Enemies visible damage Yes or No (Health Bars)?

[Destraex]

that is not to say though that the finished interface will not have a damage indicator.

[Steve]

I rather not see health bars for realism.

[Vivoune]

No health bar, but we have to be able to assess the ennemy's ship damage by looking at it, so damage graphic effects has to be implemented first.

[Saintduiex]

See how close the gun ports are to the water, holes in the sails

No health bar, but we have to be able to assess the ennemy's ship damage by looking at it, so damage graphic effects has to be implemented first.

You can do that now by looking at how close the gun ports are to the water, holes in the sails, listing. Probably not much more or less than what you might have been able to see back then from your quarterdeck.

[Captain Black]

Could you not perhaps have it so all details about friendly and enemy units are displayed in a Telescope, sort of like this:

 

That way player could hide their hud but still be able to determine strength of their enemy, and current level of effectiveness, the only visible things I'd need to see then are the aiming icons, but even then they can be used via this method also, that way you have a nice clear view of your game for those who love realism and immersion, and still be able to gather proper information.

[Cannonball]

Here is my response to this. If you remove the enemies damage indicator then I would like to see more detail in the damage model. Gaping holes in the hull, rigging dangling in the wind. As it stands right now I tell if a ship is done for by how low it rides. In closing I am okay with removal of the damage indicator I would like to see better damage models.

 

Great insight guys.

 

-Cannonball

[Henry d'Esterre Darby]

Could you not perhaps have it so all details about friendly and enemy units are displayed in a Telescope, sort of like this:

 

That way player could hide their hud but still be able to determine strength of their enemy, and current level of effectiveness, the only visible things I'd need to see then are the aiming icons, but even then they can be used via this method also, that way you have a nice clear view of your game for those who love realism and immersion, and still be able to gather proper information.

 

This was suggested, but I'm not a big fan only because the Captain himself didn't need to go stare at the ship to receive a status report.  He had officers that would tell him those kinds of things without him having to narrow his focus down to a scope.

[Reki]

lolpoll. Ofc there should be health-bars.

[Robert Danforth]

lolpoll. Ofc there should be health-bars.

 

Well, 116 people (so far) disagree with you.

 

A justification of why you believe so would be helpful.

[Reki]

Well, 116 people (so far) disagree with you.

 

A justification of why you believe so would be helpful.

This case is sample of why you shouldn't listen comunity all time. It even doesn't need justification, trust me. Just don't brake the game and leave health bars as they is. It is MMO game, not simulator. Ppl you make to much polls. Really. To much noses in those thing that works just fine. It is destruction way, not create.

[Robert Danforth]

So your justification is "it's a game" which is fine, but it can be a game without enemy health bars too.

 

Frankly, the health bars now don't tell me much other than "they don't have armor". I can tell they're damaged by the giant holes on the hull and sails, and the way they list, and really I don't care if the ship has armor or not; it's my enemy and I'm going to keep shooting it until is at the bottom of the sea.

[BrutishVulgarian]

Like old time sailors, MMO players like what they are used to and MMO players are used to health bars. I don't think they can conceive of high quality graphics conveying useful information.

[lolhahaha]

Maybe the so called health bars can just be color codes, like green for 100% and yellow, orange, red, or whatever for lower levels and maybe its possible that the accuracy of these types of references will depend on the quality of crew you hire. Since I haven't played this game yet and it is not completed yet either I don't know if the officers are hired by price depending on their level of experience but I think that would be a good idea either way.

 

Otherwise I'm also against having a health bar type thing that shows precicely 78% or 34% for each side or stern, etc. like it was in POTBS. That game was fun in its own way but you knew right away after about 1-2 shots from both sides who was going to win and could then decide whether to run off.

[Jack Feathersword]

War thunder does not have health bars and people seem to play it just fine. I think if more information is needed, using the telescope would be a good compromise, Give the player name and faction/guild, type or class and some basic info on the state of the ship.

 

With proper damage models you should not need health bars.

[Le Hollandais Violent]

I'd replace the health bar with an estimated damage report : get rid of percentage, bars, and numbers, and just put phrases to describe how damaged the ship seems to be from the player's point of view. Plus I would add informations about the type of guns.

