Chest high walls

[Midaychi]

 

It occurs to me that ss13 is lacking a crucial element of modern shooters for its otherwise fully Robust Combat™:

Taking cover.

 

What is?

 

This is a verb, and a keyboard shortcut. Using it near a valid surface will make your character face away from the valid surface and turn a bit grey. This cannot be used by synthetics or xenomorphs (but can be used by IPCS). The first valid surface tested is the one you're facing, then the one behind you, then the ones to your sides.

 

Cover is directional, meaning that flanking can bypass cover.

 

Valid surfaces are: Walls,

other mobs that are at least of cyborg type, or are humanoids and in cover (yes, the fabled chest high wall-apede),

exosuits,

medium density objects like tables and consoles and kicked over tables,

and syndicate energy shields / riot shields.

 

 

What do?

 

The effect of taking cover: If you take cover on a fully dense object, nothing but the cover it'd normally provide anyways. Your vision of the opposing direction to the cover may be limited.

 

If you take cover behind say, a table or a computer console, shots that normally would hit you can pass overhead or hit the cover instead, but isn't as effective as full cover.

 

If you take cover behind a mob, that mob will get hit instead. You will also move along with the mob if its a cyborg, but only if its on help intent. The cyborg will be slowed to a walk, and changing to any other intent will break and prevent further cover taking.

 

Taking cover behind an exosuit works like taking cover behind mobs, but you cannot move with the exosuit like you could with a cyborg.

 

If you take cover behind a shield, you are reduced to a percentage chance to get hit or get a deflection, and you have to use the next mechanic to throw or shoot.

 

Taking cover can narrow your field of view or alter what you can see, based on what you take cover behind.

 

All forms of taking cover can take the brunt of explosions from the proper direction, but not entirely (unless its like, an Rwall or something)

 

How do?

 

While in cover, you are harder to hit. Sometimes much harder to hit.

 

HOWEVER, to use ranged weapons or throw objects, you must pop out of cover.

 

This is done automatically; You use the weapon or throw the thing in the direction (with snowflake code to let you target black spaces incase your view is limited), this makes you faed back to full colour and face the opposite direction you were facing while in cover. There is a very short delay before actually throwing/shooting so that other people can see that you're leavin cover and can react.

You then take fire or throw an object, and are no longer protected by that cover (other than what you'd be protected from anyways under normal Robust Combat™).

 

This is the window for opposing forces to strike. Once you throw an object or shoot, you have a cooldown, and then automatically return to cover. Shooting or throwing resets this cooldown, so you continuously stay out of cover.

 

Why do?

 

Because getting shot sucks, and grenades could use a buff, and it would amuse me if you could take less damage from bombs by kicking over tables and duck+covering.

 

 

When do?

Whenever you don't need to chase someone down, but also don't want to get shot. Getting out of cover is as simple as either being pushed out of cover by a malicious blast or force or entity, or just moving yourself voluntarily.

With shields, dropping the object also cancels cover.

 

 

Also do?

 

Optional suggestion: Using the take cover button while running at a table or crate but before you actually touch the crate will make you dive over said objects and slide over subsequent objects.

 

This of course, has a chance to cause you to hilariously biff and drop shit mid slide, falling over to your doom, but would be cool.

 

Second optional suggestion: You take cover on the other side, after a successful slide.

 

Third optional suggestion: People with riot shields or similar can take cover behind riot shields, and move at a walk pace. If anyone in said state has their back or side to another person in said state, they will combine into a cover phalanx and move together. This way you can create a security team shield turtle.

 

Edited January 1, 2015 by Guest

[Wintermote]

 

I think it's a bit too complicated for ss13

 

We do, at least, have tables you can flip over for cover. Although I don't know if they provide any protection from ranged attacks, or merely prevent people from moving through the tile.

 

[Midaychi]

 

I dunno. You're not giving it credit.

 

At base it just greys you out and faces you away from cover direction, and changes how your attack code works. Also transform turns you around and pops you out and recolours you. Chance of dodging or deflections. Bomb code affects. Some walking synchronization.

 

If its not a situation people want to use it, then they won't. If its a situation where they want to use it, they will.

 

[Earthdivine]

 

I think it's a bit too complicated for ss13

 

We do, at least, have tables you can flip over for cover. Although I don't know if they provide any protection from ranged attacks, or merely prevent people from moving through the tile.

They do! They do actually block projectiles on a small percentage, according to what Ponies had said when he put them in, same way the E-Sword has a chance of deflection.

 

[FalseIncarnate]

 

A fair portion of your cover effects already are in place. If someone is aiming at you and there is a person/mech between the two of you, the middle-man would take the hit when the shot is fired.

 

Walls obviously are walls, so only an XRay shot would pass through to hit you from the other side of the wall.

 

Earth said there is a chance to have a flipped table block the shots, which if the case, could be adjusted to make it more prominent and possibly worth flipping tables in a shootout. I'll have to check the code and do some testing on that to see how it works (if it works).

 

Being able to hide behind a console would be very circumstantial, as most are currently against walls already. Those that could be used in as cover (like in surgery), would need to be damaged by the shots. Maybe instead of giving a chance for the shots to miss, the console instead absorbs a couple hits before the monitor gets blown out and the shots can continue as normal. After the fight, you'd just need to replace the glass in the console to fix it, just like ones damaged from explosions.

 

And don't shields have a chance to block shots already? I know the energy shield does, but I don't know if the riot shield and legionnaire shield have any real protective value. Again, something to check in the code and some testing.

 

As for shielding from explosions, that would probably require a bit of recoding for the way explosions are calculated and handled. I know walls *seem* to decrease the explosion's effect in a given direction, and a table probably wouldn't be strong enough to really withstand the explosion unless it was a weak one to begin with.

 

[Fj45]

Seems like something overcomplicated that does what already happens.

[Del1m]

 

You can already take cover behind walls, but nobody ever uses it.

 

Let's say that there's a firefight in a hallway. The guy behind the wall can shoot at the guy in the hallway all he wants and he will hit him

But if the guy in the hallway shoots at him, he will never hit.

 

Illustrated:

http://imgur.com/TPJYWQb

 

http://imgur.com/tyHR047