Guns Of Icarus Online

Info => Feedback and Suggestions => Topic started by: Zenark on August 26, 2013, 03:14:00 pm

Title: Dynamic Armor
Post by: Zenark on August 26, 2013, 03:14:00 pm
So, I originally got this idea when I looked at  the Spire for the first time months ago, but I think it's time to share.

Now yall know how there's a big 'shield' on the front of the Spire? Right below the main gun is a giant metal crest like thing. What if that was a more reinforced part of the ships armor? A gatling when hitting anywhere else on the hull would do standard piercing damage, but hitting that plate would do only half damage.

This dynamic armor could be used on all ships. Ex.
Pyramidion has heavier armor on the front
Squid has armor near the engines
Galleon has armor around the guns
Goldfish has armor on the sides (everyone sees those big fin like plates)
Mobula has armor covering part of the front of the balloon
Junker has small pieces of armor spaced apart randomly-ish

These would compliment their respective ship's strengths; Squid's maneuverability, Galleon's guns, etc. Strategy would then have to be modified a bit to counter. Ambushing a Pyra from behind, choice between focusing on a Galleon's hull or guns, aiming your ram at that Spire somewhere other than its front.

This would require better gunning in order to hit between the chinks in the ship's armor. It could also open new ammo types, things like steel-cored rounds to negate part of that extra resistance.

Would this drastically change gameplay? Would it make certain ships overpowered? Is it plausible to implement into the engine? Discuss.
Title: Re: Dynamic Armor
Post by: treseritops on August 26, 2013, 04:21:34 pm
Correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't this require a new set of hit boxes and damage calculation?

As far as I understand damage is calculated by the gun being fired, what hit box it hits and then depending on what type of damage the hit box takes a certain amount of damage is applied. So you can fire a harpoon at the hull and do no damage. Resistance to damage is built into hit box and gun compatibility. I don't know if in the current system there is a way to make a "stronger" hit box in the larger scope of the hull. It would still need to be vulnerable to piercing damage, but I don't think they set hit boxes to be susceptible to piercing, but only take %50 damage from explosive, or in this case only take %50 piercing damage. I think it's the other way around where a gun might only do secondary piercing damage and not get the full effect of the damage.

I like the idea and we talked about having a ship with one side as a reinforced shield side as well. I think it would be a really great ship to use for positioning (such as cutting in between an enemy that is destroying an ally).
Title: Re: Dynamic Armor
Post by: Zenark on August 26, 2013, 04:37:36 pm
The armor would probably have its own hitbox, yes. Like an engine or gun has its own resistance types, so too would the armor. The models are more or less already there, all it would take is some scripting to implement them into being resistant. The only issue I can see would be balance, but that could be worked out.
Title: Re: Dynamic Armor
Post by: Squidslinger Gilder on August 26, 2013, 05:00:43 pm
I like it. Would give reason for an idea I had awhile back of color coded hit markers. Cept I had only thought about it as a trainer tool for new players. The squid has thin armor plates on it's sides and balloon. If you see a heavily damaged one you'll see them peeling off the side or cut in half.
Title: Re: Dynamic Armor
Post by: Echoez on August 26, 2013, 05:33:03 pm
Would certainly add more depth to the various engagements by introducing directional damage resistance, makes engagement angle realy important and pilots can mitigate the damage they take by twisting their ships properly.

My only question is, where and what would be the damage resistance on the Galleon? It's already a very tough ship to take down, making it have extra damage resistance on top of its current tankiness feels kinda unfair.
Title: Re: Dynamic Armor
Post by: Piemanlives on August 26, 2013, 06:20:51 pm
The galleon is mostly a broadside on vessel, the weapons are also fairly important so armor fairly centered around that would be nice but the rear and front be fairly weak.
Title: Re: Dynamic Armor
Post by: Captain Smollett on August 26, 2013, 06:30:16 pm
Holy moly Zenark, I think you're in my head.  I've been playing this game forever and that very same thought just came to me a few days ago.

