Home » PLAYER'S HQ 1.13 » JA2 Complete Mods & Sequels » Arulco Vacations » My First Impression of AV
| My First Impression of AV[message #358536]
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Fri, 22 November 2019 00:26 
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 Vincent J. Claymore |
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Messages:285
Registered:February 2011 |
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So, I've played a couple of hours and wanted to share some feedback on my impression so far. Maybe it will help in the further development, maybe I get some feedback from the other players, helping me to understand some things that don't make sense to me right now...
For comparison, so far I have played AR, which I enjoyed very much, but as far as I know it is well outdated by now, UC, which I stopped playing a few hours in, because I *hate* those robot voices, couldn't look past it, and lately AIMNAS. Plus stock 1.13, of course.
The PROs:
- the maps. I really do like them. It seems livelier, obviously a lot of work went into this project with all the item placements etc. Great job
- the tactical AI. I don't know much about the AI in JA2, but it seems vastly superior to the AI in any other version I have played. The use some grenades to tactical advantage, etc. - really great.
- weapon choices. More is better, in my book.
- Merc choices. Same here. More is better - to the point where the sheer quantity will break the usability, I guess.
The CONs:
- inconsistent quality. Some things seem a little sloppy (even compared to other mods like AIMNAS/AR), for example the interface seems a little sloppy, some guns don't fit into the inventory slots and flow over, some gun images are larger than the frame, some images are sharp, some seem a little fuzzy, some of the voices are low quality (Male 5 and Pops, for example), the new portraits and NPC have ver different art styles, etc.
- balancing (money). I have played with the recommended settings and there seems to be no balancing whatsoever. Guns can be sold from sector inventory at ridiculous prices ($2000+ for guns), which in combination with Drop all means that after every battle you can make about $20k or more by just selling stuff to the population, which makes money a total non-issue
- balancing (progress). There seems to be no progression in this mod. On the one hand this is good, because it never made sense to me that the army in the early stages would run around with nothing but MPs and Shotguns. On the other hand, finding LMGs and stuff in Omerta and then finding some of the best guns in the game (e.g. MSG90) on day one, is just silly.
- balancing (availability). There is too much stuff. I'm not talking about the plethora of melee weapons, copper wires and duct tape that are lying around just everywhere on the map. That's fine. I actually like that basic materials are plentiful, because they would be IRL. But with drop all you get tons and tons of items in good condition, too much in my book. I just found myself losing interest in the game a few hours in, simply because there was nothing to aim for, I had too much stuff. Even after only a few skirmished with admin troops I could have made a shit-tonne of money and hired dozens of mercs with no problem. I honestly don't understand why drop all is recommended. It breaks the balance.
Hope you don't think I'm being unfair, obviously I elaborated more on the stuff I didn't like, because the stuff that I'm happy with should stay the way it is.
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Master Sergeant
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| Re: My First Impression of AV[message #358539 is a reply to message #358536]
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Fri, 22 November 2019 19:16 
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| edmortimer |
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Messages:1533
Registered:January 2015
Location: Home Free |
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Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate other players' views as all players play this game a bit differently, it seems - and that is the beauty of it.
Drop All is a nuisance to many players but I also recommend having to outfit the militia yourself. While that still ends up with too much stuff . . . and too much access to money by selling them . . . the intent is that this is a vacation from the rigors of the usual campaign through Arulco, and here is an opportunity to, say, employ Gus from the start. It's a vacation.
Also, many of the players who are still playing this game are familiar with modifying the INI files for their personal preferences. It's easy enough to change the drop all if that is a nuisance for you. Modifying the INI files for individual play styles I have to leave up to the individual players. The 1.13 modders have left a wealth of easy to modify options for the player. It is well worth every player's time to read through JA2Options.INI and the various other INIs that interest them. There is an embarrassment of riches within those files that allow you to change almost everything.
The item graphics - well, blame the bad ones on me, and give credit for the good ones mostly to Smeagol, who let me use some of his graphics, and also to the IOV/COSPLAY, FFF, WW2, and other old mods of JA. I'll clean up my bad ones as time permits. I figure players want something instead of nothing - and if I have to make the graphic for them to have something, then please excuse my poor graphic skills.
