I think they should go back to previous mechanic, but allow acid to deal damage faster. For me it should deal damage equal to round_up(damage applied/20,0)*10, and it’s potential should be decreased by amount of damage dealt. So maybe I will show it with tables. Below examples assume soldier has 30 armor on each body part (so in current game terms equivalent of not buffed heavy armor).
previous method:
| effect applied | 10 | left | 20 | left | 30 | left | 40 | left | 50 | left | 60 | left |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| turn 1 dmg | 10 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 20 | 10 | 30 | 10 | 40 | 10 | 50 |
| turn 2 dmg | 10 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 20 | 10 | 30 | 10 | 40 | ||
| turn 3 dmg | 10 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 20 | 10 | 30 | ||||
| turn 4 dmg | 10 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 20 | ||||||
| turn 5 dmg | 10 | 0 | 10 | 10 | ||||||||
| turn 6 dmg | 10 | 0 | ||||||||||
| sum to body part (armor and hp) | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | ||||||
| sum to general hp (1 body part) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 20 | 30 | ||||||
| sum to general hp (3 body parts) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 60 | 90 | ||||||
| sum to general hp (6 body parts) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 60 | 120 | 180 |
Above method has proper amount of damage, but is too slow and with low acid damage only works as armor striping weapon, with higher values it has good potency but we need to wait.
current method:
| effect applied | 10 | left | 20 | left | 30 | left | 40 | left | 50 | left | 60 | left |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| turn 1 dmg | 10 | 0 | 20 | 10 | 30 | 20 | 40 | 30 | 50 | 40 | 60 | 50 |
| turn 2 dmg | 10 | 0 | 20 | 10 | 30 | 20 | 40 | 30 | 50 | 40 | ||
| turn 3 dmg | 10 | 0 | 20 | 10 | 30 | 20 | 40 | 30 | ||||
| turn 4 dmg | 10 | 0 | 20 | 10 | 30 | 20 | ||||||
| turn 5 dmg | 10 | 0 | 20 | 10 | ||||||||
| turn 6 dmg | 10 | 0 | ||||||||||
| sum to body part (armor and hp) | 10 | 30 | 60 | 100 | 150 | 210 | ||||||
| sum to general hp (1 body part) | 0 | 0 | 30 | 60 | 100 | 150 | ||||||
| sum to general hp (3 body parts) | 0 | 0 | 90 | 180 | 300 | 450 | ||||||
| sum to general hp (6 body parts) | 0 | 0 | 180 | 360 | 600 | 900 |
Above method is hard to balance because if higher value is once applied (for example 2 acid grenades or bug) then it becomes too deadly without line of sight required by enemy, especially when at least 3 or 4 body parts are affected.
my proposed method:
| effect applied | 10 | left | 20 | left | 30 | left | 40 | left | 50 | left | 60 | left |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| turn 1 dmg | 10 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 20 | 10 | 20 | 20 | 30 | 20 | 30 | 30 |
| turn 2 dmg | 10 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 20 | 10 | ||
| turn 3 dmg | 10 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 10 | 0 | ||||||
| turn 4 dmg | ||||||||||||
| turn 5 dmg | ||||||||||||
| turn 6 dmg | ||||||||||||
| sum to body part (armor and hp) | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | ||||||
| sum to general hp (1 body part) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 20 | 30 | ||||||
| sum to general hp (3 body parts) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 60 | 90 | ||||||
| sum to general hp (6 body parts) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 60 | 120 | 180 |
This method again deals proper amount af damage, but shortens wait time up to 50%. Even if applied effect will go above 60 it still won’t be so deadly when there is still armor. When there is no armor available then I suppose player will need to evacuate. And this method will still allow that while not punishing soldiers too much in subsequent turns.
One thing that bothers me is that, no matter what armor solider has, first tick (no matter how big) will always be absorbed. This creates assymetry where heavy armors can protect better than light armors vs weak acids, but when compared to strong acid light and heavy armors give quite similar amount of protection.