Warning! Due to its length and comprehensiveness, this is a multi-topic discussion. Read the “Prologue” before entering the thick of the post, and take breaks between each of the three posts. I suggest listening to music while reading, in order to keep stimulated.
I highly recommend reading all of the parts to The Turned, in order, from top-to-bottom.
You are currently on part 2 of 3.
Mega-post Prologue
PART 2 OF 3 of this multi-topic post covers damage types, armor types, and health types. These conceptualizations are for mostly-standardized handlings of combat interactions.
Many of the non-physical damage/armor types focus on standardized “status effects”, rather than actually dealing damage to a player’s health bar.
Reading Goals
Consider the following for part 2 of 3:
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How do you feel about breaking up physical damage (both melee and ranged) into three primary types?
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Is a shift towards more standardized “elemental”-like damages acceptable for a post-apocalyptic survival game?
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How do you feel about clothing, Turned, and environmental hazards factoring into damage and armor types, especially as a way to improve the game’s PvE?
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What’s your opinion on the “health” types mentioned at the end?
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Very few games handle damage with systems like these. Do you feel Unturned II should be one of the games that attempts taking this stride for the genre, or does it unnecessarily convolute the game?
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Aside from items mentioning damage types and armor types they deal or provide, how else would you keep this system intuitive for players?
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While most items players interact with would only deal physical damage, would you support a variety of “sillier” items dealing the non-physical damage types?
Damage Types
U3 has a few different damage types. U4 should expand on them, and make them more relevant to other aspects of gameplay than with how U3 handles them.
Some damage sources may inflict multiple damage types at the same time, or may have alternate attacks that deal an entirely different type of damage.
- e.g., an axe does both slash and impact damage
- e.g., a halberd has a slash-based “normal” attack and a puncture-based “heavy” attack
Each damage type has at least one special trait or effect, but the source of that damage might be too weak to actually meet any given threshold to activate those traits or effects.
The examples used for weapons are just examples. I’m not implying that the game should have whips, and I’m not implying that I know enough about bullets to say hollow-point actually make sense as slash damage.
Additionally, while these are suggestions for consistency across the various damage sources, I support letting any damage source achieve any effect proc if the game/mod designer so desired.
Physical Damage
[WHAT] – Rather than just one physical damage type like in predecessors, ranged and melee weapons alike are split up between three.
Melee weapons specifically are broadly defined as “pointed” (puncture damage), “edged” (slash damage), and “trauma” (impact damage) weapons.
[SOURCES] – Many enemies (e.g., Turned, bandits, animals), weapons (e.g., sledgehammers, spear guns, bullets), and environmental hazards (e.g., falling) produce these damage types.
[RESISTING] – To what extent this damage harms the player (or any other entity) can be mitigated by physical armor.
However, some physical damage is more effective against armor than others. While slash is nearly useless, puncture retains some usefulness, and impact deals substantial damage as it disregards most of the armor.
Slash Damage
“Also referred to as “bladed damage”, slash damage is designed to be effective against unarmored targets.”
[WHAT] – Slash damage is effective at cutting and causing exsanguination injuries. Raiders, players, and animals hit with edged weapons are prone to heavy bleeding. Many Turned variants are more susceptible to slash damage than other damage types.
Many edged weapons are lightweight and quick to swing, and are also relatively stamina-cheap per swing but costly when attacking in a flurry.
[SOURCES] – Edged weapons tend to cause slash damage.
[RESISTING] – The lethality of slash damage is easily countered by physical armor.
Puncture Damage
“Also referred to as “piercing damage”, puncture damage bridges the gap between slash and impact.”
[WHAT] – Puncture damage is effective at delivering a disruptive blow to a target, while also potentially causing minor bleeding. Raiders and players hit by pointed weapons are prone to minor bleeding. Some animals and Turned variants are susceptible to being temporarily stunned when being hit with puncture damage.
[SOURCES] – Pointed weapons are typically longer in range than alternatives, and are quite stamina efficient although follow-up attacks can be slow.
[RESISTING] – Puncture damage retains some effectiveness against physical armor.
Impact Damage
“More often suggested as “blunt damage”, impact damage relies on the weight and force going into a swing more than anything else.”
