Whoa!! Scary...

[TheDarkWraith]

Originally Posted by Schwartzritter

That's the SH damage model for you. A merchant can be completely crippled, on fire, have a 30 degree list, a shorn rudder, all boilers blown and a busted coffee pot, but if the guns are serviceable, there is one AI lemming bent on taking you with him. Both laughable and annoying at the same time. The realism of this is debatable.

Actually this can be fixed. The AI scripts for ships have a way to get amount of damage incurred. We could set that at x% damage it's not allowed to fire guns or any weapons for that matter. The problem is defining what the x% should be.

[misha1967]

Originally Posted by TheDarkWraith

Actually this can be fixed. The AI scripts for ships have a way to get amount of damage incurred. We could set that at x% damage it's not allowed to fire guns or any weapons for that matter. The problem is defining what the x% should be.

And there will be a lot of opinions on that x%!

It's a pity you can't randomize it to simulate the real life re-enactments of "Custer's Last Stand" without having ALL of the ships being manned by gung-ho do or die seamen. Keep you guessing, so to speak.

I guess one way of finding that magical x% would be to find out what the damage % of ships clearly beyond a smidgen of hope tends to be, but it would require a lot of looking at sinking ships while noting their damage %.

One rule of thumb I might use in that case was that, if I understand it correctly, the number of fires on a ship are directly correlated to its damage % and, clearly, when your entire superstructure is on fire is doesn't really matter how tough you are, you can't man a gun in a furnace.

Just a thought.

[Hinrich Schwab]

Originally Posted by misha1967

And there will be a lot of opinions on that x%!

It's a pity you can't randomize it to simulate the real life re-enactments of "Custer's Last Stand" without having ALL of the ships being manned by gung-ho do or die seamen. Keep you guessing, so to speak.

I guess one way of finding that magical x% would be to find out what the damage % of ships clearly beyond a smidgen of hope tends to be, but it would require a lot of looking at sinking ships while noting their damage %.

One rule of thumb I might use in that case was that, if I understand it correctly, the number of fires on a ship are directly correlated to its damage % and, clearly, when your entire superstructure is on fire is doesn't really matter how tough you are, you can't man a gun in a furnace.

Just a thought.

I am all for the randomization idea. It makes sense as this would have been the closest historical case. Besides, it keeps you guessing.

[Commander Mysenses]

On a (slightly) related note, can you shoot out the spotlights? I've tried and I think they must be made from unobtainium!

[Dogfish40]

Originally Posted by misha1967

And there will be a lot of opinions on that x%!

It's a pity you can't randomize it to simulate the real life re-enactments of "Custer's Last Stand" without having ALL of the ships being manned by gung-ho do or die seamen. Keep you guessing, so to speak.

I guess one way of finding that magical x% would be to find out what the damage % of ships clearly beyond a smidgen of hope tends to be, but it would require a lot of looking at sinking ships while noting their damage %.

One rule of thumb I might use in that case was that, if I understand it correctly, the number of fires on a ship are directly correlated to its damage % and, clearly, when your entire superstructure is on fire is doesn't really matter how tough you are, you can't man a gun in a furnace.

Just a thought.

I would try and set a few damage types, say IF a ship was at a such and such list, then no, it can't fire. But if there's no listing yes, then it can fire. In other words, if we were just a bit more specific on the type of damage the ship has. If that even available in the damage model. The more types of specific damage, the more random it would appear. So you have Listing, Fire (not just fire but the amount of fire if available), if the ship is actually in one piece and on and on.
This would be a good mod.
D40

[TheDarkWraith]

fire is an effect that is triggered when a zone receives > x% damage and the effect is declared for that zone.

Listing is nothing more than the damage/flooding model and you can't ask the game how much is the ship listing

You can ask the game how much damage the ship has and it will tell you the % damage. It tells you nothing more.

So if the deckgun is located on a zone with a fire effect declared and that zone's damage (not the ship's damage) is > damage for effect then the fire effect is played. You could have crew members firing the deck gun amidst flames

[maillemaker]

That's the SH damage model for you. A merchant can be completely crippled, on fire, have a 30 degree list, a shorn rudder, all boilers blown and a busted coffee pot, but if the guns are serviceable, there is one AI lemming bent on taking you with him. Both laughable and annoying at the same time. The realism of this is debatable.

Well without coffee, you're going to have some mighty grumpy sailors!

Steve

[Hinrich Schwab]

Originally Posted by maillemaker

Well without coffee, you're going to have some mighty grumpy sailors!

Steve

No, just a bridge full of drooling vegetables with only Bernard left to take the Conn.

[Dogfish40]

Originally Posted by TheDarkWraith

fire is an effect that is triggered when a zone receives > x% damage and the effect is declared for that zone.

Listing is nothing more than the damage/flooding model and you can't ask the game how much is the ship listing

You can ask the game how much damage the ship has and it will tell you the % damage. It tells you nothing more.

So if the deckgun is located on a zone with a fire effect declared and that zone's damage (not the ship's damage) is > damage for effect then the fire effect is played. You could have crew members firing the deck gun amidst flames

That's what I was afraid of. The damage model is too simple to make the idea appear random. However, the hard line idea is still OK and that's to have the AI firing of weapons on sinking ships interact with the damage model. At least the weapons would stop at some point during the sinking.