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Topics - DeltaEpsilon

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Using Meridian's own words: weapon power => +power bonus => roll => damage

Note: it's assumed that the weapon here is a firearm
1. It makes no logical sense to say "weapon power". The weapon itself does not affect bullet's lethality.
2. It doesn't matter if you shoot a 5.56mm NATO with an M16 or a FAMAS, the bullet's parameters remain the same.
2+. Well, not completely, there are some things the weapon itself affects, but for the sake of simplicity let's assume that they're insignificant enough to be ignored.

So it's not "weapon power", it's "bullet power".

But then we have power bonus.
And I think it's bullshit.

See, the issue here is that bullet power is bullet's own value, independent of the shooter or the weapon.
But power bonus actually makes a weird scenario where the bullet's lethality is somehow affected by the shooter.
I don't think X-Com soldiers wield such arcane magic to magically affect the bullet mid-flight.

Think of it: how's being more accurate or reactive should give you any way to increase the damage you inflict?

Let's talk about the roll.
The way I see it is probably the same as Julian envisioned: it's a way to simulate uncertainty of the hit.
Maybe you hit a hat or something.
It's okay. While I still think it's BS that you may get 0 damage roll despite HITTING, at least I can see the logic behind this.

So where to apply power bonus then?
I think it should be applied to the roll itself.
Why?
Easy: bias.

Power bonus is definitely a weapon's own value. It must indicate something about the weapon itself.
Now, my assumption as to how it would affect end damage is ergonomics.

For the sake of clarity, I will call power bonus "ergo bonus" because it's no longer a power bonus.


Possible explanations for stats and ergo bonus:
Accuracy is probably done by adding some kind of stabilizers and stuff to the weapon. It's not as useful for rookies as it is for specialists.
Reaction ergo bonus is probably something like how the weapon fits nicely in the hand and can be used while moving easier.
Bravery makes no sense, but whatever.

Basically all of those stats indicate how a soldier is used to this kind of weapon which allows him to use it easier.

Where does the extra damage come from then? It doesn't.
It does NOT increase bullet's lethality, but it allows the soldier to be, on average, more consistent and effective at hitting the target in vurnerable spots.

The soldier has at least some control over where the target will be hit, but it's still random.

Basically the distribution is shifted, that is, there is bias.

As such, making power bonus apply after the roll will bring a weird transition state between 0%-200% and 50%-150%. However, for this case the range is dependent on the soldier themselves.

As such, ergo bonus represents a probability that the low-end of the distribution will be shifted into the high-end.
That means that if you roll less than 100% of damage, you have a chance that is equal to ergo bonus to add 100% to this roll.
This is represented with the following histograms:
Spoiler:



They should be easy to read, but in brief: 10000 simulated rolls, x axis - roll value, y axis - amount of rolls with this value, red line is local mean of window size of 10 (that is, +-4 units from this point)


Therefore ergo bonus does the same thing as power bonus: increasing average damage (represented by red vertical line here), but not increasing the actual max and min damage.


However, it must be noted that power bonus actually makes sense for melee weapons.
You're holding a melee weapon in your hand and how it performs is significantly affected by your own stats.

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Work In Progress / [DONE] [EXPERIMENTAL MECHANICS] Bank loan
« on: January 02, 2016, 01:35:07 am »
Simple but robust. Exploits modding possibilities to do what game engine is not supposed to do.

SpoilerFigurative lore:
If you are in a dire financial situation, the Bank of Imaginary World can help you out! Imaginary World is a wonderful but strange place. It wants to expand and that's how the Bank of Imaginary World works. Instead of paying part of your loan periodically, it uses your habitable space as housing.

How to take a loan:
1. [Purchase menu] Write a loan agreement. By doing that you are allocating your general stores' space to the Bank. Each agreement costs $5 000 as an initial payment. The Bank pays $100 000 for 10 units of space.
2. [Manufacture menu] Equip allocated space for the Bank. By doing that you sign the agreement and get your money from the Bank.

How to discard a loan agreement:
1. [Sell menu] Return the agreement. You get your $5 000 back.

How to repay a loan
1. [Sell menu] Regain control of your general stores' space by paying $125 000 to the Bank. After that your agreement with the Bank is over.