[WHAT] – Impact damage is effective at knocking prone humanoid Turned, knocking back less-humanoid Turned, and stunning various animals and bigger Turned. Against raiders and players, it is likely to cause bone breakage and similar debuff status effects.
Many blunt weapons cost more stamina to use than alternatives, and many are slower to swing than other weapons.
[SOURCES] – Blunt objects tend to deal impact damage, but not all impact damage sources are inherently “blunt” items.
[RESISTING] – Impact damage tends to retain its effectiveness (or lack thereof) regardless of physical armor.
Immunity Damage
[WHAT] – Immunity damage detracts from a player’s immunity status bar. Immunity damage is split up between three sub-types, which function very similarly to U3.
[SOURCES] – Damage can be achieved through physical contact (viral) with a hazardous entity, through breathing noxious gas (spore), or by both at the same time (radiation).
[RESISTING] – Resisting immunity damage is achieved in different ways depending on the sub-type. However, all immunity damage can be reduced through certain medicinal items that provide temporary status buffs.
Viral Damage
Viral damage is dealt physically. Many zombie and Fastigium enemies deal viral damage when attacking, in addition to physical damage types.
This damage can be reduced, or entirely prevented, by having “Biohazard Protection” clothing covered the body part that was hit.
Spore Damage
Spore damage is dealt through respiration. Fastigium-heavy areas are often surrounded by a zone of spores akin to U3’s deadzones.
This damage can be avoided by having a face mask with “Particulate Protection”. No other clothing is required to avoid spore damage, although the face mask will eventually need replacing.
Radiation Damage
Radiation damage is dealt while a player is exposed in an area with high levels of radiation. These “areas” are referred to as “deadzones”, and function like a deadlier version of U3’s deadzones.
This damage is avoidable while wearing a full suit of “Biohazard Protection” clothing, with a proper breathing apparatus that has “Particulate Protection” too.
Blast Damage
Blast “damage” would be, most commonly, a player-initiated hazard. Be it through vehicles, gas pumps, and explosive barrels—or through claymores, landmines, and other traps. Some enemies may explode and deal blast damage in the process too.
Blast “damage” does not necessarily cover damage to one’s health bar, however. Instead, it’s special trait is the ability to knock players back, and to knock players down.
- This makes it similar to how impact physical damage works, but blast damage also applies to players/bandits and is far stronger in the knockback/knockdown effect.
Acidic Damage
[WHAT] – Acidic damage is most commonly presented through acid puddles, and acid is effective at corroding item quality. Anything that comes into contact with acidic damage sources will lose quality; this includes:
- Items directly dropped into acid puddles.
- Items on corpses left in acid puddles.
- Clothing worn while in acid puddles.
- Vehicle tires, when vehicles drive through acid.
[SOURCES] – Acidic damage is most common as a area-of-effect world hazard, and can be encountered at various upper-end locations. Certain Turned enemies (e.g., Acid Spitter Zombie, Volatile Acid Zombie) also produce acid puddles.
[RESISTING] – Some items (e.g., biohazard suits) may give other items an exception at the cost of taking the brunt of it, or are themselves exceptions to the damage effect.
Temperature (Elemental) Damage
Not necessarily “temperature”, just an aspect of it. More accurately describe as fire/ice damage.
Thermal Damage
[WHAT] – Thermal damage is effective against exposed flesh, and this is often true against Turned. When objects or entities are hit with thermal damage, they can catch fire.
When players and bandits are hit with thermal damage, their body temperature increases which causes quicker dehydration. Thermal damage can also inflict burns, which has the effect of worsening stamina regeneration.
[SOURCES] – Blowtorches, flamethrowers, Molotov cocktails, and other similar items cause thermal damage. Lingering flames, such as from objects caught on fire or burning gas spills, also cause thermal damage.
[RESISTING] – A variety of fireproof clothing can provide a resistance or immunity to thermal damage.
Cold Damage
[WHAT] – Cold damage is effective against exposed flesh, and this is often true against Turned. When objects or entities are hit with cold damage, they are aesthetically covered in frost.
