9 replies to this topic

[Johannes Falkner]

How about instead of table top criticals, with their all or nothing damage, we have hitpoints on individual components?

So our cockpit, sensors, life support, engine, gyro, actuators, ammunition and weapons (did I miss anything?)each get X,Y or Z hitpoints. Now you can do through armor critical damage with some weapons (http://mwomercs.com/...uld-it-be-done/) without having the stupidity of a randomly (un)aimed shot from an AC/2 through armor critical (TAC) damage causing an ammunition explosion of a pristine mech, but could still have TAC value as a balancing tool for weapons.

Random mechanics musings:
Cockpit - starring of the windscreen, smoke, blood spray
Sensors - fritzy HUD, dead zones
Life Support - depends on environment - heat shimmer and count down to death from heat exposure, windshield frosting and death from cool running (fire more!!!!!), atmosphere leak and countdown to suffocation
Engine - More heat, sluggish speed change
Gyro - random wobble
Arm Actuators - Jerky movements affect weapons aim, grasping ability
Leg Actuators - Increased chance to fall, mech stability problems
Ammunition - random delay to load, misfeed/jam chance
Weapons - increased heat, decreased accuracy, decreased rate of fire, decreased damage

What do you think?

[FinnMcKool]

I like this idea? but will it be hard to implement / balance ?

It makes sense that different critical s would be in different locations,

so I might aim at this area because I know thats where your ammo is, or ???

[Agent CraZy DiP]

I honestly didn't think they were going to do TT crits. I assumed that it would be something to this extent. Then again... World of Tanks does table top crits and has "dice rolls" behind the scenes. Either way, I'm sure I'll still enjoy it all the same.

[Johannes Falkner]

Agent CraZy DiP, on 30 March 2012 - 07:47 PM, said:

I honestly didn't think they were going to do TT crits. I assumed that it would be something to this extent. Then again... World of Tanks does table top crits and has "dice rolls" behind the scenes. Either way, I'm sure I'll still enjoy it all the same.

As long as it isn't like my M103.
Tracked, tracked, tracked (***! When did I get three tracks?!) ammo rack, driver, tracked....

Theoretically WoT does track hit points per critical, which is why your tracks come off easier once they have been damaged.

Edited by Johannes Falkner, 30 March 2012 - 08:07 PM.

[Slyck]

The TT crit system already is already a hybrid of the two you're trying to describe. Some of the key systems can take multiple hits providing degrees of failure. If you wanted to make some thing a little lest volatile (Ammo explosions) you could extend this concept to some of the other items. i.e. first hit to a weapon hurts it accuracy/range/damage, the second hit destroys it. You can't gice the components too many hit points though as you'll never be able to destroy them before destroying the whole limb.

[Johannes Falkner]

They did give some systems multiple functional crits, engine, gyro, life support, sensors and actuators. But weapons, electronics and ammo do not get second chances.

[Siilk]

Good idea. A couple of additions:

* Heatsinks and JJs, they should suffer from damage too.
* Ammo damage should result in ammo explosion, what OP suggested for them is better suited for ammo feeder damage
* Life support damage should better off without countdown to death, it would be too harsh IMO. To compensate for that, some other effects, such as blurry vision, random blackouts, double vision etc should be introduced.

[Johannes Falkner]

Heatsink and jump jet damage can directly follow from TT with loss of heat dissipation and jump jet distance (proportional to damage).
Critical wise from TT, ammo and ammo feeds are the same system (and yes it is stupid that I can mount a weapon in the left arm and ammo in the right for the same weight as colocated weapons and ammo).

The deathclok on life support damage should be harsh. If you parbroil your pilot, or suck him/her out a small hole into space, or freeze said pilot, they should die.

[CeeKay Boques]

Yes, take this idea to the limit. The more subtle the detail, the more suspension of disbelief.

[Pht]

Johannes Falkner, on 30 March 2012 - 07:30 PM, said:

How about instead of table top criticals, with their all or nothing damage,

Tactical Operations, pgs 74-75 said:

EXPANDED CRITICAL HITS AND DAMAGE
In standard-rules BattleTech, the ability of weapons to deal critical hits and how those critical hits affect a ’Mech are kept simple, for game balance and also for ease of play. The expanded rules in this section create differences between the critical damage-dealing abilities of the proverbial “golden BB” from an LB-X autocannon and the horrific destruction wreaked by an AC/20. What’s more, instead of a single critical hit immediately eliminating equipment, a range of effects is introduced to better reflect degradation of ability due to damage.

...

Expanded Critical Damage
Expanded Critical Damage does not apply to the engine, gyros, sensors, double heat sinks, or any physical attack weapons. The expanded Critical Damage rule works as follows: every time a piece of equipment suffers a critical hit, it may be only damaged or it may be destroyed. If more than half of an item’s slots have been damaged, the equipment is considered destroyed. Otherwise, it may continue functioning. When using these expanded critical damage rules, a single critical slot can be damaged multiple times until is is “destroyed.”

This is why a quick perusal of the advanced rules is in order for an MW video game... what you want to be modeled in the video game may already be present, playtested, and ready to go. Everything from "huge damage punches huge holes in armor" to " razor-shaved the paint off of it instead of actually destroying it."

Edited by Pht, 03 April 2012 - 11:10 AM.