Observer
04-29-08, 11:37 PM
This mod started to solve two areas that have bothered for a long time:
*The engine room propulsion model, in particular the damage model for the diesel engines, and
*Crew vulnerability to surface ship gunfire (in particular) while at topside watch stations (e.g. deck gun, AA gun and deck watch).
The current WIP scope addresses the following areas (Note: It's growns a bit :) All changes and testing has been limited to the Gato for this WIP, and are based on TMO + RSRD):
1. Exposed crew are now very vulnerable to both small arms and large caliber naval gunfire. This includes air dropped bombs and depth charges for exposed crew members. The normal method to adjust crew damage has been to adjust the CrewExposure factor for each compartment. For the DG, AA, and Deck Watch this adjustment has the disadvantage of also making the crew in these compartments extremely vulnerable to damage during depth charge attacks. I think I've found a way to mitigate this problem (see the screen shots below).
2. What started as a way to correct the damage model for the diesel engines has turned into a rezone of most of the Gato's compartments and equipment systems. In many cases new zones have or will be added (particularly in the conning tower) that links equipment to a damage zone. The Gato diesels and electric engines have been rezoned and relocated consistent with actual ships drawings. The same will be applied to other equipment to the maximum extent practical. There is still much work to do to add damage zones for the missing equipment, and to adjust the existing equipment zones.
3. While I was not able to ultimately fix the diesel and electric engine propulsion (e.g. four diesel engines and four electric engines all tied to individual zones) due to some quirks with specially coded zones in SH4, I was able to work on the repair time and equipment models so that it provides a reasonable "abstraction" for the actual engine room. This combined with the rezoning effort above should be an improvement. The diesel engines will be hard to "destroy" but they can be damaged, and this damage will affect speed.
On other item addressed in this effort was the "destroyed" "bulkhead" that can somehow be repaired by the crew. This is no longer the case. Destroyed "bulkheads" will now stay destroyed.
For those wondering, as far as I know, it's not possible to operate only the electric motors when surfaced. This seems to be a limitation of the SH4 engine. Also, sadly enough, when the electric motors are destroyed, the boat still has propulsion. This is yet another limitation. Ironically, each port/stbd diesel is tied to the applicable port/stbd propeller. If for example the port diesel is destroyed the port propeller will not turn.
4. Consistent with the items above, I have adjusted the crew configuration by adding an additional compartment and by adding additional crew spaces to the conning tower. This is all based on Ducimus' ideas recently posted in the mod forum. I've just extended the idea and added some of my own.
To do list (This is my punchlist of things to complete and/or evaluate)
1. Complete zoning/rezoning of equipment in particular masts, antennas and other external equipment. [AA and DG Complete]
2. Evaluate methods to limit injury to only crew members actually on watch rather than all crew members in a compartment.
3. Evaluate use of creep engine zones in addition to the current electric engine zones (low priority)
4. Evaluate equipment repair times in two cases: (1) with the damage control team. (2) without the damage control team. The DC team increases repair speed by about 6x. This may require an adjustment to RepairsCoef for the DC compartment.
5. Balance/Re-Balance submarine zone HP and depth charge HP to try and make damage from naval gunfire more significant. Ideally, a boat holed by an AP round should not be able to submerge without flooding. I know there are some code limitations here, but some balancing can minimize the potential for the player to submerge after being holed by gunfire without significant adverse consequences.
6. Balance the model so that the boat would most often be lost by flooding rather than just HP reduction (e.g. 100% hull damage).
7. Evaluate crew injury recovery times.
8. Add additional crew members to the control room and conning tower (3D).
9. Correct other mistaken/inaccurate/confusing equipment labels and add/remove equipment to compartments as needed.
10. Evaluate crew model to ensure maximum compatibility based on screen size.
Here are a few screen shots of the work to date:
Modded crew management screen
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b57/Observer723/SH4Img2008-04-29_225243_406.jpg
Modded equipment management screen
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b57/Observer723/SH4Img2008-04-29_225252_515.jpg
Damage after test attack. Note diesel damage and speed reduction.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b57/Observer723/SH4Img2008-04-29_233452_390.jpg
Crew damage after the above attack. Most damage is just a few scratches. Only the exposed crew are heavily injured.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b57/Observer723/SH4Img2008-04-29_233553_406.jpg
Equipment damage after a few repairs. Note the ER pressure hull cannot be repaired.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b57/Observer723/SH4Img2008-04-29_234052_453.jpg
Deck watch crew injury after a single 25mm burst
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b57/Observer723/SH4Img2008-04-29_235546_250.jpg
Deck watch crew injury after two 25mm bursts. Note the dead crew member.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b57/Observer723/SH4Img2008-04-29_235706_937.jpg
Submerged to escape the attacking escort. Note crew moved to new compartments to mitigate further injury to the deck watch crew.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b57/Observer723/SH4Img2008-04-29_235823_078.jpg
Damaged equipment after two 25mm bursts. Note this still needs more zone work.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b57/Observer723/SH4Img2008-04-29_235917_843.jpg
Damage following a DC attack. Note the after TR pressure hull is destroyed and cannot be repaired to stop the flooding. Also note the damage to No. 1 & 3 electric engines has reduced speed at ahead flank. The damage to the electric engine is ~70% meaning that one EE is destroyed (cannot be repaired) and the other is damaged ~10% (can be repaired). This EE will remain damaged at ~60% and cannot be further repaired until the boat returns to port.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b57/Observer723/SH4Img2008-04-30_003015_718.jpg
Because of the damage to the after torpedo room and the flooding, I'm going to have to speed up to maintain depth control since I cannot repair the pressure hull. If I cannot avoid the escort and battery charge runs low, I may eventually have to surface.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b57/Observer723/SH4Img2008-04-30_004617_093.jpg
*The engine room propulsion model, in particular the damage model for the diesel engines, and
*Crew vulnerability to surface ship gunfire (in particular) while at topside watch stations (e.g. deck gun, AA gun and deck watch).
