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Features

FreestyleBuild edited this page Mar 7, 2023 · 5 revisions

Feature list

  • simulation of variable yield explosions
  • blast wave simulation in 3 steps (20 psi / heavy damage, 5 psi / medium damage, 1 psi / light damage)
  • thermal radiation effects
  • nuclear radiation effects, with new UI overlay for affected players
  • visual effects including: a fireball, condensation rings, a mushroom cloud, smoke pillars, a dustwave
  • crater generation, with vastly improved performance
  • burning buildings in the blast area
  • huge customizability, easily toggle various effects on or off

Features in detail

Variable yields

Similar to the orignal script the range for various effect of the blast is calculated from the yield (in kT of TNT equivalent). You only have to specify the desired yield and the script does the rest. The formulas were created by gathering data from NUKEMAP and can in theory calculate effects for yield ranging from 0.1 kT to 100 MT with only small errors. In Arma however explosion are often limited by performance. You should be careful with yields exceeding 20 kT, but feel free to experiment.

Blast wave simulation

The three stages of the blast wave which are simulated consist of:

  • 20 psi overpressure, absolutely deadly, leveling every building
  • 5 psi overpressure, often lethal, many buidlings collapse
  • 1 psi overpressure, not lethal but dangerous, buildings are damaged The 5 psi and 1 psi blast waves now also include a ragdolling effect, throwing people and vehicles (5 psi only) away from the blast.

Thermal and nuclear radiation

The initial detonation realeses a good amount of energy as direct radiation, of both thermal and nuclear kind. Depending on a units exposure to those effects different amounts of damage ar applied. Exposure is measured via line-of-sight between a unit and the blast origin, obsruction in this line will reduce the effects. Thermal radiation deals a small amount of damage directly to the affected units, the nuclear one deals its damage over a course of 5 minutes. Players who are irrdatied will also see some UI postprocess effects while affected.

Visual effects

Viusal effects include mushroom clouds, flashed of light, a fireball, smoke pillars errupting form the initial explosion, condensations rings forming in the sky and a wave of dust travelling along the shockwave. The size and amount of this effects is depended on the explosions yield and in some cases on the enviroment (condensation rings only form with enough humidity, either rain of fog). Similar to the orignal script smaller detonation (below 2.5 kT) do not form full mushroom clouds.

Crater generation

Upon detonation a crater is generated on the ground, its size varies with the explosive yield. Contrary to the orginal script the crater is not filled with debris or dirt decals. This provides a vast performance increase, specially with larger explosions.

Fires

The explosion will cause buildings in the blast area to catch fire. This is done by a simple custom fire script. The fires do not spread but they can burn for up to 5 minutes and will damage units close to them.

Radiation Zone

Around the blast zone radiation is created. Units which enter the zone are irradiated, even after the explosion. The duration of this zone can be modified. The zone is partitioned into two parts: the outer zone applies medium damage to units, it extends up to 2 times the radius of the fireball. Wihtin the crater lies the inner zone, dealing more the twice as much damage as the outer one. The damage is applied over time, which means that units which were exposed to too much radiation will be damaged even after leaing the immediate zone.

Customizing the effects

Most effects of the script can be toggled individually by passing the correct arguments to the script, see this page for instructions on how to do this. This allows you to customize the blast for different purposes without having to change the script itself. If is for example possible to create a detonation with only the visual effects, without visual at all.

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