[Consim-l] Damage models

[Bruce Probst]

On Sat, 22 Dec 2007 20:53:57 +0200, "Mircea Pauca" <mircea.pauca at gmail.com>
wrote:

>    It seems a simple, cumulative Hit Point system
>is very widespread in games to represent "life" and
>"damages" to entities from individuals (in RPG's), ships, 
>small and large military units. Either with full firepower
>until "sudden death", or with proportional reduction.
>Restoration coming from "potions", rest, "supply" etc.
>    Are there not too complicated models clearly
>more relevant for the physiology, system resilience 
>and sociology of targeted humans / ships / units ?

Sure.  Depends a lot on what you mean by "too complicated", and depends even
more on what the game is trying to model.

>    What are the best examples used in current games ?

Many RPGs use a "level of damage" system rather than "hit points";, e.g., you
are "unwounded", "slightly wounded", "critically wounded" or "dead".  Each
level of damage imposes greater penalties on the character's options.

There have been a few RPGs that attempt to define damage by the target
location struck.  The simplest and most popular that I know of is "Runequest"
but that is really only a minor advancement on the basic "hit point" model.
Games that tried for more "realistic" models invariably became quite
complicated and their popularity suffered accordingly.

Many wargames use a "level of damage" method, either by chits, flipping
counters to show "steps lost", marking off a roster, or some combination
thereof.

The most common alternative that I can think of is the "system display" system
used in a few, mostly naval, games.  The most prominent example is "Starfleet
Battles" (in its numerous editions) but it can also be seen in games like
TAHGC "Bismark", TFG "Battle Wagon", Yaquinto "Ironclads" etc.  In these
systems damage is distributed on the target by locations which suffers
penalties accordingly.  Different locations may be more resilient to damage
than others.  In some man-to-man tactical games you may see a combination of
the "level of damage" and "system display" method, e.g., TAHGC "Gunslinger".
In such games a minor wound to the arm has a different effect to a minor wound
on the head, or leg.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Bruce Probst              bprobst at netspace.net.au
Melbourne, Australia      MSTie #72759
"If he straps on a rubber glove I'm leaving."