Re: Galaxy idea - maping (was capturing planets) From: jduffin@pnet51.orb.mn.org (Joshua Duffin) Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1992 20:14:43 +0000 rwallace@unix1.tcd.ie (russell wallace) writes: > >Simplifying the shields calculation: how? > This is something of a thorn in my side: The magic number for shields. I don't like the magic number. Before the existence of the magic number (which is the cube root of 30, of course), a nice hyperbolic graph could be drawn showing the relationship of shield and weapon strength (probability of destruction given a certain weapon strength versus shield strength). With the magic number, it's very difficult to get anything more than a very general idea of how likely you are to "hit;" fifty-fifty when your weapon equals their shield strength, better if higher, worse if lower. I'd like to have more information available there. Also regarding combat, I think it might be nice if larger ships could take more than one hit before dying, or perhaps if a certain strength of gun had to hit in order to kill them, or, to combine those, if it has some number of "damage points" (perhaps equal to mass?) and a weapon does its strength in damage points to the ship each time it hits. Or, perhaps you're just assuming that every gun is deadly enough that if it penetrates the shields, it'll kill everyone instantly. As someone else said, I wouldn't be commenting if I didn't love the game. It's really, really great. UUCP: {crash, kksys}!orbit!pnet51!jduffin | Life is complex. It's made ARPA: crash!orbit!pnet51!jduffin@nosc.mil | up of real and imaginary INET: jduffin@pnet51.orb.mn.org | parts. Referenced By Up