I am not interested in replicating NSM or NYGM, those mods already exist and involved a massive amount of work. I am trying to see if I can develop an alternative approach. Zones.cfg is a key file since it is central to the damage model of all ships.
I found an old post by Elanaiba, one of the game designers, which explained what the variables in the Zones.cfg file mean:
Quote:
Ok, now about the zones.cfg entry:
[NSKeel] - this is the name of the zone. I guess you can use it to find the zone index at the start of the zones.cfg file, then search for that index inside a .zon file. What good would that be? Dunno...
Category=Keel - if this zone is part of a "targetable" category in the recoginition manual, then this would be set here.
Multiplier=5.0 - the torpedo's explosion is amplified this number of times when a critical effect is achieved. This can be done by a (selecting a critical location in the recognition manual and actually hitting it; pure luck - see below)
Flotability=50.0 - How much of a "ship's" flotability is lost when a compartment of this type is completely flooded.... Out of 100%. Keep in mind though that a ships has a buoyancy reserve above water
HitPoints=120
Destructible=No - when this "compartment" is destroyed (HP = 0) the parent is destroyed or not. Yes = Good for masts, cargo, breakable things.
Armor Level=20 - How tough is the skin of this thingie... See comments below
Critic Flotation=0.99 - Defines how much damage this compartment must receive before starting to take flood. Out of 1 - In this case the compartment must be completely destroyed - it's not set to 1 cause there's a bug with that. Don't use 1 either in your experiments.
Critical=Yes - Do we really want this to be a critical compartment?
Critical Chance=1.0 - Chance that when this compartment is hit is destroyed with a torpedo, without using the manual, a critical effect is achieved. Out of 1 (this is the keel wich explains the 1 out of 1)
FloodingTime=120 - How much time in seconds it takes for this compartment to fill with water - WHEN IT IS COMPLETELY DESTROYED. When damage is lower, time increases
CargoType=None - Does this compartment carry special cargo? None/Ammo/Fuel/ Custom <- Set by mission editor.
Now, a little discussion about armor.
You often see the "-1" value. What it means? It means it's taken from the "parent". So if a compartment set on the ship has armor = -1, then it assumes the Armor value set for the compartment type.
If the type (as defined in zones.cfg) has Armor = -1, then it takes the armor value of the "ship hull". So a turret with Armor = -1 on a ship with armor = 30, will, in fact have 30 armor, not infinite. The same goes for the sub compartments. Their taking armor values from the hull.
How does armor work?
If a projectile has lower Armor Piercing value than a compartment, technically it won't penetrate. There's no variation of AP with velocity. But AP values are not set in stone, in fact there's a 20% random variation (see Penetration Threshold=0.2 value).
Explosion's of projectiles that do not penetrate (DCs are an example but not the only one) need to compare their total HP with the armor to be defeated. In fact, the explosion needs to reach the armor wall with a force (in HP) 4 times greater than the armour value.
In other words, HP > 4 * A or you're bust. If it is, the explosion breaks the wall and damages the compartment.
Now, to discuss the Armor = 15 problem - it's obvious that you'll get beaten much easier on the surface. But you will also get beaten from much farther UNDER the water. Since explosion force (HP) decreases with distance, you need to be close to a DC in order to take flood damage from it (walls broken).
With a 10 points or so decrease in Armor, you get a few meters extra DC damage radius. And this will hurt. Make sure you know what you're doing. 
Hope this helps,
Dan
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The stock damage model of SH3-4-5 is actually quite sophisticated. The designers tweaked it towards instant gratification, no doubt for commercial purposes, but I see a lot of untapped potential there. I am already testing a new approach which looks promising.