Hi all,

Here's another major iteration on the damage model with a much more advanced approach.
Should fix most of the inconsistencies of the previous version.
Overall this update provides a buff to high calibre and muzzle velocity cannons, with the addition of overmatching.

This update's for the 0.2 alpha, you'll have to opt-in to play it:

Changes

• Shells now simulate overmatching. This is when the force required to redirect a shell becomes higher than the plate can resist.
With enough energy, projectiles will start to ignore the slope of the plates they hit. Realistically, this will only be a concern with plates thinner than 30mm. This effect drops off significantly at an impact angle above ~80 degrees. You might want to rethink any 5mm roof armour…
• Shell deflections now create spalling.
• Shells now simulate denormalization. Penetrations will now change the path of the shell, depending on how much energy the penetration consumed.
• WWI armour is now carburized steel, instead of RHA. Simulated as a x0.5 effective thickness modifier.
• Applique armour is now structural steel (excluding addon structures), instead of RHA. Simulated as a x0.4 effective thickness modifier.
• Shell deflection angle now changes depending on how far the shell penetrated before being redirected away from the plate.
• Shells no longer automatically bounce above certain impact angles depending on their calibre. Instead, deflections now happen when a gouge shallower than 1 calibre is created and the impact angle is higher than 10 degrees.
• The damage model will now ignore any applique armour intersecting with plate structures. So fenders clipping into armour wont reduce its effectiveness.
• Connected plates now have their thickened edges merged if their points are within 5mm of each other.
This can result in armour thicknesses that differ slightly from the set value, but it was deemed better than having cracks in armour.
• Thicknesses in the armour overlay armour sampler are now shortened to "999+" above 999mm.

Fixes

• Spall direction now changes based on the angle of the plate which created it.
• Spall is now a significantly less effective penetrator than shells.
• Spall and shells no longer bounce as if they were perfect spheres.
• The armour overlay effective armour readout now correctly scales with the hit part's strength relative to rolled homogenous armour.
• Ricochets are no longer perfectly reflected as if shells were a sphere. They'll slide up the plate more.
• Stopped shells and spalling bouncing down cracks which would be too small for them.
• Fixed parts being incorrectly damaged by non-penetrations.
• Fixed holes in the backs of plate structures with certain setups.
• Fixed the move tool hitbox not scaling with its size correctly.

Remaining 0.2 alpha features:

[*]Improved freeform selection tools
[*]Turret and part decoupling


- Hamish