Overall things feel just about right. I'm currently at level 19 with my latest character and still find that I have to very cautious about how I engage the enemy.


I agree that BT makes things a bit to easy. A few alternatives to remedy this come to mind. First and foremost, albeit the most labor intensive to implement, is the idea that your character wouldn't start out with the BT ability; Or if they did, it would only slow things down ever so slightly. I'd like to see either a quest-line devoted to acquiring/enhancing BT, or a set of perks (perhaps with a science skill prerequisite) that enhance BT from a much milder base state. Oddly enough, with all the fuss over moving Fast-VATS into a seperate esp, once I started using BT as a primary means of targeting, I find it much easier than VATS in its vanilla form. As an initial "quick-fix" I'd suggest not only increasing AP use slightly, but also increasing the play-speed while BT is running.


OK, but remember, you asked for it

As you know, I'm setting up a merger (FWE+CFW+WMK) that tweaks the weapons to be more in-line with my own preferences. But the tweaks I'm making are based on the damages currently used in FWE, so they are relevant to this discussion. My changes basically hinge around the idea that ammo caliber/cartridge type is more closely related to damage dealt. For the stock weapons, the 10mm pistols are rediculously under-powered. These are comparable to .40 caliber handguns, compared to the .32 caliber revolver that currently does considerably more damage. The .32 is a pea-shooter compared to the 10mm. After all, the 10mm didn't become the standard sidearm of the military because it did the LEAST amount of damage of all handguns. As far as the CFW weapons are concerned, I've revamped the lot. Currently, the .223 does more damage than any other handgun aside from the .44 revolver. Granted it's based on a rifle bullet (5.56mm), but with the avialability of 5.56 ammo, the usefulness of ALL the other handguns including the "big-boys", e.g. the Deagle, the .44 Revolver and the 14mm, becomes nil as ammo is scarce and there are major weight considerations to carrying multiple calibered guns. Using the base damage of 60 for the .44 as a reference for maximum damage, I'd suggest the 14mm take on this value. Equivalent to a .55 caliber, this thing a bloody handcannon! I'm also considering adding the effect present on the that knocks the opponent down when hit. This thing should be a BEAST. I've rechambered the Deagle to take its own 50AE ammo, but even at its current .44 caliber, it should be much more in line with the damage dealt by the .44 revolver; It is the same cartridge, right? As a balancing measure between the two, perhaps the Deagle's max semi-auto delay could be set to .3 seconds to deliver faster and its health set to something lower than the revolver to increase its associated maitainance. This scenario provides a good example of how weapons can be balanced without having to rely so heavily on their damage stats.

I haven't gotten to the rifles yet, but I intend to balance these after the same fashion. An automatic weapon should be FEARED. I don't intend to dumb-down per shot damage just because the weapon is an automatic. Take the Chinese Assault Rifle as an example. Its base damage is currently 16, while the .223 using the same cartridge deals a whopping 55! Perhaps a compromise of 35? With the weighted ammo system in place and the balance between autos and semi-autos hinging on damage stats, there's no good reason to carry an auto. I've tried, but the way FWE's weapons are currently balanced, all you end up doing is adding a boat-load of extra weight to your character while going through huge quantities of scarce ammunition to take more time (requires multiple hits) to do the same damage to your opponent. This imbalance needs to be rectified IMHO.

Energy weapons are flat out too weak. They need a major boost across the board with the possible exception of the uniques which deal what I would consider a fair amount of damage. These are the weapons of science-fiction; The death-rays of tomorrow. But not according to the current implementation. As it sits, unless I acquire a unique version, which do VASTLY more damage than their common counterparts, I'm being asked to put skill points into a specialized skill that yields a net loss in investment. They do far less damage than comparable ballistics weapons and ammo costs twice as much. Not much of an incentive to use these. The way I intend to implement EWs is to give the least of these comparable damage to the greatest of the ballistic weapons. This, coupled with a 2.5x critical multiplier for the laser weapons and 4x for the plasma weapons along with a low max health to provide balance through the need for constant maintainance. The plasma weapons should do greater damage than any ballastics based weapon, as their projectile speed is slow and spread is greater, providing adequate balance as a result. The pulse weapons are rare and could potentially do a massive amount of damage with the caveat that their repair list is quite limited, perhaps requiring laser/plasma/pulse weapons to repair.

I haven't taken a close look at big guns at all, but I get the feeling that I'd find many of the same issues with these. In fact, a couple of things that I have noticed are one, the weights of these "big guns" (particularly those added by CFW) seem too light and two, I have no way of telling if the gun is classed small or big other than picking it up and seeing the sway (my big gun skill is very low).

