Chaosforge Forum
Other Roguelikes => AliensRL => Topic started by: GustavEnzling on September 20, 2012, 14:31
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Is weapon damage based on weapon (and if, how?), ammo type or both? (Skills and pain not included).
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Weapon, but most of the stats stay the same for specific ammo.
For example, 9mm ammo has the same stats for most of the weapons that could use it.
M4A3 pistol, MP5 submachine gun have:
10/L
10 stands for damage, L stands for (low) penetration capability. The difference is that MP5 shots in bursts, which might be useful to quickly dispose those bugs that were stupid enough to come near Marine.
FN SCAR rifle has:
10/M
Which may seem the same as 10/L. But in fact M stands for medium penetration capability (I think :D ), and this translates to better handling when used against armored targets.
Also, each weapon has its own accuracy (hidden stat ;) ), which (along with skills, pain, etc) affects penetration capability and damage delivered.
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Based on what can be gleaned from the game itself, damage works like this:
- Each ammo type has a corresponding damage "value" and armor penetration rating: whenever you're carrying a weapon with a specific ammo type, these values can be found in the character information menu. The penetration ratings are L (low), M (medium), H (high), and UH(ultra high), and in that order they are worst to best at handling armor. (Presumably it can't increase damage more than the damage value, only reduce the reduction normally caused by armor.)
- Every time you successfully hit an enemy with a bullet, that bullet's accuracy desciptor is displayed. Things like "barely scratched", "lightly hit", "perfectly hit", and so forth tell you how much damage you end up dealing. Based on this and the damage value, one can reasonably expect that the accuracy descriptors imply that the attack did damage equal to a fraction of the damage value: for instance, a perfect hit is likely close or equal to 100% of the damage value. By taking note of each accuracy descriptor, one can figure out a rough estimate for how much damage is dealt on a given attack.
Considering that the accuracy descriptor is directly related to how much damage is dealt, it's a very important factor when trying to increase one's damage. Accuracy depends on one's weapon skill and the weapon itself (neither are explicit but can be figured out through light experimentation).
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Playing a lot of technicians (basic sidearms mostly), for pistols the damage seems to go down as the clip size increase... Particularly regretting dropping my starting pistol for a *combat* pistol (18/18)...
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Hmm.. this is what I don't like about the AliensRL learning curve. I've just about understood this system, but without knowing the armour values of different bugs (besides the fact that drones and workers have a lot of it). DoomRL is quite user friendly for people who are familiar with Doom, though here I have no idea what to expect from new aliens or new weapons (and I would assume a marine would be familiar with firearms).
There should be at least some extended descriptions of what the different aliens look like when (l)ooked at.
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Thanks for the answers. Will help me make my struggle more efficient! :)
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Playing a lot of technicians (basic sidearms mostly), for pistols the damage seems to go down as the clip size increase... Particularly regretting dropping my starting pistol for a *combat* pistol (18/18)...
You've just confirmed my thoghts. Now i'll hesitate switching m4a4 tactical (9) for m4a3 (12)
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I've just about understood this system, but without knowing the armour values of different bugs (besides the fact that drones and workers have a lot of it).
(...) here I have no idea what to expect from new aliens or new weapons (and I would assume a marine would be familiar with firearms).
How are you supposed to know the exact values, skills, behaviour, when you see bugs for the first time in your life?
And about the firearms - you can see damage and penetration capability in the character screen.
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I think you should be able to gauge roughly at least some attributes, and much more once you kill it and actually see the effectiveness of your weapons.
The physique of the alien in question should be more telling than this: a. I'm not calling for graphics, but there should be some description. Apparent toughness, size of claws, movement speed, even some behaviour - there's a lot of information that would be available to the marine IMO but not the player.
I would like to see a small description such as the ones present in DoomRL. Advanced players won't need or use it, but then unfamiliarity with basic traits of the aliens create a bump in difficulty of beginner players such as myself, and I really think some basic things make sense to be known to the marine on their first contact with the aliens.
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Actually, I think it could be implemented the way it is in Diablo(RL). That is, at the start you do not know anything about bug, but when you get hit few times you know something about its attacks, when you run for your life you know about the speed, and when you kill it you know something about its armor and health.
Smells like monster memory from ADOM, I think =) .
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Hmm... I don't like that, since experienced players don't need that at all. Once you learn about the different bugs, you don't need the information in game. It would make the game a bit more accessible, which it isn't much right now.
I'm not saying there should be detailed stats on everything, merely things like "This xenomorph appears to be built for scavenging, not combat. It seems to be heavily armoured though. It might not be the best idea to stand in its way."
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Hmm... I don't like that, since experienced players don't need that at all. Once you learn about the different bugs, you don't need the information in game. It would make the game a bit more accessible, which it isn't much right now.
I'm not saying there should be detailed stats on everything, merely things like "This xenomorph appears to be built for scavenging, not combat. It seems to be heavily armoured though. It might not be the best idea to stand in its way."
Well, I guess it can be done. When we get some serious artist we could even try to make a picture for each type, and then change it into ASCII :P .
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In general, we'll try to be more opaque in ters of the underlying system in further versions. And yes, increasing the "l"ook info gradually once you kill more bugs will probably be implemented.