Smash & Grab loot is random

[frdnwsm]

Low on supplies, I sent a squad on a smash and grab mission. I had noticed some anomalies with such missions in the past, and this mission had them in spades. It looked like it was going to be a super productive run, as there were 6 chest instead of the usual 4 or 5. But when I got back and the loot was tabulated ... well, I did get a lot of crystals, 2 cores and 24 alloys, but NO supplies, which is what I needed the most.

Ticked off, I reloaded the saved position where the squad boarded Firebrand, and ran it several times. Each time the loot was tabulated, the amounts differed. More or fewer cores, crystals and alloys showed up in the total, with even greater variability of actual supplies. Three times no supplies at all appeared, three other times I received anywhere from 45-56 supplies.

There did seem to be a cap on the total of all loot. When actual supplies appeared, fewer crystals, cores and alloys were found. I didn't run a large enough series to be able to determine specific ratios, but I found the results rather interesting.

[prokolyo]

Yeah, it's all random. I think on troop columns and supply raids too.

[frdnwsm]

Oh, I can see the initial loot grab being somewhat random, but here the randomization seems to take place after the team gets back to base. I would have expected the loot composition to have been fixed at the time the chests were initially picked up.

Also the variations seemed a bit extreme; no supplies at all on 3 of the 6 times I checked?

[Boss]

I believe the way loot is calculated on those missions is that each chest contains a specific type of loot, for example one filled with alloys, one with supplies, one with crystals, and one with assorted loot. I'm not sure on specific amounts however.

[Sarger]

Thanks for heads up :)

[frdnwsm]

Originally posted by IMD3BOSS:

I believe the way loot is calculated on those missions is that each chest contains a specific type of loot, for example one filled with alloys, one with supplies, one with crystals, and one with assorted loot. I'm not sure on specific amounts however.

Well, with 6 chests you would have expected things to pretty much average out, but my results seemed extremely varied. Each time I reloaded the save, the end result total was different, and sometimes one or more types of loot was missing entirely.

Supplies ranged from 0 to 56
Cores from 0 to 3
Alloys from 14 to 32
Crystals from 18 to 36

So basically, if you want a specific type of loot, you can keep reloading the save just before you head back to the Avenger until you get what you want. I went with the one that gave me the most supplies and alloys, since I already had a ton of cores and crystals.

[Buckaroo Banzai]

Interesting...
never noticed that.
A "loophole".

[frankie60]

I'm more of a play the hand you're dealt kinda guy, myself. What's the point if you constantly eliminate all the random adversity?

[prokolyo]

Originally posted by frdnwsm:

So basically, if you want a specific type of loot, you can keep reloading the save just before you head back to the Avenger until you get what you want. I went with the one that gave me the most supplies and alloys, since I already had a ton of cores and crystals.

Why don't you just sell the excess cores and crystals at the market?

Originally posted by frankie60:

I'm more of a play the hand you're dealt kinda guy, myself. What's the point if you constantly eliminate all the random adversity?

Same here.

[frankie60]

Originally posted by prokolyo:

Originally posted by frdnwsm:

So basically, if you want a specific type of loot, you can keep reloading the save just before you head back to the Avenger until you get what you want. I went with the one that gave me the most supplies and alloys, since I already had a ton of cores and crystals.

Why don't you just sell the excess cores and crystals at the market?

See? There you go being reasonable. Just cut it out ok?

[Sarger]

There is no harm in avoiding bad luck sometimes. It become a problem when used too often. Like alcohol :)

[prokolyo]

Originally posted by frdnwsm:

Originally posted by IMD3BOSS:

I believe the way loot is calculated on those missions is that each chest contains a specific type of loot, for example one filled with alloys, one with supplies, one with crystals, and one with assorted loot. I'm not sure on specific amounts however.

Well, with 6 chests you would have expected things to pretty much average out, but my results seemed extremely varied. Each time I reloaded the save, the end result total was different, and sometimes one or more types of loot was missing entirely.

Supplies ranged from 0 to 56
Cores from 0 to 3
Alloys from 14 to 32
Crystals from 18 to 36

So basically, if you want a specific type of loot, you can keep reloading the save just before you head back to the Avenger until you get what you want. I went with the one that gave me the most supplies and alloys, since I already had a ton of cores and crystals.

This is interesting though, cause most other things seem to be predetermined RNG, and this is not...

[frdnwsm]

There did seem to be some sort of relationship regarding the total loot. If Supplies went up, one or more of the other three would go down. You couldn't just keep trying until you got a super amount of everything.

Why not simply accept the first tally? That's a matter of philosophy.

From a purely in game perspective, you can argue that the contents of the caches are dictated by what Advent needs at the moment. Maybe they needed a lot of cores for some special project, so they stockpiled those instead of alloys. And that's fine if you want to go that route.

From the viewpoint of considering game mechanics, an RNG is an artificial creation of the game programmers, and if they include the ability to change the results to a certain degree, why not use this?

[frankie60]

Originally posted by frdnwsm:

There did seem to be some sort of relationship regarding the total loot. If Supplies went up, one or more of the other three would go down.

Why not simply accept the first tally? That's a matter of philosophy.

From a purely in game rationale, you can argue that the contents of the caches are dictated by what Advent needs at the moment. Maybe they needed a lot of cores for some special project, so they stockpiled those instead of alloys. And that's fine if you want to go that route.

From the aspect of viewing game mechanics, an RNG is an artificial creation of the game programmers, and if they include the ability to change the results to a certain degree, why not use this?

Well, I suppose my thing is to just play the game as it comes. Like life. If something doesn't go my way, I'm not gonna reload the game until I get what I want. I can use my brain to figure a way out or around it. That's why I play LW2 in the first place. It makes me figure things out.

The RNG aspect simply means that the whole thing isn't riding on a set of rails. Some people don't like the RNG. I happen to like the randomness. It's ALL an artificial creation. It's a video game...

[frdnwsm]

Ah, but there are people who DO game life; they take advantage of loopholes to try and shift the odds in their favor. Ever been a participant in a jury trial? I have testified as an expert witness, and let me tell you, lawyers game the courtroom and the laws like crazy.

And yeah, there are no reboots in real life, but gaming certainly does go on. Oh, and there actually ARE reboots, of a sort, in legal proceedings. They're called "appeals".

[frankie60]

Nothing wrong with doing it the way you want.