how do bulkheads work

[TheBestBanana]

I've been playing the campaign for about 13 hours, and I'm confused on how bulkheads work.  It seems there are the same number of displayed bulkheads on the damage diagram regardless of the size of the ship or the number of bulkheads option. I assumed that the actual bulkheads existed as you would expect, but the game just doesn't show it on the display. however, some weapons like torpedoes seem to do damage based on the displayed number of bulkheads. as a result smaller craft which have the same number of displayed bulkheads as bigger craft are unrealistically resilient. 

TLDR: how does damage work and is the high survivability of small craft intentional.

Edited January 28, 2022 by TheBestBanana

[T_the_ferret]

First and foremost, bulkheads don't change on the ship display at all depending on what bulkhead option you've chosen. It also mostly only affects how a damage "spreads". For example it won't reduce the hull damage you take from a torpedo, but that torpedo would for example flood 4 compartment on a light cruiser with minimal bulkhead while one with maximal bulkhead might only have a single compartment (the one being hit in this instance) flooded.

It also works with fire. It helps keep the fire inside a single compartment and thus makes it much faster to put out. It also reduces the chance that hits will trigger flash fire, or that fire will trigger it.

Basically it doesn't prevent outright damage but does help a lot in preventing long-term damage from fire/flooding/internal damage.

High survivability of small crafts has been an issue for as long as i can remember and i don't think is tied to bulkhead