Combat Extended - Combat Realism Reboot, looking for testers

[Razzoriel]

Progress update: Lots of bugs have been found and squashed, thanks to the people our new testing team. In the meantime, work on feature additions continues. One of the things we've been working on is a major melee overhaul:

Melee mechanics have been greatly expanded, pawns now have the ability to dodge and parry incoming melee attacks. They can also perform critical hits which do increased damage on attack and grant a free counter-attack on a parry.



New melee shields are available for crafting. They act like additional armor against projectile attacks and are fully integrated into the new melee system with shield blocks and bashing, in exchange for being unable to use two-handed weapons.

Please tell me these features are XML-friendly.

[NoImageAvailable]

Please tell me these features are XML-friendly.

Depends on what you mean by XML-friendly.

[Razzoriel]

Will us, mere lowly modders, be able to modify percentages and how/when these features trigger?

[NoImageAvailable]

Will us, mere lowly modders, be able to modify percentages and how/when these features trigger?

The proc chances for crit/parry/dodge are just plain old pawn stats. You can modify the stats themselves, add stat modifiers to apparel/weapons etc.

Shields are handled by checking for the apparel tags "CE_Shield" and "CE_BallisticShield" but body part coverage is currently hardcoded for the two types (I don't really see a whole lot of situations where you'd want to customize this but if someone finds one the system can be opened up to XML).

[Razzoriel]

Shields are handled by checking for the apparel tags "CE_Shield" and "CE_BallisticShield" but body part coverage is currently hardcoded for the two types (I don't really see a whole lot of situations where you'd want to customize this but if someone finds one the system can be opened up to XML).

If it's not much of a troubling thing, I'd like it implemented, yes. Some sort of XML code for the modder to add tags of his own for percentage of full block for ranged and/or melee attacks, and modding in which body parts are covered by the shield. Though I don't actually agree much for additional armor, it is mathematically the best approach for it, and I appreciate the effort you're taking for it.

[NoImageAvailable]

If it's not much of a troubling thing, I'd like it implemented, yes. Some sort of XML code for the modder to add tags of his own for percentage of full block for ranged and/or melee attacks, and modding in which body parts are covered by the shield. Though I don't actually agree much for additional armor, it is mathematically the best approach for it, and I appreciate the effort you're taking for it.

I can extend the defs to allow defining which parts are covered by a specific shield while standing/crouching but I am curious as to what exactly you want to do with this. Currently the regular shield covers the torso while the ballistic shield covers torso + head while moving and everything except the feet while crouched. What kind of shield do you plan to make that wouldn't fit either of those categories?

Melee block rate is handled through the parry stat and ranged block doesn't involve RNG at all, either the projectile hits the covered body part or it doesn't. Not sure what your problem with shield armor is, the way a shield works is that a projectile strikes it and either it penetrates the shield or it doesn't.

[Goldenpotatoes]

I guess more 'gimmicky' shields like the buckler might be a good example of a shield that would need different coverage.

Just having the option open for people looking to make their own set using CE, whether it really comes into use or not its nice to know the option is there.

[Razzoriel]

I guess more 'gimmicky' shields like the buckler might be a good example of a shield that would need different coverage.

Exactly.

Regular shields not covering your arm and/or hands seems like an oversight, since i'm strapping it on my arm and holding it on my hand, for example.

I'm planning to make armguards, bucklers, parmas, heaters, scutum, square, ballistic... not sure if you know, I have a mod which is all about variety. Intending to have shield variety is something I'd highly value, if it was available. You're saying pawns can crouch, which could have good implications for tactics involving shieldwalls, so making shields more effective in this regard or not, and each individual value such as HP, deterioration, parts protected, and so forth, can ensure a good healthy variety of shields throughout the ages.

So, if block rate is only defined by melee skill, having a small or large shield has no impact on your final block value, correct? Ok. And does melee follow the same rule as projectiles (can a melee attack go through the shield)?

[NoImageAvailable]

I guess more 'gimmicky' shields like the buckler might be a good example of a shield that would need different coverage.

Exactly.

Regular shields not covering your arm and/or hands seems like an oversight, since i'm strapping it on my arm and holding it on my hand, for example.

Should've clarified it better, they cover everything at torso height. Under the hood the projectile deflection works by checking against body part height. If the impacted part has height Bottom a ballistic shield would provide coverage only if the pawn is crouching. If the height is Middle it always provides coverage (except for the right arm, which is not covered while pawns are in the busy-stance, i.e. attacking exposes your arm). Top height is always protected with a ballistic shield.

So, if block rate is only defined by melee skill, having a small or large shield has no impact on your final block value, correct? Ok. And does melee follow the same rule as projectiles (can a melee attack go through the shield)?

Block rate is determined by the parry stat, which scales of Melee skill. A shield can boost it by giving say, +20% parry the same way apparel can give +20% cooking speed. Melee attacks currently do not have the ability to penetrate a shield the way projectiles can and there are technical issues preventing implementation of such a mechanic.

[jhonrv06]

Good job boys. your are the best.

[Huivn]

I can't wait for this to be properly released. Keep up the good work.

[bladerunner170]

Hey! I'd love to test this out. I've also fixed some minor bugs in the A16 version of Combat Realism, if you'd want that.

[jakeyboy]

how would one get/test this mod?

[N7Huntsman]

At stated in the initial post, PM him for the discord to get aboard testing.

Additionally, I wanted to thank you guys for putting in the work to pick up this mod--it's a brilliant addition to the combat system, and I'm glad to see it lives on. While it's not my intention to sound pushy or ungrateful, I'd be remiss if I didn't ask if you guys had an expectation of when you would make a stable release.

[NoImageAvailable]

While it's not my intention to sound pushy or ungrateful, I'd be remiss if I didn't ask if you guys had an expectation of when you would make a stable release.

Its hard for me to give any kind of exact estimate partly because I have a poor track record when it comes to release dates (I originally intended to release this all the way back in March IIRC) and partly because a lot of the current workload is balancing, which is kind of hard to make a time estimate for.

If you want to get a general idea for how much work is left, you can check the 1.0 milestone. Its currently in feature-lock so unless any urgent bugs crop up we'll release as soon as all the issues in that list are dealt with.