Portraits - also a couple artists work, one making portraits from photos and the other making portraits using the portrait maker tool from another game, as well as imported portraits from other mods and JA1. Variety is the spice of life - everybody's taste in art is different, I hope I provide enough of a selection for everybody. If not, there's always all the originals.
IMP Voice files - yeah, a friend did the one you mention, and I'll probably be putting one of the Russian voices in for the next version. I don't have another English voice for a male IMP. I could put one together from a voice set from another game - and even though i find that enjoyable work, it takes time.
Tactical AI - Sevenfm's executable is the credit for that.
Maps - thanks, I think the maps are important for immersion and for allowing/disallowing the use of different tactics. My goal is to make each sector's battle unique in some way. There is still more work to be done.
Being an overhaul mod, AV touches almost every aspect of the game. I still have work to do on a lot of the different aspects of the mod. Y'know, this mod started out as a month-long project to jazz up 1.13 more for my partner's enjoyment. That month turned into 4+ years and counting. During that time the project took several twists and turns. I expect there are a few more still ahead.
All in all, yes, AV puts a lot on the table - and the player can, with a little effort, change AV to be what they want by tweaking the INI files (please use a text or code editor, not the JA2 INI Editor).
My personal play style influences the mod, of course, and I like to be able to take a totally different team using different tactics for each campaign I play. To that end, for example, if I have a team of professional mercs, and they are cutting through the enemy like butter (in the beginning - it gets harder, yeah), then I simply use the delete button to get rid of excess drop all stuff. On the other hand, if I have a team of total misfits (yes, I've gone on a campaign with Skitz, Reuban, and the rest of the worst jokers from MERC), and I am barely keeping them alive and in ammunition, I welcome the scant drop all from the one or two guys I killed in the previous sector before I ran away. I can't mod for everybody. I can only put as much on the table as the table allows, and let the players pick what they like. It's a vacation. Enjoy!
Oh, progression. There is a definite progression to more difficult situations and better equipment. A whole lot of work went into the progression. Can more be done. Yeah. Always more can be done.
[Updated on: Sat, 23 November 2019 07:41] Report message to a moderator
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| Re: My First Impression of AV[message #358540 is a reply to message #358539]
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Fri, 22 November 2019 19:46
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| Deleted. |
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Messages:2663
Registered:December 2012
Location: Russian Federation |
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Speaking of game difficulty and progress, I changed the way SELL_ITEMS_PRICE_MODIFIER = 0 works, so now min divisor is 4, which means 25% price at the start of the campaign, and it will drop to like 7% at 100 progress.
Also, there is now additional damage to dropped guns if soldier was hit in the chest (similar to how damaged clothes work), additional damage to items with too high coolness for current progress, and random additional damage to guns depending on drop rate, so with drop all you will have roughly 50% of guns in bad condition, while others will be unchanged. Also there's a chance for additional damage to dropped face items if soldier was hit in the head.
Also, if you play with drop all disabled, the game will remove scopes/sights/lasers with too high coolness for current progress. You can still steal them though.
Also Ed, if you are interested, you can now move grenade throwing cth/range bonus from demolitions to throwing skill in Skills_Settings.INI
As for drop all, I can recommend to try and play with modified default drop rules, when enemy drops all guns but for other items drop rate it limited, as a result you can still play with some cool guns but you have much less money, ammo and everything.
I have uploaded ImprovedDrop.7z with xmls I use for custom drop rules to my google drive, Data folder.
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| Re: My First Impression of AV[message #358546 is a reply to message #358539]
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Sat, 23 November 2019 17:04
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| townltu |
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Messages:384
Registered:December 2017
Location: here |
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edmortimer wrote on Fri, 22 November 2019 19:16...
IMP Voice files ...
May want to check out Myles and Sexus which were assembled from Wiz8 RPC speechsets,
find dld links in this message
along with additions and/or changes to existing JA2 voices which were already imported from Wiz 8 in some of my later messages,
last not least a new set based on Wiz8 PC with male loner attitude, by user merc05.
