Alright so the idea of having an overall "hull health" for your ship separate from the shields isn't a new idea. What inspired this suggestion is the post by MYbattlecruiserisawesom, so credit for that is due.
So it makes sense for several reasons, and it can be implemented in a way that makes the game more fun. There's a problem right now with hardened hull costing a whole lot but being entirely cosmetic. Most weapons will one-shot hardened hull like any other block, and it's extremely expensive compared to the price of other blocks. You can't outright buff hardened hull's stats or fights between small ships will last forever, and that's the same reason you can't nerf AMCs too hard without making a fight between two Isanths last a year.
So here's a proposal that will work to the game's benefit. Hull contributes a second healthbar to the ship, and it'll take over the function of the player's healthbar while in the ship as seeing your character's health while in a shipcore is an entirely useless function.
Hull blocks would contribute 25 health, and hardened hull blocks would contribute 35 health each. All other blocks contribute 1 health to the ship. Hull health would scale much better than shields, and ships would have a considerable gain in overall endurance from replacing all of their shields with hull. However, hull would be extremely vulnerabe missiles whereas shields are nearly immune.
After a ship's health is gone, blocks are destroyed as normal.
Every time a system block is hit, all blocks of the same type connected to that group are disabled for 5 seconds, with diminishing returns. For example: hitting a power line in a ship will prevent that line from regenerating power for 5 seconds, then 2.5, then 1.25, and then there would be a 3 second window where it couldn't be disabled again. Shield groups that are struck prevent shield regeneration, AMC and missile groups are prevented from firing, and engines get disabled.
This way, choosing whether or not to group things becomes an important decision in contruction. Yes, putting all of your engines in one giant group will make the fastest engine, but it's also the most vulnerable engine. You could break them up to make it less likely that you'll be in big trouble if they're shot, or you can choose to just take the risk for a bit of a speed boost.
It would create dynamic PVP scenarios where players will have options besides just shooting at their opponent's core the entire time. They can purposely target their engines to leave them dead in the water and vulnerable to missile attack. Fighters might be tasked with locking down components on an enemy ship while another capital takes them down. It'd simply make things better and more interesting.
I'd love to hear your guys' thoughts on this.
So it makes sense for several reasons, and it can be implemented in a way that makes the game more fun. There's a problem right now with hardened hull costing a whole lot but being entirely cosmetic. Most weapons will one-shot hardened hull like any other block, and it's extremely expensive compared to the price of other blocks. You can't outright buff hardened hull's stats or fights between small ships will last forever, and that's the same reason you can't nerf AMCs too hard without making a fight between two Isanths last a year.
So here's a proposal that will work to the game's benefit. Hull contributes a second healthbar to the ship, and it'll take over the function of the player's healthbar while in the ship as seeing your character's health while in a shipcore is an entirely useless function.
Hull blocks would contribute 25 health, and hardened hull blocks would contribute 35 health each. All other blocks contribute 1 health to the ship. Hull health would scale much better than shields, and ships would have a considerable gain in overall endurance from replacing all of their shields with hull. However, hull would be extremely vulnerabe missiles whereas shields are nearly immune.
After a ship's health is gone, blocks are destroyed as normal.
Every time a system block is hit, all blocks of the same type connected to that group are disabled for 5 seconds, with diminishing returns. For example: hitting a power line in a ship will prevent that line from regenerating power for 5 seconds, then 2.5, then 1.25, and then there would be a 3 second window where it couldn't be disabled again. Shield groups that are struck prevent shield regeneration, AMC and missile groups are prevented from firing, and engines get disabled.
This way, choosing whether or not to group things becomes an important decision in contruction. Yes, putting all of your engines in one giant group will make the fastest engine, but it's also the most vulnerable engine. You could break them up to make it less likely that you'll be in big trouble if they're shot, or you can choose to just take the risk for a bit of a speed boost.
It would create dynamic PVP scenarios where players will have options besides just shooting at their opponent's core the entire time. They can purposely target their engines to leave them dead in the water and vulnerable to missile attack. Fighters might be tasked with locking down components on an enemy ship while another capital takes them down. It'd simply make things better and more interesting.
I'd love to hear your guys' thoughts on this.
