged, the autorepair starts fixing it (in order of precedence).

If the system is failing, you can contain it. But that uses a greater amount of autorepair points than just fixing things... in other words, the more systems you contain, the less gets repaired. Contain too many systems and your resivour of repair points will have more drawn out than are created (a negative growth)... Result? When the resivour of repair points reaches zero a cascade failure of all contained systems occurs. Bad mojo. Again, prepare to become one with the universe.

If a system is damaged beyond its hit points, it is destroyed. The system is rendered inoperable on the ship and is removed from the player's inventory.

The full effect of the Damage Interface really isn't seen until the subsystems are balanced (especially the min_effeciency). But you won't find that kind of tailor-made balance outside of a big mod. Epic is one. I'm working with Hot4Darmat on another. These are where you'll see the biggest difference in combat (due to the Damage Interface).

What you see here is just a shadow of what it can really do with the right balance.

[Stephen Robertson]

While developing the game we thought it'd be a good idea if you could call Jafs to re-arm you, but since that meant you had less reason to go back to base (and thus get your email), we never used it, even though the re-arm function is there.

You could create a 'Call Jafs for rearm / repair' script that a) If you're not damaged Jafs will come and dock to you to rearm you, and b) if your reactor or engines are destroyed he'll dock to you and your systems will be repaired / or you are towed to base.
You can use the Jafs access commands to prevent the player calling jafs while he's doing this. And of course since Jafs is a coward we wouldn't come out and do it if there are enemies around, preventing you from re-loading in combat.

Useful Jafs commands:


// Enable Jafs
prototype iJafsScript.EnableJafs( );

// Disable Jafs
prototype iJafsScript.DisableJafs( );

// Says if Jafs is Enabled
prototype bool iJafsScript.JafsEnabled();

// Says if Jafs is currently active.
prototype bool iJafsScript.JafsActive();

// Sets Jafs inactive.
prototype iJafsScript.FlagJafsActive();

// Sets Jafs inactive.
prototype iJafsScript.FlagJafsInactive();

[Dark Fire]

any chance you could tell us the rearm/repair commands so we could use them if its possible?

[MichaelShane]

I would think Phreak's Repair Ship Mod would function fine with Flamineo's Damage Interface mod. It does not utilize a custom ini, so it should pull the ship from the Constitution Helper mod.

But (as usual :D) I've not tested it out. In fact, I've never tried the Repair Ship mod... :rolleyes:

http://i-war2.com/assoc_mods.htm

[GrandpaTrout]

How is the testing going? What do you guys/gals think of it so far?