I was wondering what kind of visual feedback will be in the game to indicate the state of people/creatures and buildings.
Here are some questions/suggestions - with broader implications as well:
Are buildings damaged as single units? Maybe the material and size determines the overall building health, and more and more blocks get destroyed as goblins hack at it. Alternatively, individual blocks could get destroyed/damaged and need to be repaired (with scaffolding) by a carpenter, mason, etc. The effectiveness of the building could decrease as more of it gets destroyed - weavers working more slowly in a building without part of a wall?
How is armor damaged? Is there new art as an iron breastplate gets more damaged in combat, or just something like a breastplate health bar in the expanded settler view?
Do people suffer damage as a whole, simply keeling over when their health hits zero? Would a simple health bar suffice? Will their individual body parts take damage - shown in expanded view? An arm could appear broken and the ability to hold a sword or shield would be degraded. Leg wounds could decrease the unit speed. This also brings up the opportunity for headshots with archers
Maybe that’s a lot to process at once, but thanks for any answers!
while i love #2 and #3, i think that may be too granular for this type of game… i doubt there will be representative stages for each level of damage to an item…
my guess on #2 is, (ideally) the individual items could have durability, that when depleted could simply make them useless… requiring a visit to the blacksmith for repair… (more likely) the item is broken and simply needs to be replaced…
for #3, units will likely have a straight-forward health bar… when that’s gone, the unit is off to visit the lagomorphs…
For #1, maybe just an overlay graphic that makes a block appear cracked. If X % of the blocks in a building are cracked, it collapses. Builders or masons or somebody can be tasked to do maintenance / repair. Also, this way you cannot hide in a building forever; you’ll have to come out and fight off the menace unless the mechanics allow repair from the inside.
I like the #2 idea on having a durability. Perhaps the item simply disappears from the unit’s external view when it’s broken, like it’s being carried but not worn.
For #3, another possibility is to have a toggle for the health, similar to my suggestion in a different thread to toggle a morale indicator. You could toggle all units or an individual unit. Maybe this is more of a UI mod, but it would be nice to choose between a health bar or another idea of tinted units, a bubble over the head, a halo/disc under the feet. The simplest I can think for tint is no tint for normal, a yellow/orange tint for damaged, and a red (maybe blinking) tint for nearing death. Someday, it would be really cool if the indicator moved through the whole color spectrum, so you could see shades of colors as the health progresses from green through yellow to red or even black at the very end. I personally really like the idea of blinking color nearing death, but understand some may not like that and what to turn it off.