This appeared in Q&A so I'm reposting. This does not go over damage multipliers, I think that's pretty self explanatory.
Multipliers and general gun info can be found here:
http://gunsoficarus.com/gameplay/weapons/These tables are dynamic and are most up to date.
Let me clear some stuff up.
Types of firing mechanisms:- Raycast—A straight line of a certain range is projected from the barrel point. If this line intersects a hitbox, a hit will be registered. No projectile is fired in actually world space. Guns that are raycast include the gatling and carronade. Raycast weapons are not affected by muzzle speed or gravity.
- Projectile—A projectile is spawn in world space and shot through the air according to several variables along a ballistic arc. If said projectile collides with a hitbox, a hit will be registered. Most of the guns in the game are projectile based.
- Particle—Particles are weird and it's only the flamethrower for now. They spread, they rise, they act like particles and they're weird. Did I say that already? Just deal with it
Important variables affecting firing mechanism- Gravity—How much gravity is applied to a projectile, more gravity the more quickly its arc will drop.
- Muzzle Speed—How fast the projectile is traveling in m/s. Muzzle speed and gravity are related in that if you have lots of gravity but high muzzle speed, the arc will be very wide and the projectile will travel farther before significant drop occurs. High gravity with low muzzle speed will cause the the projectile to drop quickly. Imagine a horizontal force (muzzle speed) vs. a vertical force (gravity) because that's just how it works. Physics 101.
- Jitter—A number in degrees that is randomly selected from 0 to the max jitter allowed for that gun each time a raycast or projectile is spawned. The initial rotation of said raycast or projectile will inherit this randomly generated jitter from 0 to max jitter. This is to simulate recoil. Yeah it's hacky, trust me we know and we're not happy with it, but we never had time to do recoil for real. We're working on it and trying to fix this soon.
- Arming Time—A number in seconds where if projectile hits before arming time is reached, only primary damage is applied. Therefore, full damage potential range is Arming Time * Muzzle Speed. Lumberjack and Heavy Flak have arming time.
Primary Secondary Dmg- Primary—Will apply damage to the part that is hit. May penetrate slightly based on penetration (in seconds, penetration * muzzle speed = distance penetrated, only for projectile weapons. This number is either 0 or very very small so don't worry.).
- Secondary—Once projectile stops moving (post penetration), secondary damage will be applied.
- Area of Effect—The radius in meters of possible secondary dmg area of effect. Components caught in this range will have secondary damage applied. Epicenter is where the projectile stops moving post penetration.
And Alex (Watchmaker, and on of our talented programmers) covers the damage transfer stuff:
Overflow damage on a single hit does not transfer.
Subsequent hits transfer from the component that was hit to the "hull component" - meaning they apply damage to armor first, if any remains.
We've been unclear in the past on the terms for the two health bars on the hull (I try to refer to them as armor and health), which is probably part of the confusion.
Each hit (projectile, explosion, gatling or carronade ray/pellet) deals its damage to a single location, in a lump. Transferred hits function exactly as if you actually hit, say, a hull hitbox instead of a balloon hitbox. None of the balloon/engine/gun multipliers are applied; multipliers for hull armor or health are applied according to the hull's current state.
Note that there is a slightly weird case where a single hit deals more damage than remaining hull armor. Currently, in this case, the base damage is multiplied by the armor modifiers, and any overflow of that modified value is applied directly to hull health.
And to clarify, mechanical components that are dead also transfer damage to hull. E.g. the front gun on a Goldfish will transfer damage dealt to it to the hull if the gun is dead. If this was not the case, you'll have a huge shield in the front of the ship to ram with etc.
One thing that's covered in the other topic and not here is damage multipliers when something is dead. If the balloon is completely dead and you fire at it, the damage is transferred to the hull and hull multipliers are applied, not balloon. You just get a bigger target area, not more damage per shot. Although as Alex mentions in the quoted area, there is a discrepancy with this when one single hit destroys the balloon or whatever and there is damage left over.
I think that's the most of what's in play.