Request for comments/suggestions on an improved wound system

[andy_kosela]

OK, i understand your idea. But what's the point of discussing this if we are gonna implement it in Unreal 10?

I would rather say it's much more important to concentrate on the current situation on the simulation market and try to make the whole wound system the most realest using current tools.

So taking current software engines into account, and based on my experience, one bullet should take you out of the battlefield (not saying it should kill instantly, but just make you unable to fight). Otherwise you must accept some kind of hit points based system which in my opinion will always be very unrealistic and weak. Then you end up with something implemented as in America's Army 3 (Unreal 3) that you can take multiple hits from military grade weapon and still walk... How is that far from Counter-Strike mentality?

 

[jayhova]

Actually the system I am talking about it not all that hard to create. Hit location systems already exist. It is not necessary to create a system where the human body is mapped out perfectly but is just approximated. That is to say that significant trauma to the brain, spine, heart, etc. would cause near instant incapacitation 100% of the time while a chest cavity hit outside of the heart/major arteries/veins might have only a 20% chance of instant incapacitation and a 40% chance of critical wound and 40% chance of a serious or light wound a la Ronald Reagan who didn't even know he was shot until he doctors told him and was not incapacitated.

I picture the hit location system working like a series of layers surrounding the vital areas. Whenever an object passes through one of these layers the chances of some particular injury type are calculated. For instance if a soldier was shot in the leg and the bullet passed through the femur bone layer this would cause say an 80% chance of bone breakage to occur. if that happened there might then be a 75% chance that the bullet would fragment which might then double the chance of a serious or critical injury as the bullet passed through additional layers possibly shredding the femoral artery. The upshot of all this is that multiple compound injuries could occur causing the soldier to have a broken leg and serious blood loss requiring immediate medical attention or the bullet might glance off the bone and leave the soldier with a painful flesh wound and little blood loss.

One of these results would have the result of a soldier immobilized with minutes to live and the other a soldier with diminished speed and stamina but able to fight on. These things are not particularly hard to do from an engine perspective and result trees are pretty simple. It's creating a soldier made of multiple layers that is the real challenge.