10 Nukes in a point should make a bigger explosion than one

Discussion in 'Balance Discussions' started by waterlimon, June 3, 2014.

  1. waterlimon

    waterlimon Member

    Messages:
    61
    Likes Received:
    55
    Currently it seems that nukes (and other explosions) deal a fixed amount of damage to everything within some specified range.

    This has the side effect of multiple explosion not being any more powerful than a single one (radius-wise)

    If more than one explosion happens, the affected area should grow.

    This can be achieved by:
    -Making the damage dealt depend on distance from explosion (quadratic/linear falloff?)
    -Making the area affected bigger

    For a single explosive device, these factors are adjusted such that the area affected is what it is supposed to be, with only minor damage outside that area. But if you have more than one, the damage that before was minor, now doubles, effectively increasing the radius if we look at the two explosions as a single explosion.

    So 10 nukes at a single spot will deal significant damage further than a single one. The strength of this effect can be adjusted by changing the falloff equation (linear makes radius proportional to nuke count, quadratic makes it not as effective to send all the nukes in a single spot)

    This would apply to any biggish explosion. So if your 10 artilleries decide to shoot the same unit, it will actually deal damage to the adjacent ones too and not be a complete waste.
  2. igncom1

    igncom1 Post Master General

    Messages:
    7,961
    Likes Received:
    3,132
    Im not sure why we should promote overkill.
    PeggleFrank likes this.
  3. waterlimon

    waterlimon Member

    Messages:
    61
    Likes Received:
    55
    BUT MUH WYSIWYG

    10 Nukes should have more kill than one

    If you dont want overkill, then use a more steep falloff. I dont care if 10 nukes gives an effective radius 1.5x that of one nuke, as long as its not exactly the same as one nuke.
    PeggleFrank likes this.
  4. cwarner7264

    cwarner7264 Moderator Alumni

    Messages:
    4,460
    Likes Received:
    5,390
    PeggleFrank likes this.
  5. igncom1

    igncom1 Post Master General

    Messages:
    7,961
    Likes Received:
    3,132
    Well with WYSIWYG the nukes shouldn't change even if you use them all in one spot.
    vyolin and cwarner7264 like this.
  6. waterlimon

    waterlimon Member

    Messages:
    61
    Likes Received:
    55
    I know there is the area command, but it would still add realism. Sometimes you WANT to throw the nukes close to each other to kill a commander for example.

    And no, the nukes dont change if I use them in one spot. The radius effectively increasing is just an illusion following from the damage being distance based. If unit X is damaged for some amount with one nuke, it should be damaged double that with two nukes.
  7. waterlimon

    waterlimon Member

    Messages:
    61
    Likes Received:
    55
    You can look at it from two directions.

    One nuke damages all units with damage depending on distance from nuke. This is logical.

    Fisrt, with two nukes at different times.
    Nuke 1 damages all units, with damage depending on distance from nuke. Damage equals one nuke.
    Later,
    Nuke 2 does this for a second time. Because nuke 1 already damaged the more distant units, nuke 2 manages to kill them and thus kills units that nuke 1 only damaged.
    This is logical too.

    Second, with two nukes at the same time. This does the same as above. The result is almost as if you had shot a single more powerful nuke.
  8. vyolin

    vyolin Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    631
    Likes Received:
    479
    Nuclear warheads are not additive in terms of their effective range.
    If anything, multiple warheads would either result in one explosion destroying the warheads coming after it - which would lead to an effective limit on concurrent nuke usage by having only one nuke explode at all- or in the case of sufficiently simultaneous explosions cause increased damage only at the intersections of the shock waves.
    Both things you probably won't want.
    cwarner7264 likes this.
  9. waterlimon

    waterlimon Member

    Messages:
    61
    Likes Received:
    55
    I guess that makes sense. However I would still like the damage to decrease with distance, and while those effects you mention might apply to nukes (Im not so certain about that, I would expect radiation and heat to also cause damage, not only the shock wave), they might be valid for smaller explosions.

    Basically all I really want is for the damage to decrease with distance.
  10. Gorbles

    Gorbles Post Master General

    Messages:
    1,832
    Likes Received:
    1,421
    Ten nukes on the same spot (precisely) wouldn't increase the radius in real life, specifically. You may get fallout drift/air current pollution stronger than the average, but the radius wouldn't necessarily increase.
  11. Geers

    Geers Post Master General

    Messages:
    6,946
    Likes Received:
    6,820
    Well if they all detonate in the same place at the same time, the air would get hotter, the shockwave would have more energy and therefore extend further.
  12. Gorbles

    Gorbles Post Master General

    Messages:
    1,832
    Likes Received:
    1,421
    Sure, but it's not like it'd necessarily be an additive process. You'd waste most of the energy invested each time beyond the first as the air because even harder to heat (I doubt it'd plasmify or whatever the phrase is).
  13. waterlimon

    waterlimon Member

    Messages:
    61
    Likes Received:
    55
    The explosion probably wont get smaller, and it probably wont stay unchanged, so it has to get bigger. Probably not in a linear fashion but still.

    And we dont even know if the units explode randomly because of a shock wave, because of heat or because of radiation triggering their explosive contents.

Share This Page