When any living creature is hit cold damage, their movement is slowed. When players and bandits are hit with thermal damage, their body temperature decreases which causes a higher metabolism. Cold damage can also inflict frostbite, which has the effect of worsening stamina regeneration.
[SOURCES] – It is most prominent as an environmental hazard, where cold weather (e.g., snowing) can lead to players taking cold damage. Some Turned may also utilize this damage type (e.g., Glaciopaths, Neospagetos).
[RESISTING] – Most clothing provides at least some protection against cold damage, and a few items provide great resistance or even immunity. Heatpacks are a consumable that also help to raise a player’s body temperature.
Voltaic Damage
The two “voltaic” damage types often go hand-in-hand, but are separated as to providing different functionality depending on what it’s being used against.
Electrical Damage
[WHAT] – Electrical damage is effective at disrupting players, who suffer from visual artifacts and minor screen shaking while under the influence of the damage. The majority of electrical damage tends to be through a weak continuous stream, rather than being primarily based on the initial impact.
[SOURCES] – Certain locations may feature electrical damage as part of a world hazard due to faulty machines, and when electrical equipment used for player-built bases is damaged they may also function as an electrical damage source. Some base defenses, and certain Turned anomalies (e.g., Technopath) are designed to inflict electrical damage.
[RESISTING] – Some items may provide a resistance or immunity or electrical damage. EMP damage is typically effective at disabling the ability for something to cause electrical damage.
EMP Damage
[WHAT] – EMP damage is effective at disrupting machines. EMP damage has the potential to render active electronics temporarily nonfunctional, and to discharge energy reserves.
[SOURCES] – While some items that are intended to produce electrical damage may also produce a little bit of EMP damage, very few items produce large amounts of EMP damage.
[DISCHARGE MECHANIC] – EMP damage works by adding to a “Discharge” counter that every electronic item or placeable has, and is threshold-based.
When an electronic receives EMP damage, the Discharge Counter. EMP damage on the Discharge Counter stacks when there are multiple EMP damage sources. For every EMP device that goes off, the electronic suffers a very minor energy discharge.
The Discharge Counter is always decreasing towards 0. Every electronic has a unique “threshold” on this counter. When the EMP damages is at or above this threshold, it will be “EMP’d”. When something is EMP’d, it is rendered nonfunctional until the EMP damage goes beneath the threshold again. The electronic also suffers a major energy discharge.
For example:
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An industrial generator has a Discharge threshold of 325.
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An EMP device deals 200 EMP damage.
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A player throws an EMP device at the industrial generator, adding 200 EMP damage to the counter which begins counting down towards 0. The damage does not hit the threshold of 350, so the device only suffers a minor energy discharge and is otherwise perfectly operational.
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A player throws a second EMP device 2 seconds later. During this time the counter went from 200 to 180. After the second device goes off, the counter goes from 180 to 380 and continues counting down. However, 380 is above the generator’s threshold so a major energy discharge occurs and the device is shut offline. The discharge causes a brief bit of electrical damage.
When a device is EMP’d, it does not automatically reboot even after the damage goes beneath the threshold. Instead, some items may help with maintaining your electronic systems.
[RESISTING] – Only active electronics can be EMP’d, so it is best to deactivate electronics when they are not needed.
Some electrical devices can be built to mitigate the effects of EMPs. These devices could remove the “major discharge” side-effect of a device being EMP’d, or be used to automatically reboot EMP’d systems after the damage is lower than the threshold.
Any electronic device could the Discharge Counter as information for when to send signals. This would allow for players to build bases that automatically start backup generators, initiate previously inactive traps, or automatically shut down devices in an attempt to avoid discharges.
Armor Types
Except for “physical armor”, these are not necessarily big game mechanics. At least, they’re not any more unique than how U3 has “armor types” (physical, fireproof, waterproof, and radiation-proof).
However, for most of them the terms provide an easy explanation for people in-game, and give a simple idea as to what they can expect out of it (consistency) rather than each “acid-proof” item functioning differently.
A couple of traits you might expect to be attached to an armor type are better off as their own ability stat (e.g., moving faster when swimming underwater should not be a part of the “waterproof” armor type).
A majority of the armor types are relevant to the Turned, although some additional ones are mentioned too. Some medicinal items may provide similar status buffs to the player, but are not mentioned below.
