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[Nice to have] Could we have a toolkit for vehicles?


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Inspired by something Gazz wrote, I do notice that while we can patch up wounded squaddies on the field, vehicles take it and take it until they go boom. Is there any chance of introducing a toolkit that does for vehicles what medikits do for squaddies? I mean, they don't have to fix that much, but it would be super cool to be able to affect some kind of battlefield repair on a vehicle. You wouldn't even have to make any new sprites - you could just reuse the medkit sprites.

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-1 Just to be a devil's advocate, but not a big fan, sounds horribly RTS to me. Medic pack to stabilise a wounded/critical/bleeding team-mate is one thing, battlefield repairs on a vehicle mid-firefight is quite another. Only thing IRL in such a context that would make sense is fixing a flat tyre/unjamming weapon/resetting weapon computer. Unless alien tech is so advanced a 'support' person has a can of instant-spray armour fix.......

Armour HP loss is a workshop job, otherwise I could see the tank/support combo being leveraged in an over the top recon role (push tank out, takes fire, pull back, repair, rinse and repeat.)

Just sayin! ;D

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Armour HP loss is a workshop job, otherwise I could see the tank/support combo being leveraged in an over the top recon role (push tank out, takes fire, pull back, repair, rinse and repeat.)

I think the repair kit would still have the limitations of the medikit, as in not being able to fully restore a vehicle's health. Some of those plasma weapons are pretty deadly to tanks as well.

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Spray on armour sounds like a cheesy 80's advert

"Spray on armour, now comes in a handy sized container for all of your outside adventures.

Your never need to worry about those aliens advance weapons damaging your worn out war equipment.

Just one spray on the plasma burned area and your tanks as good as new.

But be careful, not to spray it on yourself. As these nano armour enhancements will burn right through your suit and flesh

And then your tank won't be the only one needed repairs!

Hahahaha"

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I would use a different system.

The repair item would be an optional item on the vehicle itself.

The vehicles at the moment can have a secondary weapon fitted (although it is not used).

I modded in a flare launcher and a smoke launcher to choose from.

I would also add the repair kit as a secondary item so you have to choose between these.

You strip out the smoke launcher and add a stock of spares and tools instead.

It doesn't really matter how heavy it is as it is being carried by a vehicle rather than a single person.

Think of tanks that have a few spare tracks etc mounted on the hull.

It would need to only be able to be used by someone stood next to the vehicle.

Possible method that springs to mind would be to have it as a medikit type 'weapon' with a 1 tile range and a 1 tile area affect.

It would also need to have a property that only affected vehicles.

That way you select the vehicle, target an adjacent friendly and it repairs the vehicle.

Represents the nearest friendly using the spares to fix the vehicle.

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"Spray armor" or any other quick repairs aren't going to work on a damaged vehicle 99% of the time. Armor damage is the least of your worries when a vehicle is knocked out. Usually it's more like dead crew members, lost wheels/tracks, shredded controls/electronics, and wrecked engines. Plus fire and explosions from time to time.... The hole in the armor isn't even worth worrying about. It's what happens inside that is the problem. The only solution would be a Jetson's "tank in a brief case" as a replacement.

I'm not exactly sure what the current damage system represents. Unless the vehicle is slow losing armor everywhere it doesn't make a lot of sense. What ought really happen is each time the vehicle gets hit a check is made to see if there is damage of some type. Anyway, I wouldn't be opposed to a tech that allows a "wrecked" vehicle to be recovered and brought back to base for repairs/salvage if you win the day. Most of the time unless they burn or blow up they can be fixed. But, I'm not in favor of battlefield repair kits.

Edited by StellarRat
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I would have thought the damage sustained form advanced alien weapons would overwhelm repair kits. The advanced platforms presumably counter this by having more resistance to the weapons. But it's never been anything I've thought that could be repaired on the battlescape. They're just scrap.

Certainly not poo pooing the idea. Coupled with secondary weapon slots, it's another option.

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LOLS at re-mentions of my spray armour idea, it was only proposed as a humorous jest / tongue in cheek at insta-heals... :P

Pfft. You don't have a monopoly on silly!

In the Kris Longknife novels they have Smart Metalâ„¢ which you can program to take any shape.

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So, Vox Populi, Vox Dei. Inspired (this time) by the unholy trio of thothkins, gnarly and Gazz, and being interested in how battlefield repairs work IRL, I went and did some research to see how "realistic" it would be to carry a toolkit around. And I came up with some interesting results.

For starters, I found the US Army manual on Battlefield Damage Assesment and Repair. It's very detailled, and discusses the standard method (take it back to the rear lines) and the nonstandard method (quick fixes and improvised repairs). I also found a manual for a specific mobile weapon system, discussing the specifics of the BDAR field techniques. You can find specialist manuals on the field repair on many things, like generators, helicopters and artillery. (I also found a crap ton of Battlefield 3 references. It was damn hard to edit them all out.) I found studies on how the "take it back to camp" system was the ONLY system used by the US military at one point, and how that badly hurt the effectiveness of all forms of military materiel.

Zipping ahead into the 21st century, did you know that the US Army totes uses smart materials and (effectively) 3d printers to turn out stop-gap and replacement parts on-site? And they've been doing this for a hella long while? That's so cool.

Edited by Max_Caine
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