- Yes
- No
Instead of the very tip of your propeller resulting in instantly explosion of all blades instantly, propellers should get bent/broken with the same healthbar mechanic as all the other parts.
Some variables effecting propeller damage
- The hardness of the material they impact (stone, metal, wood, water, dirt, glass, etc.)
- The size/thickness (mainly for destructable props e.g trees and poles)
- The force from the impact (based on rpm, aircraft speed, propeller weight, etc)
- How close to the base of the propeller is the object it hits
- How long the propellers are colliding for
- Material of the blades
- Pitch of the blades
Some variables for damaging enemy aircraft
- Material of the plane
- Size of the part being hit
- How long the propellers are colliding for
- The force of impact
- How deep the propellers cut into the plane
- Material of the blades
- Pitch of the blades
There’s probably alot more needed variables but these are just a few.
These variables could all determine whether damage should be applied, how much, and what kind.
Effect on gameplay
For helicopters
Detailed propeller DMs would stop alot of unexpected and annoying deaths. Slightly scraping the ground with the tip of your blade would likely have little to no effect on your flying, certainly shouldn’t instantly explode all 6 blades at once (same goes for tail rotor). Bushes, unexpectedly tall tree hitboxes, and misaligned building/rock hitboxes would all be much more tame.
For planes,
You would be able to recover from dives with extra wiggleroom as your propeller could scrape the dirt or a tree and be would fine with minor bending. If your engine is off and props aren’t spinning (or spinning slow), then scraping the ground would only result in one or two propeller being bent.
You could also use your propeller to shred enemy planes without dying instantly (they did this IRL during WW2). It could take into account how many propellers you have, at what rpm, if they’re wood or metal, propeller length, and similarly what material the enemy plane is (wood+canvas or metal) and how large the part you’re shredding is.
Propellers hitting something would decrease rpm, and could also result in engine damage. It would cause the plane to yaw in the direction the blades are spinning on impact.
Why this should be added
These changes would make WarThunder more realistic, stop alot of extremely annoying deaths, and give you a way to kill that last guy when you’re out of ammo. Pls vote yes : D
Edit: I’m adding the kopp-etchells effect to this suggestion as Necronomica suggested.
kopp-etchells effect
Spoiler
Necronomica
To add to this, there is an effect called “kopp-etchells effect” when helicopters fly in sandy areas in darker light that would look awesome in game.
The sand basically shaves of metal from the propeller blades so fast that the metal pieces catch fire in the air (like using an angle grinder).
