Player Features and Ideas Discussion

One thing that I have always wanted to see in Eve online is the ability to target specific subsystems or components of an enemy vessel. The concept is simple, but it has many vast game play changing consequences that will go a long way in improving space combat. I’ve seen some ideas of this already floating around; however, I have not seen any suggestion go into much detail. So here it is:

The Mechanics:

The Subsystems:

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words.

Each ship has 4 components:

1). Main Hull – The main hull represents the big body of a ship. The main hull is already represented in the current game by shields, armor, and hull. Depleting these will result in the ship’s death and massive tears for the owner.

2). Weapons Systems – Weapon systems refers to the offensive capability of a vessel. It includes turrets, remote shield transfers, remote armor reps, and smart bombs but excludes drones. Depleting the health of a ship’s weapon systems “cripples” its turrets or remote repairing capabilities resulting in -50 percent damage/repair cycle output, -50 percent ROF penalty, and -50 percent tracking.

3). Propulsion Systems – Propulsion systems signify the engines and warp drives of a spaceship. Depleting the health of a ship’s propulsion subsystems “cripples” its engines causing a -80 percent max velocity penalty, a -80 percent agility modifier penalty, and a -50 percent max warp velocity penalty.

4). Sensor Arrays – Sensor arrays characterize the electronic and targeting capabilities of a spacecraft. Depleting the health of a ship’s sensor arrays triggers a -80 percent lock range penalty, a +80 percent signal resolution penalty, and a -50 percent sensor strength penalty.

[Note: all values are merely suggestions and are subject to balance changes]

Subsystem Health and Stats:

The targetable subsystems of a ship have relatively low amounts of structure health only. Subsystems rely primarily on a small signature radius as their main defense. Examples of subsystem size could be:

A frigate’s subsystems have a 2m to 5m sig radius.
A destroyer’s subsystems have a 8m to 12m sig radius.
A cruiser’s subsystems have a 20m to 30m sig radius.
A battlecruiser’s subsystems have a 40m to 50m sig radius.
A battleship’s subsystems have a 60m to 75m sig radius.

[Some Notes]: Capital ship subsystems are much bigger but rely more on raw hp for defense. Additionally as a rule of thumb, higher tech lvls have bigger subsystems. A tech II and tech III ship with more expensive and specialized parts are more vulnerable to being crippled than a simpler tech 1 ship.

You cannot increase the hp of subsystems directly through modules; however, you can increase the hp of a certain subsystem through rigs at the expense of another subsystem (for example, +50 percent weapon systems health in exchange for -50 percent sensor array health). A damage control also provides a minor resistance boost to subsystems (about 5 to 10 percent).

Damage Calculation:

Turrets in Eve currently follow the chance to hit formula of:

ChanceToHit = 0.5 ^ ((((Transversal speed/(Range to target * Turret Tracking))*(Turret Signature Resolution / Target Signature Radius))^2) + ((max(0, Range To Target - Turret Optimal Range))/Turret Falloff)^2)

Lower sig radius = less hits = less dps vs subsystems. Likewise with missiles

Damage = Base_Damage * MIN(MIN(Signature Radius/Explosion Radius,1) , (Explosion Velocity /Explosion Radius * Signature/Velocity)^(k * drf)

Less sig radius = less damage = less dps.

Calculation for subsystems damage follows the same pattern for regular damage but with 1 important chance. Let us say that ship A shoots a tachyon laser at ship B’s sensor array. The game calculates damage according to the above formula to determine if the shot hit the ship. If the shot hits, then the game calculates a second time to check if the shot hits the subsystem. We have the following scenarios:

The server calculates that ship A hits ship B but misses the subsystem:
-- The main hull of ship B takes full damage from the laser shot. The subsystem does not take damage.

The server calculates that ship A would hit ship B with a wrecking shot for 500 damage but barely scratches the subsystem for 100 damage:
-- The subsystem takes 100 damage. The main hull of the ship takes damage according to the formula (calculated damage against ship – calculated damage against subsystem). The main hull would, therefore, take 400 damage.

The server calculates (by freakishly rare chance) that ship A would hit ship B with a glancing shot for 150 damage but scores a critical hit on the subsystem for 450 damage:
-- The subsystem takes 300 damage according to the formula (calculated damage against subsystem – calculated damage against ship). The main hull would receive the remaining 150 damage.

Part 2 coming soon: