Keel shots

[Armistead]

Rarely do I get a good keel shot where the damage is actually on the bottom of the ship. Anyway, it got me thinking, need to look at zones and see if keels are actually weaker, also wonder exactly the keel shot damage zone area, just the bottom or does it extend some up the sides...anyone know.

http://i651.photobucket.com/albums/uu235/Armistead1424/SH4Img2009-12-05_180331_609.jpg

[Ducimus]

For the most part, the keel damage zone is exactly where you'd expect it to be. Though the keel damage zone can be problematic in terms of trying to obtain "realistic" sinking results.

If i remember correctly,
- if a keel damage zone is damaged, it will always flood out (how long depends on the damage inflicted and how many Hitpoints are remaining), and the ship will always sink.

- If damage applied to the keel zone is greater then the keel zones hit points, it's an instant KABOOM, and the ship is "instakilled" for want of a better word.

In either event your having 1 fish sinkings - if i remember correctly. One common method to make one hit wonders occur less often is to shorten the length of the keel zone so it doesn't run the whole length of the ship. This creates a "sweet spot". An alternative method is (i think) to boost the armor level of the keel zone, but a problem with this is the game only checks armor level ONCE. So if a nearby torpedo hit passed the armor level on an adjacent damage zone, then the splash damage radius of that fish will go where ever it wants, regardless of the armor level of any nearby damage zones.

As TMO goes, i'm pretty sure I adjusted the specifics of the keel damage zone in the zones.cfg file (probably more hit points, longer floodrate, more armor level, or some combination thereof), but I do not recall if i resized the individual keel damage zones or not.

[Diopos]

...
As TMO goes, i'm pretty sure I adjusted the specifics of the keel damage zone in the zones.cfg file (probably more hit points, longer floodrate, more armor level, or some combination thereof), but I do not recall if i resized the individual keel damage zones or not.

"i'm pretty sure" ? :(
"I do not recall " ? :confused:
AAAH! Panic Time! God forgot how he made the universe!!!:eek:

:D

just kidding of course

.

[DrBeast]

As TMO goes, i'm pretty sure I adjusted the specifics of the keel damage zone in the zones.cfg file (probably more hit points, longer floodrate, more armor level, or some combination thereof), but I do not recall if i resized the individual keel damage zones or not.

There are no .zon files shipped with TMO (at least for existing ships), so I would say no. Based on some of your posts regarding ship sinking mechanics, you decided not to do a complete overhaul since it was just too time-consuming.

"i'm pretty sure" ? :(
"I do not recall " ? :confused:
AAAH! Panic Time! God forgot how he made the universe!!!:eek:

:D

just kidding of course

.

Well thank the Gods he left his legacy written all over the place :haha:

As a side note, if someone could make the ships sink as they did in Natural Sinking Mechanics, I'd be one happy man. I've been toying with the idea for days now, but the sheer volume of work required, and my complete lack of knowledge on the subject, is keeping me away. I guess one could compare stock .zon files with what WernerSobe or the RFB team did and try to glean some insight, but I'm afraid I'm not that smart or insightful :oops:

[Armistead]

I would like or think that in game the keel would be much weaker than other zones if you can limit the zone to the exact bottom of the ship, hard to get a good keel shot anyway. I would think with any keel shot the torp would have to be set to influence, so a contact setting could in no way score a keel shot. I have seen contact shots as far as visual damage show some damage to the bottom and edge, not sure if that scores in the keel zone.

[merc4ulfate]

Every time I have hit the keel like that I do not get a nice hole ... I see the ship lift out of the water and break in half. It is a cool sight.

:yeah:

[0rpheus]

Every time I have hit the keel like that I do not get a nice hole ... I see the ship lift out of the water and break in half. It is a cool sight.

:yeah:

I had two in succession yesterday, once with two of four fish hitting the bow area of a Ryuun, and again later with a single torp 'what the hell' attack that hit a small unescorted Maru (2000ish GRT) dead centre.

I thought the breakup only happened if you hit the 'sweet spot', but the first one makes more sense now after Duci's explanation. :up: