Giz, I think that's modeled pretty well still (accuracy) in weapon spread. But the effect you detail here, the nick to the ear stuff, is more like variable damage rather than fixed. You know, weapon does 10-20 dam instead of always does 16 dam each shot. I'm all for this to be (re)included. Some shots just aren't as lethal as other, just like real life. Still, that doesn't allow for a gamer's ability to tailor the damage spectrum to their tastes. I like the (dino) idea of damage sliders. Since that's all the difficulty sliders do now, just break them up so we can alter damage dealt and damage received seperately, with a few more ticks on the sliders for finer tuning. The game mechanic is already there, since difficulty modifier is already computed in each sucessful attack, they would just need to program in the larger range of damage and break 'em up into two sliders.
-Gunny
It is about variable damage (in RPGs as a genre, not just Fallout or TES)... In all truth I've no idea what the numerical DPS for any weapon in FO3 or NV actually is. I've never paid any attention, and what values I saw during play were forgotten minutes later.
I have to say though, that I have a real issue with difficulty sliders; and the idea that a player can play for a while, then turn the difficulty down for an encounter, then back up again. Myself, I would rather never finish a game at all, than to progress further by reducing the difficulty here and there ~IMO that's a cheat. I considered it so even in Fallout 1.
. I know there are those that don't quite 'get' how one can cheat in a single player game, but to me, cheating one's self is significant.
I don't mind setting the difficulty level at the start of a game. Best IMO to have it per PC... I liked how Icewind Dale 2 had "Heart of Fury" mode that actually had to be set outside of the game IIRC wth the game setup program. And it branded your characters. In HOF, the goblins in the first town had +29 to strike and damage. My PCs advanced 7 levels in less than an hour, and hadn't even ventured up the hill yet.
; (Of course HOF is intended for playing the game again with your high level party, not starter PCs).