Alan's weekly blog posts coninue!
Ok, so it is nearing the end of March - what have we been up to this week?
More on the armor system - adding in the mechanics for HEAT and HE penetration (yes, HE rounds can penetrate armor - just not very well). Spent some time re-looking at the base data, comparisons of the various test results and criteria - so now the 75mm L/43 does have a longer reach than I had allowed for. But we've beaten armor to death over the last week, so I'll move on.
Someone asked about small arms. And I think bullet penetration and the suppression system have been mentioned. We've still to put the final data into place for that one as well, but that will be interesting. Although people are forgetting that, while there are some cheap little wooden houses around, there is a good amount of brick construction - and plenty of stone and concrete in Stalingrad. The calcs here take into account the material hardness and density, the projectile velocity and mass. Just checking it - it needs a little refinement, but we can do that! There's a whole bunch of other criteria in the real world (tip shape, length, ultimate tensile strength...) but we can simplify this down as most of this stuff won't be changing during game play - so we really come down to which round, what velocity and what material.
But what will this do in game? Well - you'll have to think what you are hiding behind, for sure. If someone is "hiding" behind a thin wooden door, they are very vulnerable: "concealment" vs, "cover"!
On the other hand, 12 inches of concrete should do the job pretty well. But, for me, it all comes back to the point that, if the enemy knows where you are - you are vulnerable. I love MGs, so I should have a lot of fun with people who don't know what they are doing. Hide behind a single layer of brick? I don't think so
Will MGs be hugely over-powered/over-powering as a result? No - but they will be different to RO1. I hated pop-up riflemen in RO1 - but if I know where you are now, you had better get out of there! Of course, machine-gunners will still be very vulnerable to someone they have NOT got suppressed. So, DUCK!
Also trying to close off the script work on the campaigns and the training. Seems simple enough, but it can take hours when hunting down the "right" info for each mission.
There's also a bunch of work on other projects. Mostly we're not ready to talk about, so tough But Dwarfs closing in on a release, which should be a lot of fun. Trying to make time to look at some other games, setting up for more PR. More fun coming on Killing Floor, too - we enjoy it too much to abandon that one!
And someone pick a topic for next week (head on over to our forums and let us know: http://forums.tripwireinteractive.com/showthread.php?p=721864#post721864)
