Can you tell us if Smear Campaigns are in game yet? Anyone find one with the update?
- Thread starter Karmix
- Start date
Well, i have a G3 mav with Quiet footsteps
And an L-6 with Audio Masking...
Can i go ninja with the rocket launcher?
Wow, that's something I'd really like to try - using a masked RPG solely as a diversion.
I think I sold more than 8 of those. Tried also propaganda.Did somebody try campaign plans yet?
I had some to download lately and didn't test them, but they have campaign in them
No joy 
For those interested though I did testing on quieter footsteps using an artemis that I found had it pre-installed and to summarize; QF is a minor QoL improvement, it allows you the same detection levels while walking as if you were crouching (meaning detection thresholds are lowered by 1 step). There is no difference in detection range if you are in the forward 180 degree of an NPC, they basically can see you. It doesn't magically make you invisible, and since you can pretty much sneak close enough to tickle an NPC's bum while crouching (just dont bump them) it's not like QF grants you abilities that you wouldn't otherwise be able to get without it (as opposed to things like backpack, sprint, nightvision, imp battery)
Audio Masking is the real prize of this engineer since it effectively means that your shots do not attract attention. However, what I've found is that is somewhat mitigated by the fact that if you are playing covert missions or just trying to do stealth in general, 90% of lethal takedowns happen in pressurized environments since that's usually where the target objectives are, and the room for maneuver/NPC pathing is very limited, so in fact the true essential mod for stealth is noise suppression (which we already have access to).
That being said, this does NOT excuse fdev from ensuring that content that players expect to have is accessible
Audio Masking is the real prize of this engineer since it effectively means that your shots do not attract attention. However, what I've found is that is somewhat mitigated by the fact that if you are playing covert missions or just trying to do stealth in general, 90% of lethal takedowns happen in pressurized environments since that's usually where the target objectives are, and the room for maneuver/NPC pathing is very limited, so in fact the true essential mod for stealth is noise suppression (which we already have access to).
That being said, this does NOT excuse fdev from ensuring that content that players expect to have is accessible
In my testing, footsteps has a very simple effect of reducing the range an NPC hears jogging or sprinting steps. It isn't the same as crouch, which is 100% silent until you literally touch them.
In meaningful, measurements under conditions where you approach an NPC from behind (as you rightly pointed out, quiet footsteps does nothing to change how visible you are - only light levels do that)...
Without footsteps mod:
- Jogging is heard when you are inside the red circle
- Sprinting is heard a little further outside
- Jogging is heard when your triangle "touches" theirs on the radar.
- Sprinting is heard inside the red circle.
I was hoping it would make jogging = crouch and sprint = jogging. Sadly, this isn't the case. I think it should be like that though.
I was wondering the same thing about putting Noise Suppression on the rocket launcher. Knowing FDev, there's still a possibility the resultion explosion will be "silent" as well.Well, i have a G3 mav with Quiet footsteps
And an L-6 with Audio Masking...
Can i go ninja with the rocket launcher?
It's not, according to others' reports on this in other threads. This is consistent with my testing (the impact of the supressed executioner hitting a wall will alert any NPC in range of it; still much shorter range than an unsupressed executioner shot of course). I believe every sound effect we cause has a range of detection and my guess is the L6 explosion has quite a large range to it.
Shame. And yes, the NPCs hear shot impacts if they are close enough, but they still can't see the plasma bolts whizzing by their face.
I never tested that, so that's interesting to know. I'm not really that bothered by it.
One thing I am quite sure of is that a lot of the performance issues I see are down to AI routines. A great way to highlight that is when I'm in a CZ the FPS is as low as it'll get with my PC (25-45 I guess). As soon as the battle ends and all those AI routines stop firing, to be replaced by simple ones making them fist pump and shout happy stuff on a timer, I've seen the FPS leap up (almost instantly).
So, not that bothered if Fdev don't add in more line of sight AI checks that are fast enough to detect the range and visibility of projectiles
It's much cheaper to fire off these checks following an event (shot fired, shot hit) than on an additional MS timer that fires for every NPC in the isntance and checks repeatedly for moving objects.Then again, the way I'd code that would be to do a quick function at the shot fired trigger that probably already exists (collating any NPCs in range) and then adds a single timer to those entities that can handle the MS check for the projectile, that stops when the shot imapct trigger occurs. That wouldn't be too expensive.
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Thanks for the additional data points. If this is the case then sadly QF may be an utter waste of a suit slot, just like enhanced tracking. When I first saw those two mods I had high hopes that we could make a true 'stealth build' for RP or gameplay purposes; like a pro assassin or such. But the effects are so lackluster that I hesitate to even recommend it as a second suit build (given the amount of time and effort needed to get mats).
