Will players be able to mix and match different armor pieces, or will they simply come as one item?asked by Vakarian
TL;DRShip armor details are still being worked out for the damage update; they're exploring region-specific armor and describe intrinsic hull armor plus more specialized additive armor, not yet implemented.
So, armour for ships is still something that we're getting the exact details worked out for the physically based damage update and we're actually exploring both of these options to see what is going to be the best option. We're going to try and make it something that you can have be more region-specific to your ship. So, if you really want to armour up the nose or armour up the belly of your ship if you're flying a bomber... we want that to be there. It'll just be... how much can we get worked out while still keeping that damage calculation efficient when there's 50 guns, 60 guns, however much in an instance of combat and everyone's just shooting at each other like crazy.
Yeah, the longstanding notion has been that basically there's two kinds of armour. There's armour that is intrinsic to your hull because ultimately that's what your hull is - it's armour wrapped around your ship - because it's certainly not doing anything else. That's what it is there for, for the health of your ship. And if you swap out your armour item you are basically getting the general structure refitted or reinforced in the internal workings. Then there is also an additive armour which we haven't gone quite as far with in terms of implementing it. We've been focusing on the interior stuff first. But the additive armour is always going to be much more specialized - like, this armour is specifically against explosive rounds or this armour is specifically against energy weapons and will be visibly so.
Something else that we were sort of exploring yesterday... the idea where you have an armour where it's a really high value of armour but as you take fire, the rate that decays is much faster than the normal. So that for especially the Vanguard which is the example we were using when we were thinking of this... yeah, you have that great armour on your first pass. If you have to turn around for a second pass there may be problems.
Yeah, so we can tune towards attrition...
Or longevity...
Or one pass engagements, yeah. Armour is coming along quite nicely. So, it will be cool to get that whole system pushed out.
Yeah, it's going to be a great update when we get it all set.