[v21 Exp1 balance patch, GC] Shields not 100% block from front, FB failure outside

A flashbang failed to suppress a Caesan guard, and the reaction shot went through his shield, even though he was facing the alien. This all happened outside, so no UFO tomfoolery. In case

Ya, something crazy is going on with shields. I was testing something else with the debugger (coincidentally the flashbang suppression bug), and noticed that shields were reporting a 60% block chance from the front and 100% from the back.

Also, if an alien succeeds in their reaction fire check, they will be hit with the damage portion, but not the suppression portion of the flashbang grenade, and then they shoot you in the face.

Ya, something crazy is going on with shields. I was testing something else with the debugger (coincidentally the flashbang suppression bug), and noticed that shields were reporting a 60% block chance from the front and 100% from the back.

Also, if an alien succeeds in their reaction fire check, they will be hit with the damage portion, but not the suppression portion of the flashbang grenade, and then they shoot you in the face.

Wait, hang on. Config.xml has this line in:

<Shield angle="180" angle2="90" stoppingChance="100" stoppingChance2="60" />

Shouldn't stoppingChance be 60 and stoppingChance2 be 100? I might be being daft 'cos I'm tired. Roll on the weekend.

Good call, those two need to be switched.

Edit: it ALSO appears that the values for angle are to be understood as degrees from the front in either direction, so angle2=90 means that stopping chance 2 is applied 90 degrees left and 90 degrees right of forward, so essentially angle=180 covers all the way from the sides to the back.

For intended behavior of:

- Combat shields now have 100% chance of blocking shots from the front, but still 60% from the sides.

I suggest using the following in the config.xml:

<Shield angle="90" angle2="45" stoppingChance="60" stoppingChance2="100" />

So THAT'S why I "blocked" a shot that came from behind. I did wonder. (:

Are flashbangs supposed to guarantee suppression? I always thought they did a semi-random (but substantial) amount of suppression "damage" and thus simply a good chance of suppressing.

Hrm. That means you can make forcefields. HMMMMMMMMM. (mod mod mod)

Are flashbangs supposed to guarantee suppression? I always thought they did a semi-random (but substantial) amount of suppression "damage" and thus simply a good chance of suppressing.

There's not meant to be any random factor to it, afaik. There are rules that affect how much suppression it generates. Iirc, the big ones are armour, whether the target's on the outer half of the suppression radius, and race. (Caesans now have a x0.8 suppression multiplier.) Caesans don't get any armour so if a flashbang lands at their feet, they should be suffering 80 suppression - twice the amount needed to suppress a guard or non-com.

Hrm. That means you can make forcefields. HMMMMMMMMM. (mod mod mod)

Shame it's in config.xml and not a variable for shields in weapons_gc.xml, that way you could have shields co-exist with forcefields. Not that I'm complaining, what we have is better than nothing at all!

hrm. That means you can make forcefields. Hmmmmmmmmm. (mod mod mod)

levitating shield wall!!!!