Tables and other useful graphics

[71]

I've been debating putting together a guide of advanced design considerations and game mechanics. In preparation for doing so, I've put together some color-coded tables of game-related stats.

I thought I'd share them with everyone now as a handy reference for ship designers or modders. I just ask that you not copy-and-paste them into your own guides in the interim, at least not without my permission.

EDIT: Seems like I'm not going to get around to making a formal guide any time soon. If someone wants to fold these into a guide of their own (or plop the on a wiki) you're welcome to do so. I'd still appreciate you acknowledging my contribution, since it took several hours worth of work to compile all of the data for these.

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Offensive Weapon Stat Table

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=638475462
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Armor Stat Table

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=638478032
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Armor-versus-Weapon Penetration Time.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=638481813
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Module explosion damage table. Sorted by "explodeDmg", the amount of damage a module does to the surrounding modules when it fails catastrophically. I'm not sure if "isExplosive" is really appropriate here, or if it's analogous to "isCannon", but I threw it in to be safe.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=640986292
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Module flammability table. Sorted by fireHP/HP to give a sense of which modules are more prone to bursting into flames. Modules with fireHP = 0 are essentially fireproof to the best of my understanding.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=640985016
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"moveDelay" Table.

In case you can't figure out why your command cooldown is always so darn long.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=642347746
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Ammo-per-Minute Table.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=642349063
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Coal-per-Minute Table.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=642350285
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Speed-versus-Dimensions Table.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=644646980
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Graph of real HP versus portion of a module's border touching another module.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=647517924
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I'll be adding additional items to this post if/when they get produced.

[71]

I'm also open to suggestions/feedback/requests if there are any.

[71]

Added two new tables to the list for flammability and explosiveness.

Based on my own educated guessing, I believe "fireHP" and "explodeHP" to operate in the same general fashion. So long as the actual HP of a module is above its fireHP and explodeHP, they are essentially innert, but taking damage that causes them to fall below this threshold has a chance to cause a fire/explosion. Hence any module with "fireHP" = 0 is essentially fireproof, since a module with less than 0 HP would have broken off of the ship.

I also believe that the "fireHP" or "explodeHP" threshold is an absolute value rather than relative to starting HP, meaning that things which improve the de facto HP of a module (touching several other modules or having keels) also inherently reduce the liklihood of a module catching fire or exploding. The reverse is also true, meaning that modules with tags like "frontOnly" which cannot be fully surrounded by other modules are therefore always more flammable/explode-able than their relative (fireHP : HP) ratio would suggest. This being especially true for Dorsal/Ventral Turrets.

From a practical stand point, I would highly recommend people refrain from putting several high "explodeDmg" modules right next to one another as that's just asking for catastrophic ship failure.

Note: anything not on the explosion table isn't explosive.


http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=640986292

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=640985016

[71]

A few more tables for anyone keeping track.

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http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=642347746

"moveDelay" increases the cooldown between commands. Obviously, some modules increase that time more than others.

In case anyone is confused (size = "w" x "h").

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I like to try to balance my general purpose ships to have at least 5 minutes worth of usability. To make that happen, it certainly helps to know how quickly you're burning through resources and therefore how big your stockpiles should be.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=642349063

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=642350285

[71]

In case anyone hasn't figured it out yet, the speed of a ship is influenced by not only the propulsion to weight ratio, but also the maximum dimensions of a ship.

Here is a table to illustrate that phenomenon for a ship of constant propulsion and (nearly) constant weight.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=644646980

[71]

A big part of ship survivability comes down to maximizing HP. Probably the easiest way to do this in-game is by maximizing how much the modules touch one another.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=647517924

As the graph illustrates, there's a linear increase in effective HP as the portion of occupied border tiles increases. In practice, it takes about 60% border occupancy to achieve a module's nominal HP, although additional occupancy continues to provide extra HP, capping at about 150% HP for full border coverage. Making effective use of this boost for protecting critical systems or reducing the risk of explosions or fires is a big part of good ship design.

Modules with placement restrictions (e.g. "frontOnly" for most weapons), can never achieve full border occupancy and therefore can't make full use of this boost. Indeed, severe placement restrictions, such as for Ventral Turrets, can limit their maximum achieveable HP to only a fraction of the nominal value (about 50% for Ventral Turrets).

There's also a more subtle effect that appears to be the result of the dimensions of the module itself. Modules with a height-to-width ratio closest to unity (i.e. a square), tend to have a slightly higher real HP percentage than more oblong modules with an equal border coverage.

[cataclysm]

this needs to be pinned in the workshop for modders to have a proper guide for balance purposes...

but i'd also like to see some more formula for sometings...

[71]

Well, if someone wants to put them into guide form, they're welcome to do so. I've removed all previous statements to the contrary in the original post.

I don't really have any formulas. I've only got emprical data and what is in the json files. Zarkonnen is presumably the only one with hard coded formulas behind some of this stuff.

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If someone asks really nicely, I might be willing to make my master excel sheet available. It contains 80 - 90% of all of the ModuleType json file contents in tabulated form. It doesn't track everything, like "isCannon", and it's already slightly out of date, but it's probably the closest thing to a 'complete' reference as currently exists.