Weapon Rebalance mod v3.17, All things having to do with equipment! Options

[Joe!]

interesting... i noticed the same problems with accuracy before, but after i increased the difference between the 'range' values from 'accuracy' values(in most weapons), i had not seen my soldiers suffering from the accuracy bug anymore.

[Joe!]

i have one minor suggestion... how bout replacing the use particle group for machineguns with the pdw group.

the smoke kinda looks good with MGs during auto fire.

[Casper]

Hey Mr Shadow Warrior! I´m a new member, and a new fan of you mod.

First, I´m reading all you past posts and answers, before asking doubts or requesting something. I´m on the 84 page, and came to say that you work is very good and changed my experience on the game. And I know your answers to stupid and repetitive questions... I will try to not be a victim... But I like when you answer someone who asked something stupid... very funny...

I installed your mod on my game, some days after w###### (don´t wanna leave spoilers everywhere...) event, so I could see the diference with the W###### before and after your mod... And I´m using the advanced assault... It´s really a chalenge... they gave me problems before, but know, with double guys on a mission, the PAs are eating my ammo as candy...

Due financial problems and poor base management (rush for bases, and not territories), I´m begining to see the energy weapons and most advanced weapons... I just got into plasma.

By far, I must say that I hated shotguns, because of their speed and damage. But now, they are for surea must have as a second weapon, and lasers, even the pistols as a 3rd...

I can understand you don´t like rangers, and don´t wanna spend more of you time and pacience discussing. The mod is yours and it´s very good, and everyone has it´s style of playing.

But, in my personal opinion, I like to use dual wielding rangers with fast subs to kill indoor enemies. Because they are fast, and with a good damage, good for saving himself and the others from ambushes in small rooms. But´s it´s my style to play, and I will probably use shotguns with the w#####

I didn´t know if you played x-com, or Ufo Aftermath, but because of them, I´m a fan of gatling guns and auto cannons (early x-com misions, autocannons with explosive shots... shooting 2 squares on the side of aliens, it killed them... nice for the blind guys you got for you squad on the the begining of the game...) I know that somewhere in my future using you mod, I may be seeing some of them... And I know you like realistic things, and you aren´t a fan of "Governator" absurd use of gunnery... So, for now, i will research more before asking for weapons. What I would want would be heavy, with lots of shots, fast guns, but they are not real or pratical.

Anyway, this all was for saying thanks for your hard work. And I´m a fan of your answers!
Casper

[ShadoWarrior]

Anyway, this all was for saying thanks for your hard work. And I´m a fan of your answers!

I very much appreciate your kind words!


PS - I use heavy weapons guys wielding machineguns for the same purpose that you use Rangers. Not quite as quick as the Rangers, but machineguns inflict more damage and my guys can wear heavy armor.

[Casper]

You answer make me remember a doubt about English language, envolving machine guns....

Because, as I see, there is machine guns, rifles, sniper rifles... so, before I ask something stupid...

Rifles are like the AK-47
Sniper Rifles are the Sniper weapons (duh, just to complete the list)
Machine guns are m-60 like
submachines are the small
and the auto cannon are like a gatling gun? (yes, I know someone carring one is hollywood movies only, but I can dream... I´m not asking for anything...)

So, here are my questions...

1)you use someone with a machine gun to clear rooms? Good idea, but I think the first shoot is slow, and my soldier might get hit

2)I remembering reading about a laser machinegun/submachine gun... Is there one of those? I didn´t got it well, as the post was in the middle of a can/can´t and won´t do/will do series of posts....

3)Vindicator and gatling like weapons as nail gatlings fits in you unreal category... so none of them? As they are heavy, unpratical and almost unreal... but a gatling laser wouldn´t have so much recoil, would still be heavy, and with the autocannon model, would look very good! And gauss are, in my nerd culture, lighter and more usefull for auto-cannons/gatlings...

