Fall damage is inflicted on players that fall from a great height, and are not protected by parachutes, a landing pod, or some other means of arresting descent. Fall damage varies by game engine, but has been featured in every installment of the Battlefield Series.
Refractor Engine[]
Players and ground vehicles can also receive fall damage from sliding uncontrollably down a slope. Should the player land in an area with adjoining slopes, they may sometimes be kept inside the parachute, unable to move away.
Battlefield 2142[]
In Battlefield 2142, the SAB-1b Shock Absorber Boot unlock allows players to take reduced damage from falls, while also reducing stamina lost from jumping. In rare cases, players may sometimes exit from air transports without using a landing pod and freefall—if they are not struck by the transport they just jumped out of and are teamkilled in the process.
Frostbite Engine[]
Fall damage is a prominent feature in Battlefield installments running by the Frostbite Engine. As of yet, there are no means to completely prevent fall damage though releasing a parachute will significantly reduce fall damage to the point of zero damage being inflicted.
Battlefield 3[]
In Battlefield 3, the improved map and terrain design has mostly eliminated slope hazards. Despite this, fall damage for infantry tends to be inconsistent on all terrains, buildings etc. This inconsistency would sometimes spare players from high drops, while at other times killing or severely injuring players from short drops that should not have caused any fall damage. For example, vaulting over objects above flat and consistent ground close to the player will deal no damage, however, when vaulting over an object which is next to a drop in the ground will cause the game engine to accelerate the player towards the ground at twice the normal rate when not vaulting over an object, and will usually deal around 30% damage or outright kill the player upon impact, depending on how high the drop is and the players health upon vaulting.
Ground vehicles take considerably less fall damage than before, although there is now the hazard of a vehicle being trapped because there is no traction between its wheels or treads and the ground.
Battlefield 4[]
In Battlefield 4, fall damage is almost identical to its predecessor. It can be noted, however, that players appear to take less fall damage when parachuting than in Battlefield 3, sometimes taking none at all.
The object-vaulting mechanic damage bug is still present in Battlefield 4 as it was in Battlefield 3 however. Vaulting over objects above flat and consistent ground close to the player will deal no damage, however, when vaulting over an object which is next to a drop in the ground will cause the game engine to accelerate the player towards the ground at twice the normal rate when not vaulting over an object, and will usually deal around 30% damage or outright kill the player upon impact, depending on how high the drop is and the players health upon vaulting. Persistently and repetitively tapping the 'parachute deployment' button upon every vault may ensure that the player will take no damage upon vaulting objects, unlike in Battlefield 3 where a minimum fall distance must be taken in order for the game engine to allow players to deploy parachutes.
In Battlefield 4, players are allowed to deploy parachutes at any height or fall velocity which is not less or equal to the jump height and velocity on flat ground.
Trivia[]
- In many Battlefield games, players can avoid taking fall damage by holding the "vehicle enter" button and landing in a friendly or empty vehicle. However, this is an unlikley thing to happen, as players need to make near-perfect button presses at the right timing to land in a vehicle, and this is still very situational regardless.
| |||||||||||||||||