An Idea - Directional Armour

[Helequin]

I am still rather new to the game and am slowly getting more and more matches under my belt. Been doing well so far, but we will see if that lasts after level 4 .

One thing which struck me right off is that armour damage happens the same, regardless of the direction the hits come in from. What this means is positioning strategy is all about maximizing your gun arcs and ranges while trying to minimize the enemy's.

In comparison, I have played a few pirate ship games, and a mechanic they used is "directional armour." That is, there were separate armour values with independent health bars for the bow, stern, port and starboard. The overall ship health was one pool, just like it is in GoIO.

What was interesting about this directional armour was the extra layer of strategy it added. Being able to flip broadsides on an enemy while staying on one side of them effectively doubled your armour, and staying across their bow or stern meant you could constantly pour rounds into the more lightly armoured front or rear. Positions and turns were about preserving your own armour and targeting damaged sides of the enemy as well as plotting gun arcs.

Of course, ships in GoIO are more varied that real-life maritime ships in where armour should be strong or weak, the Pyrm for example would likely have a strong front, medium sides and a weak rear - but the principle remains. Of course, Muse would also need to look at how to implement repair/rebuild times/positions and work out the actual numbers for this all.

So, while I have yet to get to high level or look at competitive play, I do think this could add an extra dimension if Muse could do it. Thoughts?

[Crafeksterty]

It has allready been suggested. Dont know if they took it in though.

What they suggested was weapon slots as shields. These weapon slots will absorb a bit of damage from the hull to itself where the damage comes from whatever direction the shield is pointing at.
O and
The pyramidieon does actualy have a stronger front. I remember our pyra hit a lochnagar mine with its ram. But it did next to no damage. (Lochnagar mine is very specific. Almost no AOE) Any other ship would have his hull down. The pyra has this so that it does not sacrifice its own health when ramming others. When flying a pyra, ramming with the baloon (Ram) is very important. But if you just fly at another ship, baloon and hull, you will recieve damage yourself.

Right now, i dont think it matters much. It is now very much about gun arcs and weapon combinations, types and strategies. Dont think they need to enhance defence. Buff hammer does that to a degree. (for the hull). And allready there is a thread that suggests a health upgrade for each component type buff hammer.

Addition: There are also engineer strategies to further enhance defence and tankyness, like spannering the hull if it is under fire by one gattling. Chemming only the hull and baloon to neglect the fire from the hades. Hull engineer on the squid has infact a pipe wrench instead of a mallet to minimize the cooldown on it. Etc etc.

[Captain Smollett]

The pyramidieon does actualy have a stronger front.

This is simply not true. 

The pyra does have a lot of mass, and takes less damage when impacting ships with lower mass.  It also has hull hitpoints on the front of its ship so any ram will always impact ship armor (if the armor is up) and armor takes the least impact damage out of all ship components.

Lochnagar mines deal roughly 600 armor damage.  If you hit it with the nose of your ship the reduced aoe would probably result it only doing damage to the armor and not guns/balloons/engines etc.  That's more or less 2 mallet hits away from full armor so it could appear as if you took little to no damage.

[Helequin]

Thanks for the replies!

I did try to search for any similar suggestions, but came up empty.

Weapons as shields are an interesting idea - but doesn't accomplish the main feature of adding an extra layer to combat for every and all ships. Directional armour also gives an additional layer Muse could tweak for balance.

Smollett, what you put down mirrors my own experience with the Pyra. Charging something with that tip, even a Goldfish, will put damage onto the armour. And taking shots to the front will kill the Pyra just as fast as taking them in the stern, the only advantage with the front is it protects the engines and allows the pyra to shoot back.

[Crafeksterty]

The pyramidieon does actualy have a stronger front.

This is simply not true.

Uh...

The pyra does have a lot of mass, and takes less damage when impacting ships with lower mass.  It also has hull hitpoints on the front of its ship so any ram will always impact ship armor (if the armor is up) and armor takes the least impact damage out of all ship components.

Thats what i meant. Because of that ram, the lochnagar does not affect it. Other ships that hit lochnagar with as far away from hull as possible always leads to the hull, while a pyra hitting lochnagar with its ram that is so close to the hull and baloon yett none of it take damage. On top of that, the ram protects the front guns. It isnt as easy to disable the front guns on a pyra as it is the side guns on a galleon or Junker. Its because of that ram, the front ram is stronger because it does block out damage. Ram with the ram, you wont take as much damage. Ram with the hull, you will take damage.

[Crafeksterty]

Also note that i cant modify my post to fix a few keywords :/

[Milevan Faent]

Also note that i cant modify my post to fix a few keywords :/

The forums (due to an unnecessary decision by Muse) have a 30 minute time limit, after which you can no longer edit your own posts. You need to ask mods to do it for you, taking up their valuable time doing actual mod work. There's a topic somewhere here in the suggestions about removing it or at least letting the starter of a topic edit their first post, if you want to throw your voice behind asking for this change.

[Captain Smollett]

The ram actually counts as the hull on the Pyra.  Anything that hits it does damage to the hull.

[Cheesy Crackers]

Just adding that I found out from someone in game that apparently the front armoured part of the Pyramidions' balloon actually  receives less damage.

[Captain Smollett]

So it's a persistent myth?  Wonder how long its been circulating for.

[Coldcurse]

I dont think that you want to have directional armor.

You are more looking for parts of the ship that has more armor then other pieces f the ship.
Example: you would recieve less damage if the enemy shoots at a metal armorpiece.

Having parts on the ship that have different armor values would be more interesting then only having 4 sides that have different armor values.

This will also make it interesting for muse to add the option to give the captain the option to add extra armor plates or pieces on the ship.
Adding extra armor plates or pieces would ofcourse slow down your ship. This will unlock more unique gameplay.