damage model

Discuss the Star Trek mod(s) for the Vega Strike Engine

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Ron Losey
Merchant
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damage model

Post by Ron Losey »

I'm new to this page, so somebody may have pointed this out before.

I have noticed one thing on the Trek mod that does not fit the Star Trek feel. In the Trek series, ships seldom just explode after taking a certain level of damage. Occasionally, a critical hit or a self-destruct sequence would rip one to bits - but it was not common. More often, the ships would take damage in terms of crew casualties and critical system losses until the craft was no longer viable (or only minimally operational). Then, the ships were often boarded in order to be captured. If not, the surviving crew were left to try to organize some form of escape or repair, or if that was not possible, just wait for life support to completely fail.

I don't know if you can do this in a game. The logistics of modeling hull damage into a string of systems (shields, weapons, life support, warp, impulse, and crew casualties - killed and wounded) could be more than the game engine can handle - especially if you try to accurately degrade the effectiveness of each system after each hit. The logistics of sending crew to capture an enemy ship could be even harder, especially if the possibility of moving crew/boarding party/prisoners back and forth comes into play. Even the possibility of surrender would probably add some game-code issues.

Of course, making this work would provide gameplay. The biggest issues among cargo would be crew, prisoners, repair parts, small arms and medical supplies (and, of course, a huge supply of torpedoes). The capture of an enemy ship, and getting it back operational after the fight, would provide the bulk of the military and economic challenges of the game. Salvage, even if there was nothing left to capture, would be profitable - but could prove dangerous for any crew involved in the work. Even defending your kill from vultures - protecting your newly captured ship until you could get it towed back to somewhere - could be interesting. That would get the Trek feel into privateering.

That, plus more detailed information about your ship and the enemy. Who isn't addicted to the incessant and often unnecessary status reports of Star Trek? "Aft shields down to 30%, cap'n." "Phasers firing ... hit to port nacelle..." More of that effect - the intensely accurate scanners - would increase the Trek feel.

I was never THAT big of a Star Trek fan, but the damage model always intrigued me. It was somehow better tailored to capital ships than the fighter-aircraft mentality of so much of sci-fi. I always missed that in modern games.

Just something I noticed.
Ron
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