And I read all the 119 pages of the forum... And they answered most of my doubts (as the minimi) and I laught a lot ("Will you do that weapon" "no, and if you keep asking me, I will ignore you")... They were 2 loooooooong reading days...

Again, what an amazing work!
Casper

[ShadoWarrior]

Fully-automatic weapons smaller than 15mm in calibre are considered "machineguns". Technically, an "autocannon" is any weapon with a calibre of 20mm or larger that has a fully-automated feeding mechanism. An example of an autocannon is the 25mm Bushmaster cannon on the M2 Bradley. So-called "chainguns", such as the 30mm on the Apache 'copter are also autocannons, as is the 20mm Vulcan cannon (which is also gatling gun).

Bit of trivia: the Germans were the first to develop automatic cannons, during World War 2, for use on fighter aircraft, and soon thereafter employed on tactical bombers (close-support aircraft). Autocannon were not adapted for use on AFVs/APCs until the 1970s.

In my mod, the 5mm gauss "autocannon" is actually a gatling machinegun. It's called an "autocannon" because it hits as hard as non-gauss 25mm cannon.

With regards to your question #2 concerning what weapons have been added by the mod, I suggest you carefully (re)read the mod's history.txt file.

[Xentax]

Fully-automatic weapons smaller than 15mm in calibre are considered "machineguns". Technically, an "autocannon" is any weapon with a calibre of 20mm or larger that has a fully-automated feeding mechanism. An example of an autocannon is the 25mm Bushmaster cannon on the M2 Bradley. So-called "chainguns", such as the 30mm on the Apache 'copter are also autocannons, as is the 20mm Vulcan cannon (which is also gatling gun).

Bit of trivia: the Germans were the first to develop automatic cannons, during World War 2, for use on fighter aircraft, and soon thereafter employed on tactical bombers (close-support aircraft). Autocannon were not adapted for use on AFVs/APCs until the 1970s.

In my mod, the 5mm gauss "autocannon" is actually a gatling machinegun. It's called an "autocannon" because it hits as hard as non-gauss 25mm cannon.

With regards to your question #2 concerning what weapons have been added by the mod, I suggest you carefully (re)read the mod's history.txt file.

Your definition of autocannon fits what I've always read - I also thought that "autocannon" tended to have non-conventional munitions (e.g. exploding vs. inert shells) while the reverse is true for machine guns; but maybe that's just the nature of their intended purposes? Also, is there a 'true' difference between a machine gun and an assault rifle (that is, a fully automatic assault rifle)?

In regards to the Germans, is there any modern firearm that *doesn't* trace its ancestry through the German military? I mean, virtually every assault rifle action descends from the StG 44, and machine guns from the MG42; now you mention autocannon have a similar ancestry...

[ShadoWarrior]

Also, is there a 'true' difference between a machine gun and an assault rifle (that is, a fully automatic assault rifle)?

Is there? Not really. Technically, assault rifles are machineguns. However, for purposes of defining the term "machinegun" in common usage, a MG fires only in full-auto while an assault rifle has a selective-fire switch.

In regards to the Germans, is there any modern firearm that *doesn't* trace its ancestry through the German military? I mean, virtually every assault rifle action descends from the StG 44, and machine guns from the MG42; now you mention autocannon have a similar ancestry...

Most modern pistols trace from American inventors. The Germans had really crappy pistols.

If you consider the AK-47 to be a "modern" firearm, it doesn't trace to the StG 44. And the venerable Browning .50cal MG predates the MG42.

However, if you consider as "modern" any long-barrelled weapon developed after the beginning of the war in Vietnam, then your supposition is fairly accurate.

[Casper]

Hi again!

Because I´ve installed your mod in the middle of my first campaign, things got difficult... Many technologies from basic labs and advanced labs got accumulated... It was a mess to re-schedule the things.... And I got the alien assault mod with your mod... so, almost 20 big bad wargots from mission... And I was facing them with Accelerated AKs...

