For the future, how about critical damage effects for hull damage on a vehicle? I'm thinking something like this: 1. Every time a vehicle's hull is damage there's a risk of a FPS effect, such as---decrease steering ratio, decreased top speed, decreased acceleration, decreased braking, decreased turret rotation, weapon mount damaged (increased heat + won't fire for 10 secs), weapon damaged (won't fire), small fire---smoke obscures the display slightly, and ammo explosion (instant fatality). 2. The chance of a critical damage effect would be calculated as a ratio of damage received in the latest hit (or over say a 1 second time slice) versus total hitpoints of the hull. E.g. taking an amount of damage equal to 1/2 of starting hull hitpoints, in a time slice, gives a 50% chance of a critical damage effect. If it passes without damage, then the previous damage doesn't count towards the next roll for critical damage. 3. If there is critical damage then check vs. a table to determine the damage, of course weighted by intensity of the damage. The amount of damage taken in the time slice might be weighed to determine the severity of the form of damage. Bonuses for having a more detailed system of hit detection = type of damage, but that wouldn't really be expected in an freeware game.
Which is why you need more repair pads and engineers! I like this idea. It hinders the great, giant armor rush. Without the ability to instantly negate defense, one needs to take into consideration possible losses in an assault.
No I wanted to reward getting hull hits in. But it was pointed out the hull damage does alter vehicle performance, something that I hadn't realized (I'm assuming that that's true). I'm not versed enough with effects to recommend anything more here, just throwing the idea how for the Dev. I'd find more HUD effects in general, including smoking vehicles, to be fun, however.
Right now that allready happens, if your vehicle's hull is showing bright red then you can barely move. It significantly decreases Speed and Hrosepower of your engine.
This sounds like TF2 style criticals. However I thought crits in TF2 where designed to help a winning player and stop stalemates. That isn't needed in Empires, as stalemates have artillery to solve them.
All engines except for bio engine have a chance of stalling when they get hit. Bio engine almost never stalls. 3 phase will stall if a fly hits it's windshield.
The difference is that TF2 crits have a feedback loop, so that more of them occur. My point with vehicle crits is that they only occur with hull damage, not with armor damage. So even after one vehicle crit, the vehicle might still be repositioned so that a strong armor side faces the enemy.
