Home » PLAYER'S HQ 1.13 » v1.13 General Gameplay Talk » Why my mercs cannot hit broadside of a barn . . . and other questions (back to game after 1 year, finding it very 'challenging')
Why my mercs cannot hit broadside of a barn . . . and other questions[message #341047]
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Tue, 19 May 2015 15:50
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Anthropoid |
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Messages:145
Registered:February 2014 |
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I did not discover this old classic, nor the astoundingly well-done 1.13 mod until about a year ago, and you'll note I got a bit active on here around then. Back then, I seemed to have "got the hang of it" and got as far as a nice foothold in Arulco (captured all of Chitzena, and Drassen, repelled counterattack, captured all of Cambria, hired up to about 15 mercs, had everyone well kitted with fancy gear . . . got to the point of rarely having to use reloads for disastrous engagements).
I do not recall what difficulty I used to play at, but I want to say it was Experienced. Now, that was a different machine (machine is dead now) and I believe a preceding version of the game. I'm playing with the latest beta build of 1.13 . . .
I do not recall exactly which one I installed, but I have two changelog files in my 1.13 directory:
ChangeLog_data_2233
and
ChangeLog_data_7816, so I'm guessing I have 7816 installed.
I have a number of questions about the game, and I'll use this thread as a common place to ask ones that come up and which I'm unable to answer by looking around. I'd really like to finish at least one play through on this game. One question in particular is really bugging me.
In the interest of figuring out if I am committing user error and simply do not understand the full nature of the new chance to hit rule system I'm playing with, or if I just do not like a game that is this much of an advantage to computer opponents:
Why are my mercs such crap at hitting, whereas basic early game enemy seem to be pretty well amazing crack shots? (Experienced difficulty with no significant changes made to the chance to hit rules; only changed a few things like Bobby Ray shipment factors, slight changes to food values, all using the editor).
Example of how an engagement plays out:
My four man team (one IMP merc, Thor, Barry and MD) have cleared Omerta, and (amazingly) killed all 3 or 4 enemies without anyone getting shot. I accomplished this by making reasonable use of the END, DEL, L, weapon-resting (mostly while prone) mechanisms as well as things like 'baiting' the AI out into the open. This was with all starting pistols (9x19 and .38s). I head off south, and then west, and encounter a group of 4 baddies in the farmhouse sector (B9 or B10 is it?, the one with the chicken coop in northeast corner and the cornfields east and south of it.
On arrival I put my IMP Merc "Doosh" (Lvl 4, Squadleader, Scout) about midway along the north-south axis, Barry just north of him in the rocks, Thor south of him, and MD just behind and slightly south of Thor.
First thing, Barry spots an enemy between him and the farmhouse. I check cover view (END), switch to run, get behind a rock, crouch, look to rest weapon on rock, and fire fully-aimed (with a Makarov) shot was out of range but hey, good cover here . . . missed twice.
Doosh also gets into cover and puts his binocs in right hand and scans for the others, sees them west of the cornfields.
Thor goes into stealth and heads out to greet them, MD behind him.
Doosh, then switches to crouch, puts pistol in right hand, fires one shot. Might have hit.
So, that gives you a sense of my mastery (or lack thereof) of the tactical dynamics in the game: fast forward one or two turns . . . synthesis, my mercs firing from cover with weapons rested, them well-rested and fed, morale good (although firing pistol slightly out of effective range), no wounds, and reasonable MRK (85 and higher) seem to rarely hit (it is true that the high MRK mercs do seem to hit more, but still, even they hit rather rarely it seems). Indeed, it almost seems random as to whether taking the effort to get a "better" shot (enemy in my green zone, taking careful aim and weapon rested on a surface) makes any difference. Perhaps it is just anecdotal and I really need to record the data to say with certainty, but it seems that, whereas the AI runs up, readys weapon at standing fires wildly three times and hits once quite often, my guys almost NEVER do that, and almost ALWAYS are quite careful about how they set up their shots (and these are mercs with MRK and AGI in the 70s and 80s) and nonethless miss >50% of the time.
So, what sort of bonuses is the AI getting on Experienced difficulty and what lines in the code might I consider changing to adjust "Experienced" to be a bit less advantageous for the AI in shooting?
[Updated on: Tue, 19 May 2015 16:21] Report message to a moderator
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Sergeant
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Re: Why my mercs cannot hit broadside of a barn . . . and other questions[message #341059 is a reply to message #341058]
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Tue, 19 May 2015 23:48
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Anthropoid |
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Messages:145
Registered:February 2014 |
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Good stuff Tyxe, sounds like you play quite a bit different than me; namely you shoot less often and reserve APs to get back into cover it sounds like. I'll try that.
I've been having a look at DifficultySettings.xml and have created a little "modded Experienced" version that I put up on Dropbox:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/nfmqcouwa0gtjud/DifficultySettings.xml?dl=0
In my install this comes from:
C:\GOG Games Modded\Jagged Alliance 2 1.13\Data-1.13\TableData
Before you download and plug that one into your equivalent directory, I recommend copying the existing one and pasting it so you'll have something like:
C:\GOG Games Modded\Jagged Alliance 2 1.13\Data-1.13\TableData\DifficultySettings - OriginalCopy
i.e., you'll keep a copy of the original Difficulty Settings . . .
In my version, I've added comments to virtually every variable in one of the Difficulty /tags (Experienced) to assist with sorting out how the Difficulty settings actually differ.
