[Proof of Concept] Build Your Skill

[Slax]

"All you need is some heavy ordnance and then the bad guys go boom, haa haa!"
...says Arnold.

[Crudux Cruo]

They already do. At skill level fifty, the pistol is almost perfectly accurate and the shotgun hardly kicks as badly as at level zero.

On second playthrough, i see what you mean, although it could use a little tweaking; the pistol is like a lazer beam :{
I really like the feel of all the weapons overall though, it seems that this is very well thought out.

[HexaDoken]

My first idea: Give a fake inventory item for every 4th movement frame of the player character. The downside would be that you won't gain experience while running and shooting.

But you would be able to gain experience by running into a wall. This would be rather silly.

Why not base experience gain off player velocity? It should be easy enough and also accurate in the sense of giving you experience when you're actually running. Additional checks could be added to only give you exp when you're actually walking on the ground(no athletics improvement while flying; this would need some GetActorZ and GetActorFloorZ), when you are not shooting(this would need some inventory checks) and maybe something else.

[Project Shadowcat]

But you would be able to gain experience by running into a wall. This would be rather silly.

I knew it was a terrible idea. But it was all I had.

[NeuralStunner]

But you would be able to gain experience by running into a wall. This would be rather silly.

I know this: If I ran into a wall, I would certainly call it experience toward learning how to run better.

[zrrion the insect]

I'd consider the doomguy running into the wall as something along the lines of running in place. Running in place would probably count as exercise.

[HexaDoken]

I'd consider the doomguy running into the wall as something along the lines of running in place. Running in place would probably count as exercise.

WELL, TECHNICALLY

From a purely gameplay standpoint however, it still feels rather weird that you're able to tape down your "run forward" key and leave the computer for 7 hours, and then come back and whoosh you're a super master athlete.

Though, with speed based off velocities, I don't see what exactly stops you from creating an alias that would make you automatically run in circles and use it in some open space...

...but that is at least somewhat harder to execute.

I know this: If I ran into a wall, I would certainly call it experience toward learning how to run better.

Gives me an idea - implement a chance to trip over when running dependent on Athletics skill. This would generate a high-level interface screw, would immobilize you for some time, deal minor damage from collision into floors or walls. Give Athletics experience because of something we call NeuralStunner effect(or maybe take it because of some concussion effect? iunno).

Now THIS would be extremely silly.

[Caligari87]

tape down your "run forward" key and leave the computer for 7 hours
[...]
creating an alias that would make you automatically run in circles and use it in some open space...

Just saying, anyone who would do this deserves to ruin the game for themselves. Besides, if they're that hard up for avoiding leveling work, they'd just open the console and "give skilllevelcounter" or something. No reason planning for ways to defeat it, cheaters will only ruin it for themselves.

[Crudux Cruo]

Perhaps jumping and crouching could give some points too; people that want to run around faster and quicker can sit there and do crouches and jumps for an hour instead of running for 5-6 hours

[-Ghost-]

Yeah, I would think athletics would affect walk speed, run speed, and maybe jump height/crouch speed?

[Josh771]

Yeah, I would think athletics would affect walk speed, run speed, and maybe jump height/crouch speed?

Yeah, but you crouch almost instantly anyway [/sarcasm].

In addition to those things, I think the speed of the alt-fire punch should pull from gun skill and athletics, 50/50. Gun skill because you'd have to be comfortable with slinging the weapon to the side and readying it again, and athletics because of obvious reasons like physical explosiveness and endurance.

[cortlong50]

Oh my. You could really do some good stuff with this.

I am sitting here thinking the same thing.
You could really get some hideous destructor stuff going on without bouncing off the walls.

I'm waiting for a mod that is a good blend of realism and practicality.
This could be the beginning of that.

[Josh771]

So, I had an interesting thought for this mod. I think it could benefit from an adrenaline system based on light level and monster proximity. You could have monsters, in their active states (so they're chasing the player or searching), use something like A_RadiusGive to simulate a sort of fear reaction in the player, as well as a script that checks sector light to make the player "nervous" in poorly lit areas -- especially pitch black darkness. This adrenaline could give the player a subtle athletic bonus while throwing off his aim a little, less so at high gun levels.

Using several radii, the monsters can build more adrenaline in the player the closer they are. I get the feeling anyone's hands would be rather sweaty and shaky if they were mobbed into a corner by demons and the living dead. I wouldn't know from personal experience. Of course, you'll be a little better at beating the hordes away in melee combat with the adrenaline rush as well.

Just a thought. I don't know if anything like that has ever been done before.

[Robomorons]

I just came up with an idea that will "balance" the rocket launcher. Basically, you can only have one rocket in the launcher at a time, it takes a long time to fire the thing and when you do, you get MASSIVE knockback at level one. As you go up in levels, however, you will eventually not get knockback and your reloading speed will go up (but still only one rocket at a time). No idea how to balance out the plasma weapons, though. Maybe the BFG will damage you or something? The plasma rifle will overheat? No idea.

EDIT:I have thought up a method for BFG balance! This might be dumb but bear with me. Basically, after you fire a BFG shot, an electric current goes through your body, disabling your ability to move. The move you gun up, the less affected you are by the BFG shock. What do you think of that, eh?

[twinkieman93]

You realize that rocket launchers, modern ones even, have fairly manageable recoil, yes? There's a reason they're called recoilless rifles. 116 years in the future, I would imagine they've worked that down to where you'll feel less recoil than you would from firing more conventional weapons. A better way to balance it is the reloading times; the rockets are heavy, bulky, and I imagine rather unwieldy as a result. You will fumble to get the rocket into the tube, I'm sure. Even at max level it would still be slow, but it'd be close to, say, two or three seconds between shots as opposed to ten seconds for a clumsy novice. Also, the weapon is heavy enough to where slinging it away to punch things is just not possible. You would also be unable to run while you have it equipped, as aiming this thing while moving so quickly would be more or less impossible. And of course, you wouldn't be able to carry very many rockets, even with a backpack.

To offset these downsides, the rockets would be devastating. Far more than they are vanilla. One rocket would obliterate a baron on a direct hit, and they move FAST. It would be the ultimate NOPE button, for when you really just don't want to deal with a monster's bullshit anymore. And of course, with careful use, it would be the weapon of choice for boss fights.