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Shield Systems
13/09/2006
Base Shields
So, what's the secret to a good base? Why, shields ofcourse! Although D3 technically doesn't support shield-systems for robots, it is possible to simulate shields or create the illusion that an object is shielded. Originally, I had intended to develop a unique script that would not only simulate shields, but even have a shield visual effect to complement it. I never went ahead with it though, as it was just something on paper and I couldn't be bothered to do all the work required to meet my exact needs. So instead, I came up with the idea of using Shield Generators for Bases. Apotheosis used a similar idea, where you have to destroy the invidivual power conduits inorder to destroy the final reactor - That final reactor thus lowered the external bases shields, allowing the other base to attack with it's lucifer-esque weapon. Well there isn't any beams in Basewars (they were always a pain to get right) - Thankgod for that! We've had enough of beams for now. Each base has four external shield generators (the green things) - Destroying these will render the base vulnerable, although there may be some more work required if you want to destroy the command tower.
Shields on objects, are essentially just a way of saying "this object/ship has more armour resistance" - Since D3 doesn't use a visual effect for shields on non-player ships. But, I figured we'd call it shields anyway. Each base has a health monitor located in their weapon storage room - This monitor will show the levels of shield remaining in a bar-format for each vital asset. The first row indicates that the shields are active - Once it's blacked out, that means all generators are down.
Player Shields
Playerships in Basewars ofcourse, have shields - Each ship has a "percentange" of resistance to weapons fire. This is always the same no matter the difficulty setting. The weakest is the Horus Interceptor, with only 50% resistance to weapons. That means if a missile does 20 points of damage, then it will be reduced to 10 when hitting. However, if that same missile hits an Isis Bomber, then the damage will just be 2 points - Because it has the highest resistance. NPC ships (bots) have a "base" amount of hitpoints. When playing in hotshot, they have a resistance of 0%. If however you decided to play in Ace or Insane, then the resistance goes up - That's why they are harder to destroy. Going below hotshot though will cause a "penalty" effect to be placed on bots, meaning they have a negative resistance, I.E -25% for Rookie.
Developers hint:
Armor Scalar defines the resistance of a ship in Descent 3. It works in decimal values, so 0.5 is 50%. 1.5 would be a negative of -50%. In Basewars, the Horus has 0.5 (50%), Merc Horus 0.45 (55%), Seth 0.3 (70%) and Isis 0.1 (90%). Each ship get's a unique penalty for it's resistance, the Isis' having been made extremely slow. I made them quite tougher than the default D3 settings because of the long "flying" time in Basewars. You might be unable to reach a refuel/repair area for quite a while. Bots don't have scalars, they just have a set value. Playerships have a set 100 hitpoints (200 maximum).
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