[A13] Combat Realism v.1.6.5 (08.05.16) Final release

[Didact04]

Having a hard time versus mechs still. Now that every bullet is life-threatening, miniguns are looking absolutely terrifying and scythers hit like a truck. Every other bullet is either a kill or an incap and I'm at something of a loss. What are some of the strategies people use when dealing with mechs? If I don't have overwhelming force and the time to build a fort around the ship I have a problem, and even then scythers never miss.

[akiceabear]

I leave ships alone until I can buy AGS turrets or mortars. Agreed they are pretty much impossible with pawns alone. I think balancing their value makes more sense now, rather than nerfing their abilities - NIAs last centipede adjustment helped a lot but also kept mechanism terrifying.

[NoImageAvailable]

Having a hard time versus mechs still. Now that every bullet is life-threatening, miniguns are looking absolutely terrifying and scythers hit like a truck. Every other bullet is either a kill or an incap and I'm at something of a loss. What are some of the strategies people use when dealing with mechs? If I don't have overwhelming force and the time to build a fort around the ship I have a problem, and even then scythers never miss.

My usual tactic is to use EMP mortars/grenades to stun them, then lob as much firepower as I can before they can adapt to it. Scythers can be nasty with their guns but they also go down relatively quickly. For Centipedes you need to make sure your guns can get through the armor, pistols and SMG's will just bounce off of them.

On that note, I wonder if people would be interested in a sort-of "how to" guide? Basically I was thinking of taking screenshots of various tactical situations during my next colony and post them as after-action reports. While I don't claim to be the best player out there I imagine some people who have trouble might benefit from a few examples on how to do things.

[Goldenpotatoes]

I recently got to experience a 60+ tribal raid that probably would of killed my colony off immediately on a vanilla run.

There's some extreme satisfaction of watching your 6-7 colonists with a mix of machine pistols and rifles just mowing down the primitive tribal members that keep rushing you. Even more-so when the back-end that wasn't immediately killed ends up hauling ass for the nearest rock rubble and hunkering down completely.

This mod manages to really fix the underlying issue with this game's combat mechanics, which is usually how weak most weapons are. If it wasn't for this mod odds are that raid would of just been the first 5-7 tribals in front soaking up several shots and still managing to rush forward for a hit.

[Mr.Cross]

-Snippets from NoImageAvailable-

I'd like this as i'm curious as to how you and other people make bases. That and i'm a newb when it comes to strategic placement with this mod...

[AllenWL]

Would it be possible to have the bullet's height effect what body part it lands on?

I've armed my colonists best I can, and put them behind embrasures, just to have them somehow take a bullet to the leg and get incapacitated in a single shot. Seeing how armor for the legs is pretty hard to get, it would be nice if being behind cover could prevent certain parts from being hit.

[akiceabear]

I'd welcome a strategy guide for CR!

[NoImageAvailable]

Would it be possible to have the bullet's height effect what body part it lands on?

I've armed my colonists best I can, and put them behind embrasures, just to have them somehow take a bullet to the leg and get incapacitated in a single shot. Seeing how armor for the legs is pretty hard to get, it would be nice if being behind cover could prevent certain parts from being hit.

Unfortunately no, the body part system has no concept of body part location beyond "part x is attached to/inside of part y" and whenever a bullet hits a target it just does a random roll to see what part was damaged. Changing it would require a complete rework of the way bodies are defined.

[Fluffy (l2032)]

Would it be possible to have the bullet's height effect what body part it lands on?

I've armed my colonists best I can, and put them behind embrasures, just to have them somehow take a bullet to the leg and get incapacitated in a single shot. Seeing how armor for the legs is pretty hard to get, it would be nice if being behind cover could prevent certain parts from being hit.

Unfortunately no, the body part system has no concept of body part location beyond "part x is attached to/inside of part y" and whenever a bullet hits a target it just does a random roll to see what part was damaged. Changing it would require a complete rework of the way bodies are defined.

How about it then, seems like a good next followup realism project

[Hague]

How about a skill that gets trained called "Combat Experience" when you're under fire. Higher combat experience would grant increased effective cover bonus and reduced effects of suppression. Also, it would be pretty nice if you could force hunker your own pawns while drafted.

Could also add training to animals to help them resist suppression or be given commands to take cover. "Down!" would be a thing you could teach them to grant them a dodge bonus to ranged attacks and explosive fragments (if possible) and the ability to order them to hunker down directly. "Play Dead" would let a suppressed animal pretend to be dead if unable to reach cover, removing their direct aggression (until suppression ends) and removing enemy aggro.

I'm not entirely familiar with how the game is coded but regarding the idea of leg cover for sandbags, would it be possible to just add a list of "lower body" parts that would simply negate an attack and add the check somewhere that negates the attack when any pawn is struck in any part on this list while behind cover and not prone/hunkered? It's a little hacky but it could be possible.

[AllenWL]

Would it be possible to have the bullet's height effect what body part it lands on?

I've armed my colonists best I can, and put them behind embrasures, just to have them somehow take a bullet to the leg and get incapacitated in a single shot. Seeing how armor for the legs is pretty hard to get, it would be nice if being behind cover could prevent certain parts from being hit.

Unfortunately no, the body part system has no concept of body part location beyond "part x is attached to/inside of part y" and whenever a bullet hits a target it just does a random roll to see what part was damaged. Changing it would require a complete rework of the way bodies are defined.

Well, I would also be equally happy with a leg armor of sorts. The only one I know of is the power armor, and that's pretty expensive.

[Didact04]

Scythers continue to terrify me. Firefights in particular seem especially dangerous against a Scyther kill squad that will sometimes zerg my defenses, considering they only need one shot to possibly kill. I might not even have armor by the time these guys show up on Randy Random, and the one time they used my own embrasures against me really startled me. They got to the fortifications before I did and suddenly the place wasn't so secure. People got picked off cleanly as they scrambled for cover, and there was no good place to engage from, because the area had been a marsh and was totally open.

Strats for large groups of zerging mechs? If I can't dump 10 automatic weapons on them it becomes a trade, and I don't like trades. Trades are how you lose colonies.

[TheRedOne]

Melee fighters with shields seem to be not bad, because their sniper shots hardly penetrate/bring down shields.

Another thing is to not have them their advantage on range. Their weapons are good on range, so try to avoid fighting them at long range. Shotguns at corners where when they see your dudes, it's too late for them.

[Herc18]

Can you add this to old saves? Or does it require a new colony?

[Didact04]

Melee fighters with shields seem to be not bad, because their sniper shots hardly penetrate/bring down shields.

Another thing is to not have them their advantage on range. Their weapons are good on range, so try to avoid fighting them at long range. Shotguns at corners where when they see your dudes, it's too late for them.

Meleeing something bristling with odd and lethal blades has never seemed like a good idea to me, shields or no. The armor does make melee combat a lot more feasible, but melee injuries are painful and saving someone at the feet of a scyther that just leveled its gun back at you is not a feasible 'oh shit' tactic.

I am surprised I didn't think of the range thing before honestly. Kind of a derp moment. Can you check the information on an enemy's held weapon or is that not possible?