Alien hitzones/detailed hitboxes?

[Mr. Phawks]

I have long noticed that whilst precise targeting against a human opponent rewards more damage and thus quicker dispatching, shooting aliens in the toe or the head yields the same damage either way.

What I'm proposing is some form of a code modification that details the alien hitbox to do different amounts of damage. Humans have this already; foot bites do less than torso bites which do less than head bites. This should also apply to all alien classes; tyrants/dragoons especially.

This is purely a realism factor, I guess, but it could also make humans work harder to kill their enemy faster. Much like aliens always aim for headshots, humans should do the same. Damage factors could be based off the human ones.

Share your thoughts on this.

[jegard]

I agree. It bothers me that hitting a 'rant in the head does no extra damage. Maybe in 2.0, ay?

[Eeeew Spiders]

The problem herein i think lies in the alien wallwalk feature, in that the box does not tilt with the movement on the walls and ceilings. For the other non-wallwalk classes, i wouldn't know why it shouldn't work. But then again, for overall game play i don't find it that important.

[doomagent13]

Wallwalking aliens dont really have enough health for it to make taht much of a difference--the strongest one only has 100hp.

[kozak6]

With the exception of a tyrant or a particularly dimwitted dragoon, it seems that most aliens move quick enough so that you generally can't target specific areas.

If you can't generally target specific areas, then what's the point?

And then how should it be balanced?  Should it be head, body legs like humans?  Should it just be front/back in order to punish attacking/fleeing aliens?  Should it be low damage everywhere except for a particularly vulnerable spot?

[PIE]

The only alien i think this makes any sense for is the tyrant but I think it screws too much with balancing in a bad way.. battlesuits with chainguns, lucifer cannons and god forbid  painsaws suck enough as it is.

[Caveman]

It is bad enough that some human players use slopes to cheat with the hitboxes to make themselves nearly invulnerable.
We do not need that for aliens.

[ShadowNinjaDudeMan]

Yes, a chaingunning human might not be aiming for a weak spot, but one or two bullets might find thir way there.

Even still, its like humans I spose.

It should promote the mass driver tho, I spose, or lasgun.

[Nux]

I agree with kozak6.

It's also worth noting that the humans have a tall upright body which makes it a simple case of how high up on the hit box you were hit. The aliens on the other hand aren't so linear in shape, making it more difficult to aim for (and perhaps code for).

If it helps, you can just think of the whole alien as one big weak point.

[Bajsefar]

With the exception of a tyrant or a particularly dimwitted dragoon, it seems that most aliens move quick enough so that you generally can't target specific areas.

If you can't generally target specific areas, then what's the point?

And then how should it be balanced?  Should it be head, body legs like humans?  Should it just be front/back in order to punish attacking/fleeing aliens?  Should it be low damage everywhere except for a particularly vulnerable spot?

If you can track a dretch, you can track a tyrant head.
I'm not sure, couldn't someone easily mod this at least half-ways working and try it before everyone goes QQ?

[Mr. Phawks]

It seems that this is a very controversial idea, as the poll shows; there's no definite majority of the voters in any particular stance on it.

(That basically means that the poll is half-n-half with no clear-cut majority)

I agree with those here that say it's pointless for small aliens to have these details; they aren't needed simply because there's too small of an HP level for it to be worth the time to code.

I meant for this to be primarily for the larger aliens, mara/goon/rant, and it shouldn't seem too hard to code to me.

Just have individual hitboxes; for the tyrant, put one on the leg area, one on the torso/midsection/tail area, and one on the neck/head area. Same applies for goons and maras.

[Nux]

If you can track a dretch, you can track a tyrant head.

That why he started his sentence thusly: 'With the exception of a tyrant'. =)

So lets say the head takes more damage in one shot than normal. For balancing sake, they would have to make other parts of the tyrant take less damage than normal. Then we would have a new play style for tyrants. I can already see the comedy unfolding..

The humans are anxious. As the clock ticks, the moment of dread draws nearer. The all so unforgiving 'SD-Rush' is about to begin. IN A FLASH, a crowd of big blue tyrant-behinds swarms their base. Their monstrous backs, turned toward them in fury. Just then, like some demented game of peek-a-boo they start spinning back and forth, facing the humans only to disembowel them and turn away again. The scene is horrific as the alien horde rapantly moons their base to pieces. The ballet just cannot be stopped.

They are soon overcome by the onslaught of one ass-attack after the other tearing through their base. No one is spared. The tyrant 'revolution' is victiorious.

[Eeeew Spiders]

...The scene is horrific as the alien horde rampantly moons their base to pieces.....

I know now that I want it!

[Shadowgandor]

poor goon, useless now, except when he would walk towards the human with his butt on front.

[tsurano]

alien hitboxes would really unbalance game

whenever I play as long as humans dont feed they get s3 1st
and once they get s3 they should share creds and have a full rush on alien base, 2 of these would destroy it.  But they don't noobs just camp at base till aliens are s3 and lose

humans get s3 1st and can hit from a range.  Aliens need to get within 2 feet to hurt humans while humans can kill an alien from 100 feet away in a straight corridor if humans could get headshots it would really unbalance game

[Mr. Phawks]

If you can track a dretch, you can track a tyrant head.

That why he started his sentence thusly: 'With the exception of a tyrant'. =)

So lets say the head takes more damage in one shot than normal. For balancing sake, they would have to make other parts of the tyrant take less damage than normal. Then we would have a new play style for tyrants. I can already see the comedy unfolding..

The humans are anxious. As the clock ticks, the moment of dread draws nearer. The all so unforgiving 'SD-Rush' is about to begin. IN A FLASH, a crowd of big blue tyrant-behinds swarms their base. Their monstrous backs, turned toward them in fury. Just then, like some demented game of peek-a-boo they start spinning back and forth, facing the humans only to disembowel them and turn away again. The scene is horrific as the alien horde rapantly moons their base to pieces. The ballet just cannot be stopped.

They are soon overcome by the onslaught of one ass-attack after the other tearing through their base. No one is spared. The tyrant 'revolution' is victiorious.

Is there any way that you could make a demo of that? Convert it to an AVI file, make it a trailer for Tremulous. Effin' epic, y'know?

[janev]

This idea has come up before... It would unbalance the game.