And since I already promote my work outrageously, let me also give a recommendation for some portraits
linked in this message and 8 more posted later.
p.s.
sory for bad links, doesnt work no matter whether i type the bbcode myself or use the editor button (iirc for the 1st time;)
so i blame the board SW ;)
[Updated on: Sun, 24 November 2019 02:18] by Moderator Report message to a moderator
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Master Sergeant
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| Re: My First Impression of AV[message #359212 is a reply to message #358536]
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Sun, 22 March 2020 07:12
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| Gopan |
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Messages:379
Registered:June 2016
Location: Norway |
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Hello there, it may be a bit late for me to add my 2 cents but since i love the AV mod, i'll speak my opinion.
I play with drop all and sell price modifier at 4, that's 25%. You will need a LOT of money, to hire and equip 32 mercs - and keep on paying them so they won't quit on you, some of them need to be paid on a daily basis (Iggy,Conrad,etc), some are free, such as the Rebels. And let's not forget the militia training or the mobile militia. If you select to be able to train elite militia, the cost goes much higher. And even if you change the mines outcome to 2-300% and use the option that no mine shuts down, still, it won't be enough. You'll need to sell a lot of items in the long run.
[Updated on: Sun, 06 September 2020 16:19]
Nipson anomimata mi monan opsinReport message to a moderator
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Master Sergeant
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| Re: My First Impression of AV[message #360076 is a reply to message #360073]
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Mon, 18 May 2020 04:00
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| Godspeed |
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Messages:15
Registered:December 2016 |
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edmortimer wrote on Sun, 17 May 2020 12:40FYI. You can always update to the newest +AI executable from Sevenfm. I update immediately as the new executables are released even when playing a campaign.
Yeah, I had never really used the +AI executables before.
As soon as I played this mod, I instantly noticed how the AI was actually not as lame as I've previously known them to be. Setting up my "usual" ambush methods wasn't really that useful anymore.
I'll be keeping an eye out on releases for the AI from now on.
sevenfm wrote on Sun, 17 May 2020 11:03Grenade bonus works for throwing skill in +AI:
[Throwing]
; Bonus CtH when throwing grenades
CTH_WHEN_THROWING_GRENADES = 30
; Percentage APs reduction when throwing grenades
APS_NEEDED_TO_THROW_GRENADES_REDUCTION = 25
; Percentage bonus to max range when throwing grenades
MAX_RANGE_TO_THROW_GRENADES = 10
After verifying this in-game.. I was wondering if it's normal for the Demolitions trait to ALSO have a grenade throwing bonus?
When playing this mod (or any other mod), is the skills setting ini in the Data folder belonging to the said mod the ONLY file to provide the settings or is it also affected by some other file?
Why I ask this is because my file looks like this:
\Data-AV\Skills_Settings.INI
;******************************************
[Throwing]
; Bonus CtH when throwing grenades
CTH_WHEN_THROWING_GRENADES = 30
; Percentage APs reduction when throwing grenades
APS_NEEDED_TO_THROW_GRENADES_REDUCTION = 30
; Percentage bonus to max range when throwing grenades
MAX_RANGE_TO_THROW_GRENADES = 25
; Percentage bonus to speed when throwing blades
THROW_BLADE_APS_REDUCTION = 25
etc...
;******************************************
;******************************************
[Demolitions]
; Percentage bonus to damage inflicted by bombs and mines
DAMAGE_OF_PLACED_BOMBS_AND_MINES = 33
; Percentage bonus to attaching detonators to bombs
ATTACH_DETONATOR_CHECK_BONUS = 66
; Percentage bonus when planting bombs and mines
PLANT_AND_REMOVE_BOMBS_AND_MINES_BONUS = 66
; Makes bombs and mines harder to detect by enemies
PLACED_BOMBS_AND_MINES_DETECTION_DIFFICULTY_BONUS = 5
; Increased chance of using shaped charge successfully
SHAPED_CHARGE_DAMAGE_MULTIPLIER = 5
;******************************************
..as you can see, the demolitions trait as no settings for grenades, yet in game, when hovering over the demolitions trait (existing or new game, IMP and in laptop mercenary view) it still shows a bonus for grenades.
Oh, and some of the settings in my file are different because I had simply cut/pasted the info from Demolitions.
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