There are hitpoints in the zone, too. What's the diff? If it's -1 in the zone, then it uses the UPC value, perhaps?

tater

Armorlevel -1 in zones.cfg means the armorlevel of zone itself is taken. See screenshot. The armor level in zone is also set to -1. That means the standard value of the vessel is taken which is in the case of porpoise 25. (its in CollisionableObject Properties)

As an aside, i just reminded myself that the HP's in the UPC file wont do much in this scenario.

Ive instead opted to just increase the HP's in the zones.cfg from 200, to 400. Leaving the AP at whatever the default is. I want engine damage... i just dont want them obliterated so quickly.


Oh, i just found a neat way to test DC's.

in the torp sim file.
set it to run circular 100% of the time.
Set the magnetic det range to whatever approximate you want the simulated DC to explode at. (im currently testing 10 meters)

In the zon file, set your min max damage and radius to equal that of a depth charge.




Adventures in modding! :rotfl:

So if I add a real value, it uses that instead.

In the zon file, are the diesels themselves in a node someplace? I can see them (various zones) with S3D, but they are not labeled.

I think if we could make the diesels vulnerable to destruction to weapons with AP, but NOT to weapons without AP, we'd be in good shape. A close DC might still take them out, but if a DC goes off in contact, you should probably be dead anyway. That would be a "mission kill" and I'd be fine with that.

I just hate the fact that it's common in DC attacks to lose just 2 engines and it's career ending.

Honestly, the batteries charging on the surface with the diesels destroyed in the early game versions was more realistic in many ways since the game doesn't even have the aux engine. The chances that they couldn't get ONE of 5 working enough to charge batteries seems pretty unlikely, and right now it's a career ender.

tater

Cool idea on testing!

tater

In theory.... the results im getting, dont compare to what ive seen underwater.

I think whats happening is the torpedo is g oing too fast. so the velocity of the fish is pushing the explosion point ALOT closer, so that every hit is near direct one. Gonna try to slow the fish down and see how it works then.


edit:

a 3 kt torpedo is halarious, but isnt whats needed. I think the mag det range isnt a direct 1 to 1 translation. Think bigger on the mag det range. Gonna have to eyeball whats close and whats not.

Slow them to 3-5 m/s, lol.

See edit of last post :P

edit:

Using torepdos as a simulated DC.. great idea that doesnt work i think. The damage im seeing is NOTHING like what ive seen underwater with the same settings.

I've lost a few diesel engines now with the AV set to 50, HP 200 in the zones diesel engines 1 and 2 parts (no other changes).

In these cases the DCs were "shacks" literally inside the hull. I don't have a problem with this result, frankly. What I want is a distant DC that damages stuff in the compartment, but NOT the diesels to test this.

Oddly, the number 3 and 4 engines took 0.1 while the 1 nd 2 engines took 1.0.

Why are the meaningless engines hard to kill, and the ones that matter aren't?

tater

because they might be linked to another compartment. Maybe engineroom.

In the zones they both list father=29 (i thnk) which is the engine room. The 3 and 4 have -1 vs 25 for armor I think.

Your other post said "see screenshot," what were you refering to?

tater

Ooops, I missed the last post on page 1, that's why I was confused.

Would you say it was better to mess with diesel engine 1 and 2 in the zones.cfg file, or should I change them inside each sub's zon?

How is it that 3 and 4 take damage at all then?

tater

Would it be possible to model 1 diesel in each room? That would make it much harder to lose both in one shot.

You mean point one at the electric motor room, and the other at the diesel engine room?

Interesting idea.

Might be as easy as "Father=30" for the 2d diesel...

tater

This sounds outstanding!...IF you can get the other two engines to take damage. This would be a major big deal and make careers last longer and/or make it more exciting getting "home" with extra damage.

It's not just a matter of getting the other 2 to take damage. They need to be functional, otherwise it doesn't matter. I think in the short term making the engines super strong is a better way to go.

Realistically, there is no way that you'd get the diesels completely destroyed from a DC attack. I don;t think it's possible unless the damage did in the sub anyway. If we can get them vulnerable to deck guns, I'd be perfectly happy. We need more reasons to avoid surface fights.

Out of curiosity, is all the diesel fuel in one hit area? Because we could always make it slightly easier to lose fuel as long as we reserve som fuel for RTB. Take some bad DC hits, then RTB.

tater

Anyone realize that the equipment damage zone sphere locations in the sub.zon files can be moved around? Maybe they could be separated farther apart so both wouldn't always be damaged at the same time.

Good idea, though I still think they should be FAR harder to damage via DC attacks.

I might go so far as to up at least one of them to have hitpoints high enough that the sub would certainly be sunk before the engine is totally destroyed.

Cripes! You guys realized what you have stumbled on here? Its definitely applicable for the engine issue - but unless I am mistaken this answers how the question I have long asked about the 2 damage models being tied together. Damage externally is applied to the zone - and the zone only defines what equipment is there. By modifying the zone properties, or the equipment properties - or both - we can really properly balance ALL the damage effects (except for possibly crew).

Ok - I am going back into the files and see what I can learn here - you guys are the best - I smell smoke from me brain already. If I learn anything I will post it, and of course expect some questions as well - but I thank you all for helping me put the 2 and 2 together!

I tried setting the armor at 86 in the zones.cdf file for both diesels. (high enough that my modded 162kg DC could do no damage at a max explosion).

I took a hit that destroyed engines 3 and 4, and did no damage to 1 and 2!

Finally, I got shacked again, and both diesels were destroyed---I think because the entire "father" engineroom compartment was destroyed. I'm cool with that, frankly.

Perhaps I could make one armored even higher, and the other a little less so.

tater