Easy Mode (Custom Setting for those looking for an easier experience)

[Go_Coup]

Since I've already seen people asking, and that was before bots were fixed (and thus harder), I decided to see if I could find some easy but fun settings. This is what I came up with:

MTR: 180
MHLR: 360
RCS: 0.0
AEUI: 1
SRR: 2
OT: 15
DMT: 5
DMBOT: 1
DMDT: 100
COMB: Hips (you can basically be invincible while leaning)
RTB: 1.7
RTR: 0.7
MSAB: 1
MiFAB: 4
MaFAB: 10 (I wish this could be 30; maybe, it can through console)
LC: 0.25


I'm pretty good at FPS games, so I'm not saying everyone can do this. It is possible to run around on User Arena (the map) with the semiauto shotgun and point shoot (no aiming down sights) to a victory against 20 enemies. It's also possible to win using only a pistol, on UA vs 20 enemies; though, it takes more strategy (not much.) I also won on Power Plant (so I know it works on other maps.) I basically just ran around with the shotgun, and I was only fired at twice: once when I ran in front of 3 enemies but only saw 2, and once when I was deciding whether I should let them shoot at me.

[Doomtillery]

I can recommend this settings for people who are looking for "easy mode". Bots are really forgiving with those numbers. I kept the comb on spine1 and put the lc 0.75 which is the same value as in "experienced" and made it through 2 out of 3 rounds on power plant against 50 bots. The one i messed up was clearly my bad because i didnt check corners proerly....well thats how it is.

Conclusion time: Good settings to learn the game basics but it is quite tempting to run and gun which i caught my self doing in my 3 test rounds.

Thanks for the Coup !

Cheers

[Go_Coup]

I was basically just testing the "hips" targets (to see if leaning makes you immune to being shot at.) I wanted to also test the head or neck, because it is the smallest target, but I ran out of time. It's good to see that it still works with center-mass as the target.

Untrained has 0 lean, and that just didn't seem fun or as immersive, even though it's probably easier. I bet it's even more fun with a 75% chance to lean.

I agree that it's definitely so forgiving that you'll likely run and gun. I was assuming that's why most people found the game to be unforgiving: they try to run and gun. After they get used to the game, they could try upping the difficulty to Untrained.

I'm glad you thought it works, and thanks, for letting me know.

[Doomtillery]

I like to test different settings anyway. I also tried different reaction time settings. That seems to be one factor that makes bots easier or harder even if i keep all the other numbers from your suggestions. I was playing with 0.3 secs reaction time and they pretty deadly again.

Addition: In my opinion reaction time really is key to put them into easy mode so now i am asking myself if it would be possible to make that variable.

Maybe give them a fixed value based on the difficulty level but instead of a randomizer it could go up under certain circumstances like getting shot at or seeing a body and would drop again after a amount of time which also should be based on the difficulty setting.

This is basically a simulation of stress in my imagination but i have not the slightest clue if that can be implemented.

[Go_Coup]

It's great that we can set their reaction times and give it a spectrum. I decided that having a fastest time of 1 second is plenty of time for players to react. Just in case, I made it possible to take as long as 2.4 seconds, portraying a scared terrorist. Anything beyond that seems like it's too absurd, and it could even make the game/AI look bad, as the bots strafe back and forth clearly waiting until they're allowed to shoot.

I believe they already have an alert state, and I'm assuming that increases their odds of reacting at the sooner half of the spectrum.

It would be possible to give them personalities: if they see a dead body, there's a 70% chance of their reactions being faster and a 10% chance of them being slower than the selected reaction time. That reaction can be remembered so that the soldier continues to have faster reactions. If they relax after a certain period (which would hopefully be a setting if it exists), they could recall that previous reaction, making their personality consistent. They could also just be assigned a personality upon spawning: if type 1 sees a dead body, their reaction time decreases; if type 2, increase; if type 3, no change. The same could be done for hearing nearby gunshots and distant gunshots.

It would be interesting, but probably underappreciated (maybe not worth it), if their reaction times slowed as they remain in an alert state, imitating mental fatigue.

