reaction fire fix?

[Ufanatic]

Great game, when it works     reaction fire is more important then anything else!
Please fix it.

Couldn't agree more.

The autoexec.cfg - hint doesn't work even if you do it in the right directory (user\application\ufoai\base , NOT: install directory\...).

Without proper reaction fire this game is totally no fun ... improved graphics hold nothing against this.
Had my team slaughtered by this a couple times now and won't keep playing until some tactical sense is back to the battlefield. 

[homunculus]

Great game, when it works     reaction fire is more important then anything else!
Please fix it.

oh, really?
maybe you are so much used to always having the more important things, like water, and air, and gravity, and bacteria and fungi, and the sun, and now, finally, reaction fire

the current alternative to reaction fire is ir-goggles, afaik.

[DreamWorker]

Ok, question to developers - in 2.3 reaction fire functionality is testing beta-version or some bug-glitch or it works exactly as planned?
So, in fact that RF is useless now - it's specification of UFO AI 2.3?

[Ufanatic]

Ok, I started one last attempt to make RF work using the autoexec.cfg "fix".

Outfront: It didn't work! Still, I feel I got a lot closer to actually making it work.



Here is what I did / A total newbies "Guide" to getting closer to oldschool RF:

1. Get a proper editor for .cfg files (I used: http://www.chip.de/downloads/Notepad_12996935.html)

2. Create a file called autoexec.cfg in your INSTALL-base-directory (.../ufo_ai/base/

2b. Put in the line: exec autoexec.cfg

3. Create a file called autoexec.cfg in your PROFILE-base-directory (.../yourname/applicationdata/ufo_ai/base/)

3b. Put in the famed line: set g_reaction_fair 0

3c. Experiment using things like set cvar g_reaction_fair 0, set g_reaction_fair "0", set g_reaction_fire 0 and hence 8! possible combinations.

4. Wonder why it isn't working

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Notes:

- Now this may seem a little too much but I actually found, while reviewing the ufoconsole.log, that the autoexec.cfg isn't even executed unless you take step 2.-3. . If you just create an autoexec.cfg in either your install- or profile-directory the file is NOT executed for whatever reason.

- lines like set g_reaction_fair 0 and set g_reaction_fire "0" produce no further entry in the .log-file

- lines involving "cvar" produce the .log-entry: "invalid flags 0 given"
(whatever that means now, but something was trying to be happening  )

----

Request to the developers:

- PLEASEEE clarify any time soon if that autoexec.cfg fix actually does hold ANY promise of changing RF in the 2.3-build.

- If yes, pleaseee explain how to do it properly.

- I mean, what is "* introduced cvar g_reaction_fair to activate/deactivate reaction fire timeout" in the update-notes for march 2010 supposed to MEAN?  

- Please do not view this as a rant or something. Yes, I am impatient for I have waited looong for this and RF spoils it bad.
However, I would like to see my impatience viewed as a major compliment to your otherwise awesome game. 

[DreamWorker]

Ок with this fix RF work good except sniper rifle in precise mode not work (sniper rifle snap shot work well but not at close range)

Particle Rifle havn't RF(
Flamethrower (top mode 2x fuel) work well
assault rifle 3 shot work well
all pistols seems to ok

[Ufanatic]

Ок with this fix RF work good except sniper rifle in precise mode (sniper rifle snap shot work well)
also sniper rifle snap shot do not work at close range.

Are you serious?

Can you specifiy a bit what exactly you did please:

Which lines did you put in? Did you restart the campaign? Did you just try it in Skirmish-mode? ...

---

I read earlier about someone restarting the campaign to make it work ... so I went and tried it in Skirmish-mode:

- Shotgun + Laserrifle fired pretty well as in almost every shot, even in burst-mode
- Sniper (snapshot): fires sometimes, not very reliable though
- Magnetic-gun (was it?) fired hardly
 
Now this is still not "the old RF-system" but seemed a lot better to me than what I experienced in the campaign.

Then again, I don't have any idea how much better the soldiers in skirmish-mode are trained ... I was under the impression that those with high mind-stats actually fired more often than the dumb-nuts. Also, it seemed like having a soldier sit and wait for at least one turn increased the chance of RF, sort of like they "entrenched" themselves.
Also, I was up against some 10 aliens in a tight spot and didn't really care about the lives of my soldiers. I therefore had the aliens in plain view most of the time. Possibly, my guys just accumulated a ton of RF-APs in short time by seeing all those aliens move around ... this would have certainly "paid" for a couple 14AP-bursts per turn or for the occasional sniper-snapshot.
Maybe it was just a "lucky round" and once I restart a campaign I will be faced with the same old casualties caused by only 1 or 2 aliens who hardly generate enough APs to reaction-fire a warm fart ...

Still a lot of guessing and variables here so far ...

[DreamWorker]

Can you specifiy a bit what exactly you did please:
- uninstall game and delete all files (have some problems with graphics)
do exact as you tell in "Guide"

set g_reaction_fair 0
set g_reaction_fair "0"
set g_reaction_fire 0
set g_reaction_fire "0"

then tried campaign - send to mission 8 snipers and they killed aliens in RF with snap shots

I'm using snipers with snap shot in harassing fire tactics, sometimes they hit somebody.

A bad with RF - it's floating instability.
IRL if you have weapon(or device) that somtimes work well and sometimes have malfunction and you doesn't know when it will work and when will not - better do not use this device or weapon.

[Mimic101]

RF works for me with snipers in V 2.3.  The alien had a chance to shoot me with a plasma blaster 4 times before my guy shot back though.  about 5 spaces away.

[Battlescared]

Reaction fire is very weak, however, good strategy on the battle field will win every time.  I win 95% of my battles with zero losses and not a single reaction fire takes place, and the other 5% I either retry successfully or sacrifice a squadie to move on. 

It does seem to get better the longer you keep people alive, but I still don't rely on it.  Don't leave your soldiers exposed and make them come to you, trying to meet them at the point that you have points and they don't.  The AI is very cocky and dumb and leaves itself exposed all the time.  I think it relies on reaction fire too, and they'd be here complaining that their reaction fire isn't fast enough for me if they could.    Don't copy it. 

[johnman]

No it is not, but in 2.2 it was broken - it was way to powerful

In 2.2 it made sense, if they saw an alien they would shoot it.

[dingoperson]

1. I have had reaction fire work, BUT ONLY when reserving TUs. The aliens usually have to take a lot of action, but sometimes the troops fire off a single shot. This was with sniper rifles and heavy lasers at range.
2. I would be really happy with reaction fire if it was just like it is except that no TU reservation was made. It takes too many clicks at the moment to micromanage all your troops RF for every round and turn it on and off depending on how far you intend to move in that particular round.
3. Don't see the 'overpowered' argument at all - if it's the same for aliens and humans (barring very bad AI which seems not to be the case), how can it be overpowered? If turtling is the problem, why not add a big randomizer and penalties in there etc?  It just seems stupid that all your troops can see enemies walk all over and nobody fires a single shot.
4. Partly related to 3 - reaction fire was in UFO 1. It seems to have worked very well, reservation wasn't required, everyone was really happy with it. Why not duplicate the same?