[[[Playtest Proposal]]] Altering Hull Damage Scores

[MongooseMatt]

Hi guys,

Something cropped up in the compatibility between ships and vehicles, which has led me to consider changing how Hull values are calculated. While this is a very simple change (we like simples!), I wanted to run it past you chaps first to see if there are any issues I had not considered.

Basically, it is just changing Hull points to 1 for every 4 dtons.

That is it.

Will make ships a tiny bit more survivable and really help make vehicles compatible with spacecraft when they start clashing.

Any objections/flaws?

 

[Nerhesi]

1 Hull for every 4 dtons, so...

Smallcraft:
40 dtons = 10 hull,
80 dtons = 20 hull.

Spacecraft
100 dton scout = 25 hull.
200 dton free trader = 50 hull.

The change is very minor - change is not noticeable really. Spacecraft still crumple superfast based on current damage values and effect adding to damage. But lets compare to vehicles:

If vehicles stay the same at 4 (ground scale) hull per space. Your 200 space heavy grav, aka 100 dton equivalent is 800 hull. That would be 80 hull.

100 dton vehicle 80 hull. vs 100 dton Scout Spacecraft 25 hull.

Big discrepancy still. So, looking at some options:


Option 1:

1 hull for every 2.5 dtons for space craft.
2 hull (ground scale) for every space on vehicles.
100 dton scout = 40 hull.
100 dton vehicle = 40 hull.
200 dton free trader = 80 hull.

Equivalent.


Option 2:

4 hull for every 5 dtons for space craft.
100 dton scout = 80 hull.
100 dton vehicle = 80 hull.
200 dton free trader = 160 hull.

Equivalent. No change required to vehicles. The issue is Hull values in space are now.. uhm.. big?


Option 3:

3 hull for every 5 dtons for space craft.
3 hull (ground scale) for every space on vehicles.
100 dton scout = 60 hull.
100 dton vehicle = 60 hull.
200 dton free trader = 160 hull.

Equivalent. Much like Option 1 - just higher overall hull values.

 

[arcador]

I like the change. However I did not make any test on how will this affect the game in the extremes - small ships; big ships and the modifications from hull type and spacecraft options.

If we take a simple example, 2000 ton ship will have 500 instead of 400 hull.

If it is reinforced, it will have 600 hull instead of 480.

It looks ok, on paper.

 

[Nerhesi]

Yeah - step in the right direction, just gotta push it a bit more. It actually balances out small and large craft even more than those in the middle.

Well it will once they get more hull. Currently they're still A bit crumply (from light fighters to dreadnoughts)

 

[Chas]

Regards the spacecraft builds altering the hull values to a slightly higher level at this point should be no issue in that as Nerhesi said these are wanting to go bigger rather than smaller.

You can also consider:

hull points - don't scale with TL
Armor - the thing that protects hull points scales with TL in a simple direct manner
Weapons - the things that attack hull points, well, they're highly variable in damage, highly variable in TL scaling, and all in beta stage at the moment and likely needing a fair bit more tweaking anyways.

So actually much better the move the hull values now as you need to streamline the system, and tweak the weapons later to best suit the overall balance. :lol: