UFO:Alien Invasion
Technical support => Feature Requests => Topic started by: scamp on June 25, 2008, 03:47:17 pm
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Hi, I use snipers to backup my front troops. Sometimes they just stop shooting, had no idea why until recently, and the answer was too obvious to have been missed : they ran out of ammo !
Is there a way to code in a check for reload ammo , or an auto-reload when there's enough TU's to reload on an empty weapon ?
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Moved to bugs and feature requests.
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I wouldn't call this a bug. There is a reason why reloading it manual.
for one, what if your soldier was shooting out of cover - you want him to move behind some cover and then reload. He might not have enough TU's for both. If he automaticely relaods, then he would left himself exposed and there's nothing you could do about it.
Management of TU expenditure MUST be manual, even more so since you have no battle save.
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Agreed. Maybe a Request to implement a 'shoot' by the soldier that his ammo is empty ? Just a message in the message log would do too.
Something like "Rfl Andy Garcia is out of ammo"
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If TUs are to be switched completely to pre-pay for reaction fire, I think there should be some accommodation made for auto-reloading during reactions, when no other weapon is available. If there are TUs reserved for reactions, and those TUs will be discarded at the start of the next turn, it makes sense that the trooper would spend them to reload his gun (if he has enough) instead of wasting them pointing an empty gun at the alien and yelling "Bang-bang!"
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In my opinion reloading is a minor-enough thing that it does not need to be automated. How often do you have the same soldier reload more than once during a battle? Hardly ever in my case...
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Sniper rifles, rocket launchers, and other high-power low-ammo weapons. The launchers might take too much TU to fire, reload, and fire again in one turn, though in some cases a soldier may have enough to fire and reload (without firing again) in a reaction period. Now snipers, especially reacting at long-range from a vantage point, are more likely to exhaust their ammunition in reaction and have enough TU remaining to reload in a reaction period, which would be much appreciated.
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I have had snipers run out of ammo when left on reaction fire.
a message like scamp suggests would be good.
perhaps even a click (of trigger with no ammo) when they would have reacted.
remind me on IRC, if you think the message is a good idea, and I will see if I can do it.
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Isn't the shoot command red and that icons in the command bar too when you run out of ammo?
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I think it would be better if the default remains that a player must reload manually.
It gives a player more stuff to watch out :)
However, in case this would be implemented, it could be a "hidden" option for those people who want this
automatical reload (and they could enable it specifically. For me, I stick to whatever defaults the
devs have designed for the game anyway, but I think having a somewhat flexible engine is only an advantage.)
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In Jagged Alliance I think to remember that the dudes would say something like "I ran out of ammo !!!" with a grumpy tone , to warn you they couldn't react-fire. My snipers consume loads of bullets ( they aren't very good at aiming and even if they hit something, it usually takes 2-3 hits to down it with a sniper on 'very hard' level )
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scamo: very hard level - hard core, man! Respect.
IMHO: screw the reloads - the squad is small, the time is infinite, micromanagement is part of the fun. May well want to run, then reload. Better alive behind cover with empty weapon that dead in the open with a loaded one.
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Keep in mind, when an actor runs out of ammo during reaction fire, he still isn't going to be moving out of the way. I say it is better to expend those pre-spent TUs for an automatic reload when there are no other options, than sit there with an empty gun and wasted TUs until the next round starts and you have to spend that next turn's TUs reloading what could have been reloaded already...
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ok, I would grudgingly submit that when set to reaction fire, and if the reaction check was passed, maybe then the soldier should reload... Agree.
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So, you're saying the soldier with the empty weapon should wait until a BEM comes his/her way before deciding to reload? By the time the load is complete the target is probably already out of sight, or has already blasted our soldier. I humbly suggest that any soldier which is set to reaction fire and is empty should attempt to reload when the player initiates a turn end. Since the player has already selected to end the turn, they obviously don't plan to move the soldier any more that turn...
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just to play devil's advocate...setting to RF when empty is a player's fault, and is equivalent to a soldier sitting in an ambush with an unloaded gun. the "oh, shit" situation is possible in real life, and should be in game too:
soldier with RF wins the reaction check against the alien.
when trying to fire, loaded_amo = 0
If enough TU left in RF, reload
another reaction check. If alien wins, alien moves. If soldier wins, alien stays put.
if enough TU left after reload, fire.
the bad guy *may* have another chance to either move or shoot while soldier is reloading. in that case soldier's death or a missed opportunity is attributed to player oversight, I would say.
DoctorJ, your proposal that soldier would reload first at beginning of a round would be covering the player's mistake with an intelligent algorithm for a solfier. At that point, may as well tell the soldier "hold position" and they would sit, RF the sh*t out of the area and reload as neeede - until out of ammo, dead, or order is canceled. This is now a slightly more sophisticated program. Not a bad idea, just a step away, I think, from the level of contrl the game implies right now.
It may very well be fun to have "move using cover" command (if cover is available) and a "suppress area" command, etc. In fact, some neat improvements for alien AI can come of this.
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just to play devil's advocate...setting to RF when empty is a player's fault, and is equivalent to a soldier sitting in an ambush with an unloaded gun.
I can't speak for the OP, of course, but in my style of play that never happens. I typically set RF mode for each soldier during turn 1, and only change it for special circumstances. Nonetheless, some players might miss out on the red weapon icon, maybe even colorblind players.
DanielOR, we've agreed in the past, but it appears that you seem to be in favor of micromanagement here. If you really wanted realistic "oh, shit" situations, why not just remove the portion of the HUD that displays how much ammo is in the weapon? It's not realistic for a soldier to know exactly how many rounds they have left...
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DoctorJ,
Guilty as charged, I indeed do not so much mind the micromanagement - as long as the squad is small. I suppose I don't have a hugely strong opinion. Removing ammo counters would be rather rough - especially with multiple soldiers.
While I don't know of any weapons (yet) that give you a digital readout of the number of rounds remaining, it is probably not a far-fetched idea.
The point about color blindness is a very valid one. A lot of males do have a tendenecy towards red-green color blindness.