Fallout 2 mod Fallout 2 - The way of the fist (A revamp of unarmed fighting)

M

MuKen

First time out of the vault
Edit: Updated to v1.3, rebalancing complete for now barring bugfixes

Hi everyone, looking for some feedback on a mod I've been working on. It's a revamp of the unarmed attacks that's intended to make a pure martial artist playthrough more strategic and interesting to play, and most importantly to give a different play experience for yet another replay of Fallout 2 :) To install:


Secondary punch - Jab/Palm Strike/Piercing Strike
  • 2AP quick attack, low damage, first unlocked at level 2
  • Continuing to hit the same target builds up combo count up to a maximum of 1/2/3 for Jab/Palm/Piercing
  • Hitting a different target, missing an attack, or using a different attack or weapon will drop the combo
  • Combos give a stacking 10% to-hit bonus per combo count to all unarmed attacks (including this punch itself)
  • Hitting with any of the other 3 unarmed attack types will use the combo count to generate varying effects

Primary punch - Strong Punch/Hammer Punch/Haymaker
  • 3AP, medium damage (about half as much as using unarmed weapons), high base crit chance
  • Gets an extra re-roll to crit for each combo point
  • Gives +5 to critical effects table roll per combo point (stacks with Better Criticals perk, upgrades to +15 with Slayer perk)

Primary kick - Strong Kick/Snap Kick/Power Kick
  • 3AP, high damage, almost as much as using unarmed weapons (i.e. power kick is slightly less damage than mega power fist)
  • If you first cripple an enemy limb with any attack, then immediately follow up with this kick on that limb, you will get a 1.5x damage multiplier, and the critical rate will be as if you targetted the eyes (crippled limbs are sensitive!)
  • The attack that crippled the limb can be anything, even a gun
  • You must not hit with anything else or anywhere else before following up with the kick (though it need not be during the same turn)
  • Exception: you may use jabs to build up combo count before hitting with kick, they do not need to hit the same limb
  • For each combo count, the damage multiplier of the crippled limb attack is increased by 0.5x (so a full combo will result in 3x damage)

Secondary kick - Hip Kick/Hook Kick/Piercing Kick
  • 4AP slow attack, very high damage, but inaccurate (all accuracy gained from skill points and bonuses are halved), first unlocked at level 4
  • If you knock down an enemy with any attack and follow up with this kick, it will do 1.25x damage +.25x per combo point (similar rules to cripple bonus) and the AP cost will be retroactively reduced to 2AP
  • The damage multiplier and AP benefit is also given whenever it would result in a killing blow
  • The Bonus HtH attacks perk will not reduce the base AP cost of this kick, but it will reduce the discounted cost on kd/kill to 1 AP
Whenever damage bonuses are applied for crippled limbs/downed opponents/deathblows, your character will fire off a cheesy 90's martial arts flick one-liner ;) (Sorry currently only in English)

Additionally, the use of throwing knives has been buffed and supplemented with a new "Ghost Strike" attack to synergize with unarmed martial arts. In order to use Ghost Strike, you must take the Ghost perk (which has been adjusted to unlock at level 12 and require no skill requirements)
  • Base AP cost of attacking with throwing knives reduced to 3AP
  • Either Bonus HtH Attacks OR Bonus RoF will reduce this cost
  • Pressing the "T" key will equip a throwing knife at any time with no AP cost
  • If you hit a target with a throwing knife, that target will be "marked" for a ghost strike, which replaces your throw attack (you must have additional throwing knives in inventory, even though ghost strike will not use one)
  • Ghost strike costs 2AP, teleports you behind your opponent to punch them (this hex must be open), does very low damage, but generates 1 combo count
  • Ghost strike is a guaranteed hit on your marked target if the hex behind them is clear, guaranteed miss otherwise
  • Ghost strike will empty both of your weapon slots
  • If you do not wish to use your ghost strike, you can toggle your throwing knife attack to swing and back to clear your marked target
 

Attachments

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Great mod!
You can even add perks related to combos like in Wasteland 3. Perks to increase the maximum combo length or improve the bonuses from combo stacks.

