more resistant planetary defenses

[siyoa]

revisiting my old shield_damage_negation and poking around ship_damage.lua again, got me thinking

I know we reference MoO and its sequels quite a lot, hope it doesn't bother devs too much, MoO II had planetary shields that had increased shield_damage_negation compared to ship shields

this change can accomplish that (I top shield_damage_negation at 10 for Aegis (MoO II Class X Shields), Planetary Barrier Shields were negating 20 damage), so SiS planetary Aegis is 20 damage negation

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-- *** Shield damage negation ***
function ShipProperty.shield_damage_negation(ship)
  local max_negation = 0
  for s in systems(ship)
    if (s.health > s.damage) and s.shield_damage_negation
      max_negation=max(max_negation, s.shield_damage_negation)
    end
  end
  if ship.is_planet then max_negation=max_negation*2 end
  return max_negation
end


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function deal_damage(weapon, damage, ship, shield)
  damage = damage - ship.shield_damage_negation


also any beam (direct?) weapon damage to planet was reduced to 50% (if I remember correctly) ... I am not sure about missiles and torpedoes

this will apply 30% reduction of weapon damage to planetary defenses for any weapon (I want to reduce damage after damage negation, just to make sure damage reduction is not too much)

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function deal_damage(weapon, damage, ship, shield)
  damage = damage - ship.shield_damage_negation
  if ship.is_planet then damage=damage*.7 end


this can swings things little too much towards planetary defenses advantage, needs to be tested for balance (we don't have planetary bombs MoO II had), we may need to change that damage reduction to only weapons that are (is_beam,is_kinetic,is_direct, ...) only, i.e.

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if ship.is_planet and weapon.is_direct then damage=damage*.7 end

[PrivateHudson]

Very interesting, thank you, siyoa!

also any beam (direct?) weapon damage to planet was reduced to 50% (if I remember correctly) ... I am not sure about missiles and torpedoes

Beam/gun and torpedo damage was halved, missile's and bomb's wasn't.
Planetary defenses that can stand for themselves feel like significant missing (yet?) element in SiS, especially taking into view general combat focus of the game. It would be interesting to look at SiS where PDs are buffed to the level of Space Empires V: they are cheap, can be loaded into colonizers and transports, and require dedicated fleet detachments with bombs and kamikaze drones to eradicate.

[siyoa]

just a proof of concept, new weapon type planetary_bomb, can only target planets, has properties of torpedo, except it is much heavily armored (i.e. more health) to withstand atmospheric entry and of course does significantly more damage

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define_weapon "Antimatter Bomb" {
  launch_sound = "ANTI_MATTER_MISSILE_LAUNCH",
  motion_sound = "ANTI_MATTER_MISSILE_ENGINE_LOOP",

  tier=3,
  type= "planetary_bomb",
  drawer_type = 'antimatter_torpedo',
  desc = new_desc_object | [=[
    Delivers an heavy load of pure antimatter to target planetary defenses.
   The destructive energies released on impact are immense.
  ]=]..torpedo_munitions,
  damage_fun = dmg_range(40,300),
  speed = 4,
  health=80,
}


plus too many code changes/additions (to list here), to fire the weapon properly, use and show munitions, and so on

I wish I can do graphics and create new weapon image, if anyone if willing to create it, please do so and send me files