Fallout rebalance Mod - Metathread
- Thread starter Roflcore
- Start date
bioject
First time out of the vault
Some input for F3C
After testing out the F3C mod I have some input on the VATS system. I noticed when VATS is activated, you take a ridiculous amount of damage to the point where using VATS is rarely an option. Even shooting the guns out of people's hands isn't as affective as it seems because they can quickly pick them up and shoot back. It only takes a shot or two on the hardest difficulty before you're dead. It's quite possible for an enemy to have enough time to pick up his dropped gun during VATS and shoot while you, the player, can do nothing but watch and die. I've found this ultimately discourages the use of VATS because sometimes quickly strafing, shooting, and ducking under cover is more affective.
Unfortunately all that strafing and ducking is a big mess in Fallout 3 because the game is a weak FPS without VATS. Getting to cover and shooting is very static compared completely real-time FPS's.
Instead I think damage dealt to players in VATS should be left alone. AP should take longer to refill once it is used and players that don't invest in high agility will be forced to rely less on VATS. Or perhaps AP refill should be left alone and more damage should be dealt when enemies do get opportunities to shoot. The only thing that VATS needs is groin shots, eye shots, and more detrimental crippling effects. If someone can put in a knocking down animation after the construction kit is released, then VATS will really start to rock!!
Finally I noticed a bug that may or may not have been fixed. I'll just mention it anyways just in case. Sometimes in VATS when shooting, if I select more than one or two actions, usually VATS will only execute the first action before ending. If this was intentional, I highly recommend removing this because all it does is force me to reactivate VATS and perform the action I was going to do anyways 10 seconds later. If the idea is to give the enemy a chance to react to my first shot, I think it becomes more of an annoyance for the player than a player skill factor because it only takes a second to press the E button again to reactivate VATS.
Possible Glitch:
On a different topic, I think removing the 15+ to each starting skill you choose makes no sense. Even in Fallout 1 and 2, whichever three skills you chose were given a bonus on top of the faster leveling rate. Obviously this really isn't as big of a deal after you level once, but the time before leveling, your player sucks at everything when players should be able to at least be slightly better in a couple of skills at the beginning of the game.
After testing out the F3C mod I have some input on the VATS system. I noticed when VATS is activated, you take a ridiculous amount of damage to the point where using VATS is rarely an option. Even shooting the guns out of people's hands isn't as affective as it seems because they can quickly pick them up and shoot back. It only takes a shot or two on the hardest difficulty before you're dead. It's quite possible for an enemy to have enough time to pick up his dropped gun during VATS and shoot while you, the player, can do nothing but watch and die. I've found this ultimately discourages the use of VATS because sometimes quickly strafing, shooting, and ducking under cover is more affective.
Unfortunately all that strafing and ducking is a big mess in Fallout 3 because the game is a weak FPS without VATS. Getting to cover and shooting is very static compared completely real-time FPS's.
Instead I think damage dealt to players in VATS should be left alone. AP should take longer to refill once it is used and players that don't invest in high agility will be forced to rely less on VATS. Or perhaps AP refill should be left alone and more damage should be dealt when enemies do get opportunities to shoot. The only thing that VATS needs is groin shots, eye shots, and more detrimental crippling effects. If someone can put in a knocking down animation after the construction kit is released, then VATS will really start to rock!!
Finally I noticed a bug that may or may not have been fixed. I'll just mention it anyways just in case. Sometimes in VATS when shooting, if I select more than one or two actions, usually VATS will only execute the first action before ending. If this was intentional, I highly recommend removing this because all it does is force me to reactivate VATS and perform the action I was going to do anyways 10 seconds later. If the idea is to give the enemy a chance to react to my first shot, I think it becomes more of an annoyance for the player than a player skill factor because it only takes a second to press the E button again to reactivate VATS.
Possible Glitch:
On a different topic, I think removing the 15+ to each starting skill you choose makes no sense. Even in Fallout 1 and 2, whichever three skills you chose were given a bonus on top of the faster leveling rate. Obviously this really isn't as big of a deal after you level once, but the time before leveling, your player sucks at everything when players should be able to at least be slightly better in a couple of skills at the beginning of the game.
Keep also in mind though, especially without the SDK, the differences between FO3 and FO2 skillsets.
FO2 had a lot more skills overall, for one, that Fo3 doesn't have. Outdoorsman, Gambling, Pickpocket, ect. Many of those skills have been homogenized together(Sneak, Pickpocket for example, work together). Outdoorsman wouldn't have as much an affect anymore, except maybe if random encounters were incorporated into fast traveling, since there is no 'overworld' map anymore.
Also consider, FO3 skills are 100 points max, while FO2 were(300% I think? Or was it 200?). Of course, skills past 100-150 were questionable, but you see my point. To be remotely proficient in FO2 with a gun you needed at least 100 to get some good shots, or 100+ if you want to aim for the eyes reliably and what not, at any sort of range.. Skill points were very sparse in FO2, with so many skills and not many skill points to work with.. Compared to FO3 anyway.. You might try to think of 15 skills points in FO3 carries the weight of as many as 30 or more skill points in FO2... Then of course, don't forget comprehension + skill books in FO3.. 2 skill points per book with no diminished returns is like 6 skill points in FO2, but in FO2, there were far more scarce. They practically litter the terrain in FO3.
So.. TLDR, Skill points are already proliferic in FO3, I don't see them needing any more bonuses personally. Actually, the double skill point gain rate is sort of a buff, despite the removed skill points. If a skill starts at like 20 and you tag it, it takes 40 points to get that skill to 100, instead of 80, which is basically 40 bonus points. 40 > 15. All that I mentioned also explains the need of the nerfing of skill point gain down to 5+INT.
FO2 had a lot more skills overall, for one, that Fo3 doesn't have. Outdoorsman, Gambling, Pickpocket, ect. Many of those skills have been homogenized together(Sneak, Pickpocket for example, work together). Outdoorsman wouldn't have as much an affect anymore, except maybe if random encounters were incorporated into fast traveling, since there is no 'overworld' map anymore.
Also consider, FO3 skills are 100 points max, while FO2 were(300% I think? Or was it 200?). Of course, skills past 100-150 were questionable, but you see my point. To be remotely proficient in FO2 with a gun you needed at least 100 to get some good shots, or 100+ if you want to aim for the eyes reliably and what not, at any sort of range.. Skill points were very sparse in FO2, with so many skills and not many skill points to work with.. Compared to FO3 anyway.. You might try to think of 15 skills points in FO3 carries the weight of as many as 30 or more skill points in FO2... Then of course, don't forget comprehension + skill books in FO3.. 2 skill points per book with no diminished returns is like 6 skill points in FO2, but in FO2, there were far more scarce. They practically litter the terrain in FO3.
So.. TLDR, Skill points are already proliferic in FO3, I don't see them needing any more bonuses personally. Actually, the double skill point gain rate is sort of a buff, despite the removed skill points. If a skill starts at like 20 and you tag it, it takes 40 points to get that skill to 100, instead of 80, which is basically 40 bonus points. 40 > 15. All that I mentioned also explains the need of the nerfing of skill point gain down to 5+INT.