Learning and asking - along with a mod idea/wip

[CaptainHaplo]

Well, after a hiatus from the mod forum, I am back to trying to learn more about this game...

OK guys - the first question is a multipart one. It relates to visual damage of a target. It was asked in the "stock" forum about why some damage showed and some doesnt - like torpedo hits sometimes showing up and sometimes not. Now I seem to remember it had to do with some hull spots didnt have a "room" behind them in the zone files - so no hole would show up. Is my memory of this correct? And if so - have mods such as NSM changed the zones to also "fix" this fully?

The second question goes to sub damage tweaking. I never did find a way to effectively change the damage interaction between "hull" and interior. While SH3 gave an overall "hull percentage" - and SH4 1.4 may add something similiar - I really despise the bulkead setup. With Titanium Hulls/Nuke Boats - I could create the indestructable hull - but that didnt help if the hull leaked like it had more holes than swiss cheese after getting damaged. While those to minor mods were something to play with - I really think the damage interaction between hull and compartment equipment could be tweaked.

Specifically - I would like to tweak the damage model as follows:

#1 Bulkhead damage = LEAKS primarily. As it is now bulkhead damage is about the same as hull damage - if one goes full red your fubar'd. "Bulkhead" damage should really be more about "We got water coming in and we have got to stop it" vs a major hit in hull integrity. After all - water more often entered boats thru piping and joint failures than by having a DC blow a big hole in the hull! *Caveat - for those on eternal patrol - some may have had such happen - but how many compared to major leaks from other areas - we will never know.

#2 Equipment Damage - Time after time critical equipment gets destroyed. Simply put, I cannot believe that 4 engines all get thrown from their mountings so that I have no diesels, and thus no way to get home - but I can repair my hull enough to keep my crew from being shark bait. Damage "carryover" to equipment is way out of sync in my view, and I would like to tone it down to what would seem to be a more reasonable level.

#3 Crew "damage" = ok this may be the most impossible of the goals I have - but I would like to see a more realistic model of crew injuries when damaged. As the model stands - the majority of damage goes to equipment - then some is applied to ALL the crew in a compartment. Now in reality as an example - lets say I take bow torpedo room damage. If its a decent shock but nothing truly ship critical - all the crew in the room take a small health hit. This simulates what amounts to a DC going off close by and everyone in the room apparently gets tossed around.... just enough to maybe scrape their elbows!!!! This isn't right. I would like to see if there is a "random chance" for damage to be applied to crew - if so then it should be easy to change it from a global spread were everybody breaks a nail to simulating real harm to a single person - like a jolt that knocked loose a torpedo and it shifted - maybe catching a torpedo mate and mangling his leg - represented by a chance for a single crew member to take meaningful (and occasionally critical) harm. Also - I would like to see if there is a way to change the current setup where a fully flooded room has 15 people or more in it and none of them take damage.... seems to me they would drown if the room didnt get pumped out!

#4 - Equipment physics - Anyone ever wonder how those ELECTRIC motors work when the room they are in is flooded with salt water? Any room that gets totally flooded should disable and (if possible) cause slow damage to equipment inside it.

#5 Sub damaged/sinking physics - This I think I have in hand already - its more about flotablilty in the zones I think. Basically - I cant see how a flooded torp room still allows me to remain submerged. I really think changing the flood speed along with flotability can really add more pressure on "I have to get this patched up" while being hunted. Currently - I have seen my aft room fully flooded and can still be at silent running and set my speed at 1-2 knots and my sub looks like a dolphin getting ready to launch into an aerial somersault - external view shows an up angle of 60 degrees or more - yes I can still motor away without a care because I DONT SINK! If flooding were slowed and you knew that a fully flooded room was likely a death-knell (which it would be historically) - one wouldnt be so quick to just "be quiet" till the enemy wandered away - because that would mean death! We would be forced to act to save our ship - stabilize the situation and THEN try and sneak away....

Feedback on these ideas are of course welcome - and if anyone has found that elusive bridge between internal and external damage model and is willing to share it - I would GREATLY appreciate it.

[THE_MASK]

It seems to me that the devs ran out of time and just made the crew damage part of the hull IE: they take hidden damage and then as you dive they get worse . I could be wrong . Thats the way it looks to me . Needs to be fixed in a patch if thats the case .

[CaptainHaplo]

Thanks sober, I am not sure your wrong on this one - if your not - I agree that it needs to be reworked and patched. Unfortunately I haven't seen any notes on 1.4 that say there are damage tweaks to the sub.