The current WIP scope addresses the following areas (Note: It's growns a bit :) All changes and testing has been limited to the Gato for this WIP, and are based on TMO + RSRD):
1. Exposed crew are now very vulnerable to both small arms and large caliber naval gunfire. This includes air dropped bombs and depth charges for exposed crew members. The normal method to adjust crew damage has been to adjust the CrewExposure factor for each compartment. For the DG, AA, and Deck Watch this adjustment has the disadvantage of also making the crew in these compartments extremely vulnerable to damage during depth charge attacks. I think I've found a way to mitigate this problem (see the screen shots below).
2. What started as a way to correct the damage model for the diesel engines has turned into a rezone of most of the Gato's compartments and equipment systems. In many cases new zones have or will be added (particularly in the conning tower) that links equipment to a damage zone. The Gato diesels and electric engines have been rezoned and relocated consistent with actual ships drawings. The same will be applied to other equipment to the maximum extent practical. There is still much work to do to add damage zones for the missing equipment, and to adjust the existing equipment zones.
3. While I was not able to ultimately fix the diesel and electric engine propulsion (e.g. four diesel engines and four electric engines all tied to individual zones) due to some quirks with specially coded zones in SH4, I was able to work on the repair time and equipment models so that it provides a reasonable "abstraction" for the actual engine room. This combined with the rezoning effort above should be an improvement. The diesel engines will be hard to "destroy" but they can be damaged, and this damage will affect speed.
On other item addressed in this effort was the "destroyed" "bulkhead" that can somehow be repaired by the crew. This is no longer the case. Destroyed "bulkheads" will now stay destroyed.
For those wondering, as far as I know, it's not possible to operate only the electric motors when surfaced. This seems to be a limitation of the SH4 engine. Also, sadly enough, when the electric motors are destroyed, the boat still has propulsion. This is yet another limitation. Ironically, each port/stbd diesel is tied to the applicable port/stbd propeller. If for example the port diesel is destroyed the port propeller will not turn.
4. Consistent with the items above, I have adjusted the crew configuration by adding an additional compartment and by adding additional crew spaces to the conning tower. This is all based on Ducimus' ideas recently posted in the mod forum. I've just extended the idea and added some of my own.
To do list (This is my punchlist of things to complete and/or evaluate)
1. Complete zoning/rezoning of equipment in particular masts, antennas and other external equipment. [AA and DG Complete]
2. Evaluate methods to limit injury to only crew members actually on watch rather than all crew members in a compartment.
3. Evaluate use of creep engine zones in addition to the current electric engine zones (low priority)
4. Evaluate equipment repair times in two cases: (1) with the damage control team. (2) without the damage control team. The DC team increases repair speed by about 6x. This may require an adjustment to RepairsCoef for the DC compartment.
5. Balance/Re-Balance submarine zone HP and depth charge HP to try and make damage from naval gunfire more significant. Ideally, a boat holed by an AP round should not be able to submerge without flooding. I know there are some code limitations here, but some balancing can minimize the potential for the player to submerge after being holed by gunfire without significant adverse consequences.
6. Balance the model so that the boat would most often be lost by flooding rather than just HP reduction (e.g. 100% hull damage).
7. Evaluate crew injury recovery times.
8. Add additional crew members to the control room and conning tower (3D).
9. Correct other mistaken/inaccurate/confusing equipment labels and add/remove equipment to compartments as needed.
10. Evaluate crew model to ensure maximum compatibility based on screen size.
Here are a few screen shots of the work to date:
Modded crew management screen
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b57/Observer723/SH4Img2008-04-29_225243_406.jpg
Modded equipment management screen
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b57/Observer723/SH4Img2008-04-29_225252_515.jpg
Damage after test attack. Note diesel damage and speed reduction.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b57/Observer723/SH4Img2008-04-29_233452_390.jpg
Crew damage after the above attack. Most damage is just a few scratches. Only the exposed crew are heavily injured.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b57/Observer723/SH4Img2008-04-29_233553_406.jpg
Equipment damage after a few repairs. Note the ER pressure hull cannot be repaired.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b57/Observer723/SH4Img2008-04-29_234052_453.jpg
Deck watch crew injury after a single 25mm burst
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b57/Observer723/SH4Img2008-04-29_235546_250.jpg
Deck watch crew injury after two 25mm bursts. Note the dead crew member.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b57/Observer723/SH4Img2008-04-29_235706_937.jpg
Submerged to escape the attacking escort. Note crew moved to new compartments to mitigate further injury to the deck watch crew.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b57/Observer723/SH4Img2008-04-29_235823_078.jpg
Damaged equipment after two 25mm bursts. Note this still needs more zone work.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b57/Observer723/SH4Img2008-04-29_235917_843.jpg
Damage following a DC attack. Note the after TR pressure hull is destroyed and cannot be repaired to stop the flooding. Also note the damage to No. 1 & 3 electric engines has reduced speed at ahead flank. The damage to the electric engine is ~70% meaning that one EE is destroyed (cannot be repaired) and the other is damaged ~10% (can be repaired). This EE will remain damaged at ~60% and cannot be further repaired until the boat returns to port.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b57/Observer723/SH4Img2008-04-30_003015_718.jpg
Because of the damage to the after torpedo room and the flooding, I'm going to have to speed up to maintain depth control since I cannot repair the pressure hull. If I cannot avoid the escort and battery charge runs low, I may eventually have to surface.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b57/Observer723/SH4Img2008-04-30_004617_093.jpg