But I think there are balance issues:
- Damage is too high, even for a character with 1 strength, unarmed attacks are better than spiked brass knuckles, especially considering the combo bonuses.
- Alternative attacks are too cheap, 3 action points in fallout 2 sweet spots for the fastest non-perk-modified attacks, and anything less is too powerful.
- Teleportation from "ghost strike" is also cool, but it's out of style of game. Maybe something like a running attack, when after a run the first hit for free would be more appropriate?

Bugs:
-ghost strike to a target that has another creature behind it causes teleportation a few tiles away and a "telekinetic" attack.
 
DeKRuS said:
Great mod!
You can even add perks related to combos like in Wasteland 3. Perks to increase the maximum combo length or improve the bonuses from combo stacks.

But I think there are balance issues:
- Damage is too high, even for a character with 1 strength, unarmed attacks are better than spiked brass knuckles, especially considering the combo bonuses.
- Alternative attacks are too cheap, 3 action points in fallout 2 sweet spots for the fastest non-perk-modified attacks, and anything less is too powerful.
- Teleportation from "ghost strike" is also cool, but it's out of style of game. Maybe something like a running attack, when after a run the first hit for free would be more appropriate?

Bugs:
-ghost strike to a target that has another creature behind it causes teleportation a few tiles away and a "telekinetic" attack.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the thorough feedback! I made an update fixing the bug and adjusting the damage values to scale things back a bit. What level range are you playing at atm with the jabs? My intent for them was that at low levels they serve a bit as a faster lower damage alternative to your main attack, but as you level up and especially by the time you get bonus hth attacks, the damage falls behind so much that they're not a good way to do damage on their own, they're mainly just a way to enhance your other attacks by building up combo count.

Do you think teleport is too far out of the game style? I really wanted to have a way to quickly close on long range enemies XD
 
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MuKen said:
What level range are you playing at atm with the jabs?
Click to expand...
It was at level 2, right after the temple of trials, a character with 1 strength, without tagged unarmed combat.
And the second save was at level 7 in the ring in new reno with strength 7 and skill 98%.
Cheap secondaries attacks and + hit bonus with combos and aimed head/eye attacks made this fights even more trivial. Or have they always been like this?)

Seems combo bonuses should be tied to unarmed combat skill? a net +15% hit chance on early levels is a noticeable increase, even with less damage.

And the "Ghost Strike" is available from lvl 1? WOW, this is too powerful! Definitely worth thinking about, maybe you need to make it a perk lvl at 12-15?

And maybe it’s worth somehow adapting this system for enemies too, and unarmed weapons?


You can develop an idea and even make various FIXED combos that can be learned from different trainers (although it will be a chore), and which will always give the same result (float_msg will display which attacks have already hit the enemy).
for example, a strike that starts a series costs full AP, attacks following it if they are part of a studied combo cost less (and inflict less dmg for balance), but after the combo ends, a fixed effect occurs.

short plain one-two punch combo: jab + punch = just bonus to hit chance for punch
kick -> kick(-AP to attack cost) -> aimed palm strike (torso) = + chance to make enemy miss a turn(no crit needed)
jab -> jab -> leg kick = knockdown (even without crit),
kick -> kick = increased knockback.
(I know it looks like shit, it's just that my imagination is rather weak:freak:)

But the mod is already really looks good! It just makes unarmed combat at a level and even higher than firearms)

Regarding the bug with teleportation, now it is gone, but the second knife is thrown for 2 AP, maybe it's worth checking if the creature is behind the target before changing the AP cost of throw? or just add set_critter_current_ap (current_ap- 1) on such a throw.
 
DeKRuS said:
It was at level 2, right after the temple of trials, a character with 1 strength, without tagged unarmed combat.
And the second save was at level 7 in the ring in new reno with strength 7 and skill 98%.
Cheap secondaries attacks and + hit bonus with combos and aimed head/eye attacks made this fights even more trivial. Or have they always been like this?)

