Oolite Bulletins

Cdr MacLane (or any other OXP wizard), a question slightly related to NPC shields.
When the players shields are depleted, damage starts to occur. Is there anyway to cause damage to NPC ship equipment when your NPC shields are depleted.
It should affect equipment such as;
ECM
Injectors
Fuel scoops
e.g. Any equipment that is noticeable by the player through the NPC's behaviour.
No warning need be given to the player, but it will make a standard missile potentially useful again.
I would also make the equipment repairable (e.g. repair bots). Keeps the pressure up.

Just a thought.

I'm not sure off the top of my head how the game engine handles damage to NPCs. I tend to think that there is no mechanism for equipment-removal or -damage.

It should be possible to simulate this through script, but I'm not sure how visible it would actually be for the player. The cloaking device, for instance, already de-activates below a certain energy level. Would a simulated damage to the device be actually distinguishable for the player? Similarly the ECM can't be used below a certain energy level. And as for fuel scoops: as long as you damage and finally kill your opponent he isn't going to use them anymore anyway. So would it make a practical difference if they were destroyed?

So my first guess is that it would be too much scripting effort for too little visible effect.

Thank you, what you say makes sense. As I said, it was just a thought.
Would be nice if NPC equipment failure could be made more evident in the future, but not crucial. I'll leave at that.

The biggest evidence I would think that would be noticeable would be that the injectors stopped working while you are shooting it.