Anyway, with tactics and playing on Newbie mode, I´m recovering, and beginning to enjoy the new weapons and the game got easier

1)You were right about the lasers... Nothing kicks wargots better them a laser machinegun...

2)With what you said about my rangers and your machine gunneres, I remembered what I did in the end of aftermath and the beggining of Ufo Defence... Everyone with machineguns! It´s a freaking hollywood movie... And I like it a lot... 5 guys with laser machine guns, a sniper with a laser riffle and a doc, with nothing shootable... I´m using them for 10 missons, and they were a hell of fun...

Thanks again, I can´t wait to research the Gauss Autocannon...

Casper

[ShadoWarrior]

You were right about the lasers... Nothing kicks wargots better them a laser machinegun...

Gauss weapons are by far more effective than lasers versus Wargots. If you think you're happy now, just wait until you get your first gauss weapons ...

[Xentax]

Gauss weapons are by far more effective than lasers versus Wargots. If you think you're happy now, just wait until you get your first gauss weapons ...

Do I have to hang on for Meson weapons to have something "effective" against StarGhosts? Lasers and even plasma weapons don't seem to be doing much to them.

I had a situation the other night that worked out only because the building I was defending had that 'machine in a well' tile - I put everyone on that, put tough guys on the walkways, and then had the whole squad opening up on the defenders as they came in (sometimes having to send someone out to lure more back). This let me win with only one person slightly hurt, but it still took more than *700* shots to finish (and that was with many many enemies only being knocked out and bleeding out, not killed outright).

I had turned off the heroic assault mod for this, too (at least, assuming renaming the .vfs file to .vfs.bak is sufficient). Ouch.

I've heard a couple people say explosive ammo works on SGs...anyone have a good feeling for how well it works vs. laser or plasma weapons?

I even used flamethrowers some once the defenders were content to sit still and try to dink a drone to death - that didn't seem to hurt them much, either...

[ShadoWarrior]

Unlike enemies earlier in the game, there is no single weapon that is best against all types of SGs. I deliberately made the SGs have complementary defenses. What one type is weak against another may be almost or completely immune to. You will need to carry and use a variety of weapons.

Explosives and fire work best against SG Defenders. Use lasers and plasma versus SG Hovers. And use warp vs. Clouds and Spiders. Lasers are best against the Stars, while warp & explosives are about half as effective as lasers against Stars. The one thing you cannot use, at all, are conventional (regular or AP) bullets or any sort of blade -- even Duralloy. Such kinetic-based attacks literally bounce off. Which means that all those kick-ass gauss weapons you have are useless against the SGs. Have fun!

[Xentax]

I definitely like that you made the damage types this way; given that each soldier and type of weapon has a different set of effective ranges, it's even more fun to apply during a mission. I may have to start breaking out more underbarrel weapons again

I have to say that, when I can bring my full squad into action, *only* the defenders really seem to need something other than lasers - while not ideal for some of the others (clouds, spiders), they haven't been threatening enough to warrant specializing against - I get enough criticals on spiders to keep them out of melee range with 0-2 "back up, back up!" moments. Of course, that may change when I put the HA mod back on.

Which damage type does Meson count as (or will it be obvious when I have one built)?

Hmm...did I miss something in my research tree, to not have Warp weapons yet? Or does Exotic Particle Theory unlock it (that's one of the few researches currently available+in progress).

I also haven't got any SG research topics yet, but I assume that's because I'm still researching the 'new alien race' topic...

[ShadoWarrior]

Which damage type does Meson count as (or will it be obvious when I have one built)?

warp

Hmm...did I miss something in my research tree, to not have Warp weapons yet?

Reticulan warp weapon -> Reticulan warp weapons handling -> Warp principles -> Warp weapons blueprints

[psychophat]

ShadoWarrior: The interface link is at the other forum topic . . . I'm too tired just got back from the province.