Post by kaeroku on Sept 14, 2021 10:08:44 GMT -5
Most enemy ships, with the possible exception of fanatical zealots and scoundrels like pirates, smugglers, and xeno, should not be willing to sacrifice their basic crew members at the expense of dedicated combat crew when boarded.
I realize there is already a surrender mechanic if the crew mutinies or morale drops sufficiently, but this is currently not representative of when the battle is already clearly lost. Many enemy crew members are dying fighting a hopeless cause, often because their captain is sitting in the bridge alone after all his officers die and letting them fight when the battle is clearly hopeless. Again, for non-pirate, non-xeno and non-smuggler ships, this makes little sense. A military ship that's simply patrolling has no reason to fight to the death to stop a pirate who they, hypothetically speaking, may be able to return to intercept with greater force another day.
To this end I'd suggest the following changes:
a) Combat classes should be prioritized when enemy ships select which crew to send against you in combat. Wing classes (given that they're generally designed for boarding the opponent ship) should be secondary, and officers tertiary. After that, when the enemy ship lacks a full complement of combat crew to field vs boarding, they should consider surrendering rather than going down with all hands. Essentially, there should be a large morale penalty added to each remaining crew member each time a ship is boarded when the ship lacks competent combat crew. Something along the lines of, if they can field 4 competent combat crew (defined by combat + wing classes) no penalty. -5 morale to everyone for each combat crew they cannot field. Another -10 each for every officer missing from the roster out of the maximum.
b) Whatever the mutiny threshold *in combat* is ought to scale with dead crew. As they see their fellows dying around them, the crew should be more inclined to give up their captain to end the combat for the sake of their own lives. This should be independent from out of combat mutiny in the sense that, while their morale may remain low, the "extra bonus" mutiny modifier shouldn't persist once their risk of dying directly in combat is over.
c) Average ship morale in combat should account for dead crew members. There has been discussion in the modding discord about attempting to make morale relevant in ship combat, and the major limiting factor right now is that in ship combat, average morale only accounts for living crew members. If the average included zeroes for everyone who died, this mechanic would likely begin working as intended without the requirement for further modification (so it doesn't necessarily need to go into the mod kit at all, just change how it is calculated.) Obviously xeno remain immune to this, which is fine.
The expected outcomes of these changes:
a1) Fewer total boarding combats will be required for ship surrender or mutiny.
a2) More non-combat crew would be available to press-gang, with officers and combat crew less likely to ever show up here when winning vs boarding
a3) More sensical AI behavior in response to being boarded: they try to stop you with the best they have, and if they can't, they're more likely to give up.
a4) Possible issues with bounty hunters and such not being persistent enough. May need tweaked to ensure mission & vignette specific combats follow intended behavior.
b1) More frequent non-destruction combat outcomes whether boarding or not.
b2) Morale-based ship combat talents may become relevant in use by the player for the first time.
b3) Player ships may experience more frequent combat mutiny when taking hard fights. I'd suggest this follow a similar mechanic as imprisonment in the game, rather than execution, though perhaps this ought to differ by difficulty level. Admittedly I'm not sure how it works now, never had my own ship mutiny in combat. (Is this possible?)
c1) Average crew morale starts to become relevant in ship combat. (It's currently accounted for, but not currently implemented in a way which is meaningful.)
c2) We will see something akin to "cascading morale damage" which seems to appropriately mirror the way ship energy and physical damage currently work for components and crew.
c3) Morale-based ship combat strategies may emerge.
Anyway, I know you guys are working on a lot of things. These are just my thoughts. Thanks for all the great stuff you've already been doing!
I realize there is already a surrender mechanic if the crew mutinies or morale drops sufficiently, but this is currently not representative of when the battle is already clearly lost. Many enemy crew members are dying fighting a hopeless cause, often because their captain is sitting in the bridge alone after all his officers die and letting them fight when the battle is clearly hopeless. Again, for non-pirate, non-xeno and non-smuggler ships, this makes little sense. A military ship that's simply patrolling has no reason to fight to the death to stop a pirate who they, hypothetically speaking, may be able to return to intercept with greater force another day.
To this end I'd suggest the following changes:
a) Combat classes should be prioritized when enemy ships select which crew to send against you in combat. Wing classes (given that they're generally designed for boarding the opponent ship) should be secondary, and officers tertiary. After that, when the enemy ship lacks a full complement of combat crew to field vs boarding, they should consider surrendering rather than going down with all hands. Essentially, there should be a large morale penalty added to each remaining crew member each time a ship is boarded when the ship lacks competent combat crew. Something along the lines of, if they can field 4 competent combat crew (defined by combat + wing classes) no penalty. -5 morale to everyone for each combat crew they cannot field. Another -10 each for every officer missing from the roster out of the maximum.
b) Whatever the mutiny threshold *in combat* is ought to scale with dead crew. As they see their fellows dying around them, the crew should be more inclined to give up their captain to end the combat for the sake of their own lives. This should be independent from out of combat mutiny in the sense that, while their morale may remain low, the "extra bonus" mutiny modifier shouldn't persist once their risk of dying directly in combat is over.
c) Average ship morale in combat should account for dead crew members. There has been discussion in the modding discord about attempting to make morale relevant in ship combat, and the major limiting factor right now is that in ship combat, average morale only accounts for living crew members. If the average included zeroes for everyone who died, this mechanic would likely begin working as intended without the requirement for further modification (so it doesn't necessarily need to go into the mod kit at all, just change how it is calculated.) Obviously xeno remain immune to this, which is fine.
The expected outcomes of these changes:
a1) Fewer total boarding combats will be required for ship surrender or mutiny.
a2) More non-combat crew would be available to press-gang, with officers and combat crew less likely to ever show up here when winning vs boarding
a3) More sensical AI behavior in response to being boarded: they try to stop you with the best they have, and if they can't, they're more likely to give up.
a4) Possible issues with bounty hunters and such not being persistent enough. May need tweaked to ensure mission & vignette specific combats follow intended behavior.
b1) More frequent non-destruction combat outcomes whether boarding or not.
b2) Morale-based ship combat talents may become relevant in use by the player for the first time.
b3) Player ships may experience more frequent combat mutiny when taking hard fights. I'd suggest this follow a similar mechanic as imprisonment in the game, rather than execution, though perhaps this ought to differ by difficulty level. Admittedly I'm not sure how it works now, never had my own ship mutiny in combat. (Is this possible?)
c1) Average crew morale starts to become relevant in ship combat. (It's currently accounted for, but not currently implemented in a way which is meaningful.)
c2) We will see something akin to "cascading morale damage" which seems to appropriately mirror the way ship energy and physical damage currently work for components and crew.
c3) Morale-based ship combat strategies may emerge.
Anyway, I know you guys are working on a lot of things. These are just my thoughts. Thanks for all the great stuff you've already been doing!
