So now hunters will close in to point blank range after downing an animal in order to finish it off easily. It's a good idea in theory, but unfortunately there are a couple of weapons, specifically the sniper rifle and survival rifle, which perform poorly at that range, meaning that it's actually counterproductive for the hunter to move in to point blank.
Compounding the issue further is that it might take several shots to actually kill the beast. As an example, I had a guy slowly plinking away with his sniper rifle at a deer he had downed with a 17% hit chance at point blank, hitting about 3 out of 12 shots before finally killing it. And before anybody says it, yes yes I know you can manually control pawns and move them into a better shooting position or have them kick the poor brute to death or whatever. But that's not the point when discussing what hunters should be expected to do automatically.
I think an obvious solution to this problem would be for the point blank shot to be a coup de grace that always hits and just instantly kills the animal.
When I saw that hunters will close in to finish off prey, I thought it meant that they would close in and melee.
I actually thought the same thing when I saw it mentioned in the changelog, like the game would simulate them pulling out a knife and slitting the animal's throat or something. So it was quite a shock to see poor old Grim march up to a fallen deer and plink away for a couple of hours, hitting almost everything at his feet except for the deer.
bwahahahahahahaha thats so true, I think there should be something called execution range in which you cannot miss... I mean seriously... I've seen colonist like 3 feet away from the prey been like 2 minutes to excecute the animal... it almost bleed to death before he would put it down.
I don't actually mind it at all. the more they fire, the more they gain skill, and the more likely it is that they can hit it on the first try.
Quote from: SpaceDrunk on April 18, 2015, 02:15:02 PM
It's a good idea in theory, but unfortunately there are a couple of weapons, specifically the sniper rifle and survival rifle, which perform poorly at that range
The Survival Rifle uses the standard accuracy trend and loses accuracy as distance increases.
The Sniper Rifle is the *only* weapon where the weapon itself ( Not the overall accuracy keeping in mind that weapon accuracy and pawn accuracy are separate) becomes more accurate as distance increases.
The only scenario where overall accuracy
decreases as distance between the target and the shooter decreases is one where the colonist has INCREDIBLY high shooting skill and bionics, and the result is that melee accuracy will still be extremely high.
It's really not a problem compared to the old system.
Quote from: Boboid on April 18, 2015, 03:47:34 PM
The Survival Rifle uses the standard accuracy trend and loses accuracy as distance increases.
The Sniper Rifle is the *only* weapon where the weapon itself ( Not the overall accuracy keeping in mind that weapon accuracy and pawn accuracy are separate) becomes more accurate as distance increases.
The only scenario where overall accuracy decreases as distance between the target and the shooter decreases is one where the colonist has INCREDIBLY high shooting skill and bionics, and the result is that melee accuracy will still be extremely high.
It's really not a problem compared to the old system.
But, dude, the kill is stationary. How can you even miss stationary right at your feet? How about implementing an event that if a target is stationary or not taking actions for certain time, then, in close range regardless of weapons, the hit is 100 percent.
I'm not suggesting a new system to fix something I don't see as broken.
I'm just pointing out the facts and saying that the current system is better than the old one.
As for "How can you miss a stationary target right at your feet?" maybe they've had a sudden attack of nerves.
Or their blood sugar is low after spending 8 hours sitting in a field trying to kill a squirrel with a plasma rifle and their hands are shaking.
Maybe they're a Stormtrooper.
Maybe they're a bad guy in Indiana Jones.
Or anyone in the A-Team.
Or from a James Bond movie.
I do class the current system as an oversight that wasnt the intended solution, as per the OP it literally does nothing to alleviate the original issue, it just flips it and suffers from the same thing.
It needs a surgery job of euthanize to be set on the downed animal and the current hunting pawn to perform it whether they have doctor skill or not, or something to that effect.
Quote from: skullywag on April 18, 2015, 04:15:40 PM
as per the OP it literally does nothing to alleviate the original issue, it just flips it and suffers from the same thing.
That's just.. false. Really no other way to put it.
Colonists are exponentially more accurate at melee range than they are at max (hunting) range.
