Ships blowing up is a convenience in games and films, but it doesn’t really make much sense. The primary goal of naval combat is to disable a ship and force the crew to abandon it, not to sink it – let alone evaporate it.
In other words, I’d quite like to see the broken sections drift off as individual derelicts, without the delayed explosions. A bunch of escape pods, lifeboats and auxiliary craft would be nice too, of course.
Like this?
Or the fantastic scene in Starship Troopers when the nearly wrecked Earth Fleet limps back for repairs/regroup. (which I can't find any shots of)
I'm with Ahruman on this... MASSIVE E-Pod ejections and the major superstructures left as derelicts could be really cool. Or combine with the idea of the burning allow shader - Have the 3 independent sections have a random chance of either burning away and exploding (maybe launching a few E-pods first that may or may not make it to safe distance), or they launch massive amounts of e-pods of are left as derelict husks after.
hmmm...
blatting a hole insomething in space is an entirely different proposition to high seas warfare though. surel if you breach teh hull the resulting decompression would have catastrophic results on the entire chassis? there's a good chance that massive trauma would rupture powerplants/fuel tanks and cause an explosion i'd think? very big ships would perhaps be able to shut emergency doors and compartmentalise air loss etc i suppose.
but if we're going down that road, shouldn't the game engine be changed to give a certain % of ships that just die and become drifting hulks (that are perhaps scavengeable? get a drone to pick up cargo left in the hull?)?
... but if we're going down that road, shouldn't the game engine be changed to give a certain % of ships that just die and become drifting hulks (that are perhaps scavengeable? get a drone to pick up cargo left in the hull?)?
I think the above is already done that way since Oolite's version 1.73 if I'm not mistaken. One of the fuel oxps can then make you re-use the wreck's fuel (effectively refuel there) and the Dredgers 2.2.2. oxp enables you to even salvage such wrecks and get a bonus for that.
hmmm...
blatting a hole insomething in space is an entirely different proposition to high seas warfare though. surel if you breach teh hull the resulting decompression would have catastrophic results on the entire chassis?
On an armoured ship? No.
Killer Wolf wrote:
There's a good chance that massive trauma would rupture powerplants/fuel tanks and cause an explosion i'd think?
Enough to cause all three segments to completely evaporate, every time?
... but if we're going down that road, shouldn't the game engine be changed to give a certain % of ships that just die and become drifting hulks (that are perhaps scavengeable? get a drone to pick up cargo left in the hull?)?
I think the above is already done that way since Oolite's version 1.73 if I'm not mistaken. One of the fuel oxps can then make you re-use the wreck's fuel (effectively refuel there) and the Dredgers 2.2.2. oxp enables you to even salvage such wrecks and get a bonus for that.
It’s a lot older than 1.73. Ships can be disabled in 1.65, I think. You can then choose to blow them up, but there’s no particular military reason to do so, especially if there are other hostiles about.
Starship Troopers is one of those odd uses of the word "miniature" when it comes to ship models ~ one of the main models was over 18 feet long.
on the other side, what Aruman's been saying i suppose, some of the CGI in Wing Commander was stunning, there's an especially cool bit when a cap ship gets torpedoed and just kinda distorts and gracefully comes to bits as opposed to bang-flash-vanish.
I was working on an idea regarding this. Armour sub-entities and a "damaged" model. Basically The sub entities hide a compromised model and/or damage texture. By blowing off the "good" sub-entity panels so the compromised model/texture is revealed.
I was going to be proto-typing this on my next collaboration. (Mr Wyvern permitting).
I was working on an idea regarding this. Armour sub-entities and a "damaged" model. Basically The sub entities hide a compromised model and/or damage texture. By blowing off the "good" sub-entity panels so the compromised model/texture is revealed.
I was going to be proto-typing this on my next collaboration. (Mr Wyvern permitting).
sounds cool, but would it have a performance impact? ie, in effect drawing two ships at once? i was wondering if the working ship could have a death action that could then spawn a carcass in the same place?