 

For instance :

"The starboard of the ship seems heavily damaged , their sails seem in bad shape, It looks like the ship is taking water. The crew is pretty much active and pumping"

 

The longer you stare with the telescope, the more informations you get.

[Henry d'Esterre Darby]

War thunder does not have health bars and people seem to play it just fine. I think if more information is needed, using the telescope would be a good compromise, Give the player name and faction/guild, type or class and some basic info on the state of the ship.

 

With proper damage models you should not need health bars.

 

War Thunder tends to kill you with a few hits though too.  Planes do not have much resiliency.

I'd replace the health bar with an estimated damage report : get rid of percentage, bars, and numbers, and just put phrases to describe how damaged the ship seems to be from the player's point of view. Plus I would add informations about the type of guns.

 

For instance :

"The starboard of the ship seems heavily damaged , their sails seem in bad shape, It looks like the ship is taking water. The crew is pretty much active and pumping"

 

The longer you stare with the telescope, the more informations you get.

As I've stated before, I oppose this usage of the telescope because Captains of the era had other officers to collect this information for them. We shouldn't have to stare at a ship through a telescope to gain more information - that's reported to us by our Officers.

[Sir Madoc]

NO since we are going for realism - the only cues to the health of enemy should be visually seeing damage of enemy ship the telescope or up close.

[ArlindoBerto]

Healthbars are the unrealistic way to simulate the damage on something, its simply blind to all factors that influence damage(headshot that doesnt kill for example), a proper modelling means no healthbars, and tons and tons of experimental correlations. I say no healthbars, realism doesnt come with magic bars that make you run and shoot like crazy with 1hp.

[Crankey]

As I've stated before, I oppose this usage of the telescope because Captains of the era had other officers to collect this information for them. We shouldn't have to stare at a ship through a telescope to gain more information - that's reported to us by our Officers.

 

All valid points. Our issue in this particular game is we have to notice and control / react to everything. We are a one man band so some visual aid is required.

 

For myself I would like  an enemy ship to reflect damage taken. If repairs are applied then that physical damage is lessened or removed entirely. Done well there would be no need for a damage indicator on your screen.

 

Sails

Masts

Spars/Yards

Individual mast sections

gun ports

shot holes

missing railing

shot in stern galley

damage to trim

 

All of the above could have effective graphics to depict a build up of damage. crew is harder to show, but perhaps blood running from scuppers and prone bodies hanging from rigging or gunports could be used. Unless you saw a mass of crew on an upperdeck about to engage in boarding you really would only have a general idea of crew numbers.

 

However all of the above I expect would be a major amount of work and also be a larger drain on system processing. Yes I would like it, but if the game can move forward without it and have these options implimented later I would be happy to cope with the indicators until then

[Sharp]

However all of the above I expect would be a major amount of work and also be a larger drain on system processing. Yes I would like it, but if the game can move forward without it and have these options implimented later I would be happy to cope with the indicators until then

 

In the end i think this is it, as it will be for most wanted features, if its to much work, if its going to put a drain on the systems (remember everything is server side) then the dev's will most likely go for the simpler method because it works!

[Sir Madoc]

Only usernames of players in your clan/guild/fleet should be visible.

[Dino.707]

I agree to others above, I spent all this money on a telescope, and I'm going to use it!

[Kaaru62]

what is the reasoning behind it?

 

having the ability to tell which side has more damage on another players ship I cannot even see just screams gamey crutch to me.

 

 it's bad enough we have to suffer having name tags on all the ships. I accept the nametags as a temporary solution for ship identification until ship names and flags can be introduced.

[admin]

Naval Action is a computer game.

Modern multiplayer tech does not allow good quality destruction models for large battles (with 40+ ships in them). Indicator helps to too see which side is damaged more without significant investments into visuals (that are expensive to produce and tax performance as well). Chess shows you everything and still it is a very deep tactical game. 

[Galileus]

Naval Action is a computer game.

 

With all the realism junkies out here (this is not a insult, btw), it really is like a ray of sunshine after a rainy day, reading that comment