Game Mechanics Make Explosions Cooler.

[delete this account_65433]

In general. They currently are just a loud noise, some particles, a lot of damage, and a perfect circle of broken blocks. Here are some recommended improvements:

• treat explosives like pickaxes; with a preset power. The speed will work a little differently though.
• When an explosion occurs, have lots of little 'pickaxes' fly out from the epicenter at its speed out to its range, dealing damage and mining blocks it can break given its power.
• these 'pickaxes' should deal MASSIVE directional knockback. I want to see slime cannons, people!
• some of these little marker objects should be represented with a flame/smoke particle.
• I want to see the shockwave, like with the shields around the pillars.
• There should be some way to disable the damage or block-breaking properties of some explosives. e.g., like minecraft does it; explosions in water don't blow stuff up.

 

[DPh Kraken]

So it's like how Minecraft handles explosives...
Sounds fun!

 

[Gherkay]

Yes please! Right now especially the big explosives look like every single block in range is exploding on its own, giving it a very unnatural look...

 

[Sigma90]

I like the idea, but Terraria doesn't really have a block 'hardness' as Minecraft does.
To the best of my knowledge, the following blocks can't be destroyed by explosives unless certain pre-conditions are met: Dungeon Brick, Lihzahrd Brick, Desert Fossil and Hellstone. Aside from these special cases, all blocks are equally destructible by explosives.

Having said that, tying explosives to a pickaxe power is a good idea and can help with the lack of a hardness in Terraria. But there are only 2 explosive levels: bombs/Rocket II and explosives/Rocket IV. So we'd probably need some new explosives. Which sounds just as fun as better explosions!

I'd rather keep the explosive properties in liquids though. Explosives can be used to drain pools of liquid that are dangerous to enter.

 

[Jon Smitten]

I'm fine with explosives working as they are, so I'm neutral on this. Would like to see the shockwave and the phenomenal knockback be implemented tho ^_^

(I would especially love it if explosions convert blocks into the entities like flying sand from the Antlion, or dirt moved by the Dirt Rod, and the blocks just spray all over the place. Oh, just a happy wish~)

 

[delete this account_65433]

I like the idea, but Terraria doesn't really have a block 'hardness' as Minecraft does.
To the best of my knowledge, the following blocks can't be destroyed by explosives unless certain pre-conditions are met: Dungeon Brick, Lihzahrd Brick, Desert Fossil and Hellstone. Aside from these special cases, all blocks are equally destructible by explosives.

Having said that, tying explosives to a pickaxe power is a good idea and can help with the lack of a hardness in Terraria. But there are only 2 explosive levels: bombs/Rocket II and explosives/Rocket IV. So we'd probably need some new explosives. Which sounds just as fun as better explosions!

I'd rather keep the explosive properties in liquids though. Explosives can be used to drain pools of liquid that are dangerous to enter.

Yes, they don't have a 'hardness' per se, but they do have a break time, which could be substituted in a pinch. Lizahrd brick, Hellstone, etc. should be breakable under all circumstances, but the explosives needed to do so should be at or above their respective tiers. This can be done using the Explosives' power, much the same as it's currently done with pickaxes. For example, Lizahrd bricks should only be breakable with explosions with a higher power than The Grenade Launcher with Rocket IV, as this should be the highest obtainable power pre-golem. It would actually be neat to see explosives become a viable mining technique, with unique explosions with special properties. Maybe a bomb and a Gold Bar makes a gold bomb, which actively seeks and rolls towards Ores to destroy. Maybe a Bomb, a gel, and something else could make a sticky bomb that mines all of the block type it lands on within, say, 10 blocks.

I just feel like explosions are underused, and could be made a lot more practical and relevant, as right now they're sorta just a throwaway feature worthy of just a, "Oh yeah, there are bombs too." I want a, "You've got to try out the bombs, the physics are awesome!"

As for the water stuff, you're right. It was an example, and I'd love to find some other way of doing it, but it's hard to do without access to more advanced features than terraria currently has.

 

[Sigma90]

Maybe a Bomb, a gel, and something else could make a sticky bomb that mines all of the block type it lands on within, say, 10 blocks.

There are already Sticky Bombs (Gel + Bomb) and Bouncy Bombs (Pink Gel + Bomb). Were you suggesting to combine with a third ingredient?

Another thread I made suggested that Rainbow Slime should drop Rainbow Gel instead of Rainbow Blocks. In addition to the R-Gel being craftable into R-Torches and R-Blocks, it could also be used to make higher power bombs. Bomb + R-Gel = Rainbow Bomb that can mine everything up to Chlorophyte. (I think I made the thread? I don't remember. I'm not going to bother finding a link anyway. )
But that's just an example. Maybe Hellstone + Bomb = Firebomb / Napalm. Clay + Bomb = Waterproof Bomb (can be used in liquids). And so on.

There are a lot of cool and interesting possibilities!

** Note: All references to "bomb" also refers inclusively to Grenades and Explosives. Could also refer to Rockets, though not everything that applies to bombs may be feasible for rocket ammo.

 

[SnailsAttack]

I'm not sure how I feel about the pickaxes thing. I just think that explosions should have cooler particles. A powerful knockback and shockwave graphical effect would be cool as well though.

 

[delete this account_65433]

There are already Sticky Bombs (Gel + Bomb) and Bouncy Bombs (Pink Gel + Bomb). Were you suggesting to combine with a third ingredient?

Another thread I made suggested that Rainbow Slime should drop Rainbow Gel instead of Rainbow Blocks. In addition to the R-Gel being craftable into R-Torches and R-Blocks, it could also be used to make higher power bombs. Bomb + R-Gel = Rainbow Bomb that can mine everything up to Chlorophyte. (I think I made the thread? I don't remember. I'm not going to bother finding a link anyway. )
But that's just an example. Maybe Hellstone + Bomb = Firebomb / Napalm. Clay + Bomb = Waterproof Bomb (can be used in liquids). And so on.

There are a lot of cool and interesting possibilities!

** Note: All references to "bomb" also refers inclusively to Grenades and Explosives. Could also refer to Rockets, though not everything that applies to bombs may be feasible for rocket ammo.

Well, The example there was essentially a vein mining bomb, so that if you threw it on some iron, it would mine all the iron in the area, if you threw it on some stone, it would mine out all the stone in the area. You get the idea though; They could be more diverse and interesting.

 

[Jon Smitten]

Hey, I use bombs to quickly get from the very beginning straight to Meteor stuff, skipping all the ores in between. That's useful.

Thinking about it, it is kinda weird to have bombs mine out dirt blocks that are completely encased/shielded in dungeon/lihzahrd bricks. I would appreciate using dungeon bricks to shield myself from explosions.