Half destroyed balloons unrealistic

[nake]

Sorry if this was already pointed out, but as an engineer I feel that there is something wrong with the balloon in this game.
The main problem I see is that when the balloon it's being  destroyed it falls instead of going up.

I mean, think it this way: The balloon makes you float, so it should float by itself. If it's not completely inflated, it should seem to go to the top of the ship instead of falling.

See this image (I took from google images)

As you can see, the balloon is falling. xD
Does that make any sense? I know my English is not as good as it should xD

Please, take this in mind when creating the new ships for the adventure mode.

[N-Sunderland]

What if it's anchored to the bottom of the cage around it? Then it's perfectly realistic.

[nake]

Ehmm.. no. 

If it's anchored, the surface between the beams of the cage shouldn't drop either. And the top part of the balloon should stay on top nevertheless.
If it really was anchored, the only difference would be that it would become some kind of tear-shaped balloon, with the pointed part where the anchor is.

Think it this way, the gas inside the balloon always wants to go up no matter how much of it there is. It's exactly as they made it but mirrored with the horizontal plane. For the balloon "falling" should be going up.

[Richard P]

Well, actually Nake's right, the realistic half-destroyed balloon should be turned upside down, and absolutely destroyed should be turned upside down too (even if it  cannot lift the weight of the ship, it is lighter, than the hull), but I don't think it's a critical mistake: if muse fix it, it will be harder to guess if a balloon is healthy or damaged.

[Lord Dick Tim]

This might work more as a visual design decision rather than realism.  Could have just been easier to identify the balloon as damaged for an enemy crew during art asset testing.

[LordFunPants]

ahh, this has been brought up a few times already in the past, something that was initially an oversight on our part, but as mentioned a few times in this topic we ended up not changing it because it just seems easier for people to identify that the balloons where damaged. part of me wants to change it, part of me wants to make sure gameplay related art effects are as obvious as possible. its a strange strange balance and sometimes you gotta throw realism out of the equation to satisfy gameplay needs

and your English is more then fine just to note! probably better than mine >>;

[Squash]

Don't worry guys, I know how to talk to engineers. ahem.

Nake, in what situation would the balloon behave the way it does when half destroyed?

[Linen]

Don't worry guys, I know how to talk to engineers. ahem.

Nake, in what situation would the balloon behave the way it does when half destroyed?

If the air inside wasn't sufficient to hold the mass of the ballon canvas (or whatever it was made of). But then in that case the airship should be plummeting to the ground like a rock.

[JaegerDelta]

physically, things in this topic are completely correct.

aesthetically, i think the balloon behaving correctly would look silly. i dont have the photoshop skills to mock it up but still.

im normally all for correct function but this game is highly stylistic and functionally often is set aside take the gears on the ships for example, often they are not hooked up to anything and seem to be just wasted energy or "magically" spinning. But, they need to be there, with out them the ships would look static and rather boring. i think the same principle has been applied to the balloons.

[-Muse- Cullen]

An easy fix to this would be to basically flip the balloon's animations upside down. That way, a damaged, popped balloon is nearly floating up and away from the carriage.

[nake]

Don't worry guys, I know how to talk to engineers. ahem.

Nake, in what situation would the balloon behave the way it does when half destroyed?

If the air inside wasn't sufficient to hold the mass of the ballon canvas (or whatever it was made of). But then in that case the airship should be plummeting to the ground like a rock.

Or when filled with water! xD

... it just seems easier for people to identify that the balloons where damaged ...

I'm not completely sure about that. I think it'd be the same to see that the balloon is half-destroyed if it's flipped upside down.
I'm sure it'll feel strange at first, but I think it's because you are already used to see it the wrong way. And in a few matches you'd recognize it just as fine as you do now.

Imho when you see the picture in the 1st post it really feels wrong. How is this ship floating at all? It's calling to fall straight to the ground!

It's just my opinion. If you have tested it and it really kills the ability to realize that the balloon is destroyed, then keep it the way it is now.

[Machiavelliest]

Since the ship is attached to the balloon by cables, wouldn't it just fall down, crush the ship, and everyone on it?  Can you really patch a balloon by hitting the compressor?  I'd say the way the balloon looks is a reasonable request of suspense of disbelief from the playerbase.

[Moo]

How about... The balloon is divided internally into several layers. The bottom layer fills first, and when that gets enough pressure, a valve starts letting gas into the next layer up, and so on. Now it makes more sense for a partially-full balloon to be full at the bottom and not the top
Still doesn't explain how hitting a machine fixes huge holes in the balloon itself, but yes, suspension of disbelief.

[Linen]

I'm sick of these oversights. Seriously Muse do your damn job. Scrap this game and start fresh. We want REALISM. If you don't commit fully then don't do it all. Look, I've created a list.

1. Create an actual real life apocalypse. Nuclear fallout, zombies, i don't care. As long as it recreates in real life the look and feel of GoIO.
2. Design and build real airships.
3. Design and build real guns.
4. Have players bet their lives on their matches by actually crewing these airships.

Oh don't forget to have an active forum so people can complain that it isn't fun anymore.

So now let me ask a question Muse...
WHY HAVEN'T YOU DONE THIS ALREADY

[Sammy B. T.]

Awesomeness

Saaaalute