ZZZ Durations become Lower?

[pretspot]

At the start of this game I got a clean 5:00 minutes of ZZZ with my WU-pistol.
Now that time is down to 3:45!?
What happened?

I tried returning to my vanilla grade 1 WU S. Pistol,
but the “new” “sleeping times” now also apply on that gun… 3:45!
The only difference between grade 1 and grade 4
is that the incubation-time ( the time before ZZZ sets in) varies;
30 secs (grade 1) vs 12:26 secs (grade 4).
(Both still have an "instant" incubation time when you headshot the enemy btw ; )

But, no matter how long it takes them to collapse onto the ground and fall asleep,
be it from a headshot or a buttshot,
whenever they fall asleep, they will now only ZZZ for 3:45!

Are these lower sleeping times of 3:45 related to a recent patch?
Or is this because I achieved an Higher overall grade in R&D?
Maybe faster incubation, at the cost of less ZZZ time?
If so, it’s not much of an upgrade…
I prefer the longer ZZZ.
What’s going on here?

[f.]

The soldiers are better.

[Lac3y]

I'm guessing you've started encountering higher grade soldiers.

[Coffee Addict]

you talking about single player? enemys only seem to get knocked out for about a minute and a half for me and iam using the grade 6 WU pistol

[moistalicious]

It's likely the soldiers got drug resisstance training or something. I remember overhearing 2 soldier's convos about 'a man running around with tranqualizer gun' and how they're glad it's a non-lethal weapon.

[Artou]

beautiful poem bro

[pretspot]

The offset in ZZZ timings happened so sudden I suspected an update,
or at least a game defining R&D level,
but actually I have good reason to assume its CHAPTER 2 which is the cause of this all.

Before Chapter 2 my timings were very reliable.
12:26 secs. for incubation (WU S. Pistol grade 4), and no in-betweens!
5:00 minutes of ZZZ, regardless of levels and weapon grades!
These timings were built into my system…

But as of Chapter 2,
I encounter not so much better soldiers, but different ones.
There are now two types:
The old ones (vastly outnumbered), which will still go in ZZZ-mode for 5:00 min.
And the new ones (new standard), which will only ZZZ for 3:45 min.

It’s now 5:00 or 3:45 minutes of ZZZ on enemies!
Nothing in between!

The only "variable" remains the incubation time,
which used to depend solely on weapon-grade,
but as of CHAPER 2, I now also see a lot of anomalies in that aspect:

The most prominent anomaly (change) is that when using higher grade zzz weapons,
there is a small chance that the enemy will drop before grade-specific incubation-time.
At this moment in time (54% story progression),
my grade 4 WU-pistol will down the enemy within a duration of 12:26 seconds.
That means if the enemy is hit with a dart, he can go down immediately,
or at any moment within that 12:26 seconds period.
And that is also something completely new to me!

The really Strange Stuff happens,
when y start using lower grade customized weapon
against this “new” enemy as of CHAPTER 2.
Your incubation times will become very unreliable!

But regardless when they go down,
at the moment the enemy falls asleep, I have 3:45 (or 5 minutes) of ZZZ.

BTW, this "new" enemy-type is also more resilient against the STN effect!
Whenever I used a 5 hit CQC, choke hold or kick to the body,
I got 12:00 minutes of STN.
Now it’s down to 9:00 minutes!

I’m I being punished for playing with my fembot,
instead of snake?

Wonder where these timings will end,

[pretspot]

I’M SO SORRY PPLZ!
YOU WERE RIGHT!

As of CHAPTER 2,
the enemy is actually ADAPTING itself against my Tranq effect!

I now encounter enemies that have a ZZZ time of 2:30!
I went from 5:00 to 3:45,
and now I get enemies that only ZZZ for 2 and a half freaking minutes!!!

I tested this with my WU S. Pistol grade 1 and my M2000-NL grade 6 sniper.
The only difference is the incubation time,
(30 secs vs 1:12 sec.)
but the sleeping time remains the same:
2:30 minutes!

As I read, it will become even lower than that!
1:30! (Thanks for the input.)
Is there any way to counter this?

Switching to STN weapons doesn’t seem to be an option,
because all my STN durations are also down with about the same percentage.

Shall I start killing the enemy for a while?

HELP!
Tranqjunkie…

[Bob11]

Assuming you play as a stealth toon, just drag them into an enclosed building, wake them up with a kick, then hold them up. They'll lie down until you get caught, so forever if you are vaguely careful.

You can use them as bait as well, if you can hide close enough...

[f.]

Everything you do the enemy adapts. What you should do is using your combat unit to destroy equipment like helmets and such.

[pretspot]

Originally posted by Bawss:

Everything you do the enemy adapts. What you should do is using your combat unit to destroy equipment like helmets and such.

I can stop their supply of flashlights, shields and helmets,
but I see nothing about stopping their anti-ZZZ and STN serum???

I still might try this if my most recent test doesn't succeed.
Your idea doesn’t seem that farfetched.
If you cut them off from the world by stopping ALL their supplies,
maybe the default ZZZ & STN values will return as a bonus?

[pretspot]

LOLOLOL
Thanks for all the CC tips!
But the only thing I want to know is why my ZZZ & STN times are so severely reduced?
And more importantly, how I can get them back to their original values?

I just played mission 30 “Skull Face” again and got a full 5:00 min. of ZZZ on all XOF Soldiers!

After that I went to mission 9 “A Hero’s way” and got only 2:30 min. of ZZZ on all Russians!

I think once you complete Chapter 2,
individual factions become more resilient the more you visit them.
You not only see this in the decrease of ZZZ and STN times,
these “adapted” enemies can handle a lot more damage,
and also pack a real punch in compression with non-adapted enemies.

I won’t touch the Red Army for a while and see what happens.
I think my times will go up once I leave them alone for a while.

Current ZZZ times:
Red Army, 2:30
Contract Forces of Africa, 2:30
Rogue Coyote, 2:30
Zero Risk Security, 2:30
The Mbele Squad - Child Soldiers, 5:00
Cipher's "XOF" Strike Force Soldiers; 5:00

BTW, shopping for soldiers in “A Traitors Caravan” has become a real hassle.
The time before the soldiers wake up from their stun went from 9:32 down to 6:32.
That means they wake up when I arrive at Kiziba Camp…