I think it would be super interesting if ships had certain armored hard points and soft spots.  It would really raise the complexity of the game and further reward positioning and gunnery. 

Probably wouldn't be super easy to balance but I think it would be really cool when everything was finally working.  Imagine pilots turning their armor towards oncoming fire while focusing guns on a different target, now how cool would that be!
Title: Re: Dynamic Armor
Post by: Echoez on August 26, 2013, 06:57:01 pm
So if this gets in, some ships should have to have some designated weak points as well.

For example the Pyramidion takes 50% reduced damage on the its nose and bow, back of the ship is a weakpoint, adding 20% extra damage done there.

Spire takes 70% reduced damage from the front, but 30% extra damage from behind.

Junker has no extra damage reduction as it's a ship that relies on it's thin hitbox anyway, but it has no weakpoint either.

etc etc.
Title: Re: Dynamic Armor
Post by: Eukari on August 26, 2013, 07:00:01 pm
The idea is interesting, but I think we have enough trouble just getting people to hit the right part of the ship (balloon vs. hull) as it is...
Title: Re: Dynamic Armor
Post by: Keon on August 26, 2013, 07:09:44 pm
Color code them. Bright white-yellow for a direct squishy bit and a sort of grey and small hit marker for armored areas.
Title: Re: Dynamic Armor
Post by: Squidslinger Gilder on August 26, 2013, 08:35:42 pm
Color code them. Bright white-yellow for a direct squishy bit and a sort of grey and small hit marker for armored areas.

Pretty much that initial concept I had except I had more color involvement. But for something like this it would be great, even if it was eventually relegating to being used as a trainer tool.
Title: Re: Dynamic Armor
Post by: Captain Phil on August 26, 2013, 11:20:24 pm
Like a lot of people I thought up of something similar to this but with my own flair to it. Each of those armored plates counts as their own part and will block a small amount of damage before any shots start damaging the main hull armor; think of it as temporary hp. Each plate would be rather quick to repair but due to how many of them there are it would be hard to keep up on them. Was not one of my greatest ideas so I never posted it. But I do like the higher armor in different areas, would give more depth to the game then just "aim for hull."
Title: Re: Dynamic Armor
Post by: Zenark on August 27, 2013, 10:10:47 am
I figure this might make gunners a tad bit more important, simply because they'd most likely have better accuracy through experience.

I'm trying to think if the armor would also mitigate other damage types, and I think it should; probably an equal damage reduction for all types (fire might not change though)

If I had any photoshop skills I'd highlight the areas of each ship I feel would be armored. I might try and find ship pictures later and see what I can do, but no promises XD

The idea of a different colored hit marker on armor is awesome. I know it should be discussed in another thread, but I think these two ideas would compliment each other well.
Title: Re: Dynamic Armor
Post by: Swizy on August 27, 2013, 10:20:05 am
I'm all for making the game even more challanging. On topic I think some guns would need rebalancing to have less jitter and spread in order to even be able to aim precisely. Otherwise it would be less skill based but more a luckshot game.
Title: Re: Dynamic Armor
Post by: Zenark on August 27, 2013, 10:27:39 am
I'm all for making the game even more challanging. On topic I think some guns would need rebalancing to have less jitter and spread in order to even be able to aim precisely. Otherwise it would be less skill based but more a luckshot game.

Heavy Clip would make a serious comeback.
Title: Re: Dynamic Armor
Post by: N-Sunderland on August 27, 2013, 11:03:28 am
I figure this might make gunners a tad bit more important, simply because they'd most likely have better accuracy through experience.