SpoilerHow to use:
First you need to go and purchase "Loan Agreement ($100000)" which costs $5000 and takes 10 space. To get your actual loan you need to manufacture it. After that you get LOAN item which will take 10 units of space until you sell it. Selling it costs $125 000. So in the end you get $95 000 and pay $125 000 when your stores are clogged (with imaginary creatures and things).

SpoilerWhy does it work in such a strange way?:
Because OXC provides very little means of doing what this mod does. Too bad:
1. You can't make negative purchase cost which would be the easiest way of doing things. Well, it's possible but the game does not react well to that.
2. Unless storage limits are enforced, you can manufacture things limitlessly in regards to space. That's why you first need to _buy_ an agreement as it's the only way I can force game to consider free space left.
3. Cool way of balancing. If you don't have free space, it means you have something to sell and don't really need Bank's help. You can't also take a huge loan if you are not really advanced with your bases.
4. There are a couple of exploits associated with that mod, but I don't know a way to make them unusable.

Download: https://www.dropbox.com/s/fc7g3k7fsnx5tlt/bankloan.zip?dl=0

3
Tools / Scripts : Profit calculator & Weapon efficacy calculator
« on: December 23, 2015, 01:16:17 am »
Maint_sim.py

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yy3dntjxth2g6lu/maint_sim.zip?dl=0
https://pastebin.com/bA5ijfjs - just source code. More stable than version in the archive but no new functional.

First version of maint_sim.py devoted to calculate the ideal setup and profit of any manufacturable item possible. You punch in all the values and get what needed. Be aware that TFTD rules for most part follow easy rule: more engineers = more profit, so you might be using it just to evaluate your average profit.



UFOEnemy.py

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2jnt7shtt2c0d63/UFOEnemy.zip?dl=0
https://pastebin.com/7ZJS5eHZ - just source code and nothing else. It is far more readable than one in archive but I am not going to bother with reuploading solely because source code is better.

Advanced version of older UFOEnemy.py. It is supposed to evaluate efficiency of any given weapon against any given enemy.
Now it supports mass evaluation and can easily and quite reliably be used by modders who want to balance things out. Or by common players seeking to know what weapon deals with what enemy best.




Spoilersrc directory:
Each archive contains two folders: bin and src. bin has executable file for windows users (I am not sure if it works in 64-bit Windows, but it should) and src contains the actual py script which lies, well, "compiled" in bin folder. You can use any script however you want.
SpoilerInformation on maint_sim.py:
It simulates the whole process of manufacturing throughout a virtual month. The reason of that is because UFO: EU uses a very weird system of manufacturing and calculating it mathematically would require using some special means. Simulating is just overall easier to implement.
SpoilerInformation on UFOEnemy.py:
It also simulates the whole process of killing virtual enemies. It collects statistical data and outputs it in readable form.
SpoilerNote on UFOEnemy.py:
The tab in the screenshot consists of three values: first is average amount of shots needed to kill some enemy, second is standard deviation and third is the absolute minimum of shots needed to kill an enemy
SpoilerNote on INVINCIBLE status:
It appears if there were more than 1/100 of TRIES without killing that particular enemy (100 shots at default). It used to have actual determinating of immunity to some weapon, but I faced a problem that made numbers meaningless. I don't think anyone would truly consider firing 3500 +- 1250 times at some enemy and not think he's not dying. It's a trade-off between common sense and accuracy.

If there are any bugs, you can post them here.

4
Suggestions / Instant instant grenades option
« on: December 06, 2015, 08:57:24 pm »
(The title contains no typos)

There are certain situation where you'd like to have Instant Grenades on. The easiest example of such a situation is when you are bombing some strong enemy. If you play without instant grenades, you are pretty much forced to do 1 grenade at one time because an explosion of a grenade destroys other grenades without detonating them. Another example would be smoke grenades at Turn 0. You see, sometimes you can start your combat having a bunch of enemies watching you while you are still in the craft. This situation is bad to say the least. You can counteract it if you throw an instant smoke grenade in front of you, breaking visual contact.
On the other hand having instant grenades always turned on is not always needed. First of all, grenade relay. How are you supposed to relay a grenade if it explodes upon hitting ground? Second, HE pack. There is almost no way apart from having highly trained thrower throwing HE pack to survive it if it explodes in available range for most rookies.
Switching the aforementioned option back and forth is incredibly annoying and you can sometimes forget if it's on or not leading to some stupid mistakes.

I propose changing Instant Grenades mod so that it will add "-1" timer setting which will make an explosive instant.

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