The suggestion is that trees should be added to the foreground layer. They could be destructible like the terrain, and would burn if rubble falls on them or a burning airship grounds itself near them. Fire would spread from tree to tree if they're less than a certain distance apart. (2-3 tiles?)
The trees in this example all have the same sprites and size (2x1), but trees in the game could be more varied, maybe even getting as big as 10 tiles tall.
Trees could either be an obstacle to grounding airships and would go "crunch" when an airship lands on them, or airships could land a layer over them. If trees were an obstacle to airships, then maybe they could be targeted so that airships could clear themselves a place to ground if there's no clearing.
Maps could either have a whole forest of trees, sparse trees, or no trees, regardless of the background. Disconnecting trees from the background would make things more varied, I think. The battle could be over an open field, but in the distance there's a forest, etc.
Yeah, trees and bushes would definitely be good to add both visual interest and extra obstacles. Having your airship stuck up in a tree would be pretty funny too. :D
Relatedly, I'm trying to decide/figure out about water. Having fights above oceans would be neat, but do airships sink or swim, and what happens to underwater modules?
My quick thoughts on sitting in water. An unflooded modules buoyancy should be about enough to support a module of the same size above water. Modules that have holes in their armour should flood when they are underwater, and not give any buoyancy to the ship. This way, undamaged floating airships should be half above water, and sink as they take hits below the waterline. Also, you could give different buoyancy based on the armour of a component, encouraging airships that have wooden undersides.
Maybe smaller trees could get crushed by airships, but bigger ones would drag against them, slowing them down like the spiderwebs in Minecraft or Terraria and/or stopping them from reaching the ground. Whether or not a tree gets crushed could also depend on how big the ship is.
As for water, Airships with enough suspendium to fly at all would float in the water. Maybe the water wouldn't go over it's lowest tiles, wouldn't want all those open hatches to flood. If there's hull breaches on the lowest tiles, water could seep in, and crewmembers would have to wade. The airship wouldn't start sinking at all if it still had enough suspendium though.
If there isn't enough suspendium lift left to keep floating, the airship would sink. The speed it sinks at could depend on the number of hull breaches there are below water. Water could rush outward from a hull breach, pushing crewmembers away, and gradually flooding the deck.
Here's some different stages the crewmembers could go through when being flooded:
If the water reaches a crewmember's knees - they move slower
If the water reaches a crewmember's hips - Their movement speed would be cut in half, and a wading animation could display. At this stage they would abandon their weapons and climb to a higher deck, but some crewmembers will still come down to transport ammo and tools and things. Suspendium chambers would still be manned.
If the water reaches a crewmember's shoulders - A swimming animation is displayed, their feet no longer touch the floor. All crewmembers will swim for a higher part of the ship at this point.
A crewmember would drown after 10(?) seconds if water floods over their head.
Commodore
The suggestion is that trees should be added to the foreground layer. They could be destructible like the terrain, and would burn if rubble falls on them or a burning airship grounds itself near them. Fire would spread from tree to tree if they're less than a certain distance apart. (2-3 tiles?)
The trees in this example all have the same sprites and size (2x1), but trees in the game could be more varied, maybe even getting as big as 10 tiles tall.
Trees could either be an obstacle to grounding airships and would go "crunch" when an airship lands on them, or airships could land a layer over them. If trees were an obstacle to airships, then maybe they could be targeted so that airships could clear themselves a place to ground if there's no clearing.
Maps could either have a whole forest of trees, sparse trees, or no trees, regardless of the background. Disconnecting trees from the background would make things more varied, I think. The battle could be over an open field, but in the distance there's a forest, etc.
Any thoughts on this?
Commodore
Another idea for this- Birds could fly out of the trees as soon as the shooting starts.
Commander, Engineering Corps
I think it would add a nice touch to the game myself
Aerial Emperor
Yeah, trees and bushes would definitely be good to add both visual interest and extra obstacles. Having your airship stuck up in a tree would be pretty funny too. :D
Relatedly, I'm trying to decide/figure out about water. Having fights above oceans would be neat, but do airships sink or swim, and what happens to underwater modules?
Midshipman
My quick thoughts on sitting in water. An unflooded modules buoyancy should be about enough to support a module of the same size above water. Modules that have holes in their armour should flood when they are underwater, and not give any buoyancy to the ship. This way, undamaged floating airships should be half above water, and sink as they take hits below the waterline. Also, you could give different buoyancy based on the armour of a component, encouraging airships that have wooden undersides.
Commodore
Maybe smaller trees could get crushed by airships, but bigger ones would drag against them, slowing them down like the spiderwebs in Minecraft or Terraria and/or stopping them from reaching the ground. Whether or not a tree gets crushed could also depend on how big the ship is.
As for water, Airships with enough suspendium to fly at all would float in the water. Maybe the water wouldn't go over it's lowest tiles, wouldn't want all those open hatches to flood. If there's hull breaches on the lowest tiles, water could seep in, and crewmembers would have to wade. The airship wouldn't start sinking at all if it still had enough suspendium though.
If there isn't enough suspendium lift left to keep floating, the airship would sink. The speed it sinks at could depend on the number of hull breaches there are below water. Water could rush outward from a hull breach, pushing crewmembers away, and gradually flooding the deck.
Here's some different stages the crewmembers could go through when being flooded:
If the water reaches a crewmember's knees - they move slower
If the water reaches a crewmember's hips - Their movement speed would be cut in half, and a wading animation could display. At this stage they would abandon their weapons and climb to a higher deck, but some crewmembers will still come down to transport ammo and tools and things. Suspendium chambers would still be manned.
If the water reaches a crewmember's shoulders - A swimming animation is displayed, their feet no longer touch the floor. All crewmembers will swim for a higher part of the ship at this point.
A crewmember would drown after 10(?) seconds if water floods over their head.