It's not a flawless " Colonist walks up to and instantly kills target " solution, but it does significantly reduce the amount of time spent per kill.
Im not seeing it Boboid, all im seeing is my hunter stood next to the animal shooting the floor.
Original issue was pawn with short range weapon at max range of weapon not able to finish a downed animal.
Issue is now pawn with long range weapon at close range unable to finish a downed animal.
Problem is not alleviated.
I have my hunters uses the shotgun. It has decent midrange for when they are first starting and it kills usually in one hit when they close in.
Fine - Here are the numbers for you.
All tests performed with healthy colonists and Normal 100% durability Sniper Rifles against Muffalo.
No cover between shooters and targets.
3 Skill:
Melee Accuracy: 94%
Max Range Accuracy: 12%
11 skill:
Melee Accuracy: 96%
Max Range Accuracy: 30%
20 skill:
Melee Accuracy: 98%
Max Range Accuracy: 69%
Need anything else?
Boboid no need to get so defensive, we're all adults here. Youre coming off a little.....short.
Im just telling it as i sees it. Ive watched my hunter enough to see that when i equip them with certain weapons they can take an age to kill a downed animal....thats it. It was an issue for me before and its an issue for me now...and others it seems.
I'm trying brevity for a change.
I'm not opposed to a better system nor am I discounting the notion that some combination of weapon/environment/colonist/target ends with a melee accuracy that's considered too low.
I'm just not a big fan of spreading misinformation, especially when it takes all of 2 minutes -whilst laying down in bed- to test it.
Quote from: skullywag on April 18, 2015, 05:04:42 PM
Boboid no need to get so defensive, we're all adults here. Youre coming off a little.....short.
Im just telling it as i sees it. Ive watched my hunter enough to see that when i equip them with certain weapons they can take an age to kill a downed animal....thats it. It was an issue for me before and its an issue for me now...and others it seems.
The reason for most probably is, that the downed animal is lying on the ground, making it harder to hit compared to a standing animal
Quote from: Boboid on April 18, 2015, 03:47:34 PM
The only scenario where overall accuracy decreases as distance between the target and the shooter decreases is one where the colonist has INCREDIBLY high shooting skill and bionics, and the result is that melee accuracy will still be extremely high.
It's really not a problem compared to the old system.
After recreating the situation a few times, I can see you're actually correct here and yes, accuracy should almost always be higher the closer the pawn is, regardless of weapon, though I should note that the survival rifle is indeed at its least accurate at touch range (it goes 75/95/95/89), though I understand now that with the pawn's acc. taken into account, final accuracy should still be higher at that range.
I think in the situations I talked about, I hadn't actually been monitoring the hunters firing at range, so when I saw them firing round after round with a small hit chance at point blank (it really was around 17% on the sniper guy - I think it may have been nighttime by that point and his weapon was poor quality), I assumed it was the result of weapon properties. But now I have greater understanding of how the accuracy system works and that however low it was, it was almost certainly the best accuracy they could manage. So thanks for clarifying that.
However, I think the greater point still stands that it's pretty silly to see a hunter missing an animal that is right at their feet. When the target is active and moving around, the hunt is still on and obviously it should take them a bit of time to bring it down. But when it's disabled on the ground, the hunt is over. At that point you should just be able to walk up and kill it. From a gameplay perspective it's just really stupid to make the hunter essentially go through the hunt again as they stand there blazing away and possibly taking several more hits to actually kill it when really they should just be taking out a knife or bashing it over the head with a rock and calling it a day. This game abstracts so much anyway, like how colonists always happen to have just the right tool on hand to construct walls or till soil or tunnel through rock. Can we not just assume they have a hunting knife for the express of purpose of insta-killing their fallen prey instead of standing there like idiots for several hours trying and failing to hit a deer that's right at their feet?
I think your argument about nerves and blood sugar or whatever is pretty weak, and not relevant to the way the game currently works at all. I mean, there is a nervous trait, and it would actually be pretty cool and understandable if they had a chance of completely botching their hunting job as a result of having that trait, kind of like how doctors can botch surgeries due to low medical skill. But that's not the way it works right now. This is just a flat issue that can affect any hunter regardless.