Seems combo bonuses should be tied to unarmed combat skill? a net +15% hit chance on early levels is a noticeable increase, even with less damage.

And the "Ghost Strike" is available from lvl 1? WOW, this is too powerful! Definitely worth thinking about, maybe you need to make it a perk lvl at 12-15?

And maybe it’s worth somehow adapting this system for enemies too, and unarmed weapons?


You can develop an idea and even make various FIXED combos that can be learned from different trainers (although it will be a chore), and which will always give the same result (float_msg will display which attacks have already hit the enemy).
for example, a strike that starts a series costs full AP, attacks following it if they are part of a studied combo cost less (and inflict less dmg for balance), but after the combo ends, a fixed effect occurs.

short plain one-two punch combo: jab + punch = just bonus to hit chance for punch
kick -> kick(-AP to attack cost) -> aimed palm strike (torso) = + chance to make enemy miss a turn(no crit needed)
jab -> jab -> leg kick = knockdown (even without crit),
kick -> kick = increased knockback.
(I know it looks like shit, it's just that my imagination is rather weak:freak:)

But the mod is already really looks good! It just makes unarmed combat at a level and even higher than firearms)

Regarding the bug with teleportation, now it is gone, but the second knife is thrown for 2 AP, maybe it's worth checking if the creature is behind the target before changing the AP cost of throw? or just add set_critter_current_ap (current_ap- 1) on such a throw.
Click to expand...

Those are some pretty neat ideas! But I think I'll leave the extra combos for maybe a version 2 in the future, and for now focus on getting the mechanics and balance right for the current stuff. And yeah, Ghost Strike is definitely something that should probably be further back in the development, I'm still a bit in the "getting it working properly" stage as you can see atm.

I definitely like the idea of unlocking more sequences as you advance, but i'll probably focus first on getting the mechanics and balance right for what I've got so far, and then think about adding more stuff after that. My own preference though is for creating stuff that requires you to do something different based on the results of what you did earlier or what the enemy did in between, so maybe like a sequence that ties into the current stuff into more extended combos, like IF you got a crippled leg on your first blow and continued into a kick for bonus on that, you can follow up with another spin kick to blast them away, but conversely if your first hit got a KD, you can follow up with the KD attack and then a final stomp finisher that does some other effect, etc. Thanks for the ideas! Lots to think about after I've got the initial stuff tuned correctly.


EDIT: New version uploaded with the completed rebalancing for now, from here just going to be trying to suss out any bugs and then perhaps work on some of these additional combo ideas :)
 
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Finished some playthroughs with this and I'm pretty happy with its current state for an "official" release ;) I may make some future versions with additional stuff, but I think what's there now is in a good place. Where do people usually put up mods that are ready for distribution for this game? Or is this forum pretty much the place?
 
MuKen said:
Finished some playthroughs with this and I'm pretty happy with its current state for an "official" release ;) I may make some future versions with additional stuff, but I think what's there now is in a good place. Where do people usually put up mods that are ready for distribution for this game? Or is this forum pretty much the place?
Click to expand...
If it's still relevant, I think it's worth posting the mod on the nexus, here, and maybe on moddb.
https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout2
https://www.moddb.com/games/fallout-2
 
Saw this mod on r/classicfallout, seems awesome! Definitively using this on my next game!

Some ideas for the future, if you don't mind:
- NPCs and enemies using these features.
- Can more unarmed attacks be added without replacing any, using the magic of SFall? Because I think it would be awesome. Tackles, grabs, holds, knee-strikes, elbow-strikes, etc.
- Something cool for the users of unarmed weapons? Yeah I know they already get the unarmed weapons themselves, extra damage and all.
- "Special" attacks that can be learned from trainers, like in New Vegas - from trainers like John L. Sullivan, The Dragon, Lo Pan, etc. Ranger Takedown, anybody?

Any plans to tackle melee weapons in another mod, in the future? Those medieval fighting manuals could give you some neat ideas. Also, hitting people with gun butts lol!
 
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