So, for example, for the "Experienced" difficulty /tag, the two variables "CthConstantsAimDifficulty" and "CthConstantsBaseDifficulty" now look like this:
Quote: <CthConstantsAimDifficulty>30.0</CthConstantsAimDifficulty>
<!-- Novice 30.0 Default 0.0 Expert 20.0 Insane 50.0 -->
<CthConstantsBaseDifficulty>30.0</CthConstantsBaseDifficulty>
<!-- Novice 30.0 Default 0.0 Expert 20.0 Insane 50.0 -->
This was a little bit of cutting and pasting, and I figured someone else might like to have it so I put it on dropbox. It is possible I made some errors.
For that version that is at the dropbox link, I made two changes to the difficulty settings (well, "three" if you count adding one word to a description.
1 & 2: I changed the default values for those two CTH variables as you can see in the quote above.
3: I added the word "modified" in the description for the Experienced difficulty setting.
I was going to just make a whole new difficulty level, but based on comments by Flugente on IRC that will lead to crashes without also adjusting some other scripts, so I figured I'd try this first.
There are some interesting 'anomalies' in the difficulty settings, most notably the lack of a clear sequential order in the CTH variables that is in line with the actual difficulty settings. Meaning: one would expect the CTH values to go from smaller at easiest difficulties and progress consistently to larger at higher difficulties. Flugente notes that the CTH formula in NCTH is complicated though, so who knows.
One thing we can say for certain: the enemy combatants DO have different chances to hit at different difficulty levels, so I am thankful to have confirmed I'm not insane in having made that general observation.
I'm going to play with it this way, i.e., with all default "Experienced" settings, except for the CTH variables changed to the values for default Novice, and see how that feels. Anyone else, feel free to give it a whirl, though as I noted above, do make a copy of your original DifficultySettings.xml file first.
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Sergeant
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Re: Why my mercs cannot hit broadside of a barn . . . and other questions[message #341076 is a reply to message #341068]
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Thu, 21 May 2015 03:11
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Anthropoid |
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Messages:145
Registered:February 2014 |
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So you think (as I couldn't disagree) that "base CTH for enemy combatants is highest at 1000 and lowest at -1000?"
If that IS the case then the order of base enemy combatant base to hit going from smallest to largest goes like this:
Experienced = 0.0
Expert = 20.0
Novice = 30.0
Insane = 50.0
In IRC, Flugente's response to this apparent anomaly was "That is why I do not play with NCTH . . ." and "the formula for CTH in NCTH are complex" and 'I wouldn't assume that the larger value always means greater chance to hit and the smaller value always means lesser chance to hit.
I don't even remember for sure what distinguishes NCTH from OCTH, so I'm still rather in the dark here!
ADDIT: time I think to waste some time on some 'tests' by seting those values to -1000 and seeing how the Admins in omerta do, versus +1000 and see how they do ;)
[Updated on: Thu, 21 May 2015 03:12] Report message to a moderator
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Sergeant
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Re: Why my mercs cannot hit broadside of a barn . . . and other questions[message #341103 is a reply to message #341079]
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Fri, 22 May 2015 17:46
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Anthropoid |
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Messages:145
Registered:February 2014 |
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Argh!
Quote: <!-- CTHConstants Settings -->
<CthConstantsAimDifficulty>-30.0</CthConstantsAimDifficulty>
<CthConstantsBaseDifficulty>-30.0</CthConstantsBaseDifficulty>
You see, this is why the Chicago style manual and virtually every formatting guide used in the publishing world calls for this type of formatting:
P < -0.05
AND NOT this type:
P<-0.05
;)
-=-=-=
And yes, I do realize that in this instance a space before the minus sign would likely mess up the XML
-=-=-=-
Well that explains it then! Thanks M16. Good to know I was correct that enemy does get boni on Experienced, even if I was too blind to notice that minus sign in the file.
ADDIT: did a bit of play on OCTH with Experienced settings (but enemy getting +30 !!). Amazing how much more balanced it is to me.
Can someone point me to the threads that discuss the development of NCTH and what it is doing and such?
For those of you who have already played the game a lot, maybe playing against a highly advantaged AI (meaning using NCTH) is more fun and is getting more life out of the game for you than using all of your knowledge along with an AI that is on a level playing field or disadvantaged to have a total cakewalk.
But for those of us who are relatively new, proposing OCTH with maybe Experienced if they are looking for a bit more challenge seems wise.
[Updated on: Fri, 22 May 2015 18:13] Report message to a moderator
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Sergeant
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Re: Why my mercs cannot hit broadside of a barn . . . and other questions[message #341315 is a reply to message #341312]
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Tue, 02 June 2015 13:41
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Flugente |
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Messages:3509
Registered:April 2009 Location: Germany |
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1. In stock 1.13, I use a TT Utility vest (best vest imho), a SAW leg puch for ammo and just stick the canteen to the blank leg.
2. There is a feature (don't know the name, just search for 'weight' in the ini) that causes breath loss when firing a gun depending on weight and stance. Personally, the default value seems to be way too high, so I lower it drastically or just turn it off altogether.
I know now that it could never work between us, as much as we wanted to, it could never be! Not because you're a rabbit, but because you're black.
If you want, you can donate to me. This will not affect how and what I code, and I will not code specific features in return. I will be thankful though.Report message to a moderator
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Re: Why my mercs cannot hit broadside of a barn . . . and other questions[message #341324 is a reply to message #341323]
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Wed, 03 June 2015 13:21
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Anthropoid |
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Messages:145
Registered:February 2014 |
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How do I cycle between optics modes? For example, if I have a reflex and ACOG 4x both attached?
ADDIT: from CptWinky on IRC: Period key.
Thanks!
[Updated on: Wed, 03 June 2015 13:45] Report message to a moderator
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Sergeant
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