[Doomtillery]

Sound pretty solid, i know that ravenshield uses somthing similar because i had a look at the templates out of curiosity and saw that they have different personality traits with x % chances to trigger. This topic offers so much room for imagination.

With the last update the ai already got so much better, sometimes i really almost feel hunted, they check for noise sources and they get harder to fight if they know where you are and you are unable to deal with them fast enough for whatever reason.

[Thomas]

Tried out the settings. I find them a bit too easy. In order to die you really have to mess up. I don't think I even got a bot to shoot at me. And I was moving out in the open on purpose, sometimes facing multiple bots at once.

[Go_Coup]

Thomas, this is for people who find Untrained to be too difficult or for anyone who wants to just screw around. If you do find Untrained to be too difficult and these settings to be too easy, you can change the base reaction time (RTB) to 1 second. That will make it so they are capable of reacting in 0.3 seconds (average human) but may take as long as 1.7 seconds. You can also change their target (COMB) from "hips" to "neck" or one of the "spine" options. I think Doomtillery found it funner when setting the Lean Chance to 0.75, and it certainly sounds funner.

These settings are also useful if you want to run pistol-only. Though you can obviously make it harder, I actually died sometimes when only using the pistol (on User Arena.)

[Go_Coup]

Doom, the AI definitely feels better and can hunt you. That's part of the reason why I wanted to use the shotgun. You can only take so many (fewer than other guns) shots before you need to reload, and sometimes they'll push in hard. I'm having a lot more fun after the update.

[Doomtillery]

Jep it is more fun if they tend to lean more often and it gives opportunities in certain situations. On some spots they slow peek in crouched position and if they expose their left side first you just get some more time before they can shoot back. That might be some kind of expoit in a way but is saw a video once where an ex army ranger (if i rememeber it correctly) said "never give them a fair fight" so since this guy saw real combat and survived it all he must know what he is talking about .

[Doomtillery]

Well since this is about settings i might aswell post mine.

MTR: 180
MHLR: 360
RCS: 0.25
AEUI: 1
SRR: 2
OT: 15
DMT: 5
DMBOT: 1
DMDT: 100
COMB: Spine1
RTB: 1
RTR: 0.7
MSAB: 1
MiFAB: 4
MaFAB: 10 (I wish this could be 30; maybe, it can through console)
LC: 0.75

[Go_Coup]

Without testing, I can say that yours seems more like something that should be thrown into the game as a difficulty lower than Untrained. If it were me, I would take the path of DOOM: name it something disdainful/taunting.

(Still no testing) The only thing I would definitely change is the reaction-time base; I would move it up to 1.2, so that the bots take at least half a second before they react.

The other thing that stands out is the leaning, because they don't lean at all on Untrained. However, I don't really think it's a problem. I guess the same thing goes for recoil compensation (if I'm remembering correctly), but I don't know that it has any noticeable effect.

[Go_Coup]

I know this kind of goes against what this game is about, but I think it would be great to have a damage multiplier in the custom-difficulty settings: from 0.1 (10%) to 5x (500%.)
Bonus points for having two settings: one for the player, and one for the enemies.

[Doomtillery]

I would call it my settings "easy enough". I played some rounds on user arena 2 against 20 bots, they mostly start to swarm the area while the last 5 or 6 always stay in the western building.

I dislike that behaviour, it is like "oh hey gun shots ! Let´s all just run there and see if we can get shot too." but well in the end it´s just a game and i don´t know how close ai can come to genuine human behaviour.

I guess i just wait and see.

[Go_Coup]

Sure, I've seen that. I know the behavior will get better; it's likely that some bots will just watch the area from where shots were heard; others might charge the sound but slow down and become more tactical after getting within a certain radius of its origin.
However, if you're playing on a challenging difficulty, that behavior can be effective at killing the player. It's especially challenging if you're using a low-damage and or low-round weapon.

AI is one of the most neglected areas of gaming. I'm anxious to finally see some AI (in any game) that bounds and uses cover fire, slices doorways, rides walls without getting stuck, etc.

[Xherdos]

so this difficulty is easier then untrained yes?

gonna hope that the ai stops from 1 One shotting me across the Tanker with a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ pistol...