No headshots

So I was discussing the whole concept with a few classmates when I said that I didn't want to include critical kills like head shots.  They thought that I was going to have a lot of problems since head shots have been a part of the FPS mindset for such a long time.  So I thought a little explanation of why I feel critical kill shots shouldn't be a part of this game.

1. Being killed in one shot really stinks.  There have been many games that the head shot insta-kill makes the game very frustrating, especially for new players. Ace of Spades in particular comes to mind, and I have personally taken on 5 or 6 players and killed them all before the could get me just because I was able to shoot their heads faster than they could shoot me.  While in real life it is very possible for 1 or 2 bullets to take someone out, in a game or an experiment like I am hoping to make this like I wish to encourage competition and a moderate feeling of fair play.

2. It is bad practice to aim for the head in real life combat.  The first day of M16 training in the Army they instruct all soldiers to aim for the center of mass.  On a human the center of mass is just between the stomach and the chest, where incidentally a large number of vital organs are located.  So while it is true that shooting someone in the head will kill them, shooting them in a place you are more likely to hit them like the chest has just as much a chance of killing them.  While I realize games don't have to be like real life combat, for the few people who do get put into a combat situation I would like to have this game be good training for them.

3. I want this game to have the feel of a RTS game, but with the players being the individual soldiers.  In most RTS games there are certain classes that are stronger than other, but typically there is a decent balance between same level entities.  In Starcraft for example, a single terran marine vs. a single protoss zealot would be a fairly matched fight in which one or the other may win depending on the strategies used.  If the marine could kill the zealot in one shot by shooting his head, that balance would be shifted.  Now I know there are players out there claiming that since heads are smaller and there is a chance to miss that head shots are really skill shots and should be rewarded, but if the reward is your enemy not even being able to counter attack in any way it's too powerful.  And so the head will only get damaged as much as the torso.

I hope this explains well enough why I don't wan't to have instant kills.  Even vehicle mounted weaponry will seem a little under powered in the game, as the goal is not the super fast paced die every 30 seconds combat normally found in FPS games, rather the stay alive and do as much damage (or prevent as much damage) strategically type game.