Has something recently changed in the combat equation? Here's why I ask:
Over the past two days, my combat results have drastically changed.
Before, I was able to hit successfully 95% of the time, along with my NPC squad, over all kinds of targets (bandits and creatures). But since sometime on Sunday night, I'm now receiving an inordinate number of "You hit it, but it was already dead" results. This is just me, not my NPC team members.
Now, if there's only two targets, and your team has enough firepower to do a lot of damage to the non-leader, I'd expect to get a few "Already Dead" results.
But I'm seeing the same thing when we're attacking a full 12-sentient bandit squad, where five or more are still alive, and I've gotten an "Already Dead" result, which never used to happen before.
In the past 36 hours or so, I've gotten almost 50% "AD" results, where I used to get maybe 10% at most, and that only for a short period of time.
So, back to my original question: has something changed with the combat equation? For example, is the equation now including Speed to determine who gets off the first shot, and my NPCs are simply killing my targets before I get a chance to fire?
If that's the case, wouldn't it be more likely that I'd pick a different target, especially if with a multi-shot weapon, I'm now receiving 4 or 5 out of 7 shots of hitting an "AD" target, when there are still more than half of a bandit squad or creature pack still alive?
Edited By: Belloq Tull on Year 14 Day 82 7:07 ____________
It's very peculiar: I have no troubles when I'm hitting large hp targets (Vractyls, Krayt Dragons, Space Slugs); I can still hit 95% or more of the time.
But when attacking bandits or other small hp targets, it's like I'm *only* hitting already dead targets.
Maybe I need to fix the sights on my weapon. (:^/)
This wouldn,t bug me as much if you still got the xp.
You should get xp for a hit and none for a miss regardless of whether your target is dead because you cant affect tatget selection, especially as there is no defence xp now.
There is already some suggestion about it. At least one. But, even if i get most of my xp through hunting, would not like it to be implemented. Hunting gives much more xp than anything else, with no risk.
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Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains.
“You should get xp for a hit and none for a miss regardless of whether your target is dead”
Disagree. There is nothing to really be gained from hitting a non-moving target unless you are maybe a sniper. If you aren't a sniper and are standing close to it, that doesn't take any skill (shouldn't get any XP).
“There is nothing to really be gained from hitting a non-moving target”
Is a dead target always a non-moving target? :)
This is a simulation, so it might be that my NPCs kill some bandit with their shots, that bandit starts falling to the ground in slow motion/or continuous running by inertia/etc...
...and then a second after my NPCs I shoot him, in this case it takes as much skill to shoot, technically, a corpse as it would a living being :) It all depends on how you imagine this simulation.
The only way to avoid having your kills sniped by your party is to not bring a party (and use a one-shot weapon when your targets start to get low). You can choose to favour efficient XP gains or expedient killing, but not both simultaneously.
You havent heard of Jodi Arias have you? She shot a person in the face, stabbed them 27 times and almost decapitated them. But in all seriousness yeah you would think you would stop shooting a dead body.
You do here; that's why you can't split off any of your shots at a different squad, or only shoot a few of them intentionally. That's just a game balance decision. To go a somewhat more realistic route we'd need to consider the first attacks from you + your squad all landing simultaneously, then the second attacks, and so on -- but would also need to add modifiers to every single weapon since some NPWs can't be swung as quickly, and some PWs can't be fired as quickly, but that's being considered in the form of # of hits instead, hence this outcome. Don't need to like it but it isn't changing either.
Edited By: Syn on Year 14 Day 85 23:25 ____________
Syn, can something be done to modify the way leaders are immune until the last creature or bandit in their squad is dead?
For example, there are two healthy Vractyl, each starting off with 1,320 hp. You can fire at the non-leader until it's down to, say, 20 hp left. But when you fire next time, it's like he's a magnet for all your squad's weaponry, and they can't figure out when it's time to shift fire to the leader.
I should mention, this isn't always the case. There are times when your squad (and you) will figure out that the leader is now fair game, and shift their fire. But too often, you waste more than half your fire at a now-dead target, rather than figuring out that there's a still-live target standing right next door.
Can the equation that determines when the leader is fair game be tweaked, so that fewer shots are wasted?
The leader will never be fair game until everyone else is dead. Beyond that, I don't know what the code looks like so that's up to Zhao, but you can always fire solo or use a one-shot weapon when it's nearing only the leader remaining.