How Does Damage Work ?

[RLS0812]

It seems like that my buildings and ships receive damage to random spots.
Makes having Hulls and Hardpoints worthless since they do not protect anything.

[Renisia]

Putting armour at the edges of your ships won't protect the modules that are "inside" the borders of the armour. Armour only protects the spot of the module it is applied to (putting steel armour on the right half of a cannon module only protects the right half). Enemy shots can hit any part of your ship, it can hit the middle parts of your ship without ever damaging the front part.

[cataclysm]

Originally posted by Renisia:

Putting armour at the edges of your ships won't protect the modules that are "inside" the borders of the armour. Armour only protects the spot of the module it is applied to (putting steel armour on the right half of a cannon module only protects the right half). Enemy shots can hit any part of your ship, it can hit the middle parts of your ship without ever damaging the front part.

it does however still pay off to focus on the edges with armour as modules in the center of your ship can't be destroyed(shot off) unless being at the edge.

also more ship means that enemies have to hit more of it, having empty space or alternative routes still have use, altough not in the way you are used to.

things like keels help for other problems like ship being a glass cannon.

[Tusky McMammoth]

In builder mode, make sure you turn on the view that shows how much health different parts have (there's a button in the top right, iirc, that lets you toggle these special views). It's really enlightening, and lets you see how neighboring structures affect health. Note that armor isn't part of this view at all, I think it's a separate mechanic.

But yeah, as far as the game goes, your whole ship is fair game to be shot at, gunfire doesn't start hitting at the front and drill its way inward. I'm not sure if there's a bias to hitting stuff that's nearer vs further (e.g. if your propellor on the far side from the enemy is ANY less likely to get hit than your machinegun on the near side to the enemy), but you should consider your whole ship a target.

[Renisia]

As for the bias, i remember reading from somewhere (i dont remember the source) that enemies wont waste ammo on thick armor with their small guns. So heavier weapons tend to shoot at thicker armor.

[Doctor Psyringe]

Not sure if that's a thing but adding a single Wooden Armor could exploit the entire AI in that case.

[cataclysm]

Originally posted by Doctor Psyringe:

Not sure if that's a thing but adding a single Wooden Armor could exploit the entire AI in that case.

no, heavy weapons will still shoot at "random" parts of the enemy, while lighter caliber weapons will only shoot weak parts.

i say random, but i think that if gunners can see crusial exposed parts their shots tend to gravitate towards those.

[Renisia]

By theory i think it's possible to exploit the ai by adding unimportant corridors and giving it heavy armor, diverting heavy fire from the vital parts of the ship. Haven't tried it myself.

[SmokeDragon]

imho the ai should target like this: highest score = most valuable target

>>> highest >>>
(lowest hp) 6
>
(effective vs armour type) 5
>
(no armour & exposed crew/troops) 4
>
(module cost) 3
>
(slowest reload module) 2
>
(edge of ship) 1
<<< lowest <<<

~=~

>>> highest >>>
(explosive components / lift-generators / highest damage weapon module) 6
>
(command / engines / aim increasing component / repair ) 4
>
(middle of longest part of ship / medical) 2
<<< lowest <<<

[cataclysm]

belive it or not but the edge of a ship can be equally importand as something in the middle and if the middle modules are disabled, even more so...

modules in the middle will not explode once they reach 0 hp(or are just so sturdy that they generally don't get destroyed in prolonged combat) but once the edge goes so do you lose the adjacancy bonuses for hp and then you may get a chain reaction where 90% of your ships is gone after that breaks down. this the primary reason why the old meta of struts was so good.

[SmokeDragon]

the edge of a ship that has low hp and the right armour type would by this system be a higher priority target then the most expensive and highest damage gun.. so i agree with you..

[Kanjejou]

rifle will always try or to shot weak armor to no waste shot or shoot on a square with broken armor, if the module behind is not destroyed

[Ernst Cornell]

as far as i have played placing armor of varying thickness DO affect where the AI aims.

firstly, the AI only shoots where it can penetrate, so that's why supply modules are often the first thing to die in heavily armored ships (they always can be "penned" unlike internal modules).

also that's why in those ship the enemy rifle fire tend to be concentrated where the armor is already blown (because there is no longer armor values there)

Originally posted by let_and_let_be:

imho the ai should target like this: highest score = most valuable target

>>> highest >>>
(lowest hp) 6
>
(effective vs armour type) 5
>
(no armour & exposed crew/troops) 4
>
(module cost) 3
>
(slowest reload module) 2
>
(edge of ship) 1
<<< lowest <<<

~=~

>>> highest >>>
(explosive components / lift-generators / highest damage weapon module) 6
>
(command / engines / aim increasing component / repair ) 4
>
(middle of longest part of ship / medical) 2
<<< lowest <<<

as far as i've seen this is indeed very close to how the AI priorizes.
1st the weapons and explosive parts
2nd lift, propulsion and command
3rd everything else.

only when it's beyond the penetration capabilities it shot elsewhere.

Originally posted by cataclysm:

belive it or not but the edge of a ship can be equally importand as something in the middle and if the middle modules are disabled, even more so...

modules in the middle will not explode once they reach 0 hp(or are just so sturdy that they generally don't get destroyed in prolonged combat) but once the edge goes so do you lose the adjacancy bonuses for hp and then you may get a chain reaction where 90% of your ships is gone after that breaks down. this the primary reason why the old meta of struts was so good.

also this "structural" bonus, which modules get by being surrounded by more modules, is not the same for all the modules, for example balloons and struts give lesser bonuses than internal modules and decks.

all this makes armor placement and even module placement very important and allow sometimes to "game" the AI shooting behavior and utilizing real world theories like the All-or-nothing british armor schemes