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Author Topic: damage smoke  (Read 3373 times)

theShadow

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damage smoke
« on: June 17, 2011, 03:37:53 PM »

I was playing the coral nebula mission, and noticed that near the end, my ship had some quite large holes in it, and I thought to myself "you know what that needs, smoke pouring out of it, and out of the holes in the other ships as well."

Would the games particle effect system be able to handle something like that? if so, maybe other effects could occur, like particle sparks and such.)
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Avan

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Re: damage smoke
« Reply #1 on: June 17, 2011, 04:43:10 PM »

White it would be prettiful, it wouldn't exactly be kind on most graphics cards (I have an 8800GT, which is... ok, nowadays, and some of my larger battles/missions I cook up can slow it down by a good amount with all the pew-pew action... even too many thrusters on-screen will lag it however).

On an unrelated note, it would mean you're venting atmosphere continuously from those holes, which wouldn't make sense after a large amount of time because either your ship has a robot crew (but then why do you need the atmosphere?), or everyone died of explosive decompression or asphyxiation (but then how is your ship flying?).

Maybe if you had a small amount of smoke following battledamage, representing combustion that can take place while you have atmosphere leaking from parts of the ship that have not been sealed off, but it would fade off after a few seconds. This would also prevent it from being too taxing.

However, this would at any rate be a pretty low priority, being only a visual enhancement.

theShadow

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Re: damage smoke
« Reply #2 on: June 17, 2011, 05:15:49 PM »

perhaps it should wait then, until a graphics options menu is implemented (so it can be turned off, if needed.)
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Dark.Revenant

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Re: damage smoke
« Reply #3 on: June 17, 2011, 05:26:16 PM »

Avan is right about what to do with the smoke.

Honestly, having smoke pour out at first and stop later is good on two fronts:
1. When your ship is damaged at first, it increases the "oh damn it's hurt" factor and builds tension.
2. When the smoke goes away, you're left with a ship that looks half-dead and pathetic.  Once the smoke is gone, it loses the feel of life and action and looks more dead and grizzled.
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Flare

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Re: damage smoke
« Reply #4 on: June 18, 2011, 12:33:02 AM »

On an unrelated note, it would mean you're venting atmosphere continuously from those holes, which wouldn't make sense after a large amount of time because either your ship has a robot crew (but then why do you need the atmosphere?), or everyone died of explosive decompression or asphyxiation (but then how is your ship flying?).

Given the military nature of the ships maybe there isn't, or at least very little, room in the ship that is actually pressurized. I.E. most of the ship is depressurized and most of the crew operate days on end in hardy suits. It would make practical sense in combat I think, given the tremendous amount of energy being exchanged, the air inside of the ship as well as the energy transfers from the hull might cause shockwaves inside the ship that might harm the crew. That is of course, if the crew isn't turned to hamburger on the side of the ship itself from such an impact. It'll also decrease the chance that plumes of plasma erupt in the pathways of the ship as well if the hull is breached, and there would also be no need to worry about the loss of atmosphere as well of course.
Though I imagine living in a space suit for months on end on military duty isn't exactly all that pleasant. Maybe it would be more fitting for a Victorian era style space faring race.
« Last Edit: June 18, 2011, 12:35:59 AM by Flare »
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