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Fixed Random Enemies Too Easy to Kill

Hylie Pistof

Hylie Pistof

Curmudgeon
QA Tester
Storm Modder
Pirate Legend
I started out with a melee level of 5 if I remember correctly. The fencing has been very easy all game long. They fall easily and have low grade weapons. I can tell they are low level NPCs because in cave fights I can push right past them and before they would often push me right back out of the cave.

I always take 3 officers with me. I did just lose one in a treasure quest when he got surrounded, but he was also level 2 at melee.
 
I don't think any changes were made that would affect characters' starting skills.
Unfortunately it is harder to check that for enemies than it is for friends.

Unless my change to generate normal officer types in random encounters affected enemies as well.
Where do you encounter the push over enemies? Treasure quests? Dungeons? Jungles?
 
Almost everywhere. I got boarded during a treasure quest and while I survived I lost a good officer for a total of 2 officers lost in that one quest. The boarding pirates were hard to kill and had good weapons.

The easy ones are everywhere else.
 
Maybe I know what happened then.
When I'm near my game again, I'll make a file with one line of code reset to its earlier state.
Then you can test if that is indeed the culprit.
 
Ok, but it should be said that POTC has been much easier for a very long time. I never mentioned it before because the attitudes were that this made it easier to playtest the flood of changes.
 
Hylie Pistof said:
Ok, but it should be said that POTC has been much easier for a very long time. I never mentioned it before because the attitudes were that this made it easier to playtest the flood of changes.
Click to expand...
i agree and disagree i agree the game is easier in some cases but i disagree that the game is easier in all try plying as sword master yes at the beginning the fights are easier because of my high states of sword fighting try playing as (the abandon one the one that you start from nothing sorry forgot the name) in swashbuckler and damn that will be hard as** but anyway i agree and disagree with you but that's good isn't it
 
@Hylie Pistof : I told you before that if you deliberately don't report something at the time it becomes a problem but wait until later, it becomes virtually impossible to narrow down what change caused it and rectify it anymore.
Needle in a haystack indeed. :shock
 
It was discussed before. I'm up to level 21 and still one stroke killing opponents, but am now starting to see them with better equipment. They are rarely attacking me with daggers now.
 
Really, the last thing I remember you saying was the very opposite.
Fighting was very hard until you'd get higher skills and equipment.

Maybe you did say otherwise later, but unfortunately that didn't register with me.
Sorry about that. Now I do need to know sort of clue on when this changed (Eg some sort of vague date).
Sounds to me like it should be a "night or day" difference, no?
 
I first noticed it a year or so ago and just went with the flow. As I get older and my eyes and reflexes go away easier is ok up to a point. This latest release is even easier than before tho.
 
A YEAR? Holy crap, my memory definitely doesn't go back that far on this. :shock

Well, when I feel better again and have access to my game files, we can try the one idea that I do have on this.
But that relates to a change I made last weekend.
 
Hey, if no one else is bothered then maybe it is alright as is. Don't change it just for me.
 
I'd definitely want to know for sure if my change from last week didn't mess things up.
So that will need checking.

Then if fights are still too easy, there is probably a formula that can be tweaked. Just need to find it.
But weren't you saying that you need the Sabre of Nicholas Sharp to stay alive in the early game?
I seem to remember us discussing that last month. How does fit in...?
 
I can confirm that dungeons are easier (and less rewarding in XP) than they used to be, and have been for a while. Enemies now seem to be matched to your level rather than being a bit tougher. But enemy AI is not that good and can be defeated relatively easily by always blocking until the enemy strikes, then hitting him back while he's recovering from that strike and not blocking. Which suits me! @Hylie Pistof isn't the only one whose reflexes aren't up to playing a fast-paced combat game and this relatively easy mechanism is one reason why I play PoTC in preference to more modern games involving combat. Having the enemy be a couple of levels higher than you makes fights more challenging, as I believe highwaymen are - they're not so easy as dungeon denizens.
 
There is probably a formula somewhere that defines enemy level based on player level and scaled by difficulty.
When I get round to finding that, it is probably relatively easy to change the balancing there.

Other things I'd propose to do:

- Check if my "random characters use friendly officer types" affects enemies too. I'm not certain about that, but it could mean a lot of random enemies would end up being "citizens". :facepalm
This relates to a change I made previous weekend to get more normal officers to be hired from the Enc_Walkers.

- Set "location fight disable" all over the place. Hopefully when enemies cannot draw their blades, it becomes possible to use the [O]-key on them.
Then we could see their exact stats and officer types, which would be quite relevant to know.
 
I can report that opponents are getting better now and the game is more normal. It seems to take quite a while for them to level up tho.

As to the Sword of Nicholas Sharp, yes there was a time when I did need it, but that time seems to be gone. I used it out of want more than needs for some time and now I no longer bother with it or Drake's sword either. For that matter all the special weapons are no longer needed. There was a time when I mostly used just those. Right now I'm using the Venetian cutlass.

Yes, fighting is all about timing. I do not buy games with reflex based combat systems.
 
I am about half way through the standard storyline on the 17 Mar version. I am finding still most encounters on land are very easy now. In the Crypt on Barbados (via the dungeon) The monks that turn into skeletons are very easy now - one hit and they are dead. They also don't give you the dialogue when killed in this version - they worked fine in the Feb version and the difficulty change to them has also occurred since then. Something in this has definitely changed in the 17 Mar version which has affected difficulty in combat on land (sea encounters - capturing ship seems not to have changed). It seems only to do with land encounters.
The rest seems to be reasonably well balanced now.
Hope this helps. (I play on swashbuckler).
 
I have access to a hugely outdated version of the mod at the moment, but I think I tracked down the line I changed that may be related to this.
In PROGRAM\Loc_ai\LAi_monsters.c here:
Code: 
bool LAi_MonsterLogin(ref location, string group, string locator)
{
   [...]
   //trace("Gauging: Create Fantom now:");
   ref chr = LAi_CreateFantomCharacterEx(false, -offset, true, false, false, LAi_MonsterInfo.model, LAi_MonsterInfo.ani, group, locator); // NK
   //trace("Gauging: CFC done.");
That line starts with 'true' now instead of 'false'.

Please extract attached file to PROGRAM\Loc_ai and see if you notice any difference in the fight difficulty ashore.
If this affects enemies as well as non-enemies, that could have made enemies into "citizens" instead of "fighters".
I assumed they would be handled separately, but maybe not.

This will also make non-enemies use only "enemy" officer types again, so it does make for a step backwards.
But it would be very good to know if this has anything to do with it or if the search must continue.
 

Attachments

  • LAi_monsters.zip
    8.9 KB · Views: 87
Plus another test that may tell us more. Add this code to console

Code: 
   if (CheckAttribute(LoadedLocation, "noFight")
   {
     LAi_LocationFightDisable(LoadedLocation, false);
   }
   else
   {
     LAi_LocationFightDisable(LoadedLocation, true);
   }
If I wrote this correctly, pressing F12 should serve as a toggle on enabling fighting or not in a location.
Which means if there are enemies in the location who haven´t drawn their weapons yet,
you can press this to prevent them from doing so. Then walk up to them and press O.
With a bit of luck, that will allow you to see their officer type, HP, skills and abilities.
Then it should become much clearer where they are lacking and why they are such pushovers.

Hopefully somebody sees the chance to do some tests with the above.
 
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