Yes it's me again talking about Opportunity Fire. To be quite it's totally killing my enjoyment of this potentially great game. I know it's probably all down to some random bad luck and my impatience towards a sit back and defend style game (great in a 1-player game), but I keep getting wiped out by mega long range Opps Fire while my returning fire with an Aimed shot (including Sniper Rifle) goes off wildly on a 45 degree angle almost taking out my flanking forces. If this was a one off I would bite my tongue, but it's happened too many times for me to accept. There are some major issues with Opps Fire and Firing Accuracy which I think need to be address before anything else. Surely other people are experiencing the same kind of frustrations??? One way or another surely we MUST tone down the effectiveness of Opportunity Fire and increase general firing accuracy! Please. :'(
Fair enough, lets get this sorted. What kind of % chance of success would you say an opportunity fire should have? BTW, I increased the % accuracy of aimed shots in v1.06.
Do any other players have any thoughts about opp fire and accuracy?
Posted by SteveSmith 14 years ago [Login to reply]
They already do to a certain extent - however many points a unit has at the end of their turn, that's how many points they get to spend on opportunity fire during their opponent's turn.
Posted by SteveSmith 14 years ago [Login to reply]
To be honest I'm not quite sure how the system currently works in respect to a bonus for weapon accuracy and unit weapons skill? What percentage chance does Opportunity fire currently have? I know you have to leave at least half of your action points - but what type of shot is it classed as? a snap shot?
Ignoring whatever bonuses or penalties are applied for individual weapons and weapons skill I'd be hoping for average base percentages something in the region of a 75% chance for aimed shots, 50% for snap shots, and 25% for auto fire, with action point coasts adjusted accordingly.
I think a substantial advantage should go towards the unit/player who is taking their turn, therefore Opportunity fire should be penalized in some way. An example would be to have the cost of a snap shot - but the firing accuracy reduced by half to that of auto fire.
Ideally all I am looking for is a reduction in frustratingly awful shooting accuracy and an incentive for players to come forward and attack each other making exciting, fun game play instead of the advantage going towards the player who sits back and waits with Opp Fire.
It wouldn't even be so bad if grenades didn't cost so much cash to purchase and action points to use. Due to this their usage is quite scarce and therefore Opps Fire even more dangerous and effective.
cheaper grenades? door breach charges? a breach and frag option for a player with a grenade that wants to open a doors? perhaps every unit should come with a grenade or a special grenade just for doors? maybe a kind've breaching shotgun?(Fragmentation Gun/Cannon) a flash bang that disables oppertunity fire for one turn?
1) Opp fire is the same cost as a snapshot, and is (currently) set at 15% less accurate than a snap shot.
2) Yeah, the accuracy is a bit lower than this. Obviously it depends on the unit and gun, but they're about 15% lower on each shot type than your examples.
3) It's almost like this already. Maybe setting it to the level of Autoshot might be an idea?
4) I'll tweak a bit and report later
5) I must admit I thought grenades were almost too cheap! They're effectivesness mainly depends on whether walls can be destroyed. They do take a bit of planning to use, but can be effective. I'll tweak their values as well.
Cheers! :)
Posted by SteveSmith 14 years ago [Login to reply]
I didn't think the percentages were anywhere near the examples I set. I guess I must have been very unlucky in my games so far.
I'm surprised to you thought grenades were too cheap? No way. To use grenades safely you need armour, and buy decent armour and any amount of grenades usually leaves you with 1 or 2 units who can't even afford the cheapest of firearms. They're certainly not cheap enough to throw at corners or doors on the off chance there is someone waiting with Opps Fire - which is something military forces would usually do before entering a room. Combine that with the risk of a miss throw which leaves your unit stranded with no action points after you have just 'moved' 'changed weapon' 'primed grenade' 'throw grenade' 'changed weapon back' I find them awkward and rarely use them as often as I would like to.
I really do like Paramime's idea about flashbangs though. Maybe they could be a cheaper alternative to grenades which momentarily blind units therefore disabling their Opportunity Fire but without causing the damage which grenades do.
Cheap, low powered explosive charges for breaching doors is a nice idea too. I much prefer these 'offensive' weapons as opposed to the defensive weapons suggested such as 'Laser Trip Wires'. What do you think?
I can understand your concern that if grenades are too cheap we might create the opposite effect where they are overused, but at the moment I think in most games they are underused. I was only mean reducing them by 1 or 2 credits though, nothing OTT.
Anyway, if we used your idea of introducing a cheap flashbang then there probably wouldn't be a need to reduce the price of grenades.
I've just released a new version of the client which has a couple of tweaks:-
* I did spot and fix a bug that meant opportunity fire was more accurate than I said it was. :(
* I've reduced the AP cost of priming grenades to 10.
* I've increased the general accuracy of shooting.
I don't want to make "big changes"; I'm going to make small changes over time and see how it goes, but hopefully the above will solve a lot of the issues.
Posted by SteveSmith 14 years ago [Login to reply]
I really like the idea of door breach charges and flash grenades that disable opportunity fire. I'll add these to the list.
Posted by SteveSmith 14 years ago [Login to reply]
I've played a few turns with this new 1.07 client and I must say it seems a lot better to me already. :)
Thanks. I'm a bit disappointed with myself about the opp fire bug. Looking back, I should have guessed myself that there was a problem as there were many times I lost several men in quick succession to an enemy unit.
Posted by SteveSmith 14 years ago [Login to reply]