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The reason for most probably is, that the downed animal is lying on the ground, making it harder to hit compared to a standing animal
There's no modifier for downed targets that I know of - didn't see it during my tests certainly, only for target size.
Quote from: SpaceDrunk on April 18, 2015, 06:48:53 PM
However, I think the greater point still stands that it's pretty silly to see a hunter missing an animal that is right at their feet.
As I said, I agree that it's not perfect.
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I think your argument about nerves and blood sugar or whatever is pretty weak, and not relevant to the way the game currently works at all.
It was like, 98% a joke.
Apart from the A-team, fairly sure everything in Rimworld is actually part of an A-team shoot. It's the only thing that explains the kind of average weapon accuracy you see out of colonists :P
Am I the only one hunting with a shotgun?
Quote from: Boboid on April 18, 2015, 07:07:09 PM
It was like, 98% a joke.
Well, I figured that was the case with the stuff about stormtroopers and so on, but I wasn't 100% sure about the nervous wreck thing. Again, I wouldn't mind at all if there were problems with hunting that arose from certain circumstances like personal traits, or being under the influence, or suffering injuries and so on. I think that kind of thing can enrich the game if done properly. But as it stands right now it's just flat-out stupid to see hunters not infrequently missing shot after shot at point-blank in a situation where you'd think they'd just be pressing their barrels to the animal's head or cutting its throat.
My hunters start with the pila, or pistol, then a shotgun.... Who uses a sniper rifle to hunt a deer? or a squirrel? Time for battle, they switch to the sniper rifle, since their skill is usually the best in the colony.
Shorter range weapons are better for hunting. less stray bullets flying around hitting your other colonists.
Quote from: TLHeart on April 18, 2015, 11:00:59 PM
My hunters start with the pila, or pistol, then a shotgun.... Who uses a sniper rifle to hunt a deer? or a squirrel? Time for battle, they switch to the sniper rifle, since their skill is usually the best in the colony.
Shorter range weapons are better for hunting. less stray bullets flying around hitting your other colonists.
My sentiments exactly. Shotguns. They are f#(&!ng great.
Quote from: Ace42M on April 18, 2015, 11:04:23 PM
My sentiments exactly. Shotguns. They are f#(&!ng great.
Funnily enough shotguns have totally out of place "long" range dps, their total damage output is surprisingly good even before you factor in bonuses like " Not constantly blowing your colonists brains out "
Quote from: TLHeart on April 18, 2015, 11:00:59 PM
My hunters start with the pila, or pistol, then a shotgun.... Who uses a sniper rifle to hunt a deer? or a squirrel? Time for battle, they switch to the sniper rifle, since their skill is usually the best in the colony.
Shorter range weapons are better for hunting. less stray bullets flying around hitting your other colonists.
I actually rarely use them myself. I learned fairly early on back in A7 (my first alpha) that using sniper rifles was a liability more often than not, and actually found preference for using uzis for hunting, since they fired quickly, which helped train shooting, and individual shots were weak, meaning errant shots didn't do so much damage to friendlies.
However, Tynan has steadily been making some improvements to hunting, like how hunters will give up after a certain time if they're not making any progress. I also feel, although this could be completely baseless, that friendly fire incidents in hunting seem to be a bit lower than before. Also, with this latest game, I only had two hunters (the other had the SR), and very few working weapons to choose from, so I figured, whatever, I'll let one of them use a sniper rifle. Given the way the changelog entry about hunters moving up to their prey was worded, I really wasn't expecting the guy to continue firing his weapon normally when next to the animal, thus being at the mercy of the RNG. It just seems really against the spirit of the intended change.
I've never really bothered with making or using primitive weapons period, because I don't really like the look or feel of them, but I may give them a try next time.
Do it like they do in Texas, hunt with machine guns. 8)
Hell I remember one time when I felt my hunter was working his way trough a muffalo herd a little slowly, so I manually controlled him with a minigun and used that to slaughter them all. Worked pretty well actually.