Bravery

[dpelectric]

I'm confused (as usual)

Is this the stat that determines a soldiers' resilience to psi attacks?

If so, is there a threshold number at which s/he becomes less susceptible?

Does this vary according to the type of psi attack (i.e. bravery of 70 can usually resist dread, but not MC?)

And if there are such thresholds, how do I determine them? Most of my troops are running around the battlefield with "99+" bravery (a function, I would guess, of the morale boost given to soldiers within 10 spaces of each other) but this is largely worthless if they're getting MC'ed anyhow. It'd be considerably more helpful to see a Xenonaut's actual bravery (say, 108) if this helps explain why they're freaking out while another soldier (with a morale of, say, 138) isn't.

Can the game engine not display figures above 99? If so, couldn't you rescale the numbers proportionately downward so bravery in the 90s would be the highest attainable with all bonuses, and psi attacks would stand the same % chance of success/failure at the lower numerical rate?

Also nice would be notice of just how large a bonus is being given for the proximity of teammates. This might influence my decision if I'm considering breaking a soldier off from the pack to attempt a flanking attack when s/he is a little chickens--t on their own

And, when you view a soldiers' baseline bravery at your base, does the figure shown include the bonuses for medals?

Like I said, I'm confused

[quiescat]

**( disclaimer this is how i understand the system to work from personal experience and forum surfing )**

so, i think you might have combined 2 stats in your post. so you have bravery which does effects Psi attacks. its something along the lines of cover for the brain if you will, its not perfect aliens just need higher rolls to affect your troops.

then there is moral, this is bigger or smaller as a baseline because of bravery, but it has things that can effect it mid-combat such as having friends die and the proximity you talked about ( some psi attacks also hit moral i think ). this is the stat if it gets to low you will have troops panic with out any alien psi attack what so ever, as in the alien is not using powers to make your troops panic its just that guy got scared all on his own. i am pretty sure moral has no effect on psi attacks whatsoever that is 100% a function of bravery alone. so say you have a trooper who just got done wetting him self over the fact that his best friend died and now hes all alone, his bravery is still the only thing i think that effects his chance of getting hit with a psi attack, such as dread or mind control. which is still a pretty weak defense unless your guy is in the 70s or 80s for bravery (very hard to get)

moral is bugged in its display i think, well less bugged and more each turn you have some moral regenerate, however every time you get shot or suppression, in the case of getting shot it double dips. your moral is going down while all during the aliens turn, then at the very start of your turn you get a roll to see if panic happens. then you moral regenerates, and then after all that you get to see the final numbers. much in the same way you dont see your health go down till your turn where you can check every one. so in theory you have a guy who does not look like his moral is low who ends up panicking because his moral really was low, but your confused becuse you only get to see his stats after regeneration.

the bravery in the stats screen in base is the finial number counting medals, so you don't need to say Steve has 2 medals so his bravery of 50 is really 52

**( disclaimer this is how i understand the system to work from personal experience and forum surfing )**

Edited March 29, 2014 by quiescat
disclaimer

[Gauddlike]

Chris suggested morale regeneration could happen at the end of the player turn instead of the start, that might be better for the visual representation.

The player would be able to see their soldiers actual morale level at the point the tests were taken.

[dpelectric]

Thank you for the information

Ok, then, if I understand correctly, you have a bravery stat which is a baseline (including medals) shown at your base. When you are in combat this stat is represented as a light blue bar, which can be higher or lower according to various modifiers, and is now referred to as "morale". Morale determines how susceptible a soldier is to panicking when bad things happen (wounding or death of any members of the team) but baseline bravery is what defends against psionic attacks. Yes?

If bravery alone resists psi assaults (not the "99+" morale bar one sees in combat) and it can only be raised by a limited amount via medals, then it stands to reason that bravery is one of the most important, if not THE most important, vital statistic. I haven't faced real psionic attacks yet (I'm only in mid-Jan) but looking ahead I figured hey, my guys will be good against that, a lot of them are running around with their blue bars maxed out. It looks like that assumption is going to be wrong.

I've been hiring soldiers with primary emphasis on TUs, strength and most of all accuracy, but it sounds like that was a big mistake. Without knowing if there are specific thresholds for resisting psionic threats (like, say, 65 will defend against most mental attacks) or roughly how much of a boost medals can give an experienced warrior, a lot of my troops that right now look like badasses on the battlefield may become late-game liabilities instead. Great.

Well, live and learn

[Gauddlike]

That may be true but only in the current balance.

As the psi system is being looked at it may have changed significantly before you reach the point where it would be a problem.

[quiescat]

not that i think this is very easy to make happen. but your troops can level up bravery when they panic, out side of the stats from the medals. so if you have a guy who is panicking all the time he will get more bravery assuming he does not die. so bravery is not the end all be all. but is sure is a hell of a lot harder to level then any of the other stats.

almost wish it was a function of how many missions they have done or aliens killed as the have the stats getting tracked already, but to some extent that's what medals are so i don't know

[Xenomorph]

not that i think this is very easy to make happen. but your troops can level up bravery when they panic, out side of the stats from the medals. so if you have a guy who is panicking all the time he will get more bravery assuming he does not die. so bravery is not the end all be all. but is sure is a hell of a lot harder to level then any of the other stats.

almost wish it was a function of how many missions they have done or aliens killed as the have the stats getting tracked already, but to some extent that's what medals are so i don't know

Yes. I think it's poorly implemented as it is right now, with bravery being leveled only through medals. It should also include other situations where soldiers are outnumbered, one on ones, terror missions, alien base assault, that kinda stuff. Sounds ridiculous having a soldier get a 5 kills medal and +1 bravery while sitting on a roof a mile away, while the other dudes are being shot at and holding off wave after wave of elite aliens on a terror mission.