Drop distance and damage
Moleculor
Namer-of-Bob Join Date: 2002-01-24 Member: 9Members
Namer-of-Bob Join Date: 2002-01-24 Member: 9Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Should aliens be able to drop farther?</div>Ok. Question for everyone. Since aliens are 'tougher' and all that, wouldn't it make sense that they could drop a farther distance than marines before the suffer damage? How far do you think? 2x the marine distance? 3x? 5x? Or none at all?
Comments
Maybe only 2x for the others and for flyers of course it makes absolutely no difference really does it?
I also think that due to his immense size, that level five should take minimal damage during a fall since one of his advantages is his toughness.
Level 3 has wings to slow his fall, so... minimal damage in falls would seem natural.
Level 2 and 4 should at least have 2x the resitance to fall damage too... doesn't seem as logical, but leaving them at 1x might make them a bit unfavorable.
Just my opinon. <!--emo&:)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'><!--endemo-->
I think everyone here would agree that Level 1 needs at least <i>some</i> resistance to fall damage.
Im not entirely sure which line of argument is better - the big bizntach is rock hard and so doesnt care about falling or shes so big she kills herself if she falls.
And what someone said about the levels 2/4 falling damage making them less appealing, make it so it appeals to peopel who want to do specific tasks? the builder isnt gonna be doing alot of running and jumping anyway im assuming and the "blinker" (lvl 4) is your standard attack trooper so is on blance with marines? Or maybe it could be a balance off for people who are aiming to reach top level, so until then you have faling damage?
Maybe?
k i'll be quiet now =p
/me drops another alien off a cliff. No sir I don't know why they would evolve to resist falling....
Bob should, regarding his abilities and his relatively low weight withstand at least 3 times the normal marine falling distance.
lvl 2, on the other side is a fat organic fabric on legs, so he'd withstand maximally the marines distance, if not less (three quarters, maybe?).
lvl 3 has his wings, so that won't be much of a problem. Maybe give him twice the distance on default - the wing-membranes would slow down the fall.
lvl 4 - this guy's supposed to be MUCH tougther than a normal human, so he should get at least 2x.
lvl 5 is a little more difficult, and I'd suggest a new falling damage system for him (if possible): If the falling distance isn't very big (maybe 0,5x), his high constitution will come into play and allow him to get out there relatively unharmed. Every further inch of falling, however, will let him gain too much kinetic energy -> higher falling damage, so the damage would increase drastically. maybe make it so that his maximumdistance would be 0,75x.
Now excuse me if i'm mistaken, but chitin is a sort of external, organic armor. Saying that something with chitin will never take falling damage is like saying that if God were to push a tank over the edge of a cliff, it too would take no falling damage. Armor does not mean falling damage is eliminated, as the contents within would still be crushed by the massive deceleration. But what abount insects i hear you cry? Look at the comparative masses, an ant weighs a little bit less than our 500lb buddy Bob over here. More mass=more potential energy more potential energy=bigger thud bigger thud=crushed like a roach Bob. As for "hardened muscles", i can only reply with...What??? What exatly are "hardened muscles" anyway? Think Arnold Schwartzenager would take less damage from a 200ft drop than WeakArms Magoo over here? I think you boys need to give the aliens falling damage potentials, heavier aliens=more falling damage. While i can appreciate the ideas, even a common cat right up to a tiger, still doesn't much appreciate falling more than 20ft, max.
Gasfiend
Brave Adventurer of Insanity and Unconciousness Inducing Brainwaves!
And the saying is true the bigger they are the harder thay fall
Anyway, i really do like this new suggestion whereby the alien must pasuse for a moment to regain its breath as it were, taking minimal damage as well. While it may be slightly unrealistic that the 500lb gorilla aliens aren't smashed to goo by their own weight falling great distances, it does add some degree of realism that the alien takes damage and must pause. The pausing in my opinion, is a must, if followed by some laboured breathing, i think this would be great. The marines then have a split second to realizre the danger they're in, and either spin around and hopefully kill their assailant, or run like the cowards they are!
Yeah, i think that about covers it, ifg you guys need any more basics physics lessons, just keep posting as you've been doing, and Captain Physics will return once again to school your little punk arses in the ways of the world!
Gasfiend
Brave Adventurer of Mindless Insanity and Unconciousness Inducing Brainwaves!
I think bob should be able to fall at least three times as far as a marine. How big can he possibly be, he's smaller than a crouching marine. Cats can fall from a couple stories high and land on their feet perfectly.
Gasfiend
Brave Adventurer of Mindless Insanity and Unconciousness Inducing Brainwaves!
But what about the other aliens? Instead of losing lots of health when the fall down the lose a bit health and start panting for 1,5 sec so the marines can toast 'em in the meat time. An alternative to big health punishments. <!--emo&:D--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':D'><!--endemo-->
Your physics is correct, but you need some lessons in Materials Science. <!--emo&;)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=';)'><!--endemo-->
I'll explain by analogy... suppose you drop a 1 lbs orange from a 2nd story ledge, as well as a 1 lbs brick. What's going to happen? The brick is going to break into multiple pieces, while the orange is going to be merely bruised.
The difference results from the way in which the 2 items are constructed. Brick is hard, but not flexible... you can crack it easily. An orange, on the other hand, is the perfect, natural container. It can deform and absorb a LOT of force, because it has great flexibility.
Thus, compare bones and chitin. Bones break... chitin doesn't. It might bruise and lose a small amount of functionality, but it's going to be pretty much intact. Therefore, aliens should have much less falling damage, assuming they don't have rigid bone structures, but rather, organically woven armored exoskeletons.
Of course, if you drop an orange from the sixth floor, it pretty much busts open on contact with the cement below. So yes, there is a limit.
Gasfiend
Brave Adventurer of Mindless Insanity and Unconciousness Inducing Brainwaves!
In any case, when we were younger my friend also decided that it would be fun to take his 2 year old cat and toss it off the 2nd story balcony. In a screeching ball of fur it twisted and turned to finally land on its feet (like all cats do) after a 20-30 foot drop, halted for a second to figure out why it had just seen the world from the whole new and interesting perspective of flight, and scampered off around the house.
Physics and material structure are a great basis for discussion, but you need analyze the combination of those two aspects going on here that allows these things to happen. The cat has a bone structure, and so does my buddy. They both have a soft surface skin of different thickness. Although, because of the weight compared to the surface area of impact to absorb the energy (2 legs vs. 4 legs) the weight of the person/animal (It takes a different amount of free fall time for each object to reach maximum velocity) , as well as the cat and human being built completely different anatomically (muscles, tendons, bone joints), one takes the impact completely different then the other. One without damage the other with an extreme amount of damage.
Although, then you can have to analyze the way the two objects fell and the surface they fell on. You can trip and break your leg, or fall 10,000ft out of the sky and walk away from it depending on what you land on and how you land. (Yeah it actually happened in the news 10 or so years ago)
It simply comes down to the anatomical build the developer chooses to select for the alien. Or you could just do this the easy way and add falling damage and a designated height for everyone =p
Gasfiend
Brave Adventurer of Mindless Insanity and Unconciousness Inducing Brainwaves!<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I think the Leg armor of a Bob would be more adapted to falling, since they would most likely fall a lot while they are young, just learning how to climb.