FEEDBACK - New Vehicle Explosion

[ghostrider]

Though I think in most cases they are great. I love the new animations and the way planes break apart in the air. But in some instances these explosions are a little out of control...

For instance...take a plane (109e4 works well) run it down the runway and break hard and point the nose down after working up some speed in order to flip it over.

Now wait a few seconds while flipped over and let the engine keep running until i konks out and dies on you. The plane hasn't really taken any damage except for the engine being dead from lack of oil or whatever. Then hit ESC and the plane will blow into a 1000 pieces. Theres really no reason this should happen.

I'm not sure if this happens with any type of kill shot on a plane but i think it would be a little bit silly if you shoot someones pilot but leave the rest of the plane undamaged and when he hits ESC his whole plane blows up.

Is there a way to limit the new explosion animation to more critical damage like a wing blowing off, flaming the fuel lines, igniting the ammo box, etc?

[ghostrider]

just to illustrate my point

oRoTHvChHbs

[DOC]

We created an addition to the system so that if you DESPAWN with critical (ie: your unit has been killed and the shooter has been awarded it's kill) damage ... before the unit dissappears from the battlefield we "hulk it" which is currently preceded by an explosion.

We realize that while this does effectively improve feedback about what you killed over the "silent despawn" that is so common now ... it produces situations it cannot filter from the process easily (such as situatons where this isn't so desirable as you demonstate) ... so we're going to make them catch fire when you despawn with critical kill damage instead of blowing up.

It only happens when you despawn with a unit that is killed before you despawn.

[yokilla]

... it produces situations it cannot filter from the process easily (such as situatons where this isn't so desirable as you demonstate) ... so we're going to make them catch fire when you despawn with critical kill damage instead of blowing up.

It only happens when you despawn with a unit that is killed before you despawn.

But if they're on fire when they despawn it'd be desirable for them to explode. Can the system detect fire and only explode on despawn if fire is present?

[Hinfoos]

We created an addition to the system so that if you DESPAWN with critical (ie: your unit has been killed and the shooter has been awarded it's kill) damage ... before the unit dissappears from the battlefield we "hulk it" which is currently preceded by an explosion.

We realize that while this does effectively improve feedback about what you killed over the "silent despawn" that is so common now ... it produces situations it cannot filter from the process easily (such as situatons where this isn't so desirable as you demonstate) ... so we're going to make them catch fire when you despawn with critical kill damage instead of blowing up.

It only happens when you despawn with a unit that is killed before you despawn.

so if you would atr only the gunner in for example the A-13 or so.. does it blow up afterwards after only 1 bullet at the gunnercrew?

[Hinfoos]

or if you would get plinked very slightly go back to rtb and explode when despawning at airfield?

hmm

[DOC]

The "explosion at despawn" event, as reported here ... is probably a bug. "Explosion at despawn" is coded to happen if you are on fire when you despawn, and have critical damage ... which a fire generally always is.

Our intention is to increase visual feedback (and satisfaction) when you critically damage an opponent and score a kill for that damage. We still have some more work to do on that, but it might not make v1.31 release. Time is running out on us.

So, if you're not on fire, you shouldn't be blowing up on despawn. In the case of aircraft, there is an additional caveat that if you lose a wing you will also blow up on despawn.

TRAC #4055

[GOPHUR]

I think the point of the feature is to

a) Give more feedback that a despawning player has been injured

Make the battlefield more alive because let's face it flaming wrecks falling from the sky and exploding tanks is cool

Love opinions and feedback so we can decide if tweaks are needed.

[denzin]

What DOC described as the goal makes sense to me. Exploding with no fire because you are despawning with critical damage is the thing that is at issue.

Maybe the explosion after losing a wing, with no fire should be changed so you just disappear. Most guys recognize a plane with no wing has suffered critical damage but when it blows up as a result, that is when it doesn't make sense.

If you want to give some easy visual feeback that there has been critical damage to a player and he is despawning as a result, then just have the fire event take place and the plane disappears and a truck/tank leaves a hulk.

[oneskunk]

Any way to test vehicle explosions offline?

[yokilla]

What DOC described as the goal makes sense to me. Exploding with no fire because you are despawning with critical damage is the thing that is at issue.

Maybe the explosion after losing a wing, with no fire should be changed so you just disappear. Most guys recognize a plane with no wing has suffered critical damage but when it blows up as a result, that is when it doesn't make sense.

If you want to give some easy visual feeback that there has been critical damage to a player and he is despawning as a result, then just have the fire event take place and the plane disappears and a truck/tank leaves a hulk.

Losing a wing is plenty of cause for a major explosion. I know the game doesn't model it, but if you've lost a wing you could easily have a small fire on board (out of sight) that causes your ammo or remaining fuel to brew up. I don't think it's lacking in realism. Watch some gun camera footage or listen to some 1st hand accounts. Sometimes they appear to blow for almost no reason. A little smoke or some damage from guns wait a few seconds and all of a sudden they just blow up.

[monsjoex]

I think its a very good feature.

A big problem with the game is that you don't know if something you do has effect, having tanks/planes explode when they desp with a critical hit improve the feedback while keeping a big part of the realism.

[yokilla]

Any way to test vehicle explosions offline?

Yes you can fly upside down. You can fly to the aaa battery (south?) near the default spawns. If they are still there, you can go to the ai atg's near the default spawns. You can drive/fly to any aaa/atg ai in game too by spawning at a town near the line. Choose the unit and facilty you wish to spawn in and click enter world. It's been a while but if I remember correctly you can even spawn in an enemy town.

[mrfancyp]

So if you manage to fly your heavily damaged plane back to a friendly airfield it explodes when despawning?

I apprecaite the idea of making the game more exciting, but this seems a bit like this Simpsons running gag:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADINMjjtHvc&feature=related

Maybe you could make the explosion effect dependant on the time since the critical damage took place, whether there are enemy units around or the altitude of the plane? So if you lose a wing and despawn immediately in the air or when an enemy is nearby the plane explodes, but if your engine overheats and you land 2 minutes later with no enemy nearby you despawn normally.

[Hinfoos]

possible to make a burning hulksinstead of the exploded hulk sometimes?

IMO burning tanks is cooler than exploding ones.

if someone would lose a tanks engine and 2-3+ minutes it explodes..i think if it just begun to burn when despawning would be better?

Edited May 14, 2010 by Hinfoos

[AirSlayr88]

i like the idea of explosions on crit hits, think the plane/tank should flame on despawn if KIA is result, i think that there should be a limit to it though...if i am flying and my engine has no oil it will quit on its own no matter what so i already have limited chance to make it back to Friendly AF. Also i think that flaming 1 of 2 engines on any bomber should have the option to TURN OFF that engine or use a fire extinguisher like they had in them i would love eng ctrls for both not just on/off. i notice when i have a flamed eng in the DB7 it will pop untill the wing comes off but there is no effect it just falls off...when in reality it Blows off from the fuel tanks igniting. just some suggestions

[DOC]

We have a plan to get more variety into this part of the code as we move ahead, but not in time for v1.31 release. So while it might seem somewhat 1 dimensional at first we'll expand on that in v1.32 with some more different results in terms of "despawned and kill awarded" ... we are facing feature/code freeze here now and that's going to prevent further development for this immediate release.