I've got an idea how to tweak the damage system in Fallout, it's a system similar to the DT system in Fallout NV but I think my idea may add a bit more realism and would help make each weapon more unique to it's self.

Guns would have two ratings
Damage and penetration

Targets would have
Health and hardness (or Damage Threshold)

The target would have a hardness/damage threshold zone rating on a scale of 1 - 10 (for example), lets say a target has a DT rating of 5-6, for a weapon to have full damage effectiveness it has to have a penetration rating of either 5 or 6. Anything above 6 will over penetrate and pass through, not transferring all the damage the weapon is capable of. Anything under 5 and the weapon would be unable to properly penetrate the target and damage is lost. If the weapon has the penetration of a 5 or 6 it will transfer all it's damage ability.

For every number that the weapon is either lower or higher than the threshold zone a percentage of damage is removed, and for each number the percentage is increased. Under penetration would be a harsher penalty than over penetration. Critical hit damage would also be effected by this method, as well as chance, having a penetration factor under the target's DT will reduce the weapon's chance for a critical hit.

This would also make it possible to shoot multiple targets with a single bullet, ever notice how the .50MG doesn't pass through a person?

Over penetration would work on a subtraction based formula: Say you are using a weapon with a penetration rating of 8 against a target with it's highest DT rating being 4, when the bullet hits that target it would exit with a penetration level of 4 and continue on until it hits another target that completely negates it's rating, using a weapon with a penetration rating of 10 it would be possible to kill 5 targets in line with a DT rating of 2.

This would also allow for the creation of more special ammo types.

Hollow Points would increase damage and decrease penetration ability, under penetration penalty would be slightly more severe.
Jacketed Hollow Points would have the same effect to a lesser degree and without the added under penetration penalty.

Armor Piercing would decrease damage and increase penetration ability, over penetration penalty would be slightly more severe.
Jacketed Soft/Flat Point would have the same effect to a lesser degree and without the over penetration penalty.

This would also allow for objects to be shot through, giving an object a DT would allow with the proper rating to pass through. A mail box will no longer stop a .44 Magnum! lol

Implementing an enemy or object with variations of DT zone width would also introduce the simulation of depth. Like a small individual would have an un-armored rating of 1-2 and a large fellow would have a rating of 1-3.

I don't understand over penetration, it'd do more damage if it went right through...

And we already have a thread for this, the 'F4 speculation, suggestions, and ideas.'

How is that better then what we have in the originals?

In Fallout 2 for instance, all armor has different rating for each of the damage types. DT blocks a set amount of damage (unlike NV you don't get 20% damage if you don't beat DT) then you have DR that decreases the damage left over by a percentage.

Ammo types have everything from modifiers for accuracy (In the form of a - to enemy AC) and DR modifiers and even damage modifiers.
Armor example
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Combat_armor_%28Fallout%29
ammo example
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/2mm_EC_%28Fallout_2%29

Actually, if you get shot, it is better if the bullet goes through, if it didnt, it is likely it shattered or expanded after contact, tearing a lot of internal tissue, armor piercing bullets go straight through flesh, without doing substantial tissue damage.

I sort of understand I guess.


But you would still have a while in your chest which is painful and wounding enough without some 'doctor' who is probably just called that because he knows how to put on a bandaid.

It's pretty easy to understand, If for instance you use AP round on a "soft" target they go in and out leaving a nice clean wound. Now take a standard 5.56mm ball round to the same target. The round hit the flesh breaks up tumbles and dumps all it's kinetic energy into your body leaving horrible wounds. look up the impact tracks of hollow points vs ball ammo.

Because damage and a weapon's/ammo's ability penetrate would be more reliable and easier to set up if they were separated.

It would be possible to make weapons like the AMR much more valuable for large, hard targets and less effective against small softer targets, and would be easier to set weapons into tiers.

Then of course this would allow the developers to set up a system that allows for through shots, shooting a fellow in the head with a .44 Magnum round to travel through and hit a wall or another person behind them.

Thats easy enough to do with the old system..... damage modifier, and a DT/DR reduction and bingo you have a weapon that does more damage to hard targets then it does to soft ones vs another weapon.

Look at how they did AP and hollow point ammo in the originals. For example Hollow point 10mm had +25% to DR and a damage modifier of 2/1 while AP ammo had a -25% to DR and did only 1/2 damage modifier.

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/10mm_%28Fallout%29

So JHP would be 100% more likely to do more damage to an unarmored target then using AP. Since JHP increased the DT/DR of the target's Armor the extra raw damage it did was easily absorbed by the armor. Allowing the AP ammo's DT/DR reduction to allow more damage even though it had a lower base damage modifier on hard targets.

Hahaha 'penetration'

I was so expecting that.

Did you just think of a sudden placement of large organic materia into a small, slowly expanding space, and laughed at it? Shame on you.

Sudden?

Surprise penetration?

Edit: That is nothing you laugh at...

There is also alot of mathematics involved with the old system, this system I am suggesting would be alot easier to tweak for game updates and modders alike.