Design Decisions: Realism in Solar Echoes (part 5)

The injury system in Solar Echoes was not without its challenges, however. What we gained in promoting team play and tactics, we potentially lost in design space. With a fixed, essentially 5 hit point system, we had removed the design space for weapon variation. RPG's typically vary weaponry by damage range, so that players become excited to trade in their old weapon for a shiny new one that does twice the damage. This was not an option for Solar Echoes. Our solution for weapon variation was not focused as much on damage (which ranged between 1 to 6 points, depending on the weapon,) but instead focused on damage type, armor piercing, effect, range, firing mode, and ammo per clip. Characters without armor that were hit by a bullet were likely going to be in the Seriously or Critically Wounded state. Some guns would even place an unarmored character in the Unconscious/Dying state with one hit. This made sense realistically, but did it work? We found that armor was definitely helpful in reducing damage, but characters still faced death with as little as 2 or 3 hits from a firearm, despite their armor. What other factors made this system viable? Find out tomorrow...