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pioneerspacesim / pioneer

A game of lonely space adventure
https://pioneerspacesim.net
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Shields affect collisions #240

Closed Azimech closed 11 years ago

Azimech commented 13 years ago

Currently hull damage only appears once the shield has been depleted. An electromagnetic shield should not protect against kinetic energy above a certain level (ground (object) collisions or spaceship collisions).

s20dan commented 13 years ago

Whats wrong with how it is now? I like the idea of the shields being an impenetrable barrier that must first be bought down in order to incure damage. It may be a little simple but it is the staple diet of pretty much every sci-fi franchise/show/game. But each unto their own, as both methods can easily be explained by science.

Azimech commented 13 years ago

Ehm ... how about this?

http://youtu.be/poB74Lcwv80

s20dan commented 13 years ago

DS9 Graphix!! :D Good point though, I think startrek just uses whichever method seems best at the time, as I'm quite sure I remember episodes where shuttles and smaller ships had glanced off the ships shields.

I would have said perhaps in the clip their shields are down, but IIRC the dominion weapons pass through their shields in that encounter, so surely shields would still be buffed ? Trek logic is hard to understand ;)

robn commented 13 years ago

I agree with @s20dan in that I like the idea of shields being a kind of "second skin" that must be compromised before real damage can be taken.

That said, the way we have it right now is somewhat inconsistent. The shield is a sphere around the ship but it clearly can be penetrated legitimately by ground objects like landing pads. Why should that be allowed to happen yet low-speed collisions with other buildings cause no damage?

The way out of this might simply be a rendering change. Rather than showing the shield as sphere with the ship's bounding radius, we could instead display the collision mesh with some transparency and perhaps little electrical effects or whatever. It would appear tightly wrapped around the ship's hull. I doubt it'll be that simple; there will be some hacks involved and some thought will have to be given to add-on models like the scanner dish. Its a starting point though.

Luomu commented 11 years ago

Closing: this is more discussion than something actionable