That's not really true. I get that you'd rather have a level 8 gunner than a level 8 engineer on your gun. That makes sense. But then you just tell that level 8 gunner to go engi, and there you go.
Title: Re: Dynamic Armor
Post by: RearAdmiralZill on August 27, 2013, 11:08:50 am
You have fun telling Shink to go engie. Quite the Unwise Decision.
Title: Re: Dynamic Armor
Post by: N-Sunderland on August 27, 2013, 11:12:38 am
Just to clarify, I'm not trying to start that argument again. I'm just saying that experienced gunners understanding gunning better isn't really a good reason to have them not go engi.
Title: Re: Dynamic Armor
Post by: HamsterIV on August 27, 2013, 12:21:33 pm
Wouldn't this widen the already large performance gap between experienced player and non experienced player? We are scaring off enough new people by cursing them out for not knowing the difference between spanner and mallet. Adding another layer of complexity would extend the life of this game for old hands, but I am not so sure it would be good for the new player base.

I am just playing devils advocate here. I actually like this idea, since it would make me a more desirable crewman once I gained the right knowledge.
Title: Re: Dynamic Armor
Post by: Zenark on August 27, 2013, 01:06:02 pm
The only real changes the crew would have to learn would be anyone on a gun and the pilots; engineering wouldn't change much.

As far as new members having to learn extra stuff, they already have to learn the damage types and which components they're used on. This is more or less another component, except you don't have to repair it.

Now, having it as something that could take damage and be destroyed is cool, but that would add a whole 'nother section to ship layout and engineering. I would imagine, like the balloon and hull, there'd be a central machine/part/thingy that would have to have its own spot on each ship. Adding such a thing would make balance difficult at this level of production, since MUSE would have to find the right location to stick it where it wouldn't be too close to the other components.
Title: Re: Dynamic Armor
Post by: Squidslinger Gilder on August 27, 2013, 06:18:03 pm
Wouldn't this widen the already large performance gap between experienced player and non experienced player? We are scaring off enough new people by cursing them out for not knowing the difference between spanner and mallet. Adding another layer of complexity would extend the life of this game for old hands, but I am not so sure it would be good for the new player base.

Why you'd add color coded hit markers with it. Hard to scare off people when the game tells them how to play.
Title: Re: Dynamic Armor
Post by: Captain Magellan on August 28, 2013, 09:20:02 pm
EPIC idea, Zenark. I seriously love this idea. It wouldn't be too big of a deal for new people as long as you add the color coded hit markers and make the ship customization screens less confusing and more information based. Give them either better data, or put the numbers back and merely mention the strong and weak points of the ship. Maybe even outlining them in some kind of blueprint (yes I liked the blueprints, shoot me).
Title: Re: Dynamic Armor
Post by: Zenark on August 29, 2013, 12:58:17 pm
Yeah, just something that highlights them. It wouldn't take long at all to figure out that the big plates of metal on the ships take less damage than the wooden parts.

I would love to see a ship dominate because it's gunners were fantastic shots. It encourages precision rather than spray and pray. (not that that's bad, I do enjoy just pelting a ship all over.)
Title: Re: Dynamic Armor
Post by: Eukari on August 29, 2013, 03:22:28 pm
Ehhhhh...I'm not entirely sold on this idea. I think that, at the moment, the current way guns and damage types work is pretty good. It requires thinking about what sort of gun you're using and what you're going to shoot, but not crazy accurate aiming skills that probably would only be found in the upper levels of player skill. It's hard enough as it is to get people to stop shooting the balloon with their Gatling; imagine having to yell "No, don't shoot that tiny plate on the side of the ship! Shoot the other tiny plate on the side of the ship!"

Color-coding the damage "flash" would help, but I think that adding too much complexity might not be the best thing right now.
Title: Re: Dynamic Armor
Post by: Zenark on August 29, 2013, 04:47:26 pm
Oh gawd, I know those players, they usually listen, thankfully.

These armor points would be pretty noticeable, not to mention small. Most of the ship would have no armor, only small, strategically placed armor.

The only ships I can think of that players might get confused with are the Junker and Galleon, since those apps don't really have a visible armor that I can see. The Goldfish on the other hand might have too big of armor... Though that might make it more intimidating.

I don't think I mentioned this, but once the armor goes down, these armor points would provide no protection against damage until the armor was brought back up.