11 replies to this topic

[zaimoni]

Finally doing some experimenting with real-time...and this comes up.

The art of matching detonation time to distance is more critical than it looks. I'd like to actually use grenades in RT (as more than stun trumps brainsucker), but that's sort of difficult if you don't know where they'll go off. I wouldn't be surprised if the results were different for standing/kneeling/prone.

[NRN_R_Sumo1]

just experiment to get used to it, and detonation isnt all that big a deal, as if you right click on an explosive to can turn it into an "on impact" grenade x;
this way when you throw it and it lands it will explode.
Be careful in some ufo's though, as it can get stuck on some walls.

[zaimoni]

Allowing a distance of 2 for each 0.25 seconds appears to vaguely work.

As for on-impact -- also useful. I also need to calculate airbursts, however. [Hmm...brainsucker on the other side of floor 2 of the warehouse, do not want it jumping down a floor where I have a sentry squad set -- let's toss a grenade and have it blow up in midair to minimize property damage.]

[NRN_R_Sumo1]

I personally enjoy destroying the building and using the debris for cover and as a weapon, but hey its your choice. ^^'..

[NKF]

Well, just throwing random stuff about and watching the clock (throwing the moment the second changes), I find that an object can travel about 6 or 7 tiles by the time the second counter gets incremented.

I tested it again with a live stun grenade set to 1.0 seconds, and it was able to travel about 6 tiles before it detonated in mid-throw.

One more test - this time in an upward diagonal throw. 1 second, destination was 4 levels up and six tiles away. It blew up by the time it reached the sixth tile. It would've probably travelled into the 7th tile, but I was at the edge of the map so I couldn't see that.

Anyway, let's see what the others allow. I'll do a quick once over:
0.25 explodes on the same tile as the thrower.
0.5 explodes while travelling between tile 2 and 3.
0.75 detonated about 5 tiles away.
1.0 detonated 6 - 7 tiles away
1.25 gave me 11
1.5 gave me 14

Hmm, loooks like I'm forgetting something here. The destination of the grenade determines how hard the grenade is thrown.

Let me try the 1 second throw again. I'll set the destination as far as possible. Geez, this time the grenade managed to fly an additional 2 tiles for a grand total of 9! Not to mention the throwing arc caused the grenade to detonate on level 1!

Of course, it needn't be said, but even at maximum range, a 0.25 grenade will blow in your face.

I can just see it now, fighting with grenades being perfected into an art. Immaculately timed mid-air detonations occuring left and right. That would actually be quite exciting to watch.

- NKF

Edited by NKF, 16 September 2007 - 01:51 AM.

[NRN_R_Sumo1]

I used to do it all the time Nkf, until you showed me the rightclick thinger x;
its so much easier

[zaimoni]

Unless, of course, you want to nullify the pews as cover from a stun grenade.

Aside: finally ceased being less-than-intelligent long enough to configure XKeys to do a unpause on press, pause on release combo. In principle, this allows running RT one frame at a time. This makes it much easier to react to rockets and grenades. Note that if the key is just "punched", then the game only sees one space character, and thus only unpauses.

Bullets (including plasma) travel at roughly three squares per frame. Personal large rockets travel at roughly two squares per frame.

A moderately maximum-range grenade throw (range 26-ish)...agonizingly slow. Need to do more careful measurements.

[NRN_R_Sumo1]

I just remembered something that may or may not be a shock to both of you xD
The speed of which something is thrown as well as the distance is dependent on the weight of the item and the strength skill of an agent

This is why you cant throw Hvy Explosives more than 3 or 4 tiles with high strength, but you can throw weapon ammo to your other agents across the map.


so.. really counting all this out is fairly pointless, its much easier to just get a feel for it ^.^!

Its like having an anatomy class for art, rather than learning to draw people from simple practice.

[NKF]

You are correct, it need not be said, which is why I did not say it. I wasn't trying to quantify it for all the variables. However a lot of the common starting grenades are within very similar or near weight ranges, so it's not too far off. The less conventional grenades like the high explosives and the two alien grenades however need a bit more attention.

A quick comparison between a low end soldier and a high end soldier shows that a near throw with the same weight item (say 6 tiles with a basic grenade) does travel at roughly the same speed. A distant throw however proved to have wildly random results, but with the obvious conclusion that a lower end soldier will have a less efficient and slower throw compared to the higher end soldier.

- NKF

[NRN_R_Sumo1]

I personally find it very much worth the effort to practise throwing weapons as well, mostly the rechargable little pink guns as the devastators dont seem to travel very far [:

throwing armour can prove useful at times as well-- but not usually. as my agents almost always have armour xD!

To think to the days where I had to use bits and pieces of various armours... boy that was fun [:
it seemed to me that if you used Marsec arms instead of the megapol variety the accuracy was better, but my brain was probably full of crap back then

[NKF]

Armour swapping. That can be handy if you choose to arm everyone in a full suit of Megapol or Disrupter armour for the protection, but still want the mobility advantage of the Marsec torso from time to time. Such as to get a soldier up to high places quickly. Basically, one squad sharing a single Marsec Torso plate.

A more practical reason though is to get a stranded ground unit out of a hole. But that doesn't need any magnificent throwing skill. Just stand next to the hole and chuck it in.

I wonder what are the practical uses of a chained mid-air explosion? Like sychronised unarmed grenades tossed into the air set off by one AP grenade in mid-air. Hmm.

- NKF

Edited by NKF, 18 September 2007 - 01:40 AM.

[NRN_R_Sumo1]

To destroy Skelitoids of course! ^.^
and also, grenades dont explode on walls or cielings, only on floors.

Its a handy skill to have, and its fun to do too!

Makes my missions a blast ^^