For the enterprising ne'er-do-well, or professional operative, or just plain efficiency focused material looter the following mods are preferable (in order of performance/importance imo)
1. Backpack
2. Improved battery
3. Improved Sprinting
4. Nightvision (If crawling in dark places with a flashlight is more your thing, and/or you like the feeling of potentially getting a bump in the middle of the night (though we don't have thargoids on foot yet) you can replace this with improved jump, to help you get on roofs in high-G planet settlements with less problems)
So basically, putting QF effectively means you sacrifice one of the above mods that are far more useful. Other useful mods that compete with QF for a slot could be reduce tool battery consumption (though I feel imp battery is probably better since that affects your shields and suit env. sustain)
If you have too much time on your hands you COULD consider a suit with QF, added melee, damage resist, sprinting to run up to an NPC and sockem in the face
Yeah, I've also noticed that FPS improves once the battle is over, but another big change is that the plethora of dropships finally scamper off. It's really hard to judge though with the whole base being on fire which already does wonders to your FPS with the current rendering issues. That said, it's fairly possible that the AI has its own issues as well, despite being horribly simple.
Hehe, I can't disagree that's a good suit build. I am still going to use QF though, because I'm not bothered by the battery (I've never ran out). I am tempted to try the brute force melee mode thoughThanks for the additional data points. If this is the case then sadly QF may be an utter waste of a suit slot, just like enhanced tracking. When I first saw those two mods I had high hopes that we could make a true 'stealth build' for RP or gameplay purposes; like a pro assassin or such. But the effects are so lackluster that I hesitate to even recommend it as a second suit build (given the amount of time and effort needed to get mats).
For the enterprising ne'er-do-well, or professional operative, or just plain efficiency focused material looter the following mods are preferable (in order of performance/importance imo)
1. Backpack
2. Improved battery
3. Improved Sprinting
4. Nightvision (crawling in dark places with a flashlight is more your thing, and/or you like the feeling of potentially getting a bump in the middle of the night (though we don't have thargoids on foot yet) you can replace this with improved jump, to help you get on roofs in high-G planet settlements with less problems)
So basically, putting QF effectively means you sacrifice one of the above mods that are far more useful. Other useful mods that compete with QF for a slot could be reduce tool battery consumption (though I feel imp battery is probably better since that affects your shields and suit env. sustain)
If you have too much time on your hands you COULD consider a suit with QF, added melee, damage resist, sprinting to run up to an NPC and sockem in the face
It definitely feels like a process loop cost issue to me, the way it's so sudden, rather than my GPU struggling to handle a few extra polygons of ships I'm not actually looking at. A lot of the performance issues are caused by rendering cost, I am sure. But I'm certain that the AI routines could be optimised a great deal.Yeah, I've also noticed that FPS improves once the battle is over, but another big change is that the plethora of dropships finally scamper off. It's really hard to judge though with the whole base being on fire which already does wonders to your FPS with the current rendering issues. That said, it's fairly possible that the AI has its own issues as well, despite being horribly simple.
This is common throughout FPS games by the way. I've seen many "Bot" mods or modes for games and the common issue with them all is they are exceptionally demanding on your CPU.
The video I've seen on Increased Sprint Duration didn't convince me at all, the difference seems fairly negligible. I went for Reduced Tool Battery Consumption so hotwiring a few doors doesn't instantly deplete your battery.
I sprint and then use jump a lot to maintain momentum (which doesn't deplete sprint "cost"). And having this mod on it's great. I barely ever run out now. Before, I did. A lot.
Tool use is nice I suppose. But that's what batteries are for and they're so common (everywhere).
I still think all of this discussion really just suggests one thing: It's done pretty well. No one has the perfect cookie cutter build, just ideas on what is most useful for them. I think QF fits into that but could still be a bit more effective without being "OP" and "must use".
I suppose YMMV, but I've found that I can't live without sprint on my looting runs, I timed runs in powered down and powered up settlements and on average having imp sprint reduces my total loop time by as much as 30-40%, because I spend most of my time running between lockers and almost no time in front of the lockers (again YMMV, if you take forever to cut a locker or spend alot of time deciding what you want to pick up, your stam bar might recover sufficiently to last you a run to the next locker). This is especially pronounced on higher G planets in which doing flying leaps to cool down the hidden stamina bar is not as effective.
Reversely, you could argue it has been done poorly as the FPS elements aren't challenging or diverse enough to mandate cooky cutter builds (not that I'm a fan of those). It's all pretty generic, for instance I was surprised to find that a G5 Maverick has almost the same defensive stats as a G5 Dominator.
Useful in stations? I agree with that CM that having ship interiors would get dull after a while, but certainly not the entertaining walk back and forth between your landing pad and the elevators, right?
Given the option of Horizons power splurge and EDO's template, I'll always take the latter. Upgrading is still important (more so for some players) but mods are more of a flavour thing. Still, you compare my 3 weapons with mods to those without and my setup is way better (zero reload, faster switch, faster ADS, more ammo). It depends on the weapon.
The issue of needing more challenging scenarios is definitely a separate one, I think. But I'll never be convinced that it's better to have mods like "increased rate of fire" or "titanium rounds", which directly increase DPS... There's no point having them as an option, it might as well just automatically be applied by default for everyone as a linear upgrade because no one would opt to use anything else in those first 2 slots.
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