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Rage and Zonk [A16]

This adds two safely non-lethal weapons:

• Rage gun: Smithing requires 4 Medikits, among other resources. Darted targets will go berserk. Enraged, they will charge in as fast as their legs will carry them. They will take the shortest path to pummel the shooter, even if it means bashing down the nearest door. It inflicts a lot of pain. A few shots should be enough put the enemy into shock.
  
  
• Zonk gun: Smithing requires 3 Yayo and 2 Neutroamine, among other resources. Darted targets will be doped into a drugged daze. They will become sluggish, barely able to shoot, and soon wander around aimlessly. Before long, they may start casting off their clothes or gear.

For the sake of balance, these guns have a rather poor accuracy and slow fire rate. Maximum range is a bit less than the survival rifle (32 vs 37).

From my testing, these seem to have an extremely low mortality rate - less that 5%, I believe. In other words, they seem to bypass the game's random death mechanic[ludeon.com].


I had to change some code to make this work in A16, so this is not backwards compatible. Also, it seems that repeated shots would inflict too much pain such that it would often become fatal instead of downing them. The poll in my forum thread[ludeon.com] suggests that most want the pain aspect lowered or removed, anyway.

So, I lowered pain per shot such that it might eventually reach "Moderate" or "Severe", but it is unlikely to directly knock them unconscious.

Also, I removed the big movement buff from Rage shots so that they move at their normal speed. Before, berserked enemies usually closed the distance so fast that I couldn't get more than one clean hit in. (Even so, I would recommend putting your shooters behind some sort of embrasure when using the Rage gun.)

I discovered something else in my testing, though: A berserked enemy is constantly looking for new targets. If there are animals or other targets nearby, a berserked enemy is likely to switch to attacking them, instead!


These are intended to either (a) strategically make raids a bit more manageable or (b) make a target easier to capture. And I think they're fun to use.

Instead of sensibly standing behind cover and shooting, targets hit with Rage will often blindly run after whoever shot them. Berserked, they will charge via the shortest path, running through your gauntlet of defenses. However, they will try to bash through the nearest door to get to the shooter instead of taking the long path (where you've probably placed traps). More importantly, they will usually try to melee instead of shoot.

The Zonk gun will make a target mostly harmless. But, it does not make them capturable as such. Warning: Even after the target is zonked and starts wandering, if a colonist stands next to them, the zonked will still engage in melee.

After being zonked first, they will sit out the fight, allowing you to mop up the other raiders that you don't want to capture. You can even build a wall around them and they won't complain... unless your colonists get within melee range.

I usually wait for them to drop their weapon. Then I take their weapon away and have a colonist with good melee brawl the target with bare fists, with a free prison cell and my medic standing by with medicine for when they drop.

Do note: After either the Berserked or Zonked wears off, the victim will experience "Catharsis", which gives a significant buff to mood that lasts for over a day. If the victim is captured before it wears off, the resulting positive mood may make recruitment a bit easier.

If that's still not easy enough or non-lethal enough for you, perhaps you'd be interested in the No random death mod[ludeon.com]?


This mod should work with saved games. I've done extensive testing. Though, it's always wise to keep a backup save before trying new mods. Also, I suggest quitting and restarting after activating or deactivating any mods.


NOTE: Sadly, it is not effective to hit a target with Zonk, first, and then down them with the Rage gun. In my tests, once they've been subjected to Zonk, shots from the Rage gun will no longer bypass the random death mechanic. Another words: After being Zonked, each Rage shot will have a strong chance of killing.

This should be compatible with nearly everything. I have many dozens of mods installed and I've not encountered a mod conflict. And I was careful in how I coded it. But I could not test for every mod.


Please, do report any issues or balance concerns. Don't hesitate to make a suggestion.


You can check here[ludeon.com] for my mods thread where you can find the latest R&Z A16 download and potentially discuss or learn more about this and my other mods. (There's also my older Rage and Zonk forum topic[ludeon.com], which has downloads for A15 and A16.)


Special thanks to:

• Sahothron for the inspiration that the Tranq Gun mod provided me. (All my files are my own or modified from the core game.)
  
• johnhain[pixabay.com], DasWortgewand[pixabay.com], and pixabay for the cool background images used for the logo.