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Cut Efficiency Rebalanced

/* EDIT--If anyone wants to adapt this mod, here is my google spreadsheet that shows the calculations. I haven't looked at this in a while, but please feel free to adapt this method for your own use/mods.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1t7G_5sPaAudXL__CC41fZ5qbtkdYdgxZpUc1gy2ECsg/edit?usp=sharing

Update 2022/08/23 */

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This mod is a BETA version. Please try it out and let me know if it works for you.

This mod attempts to fix the well known issues where outer layers with low cut resistance efficiency cause increase in total damage vs not wearing the item at all.

The goal is to make the minimum changes needed to fix the problem. This preserves most of the vanilla cut resistance mechanic, eliminates/minimizes impact on situations that were not a problem to begin with, and stays as close as possible to vanilla game balance.

The mod works by raising cut resistance efficiency for body armour, legwear. and shirts and lowering cut resistance by an appropriate amount. Cut resistance efficiencies are raised as follows:

90% for body armour
80% for shirts
85% for legwear

There is no change to items with cut resistance efficiencies already at that level or higher.

I arrived at these figures by looking at the following layering scenarios:

1. body armour - shirt - legwear with stomach protection
2. body armour with leg protection - legwear - footwear
3. legwear - footwear

I also looked at layering of headwear over body armour with head protection (for example, dustcoat), but the damage increase problem doesn't show up in these scenarios because the body armour in question are light armour.

With this mod, there is still some benefit from layering light armour over or between heavy armour, but it is reduced significantly, especially when two layers of heavy armour are involved. This seems fitting from a gameplay perspective.

I consider this mod to be in beta mode as I am still testing it. Feel free to try it out and let me know how it works, especially if you find any unusual scenarios where it doesn't work well.

This is my first Kenshi mod so thanks for your patience and for trying it.

Thank you to Lyston, the creator of No Cut Efficiency mod, which is the inspiration for this mod and to ShinUon who also inspired me to address this issue on the Kenshi subreddit.

1/5/2020--I added pics from a spreadsheet comparing damage for different scenarios between vanilla, this mod (CER), and if 100% cut efficiency (like NCE mod).

These figures are my best estimates based on the formulas, so may not match 100% with in-game values, but differences should be small enough not to affect the comparisons much. I also didn't look directly at NCE mod in FCS, but just estimated based on the overall methodology.

Scenario 1: stomach damage using light body armour, light shirt, and heavy pants with stomach protection. This mod fixes the vanilla imbalance problem and reduces damage by about 25% compared to wearing pants only.

Scenario 2: stomach damage using heavy body armour, medium shirt, and heavy pants with stomach protection. There is no problem with vanilla to begin with. This mod reduces damage compared to vanilla by less than 1 point (out of 100 damage), so the armour and shirt continue to give about 50% reduction compared to pants only (similar to vanilla). 100% cut efficiency reduces total damage significantly (~60%) compared to vanilla.

Scenario 3: leg damage using light body armour (w leg protection), heavy pants, and heavy boots. This mod fixes the vanilla damage. The light armor now adds negligible protection beyond the heavy armor underneath it, which doesn't seem unreasonable to me considering it's on top of two layers of heavy protection. With 100% cut efficiency the light armor reduces damage by about 2/3 compared not wearing it.

Scenario 4: leg damage using heavy body armour (w leg protection), heavy pants, and heavy boots. There's no vanilla problem to begin with. This mod has no impact for this scenario. 100% cut efficiency reduces damage by about 80% compared to vanilla.