I don't quite understand why weapon damage has to be calculated as a function of both shield and armor damage rates... why can't the engine just use the shield damage value for shields and the armor values for armor? This way, weapon damage would be even more flexible, you could create outfits like a shield-dropping EMP that wouldn't scratch armor, or hull-chewing antimatter streams that would just bounce off any shields...

-- Cinga

PS: I already posted it on the main EVO board, but nobody answered... I think it's a rather simple and intuitive tweak that would help to make the EVO engine more versatile.

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I don't understand the logic of Matt's decision not to just do weapons "normally," though evidently it's designed to foil exactly the type of behavior which you describe. In any case, it's highly unlikely that he'll change that in 1.0.2 because it would render a large number of scenarios unbalanced and/or incompatible.

-reg

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"Now, Mr. Mirnas... start at the beginning."

-The Interrogator

For about two years, I have wished there was such a function.
The main problem is that if the 1/4 rule would be removed, the damage rates of the weapons would change. The phase turret, for example, would do no damage to armor.
However, two new flags could be introduced: one for "shields only" and one for "armor only".

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"I'm beginning to see the flowers from the wrong side"

-The prophet Zarquon, shortly before passing away

You could add a flag to the wכהp resource designating "direct damage". The old plug-ins wouldn't have this flag set, so they'd still use the old formula.

-- Cinga

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It was (and perhaps still is) actually even more complicated than the '1/4 rule'. Back when Override was just becoming an Ambrosia project (around the end of '97), while testing I noticed that damage done did not actually correspond to the formulas given in the Bible - specifically: if mass damage + 1/4 energy damage was less than energy damage, then actual damage done vs. armour would equal energy damage (and not anything corresponding to the standard formula). The same applied for damage to shields (ie. if ED + 1/4 MD was less than MD, then ASD = MD). So, for example, if you have a weapon with Mass Damage 500 and Energy Damage 0, then damage done vs. shields and armour, will be 500, not 500 for one, and 125 for the other, as might be expected.

To be honest I'm not sure whether this was changed for Override, although I think it was - checking would require searching through my archives from the beta list (which are not to hand) or checking by setting some things up in game (which I can't be bothered with). In fact, I seem to remember asking Matt at the time to change it to the simple: Mass Damage = Armour Damage, and Energy Damage = Shield Damage - but, no go <shrug>.

Peter C.

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Ja sam ovde samo zbog piva