Physical Armor
The main type of armor is physical armor, which provides resistances to raw damage. It is provided by clothing, and most effective at reducing the lethality of slash damage.
E.g., shirts, pants, exosuits, vests, helmets, ballistic face masks, most things that you can wear over your body.
Pressure Resistant
Pressure Resistant armor provides a resistance to shockwaves. Gameplay-wise, this primarily serves to prevent knockback/knockdown effects from occurring.
This mainly serves as a counter to Blast damage, and is something that would be implemented on a bomb suit. However, crazier content (either official or custom) could also use this for something like anti-falling boots.
E.g., bomb (EOD) suits, exosuits.
Biohazard Protection
Biohazard Protection is an armor type meant to negate the effects of Acidic damage and Viral damage, and is partly responsible for countering Radiation damage.
While it is optimal to wear a full suit of Biohazard Protection, the effects of the damage it counters is primarily activated based on the specific point of contact. As such, many players could get away with just wearing Biohazard Protection pants if they wanted to run through a puddle of acid (assuming the puddle is quite shallow).
E.g., hazmat suits.
Particulate Protection
Particulate Protection counters the effects of Spore damage, and is partly responsible for countering Radiation damage.
Although this armor type primarily applies to filtration headgear, in order to properly counter Radiation damage a full set of both Biohazard Protection and Particulate Protection is advised.
E.g., hazmat mask, SCBA mask, gas mask, respirator, dust mask.
Fireproof
Fireproof armor negates the effects of Thermal damage, such as burning and catching fire.
E.g., bunker/turnout gear (firefighter clothing), hazmat suits, fire proximity suits, rubber boots, leather firefighting gloves.
Insulated
Insulated clothing retains heat. When players are wearing such armor, their body temperature tends to stay at a reasonable level and not lower itself as quickly as it normally would in harsher conditions.
Insulated clothing is also resistant to Electrical damage. Due to the insulation, it is much harder to be shocked.
E.g., winter clothing, polar arctic clothing, ski clothing.
Heated
Heated clothing creates its own heat, unlike Insulated clothing that relies on retaining it. A player’s body temperature is capable of rising to a stable level even if the initial environment could not normally allow for it.
If players or their items are wet and waterlogged, Heated clothing will quickly resolve this. However, heated clothing also makes players more obvious when viewed through heat vision optics.
Waterproof
Waterproof clothing keeps the clothing’s contents relatively unaffected while the player is submerged in water.
While some clothing may provide stat bonuses while swimming or wading through water, these bonuses are not the result of an item being waterproof. However, many of these items are waterproof irregardless.
While some clothing (e.g., wet shoes) may provide stat bonuses while swimming or wading through water, not all of such items are considered waterproof. Likewise, not all waterproof clothing items provide bonuses to swimming or submerging yourself.
E.g., scuba equipment, nautical helmet
Rainproof
Rainproof is a weaker version of the Waterproof armor type. Rather than protecting contents submerged in water, it only protects contents in light water such as while exploring in the rain or wading through puddles and shallow marshes.
Some items, such as umbrellas, can provide a similar effect.
E.g., rain coats, waterproof rubber boots, waterproof PPE
Health Types
If the Health system was to be expanded also, it could be handled in one of two ways.
While the game does not need to expand on the complexity of Health, it does open up various modding opportunities and simplifies the concept of providing certain enemies specific traits. Additionally, it can be used as a tool for balancing.
Method One
Individual entities have specific overrides for unique handlings damage.
All enemies use the same “type” of health, but individual enemies can have different traits assigned to them so that one may be immune to thermal damage while the other takes reduced impact damage.
Method Two
Individual types of health that can be applied across multiple entities
“Health” is a broad category. The traditional health bar, that is, one without any special benefits or negatives, is just the “Flesh” health type. Then, you have other health types that provide innate armor even without wearing clothing, or provide specific damage type immunities.
Other health types that could include something like “Hide”, which could have an innate armor value so that something like Puncture damage is more effective than Slash damage. Another health type could have a negative multiplier for the “Fireproof” armor type, and instead take double the amount of damage.
More discussions:
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