One last yarf. Although I appreciate the concept of ammo rarity, I don't see the necessity to extend this to the vendors. These guys MUST be making the stuff. Let me give you example using my current character. When I started her, I made a few adjustments; One of which was to rechamber the Deagle to take .45 ACP ammo and adjust its base damage to 55. Experience has shown that I don't want to take a weapon I intend to use as a primary with less than 200 rounds of ammo. This, again, is limited to semi-auto/single shot weapons as autos consume vastly more ammo. Between the .45 ACP found and buying as much as I could (half the time vendors don't even have it) I was able to use the Deagle once for every 5-6 excursions. Considering that the .45 ACP is only used in the Tommy Gun and the Greasegun, both automatics which require much more ammo than my Deagle (and have pretty lousy stats), they become utterly useless. So, now at level 19, she has 60,000 caps sitting in her safe with nothing to spend it on. The major vendors should have ammo in abundance. Let the player decide which weapons to use, not the game. The PC is still limited by the ammo's weight factor and the caps they have to spend. Let these be the deciding factors as to which ammo/gun suits their situation.

The summary is this; As is, the weapons of choice are the .223 pistol and the hunting rifle (scoped w/extended magazine if running WMK). Ammo is cheap/easy to find and damage is very high. You can use these consistently unlike any other guns in-game (other than the 10mm which is currently not worth its weight in scrap). Unless you're a masochist, the other guns are all just curios that the AI can use to its heart's content, but the player is limited to using on the very odd occassion due to poor performance/lack of available ammo/unjustifiable skill point expenditure.


One thing that really sticks out is the rewards earned for completing a dungeon/tracing a clue. Here are a few examples off the top of my head:

I finally figured out were this was and opened it only to find a bunch of junk, some 10mm rounds and a package of "FancyLad Snackcakes".

Ya, there were one or two mini-nukes :rolleyes: but half of the ammo boxes were empty!

and what do you get? Another couple of mini-nukes and more empty ammo boxes

Places/scenarios like these deserve hand placed unique items and leveled list that are guaranteed to generate quality/rare items. Not the run-of-the-mill next to nothing stuff found everywhere else in the wastes.

I would also encourage you to take a closer look at placing better LLs on containers found in spots considered "caches". These are generally the areas you come to towards the end of a dungeon crawl that make the effort worthwhile, like finding a bobblehead. If you're interested in tackling some of these areas, I'd be willing to work with you to develop a script that would randomize the placement of certain (or even most?) unique items to increase replay value.

I simply deleted the entries for these cells in the GECK. These items really belonged in a seperate testing cell.

My perspective on WMK has changed over the course of my latest character's development. Although I really like most of modded weapons, I feel they are too easily acquired and often serve little purpose. After all, a POS 10mm is still a POS with a bigger clip (although this too could change depending on your take on my weapon-balancing suggestions). I'd like to see the "better" combinations used as unique items, perhaps fulfilling the role of the rewards mentioned above. For those still interested in using WMK as is, I say let this still be an option, with the understanding that the "rewards" will seem less valuable. With specific variants in mind, it wouldn't be nearly as difficult to add in some more unique variations of the CFW weapons either. Now throw in a few new quality armor mods and some distinctly well-done retextures; The list of possible rewards could then be considerably larger than the number of rewards available. This would further enhance the concept of unique play-through, often building a character around the type of equipment found. Since, as you say, FWE is in a fairly stable state, perhaps this is next direction it could take?


We had talked about this some time ago and I had all but completely forgotten about it. This would be a great addition. I'll look at what it would take to implement this; I have a few ideas but I'm not that familiar with how the zones work, so a bit of research will be necessary.

Last point. Remember that these are all intended as constructive criticisms. If I had to tell you about the things I liked, I could write enough to get this thread closed for reaching its page limit. You're doing a splendid job Mez. Keep up the GREAT work :thumbsup:

Cheers!

FritZ

In theory you are right. Though in my game, if I position my char the right way I can take on 6 Raiders without a problem. Depending on the weapon almost all Raiders go down with one headshot and my AP last for 5-6 shots using a Laser Pistol. For Raiders this is ok, but I don't like that many Supermutants go down with one shot, too. Against Raiders I almost only die when I run out of APs (seldom) and have no way to retreat.
I also recognized, that Mirelurks are much easier to defeat than before. Just wait till you can get a good shot at their face and most of the time they go down.

What I'd like to see would be Raiders/Mercs using some more tactics/working as a group and Supermutants/Lurks/Robots using brute force and staying power. The last one should be able to achieve. The first one... well, the AI is a bit crappy. Don't know if there's much you can do about it (atm).

What FWE really does better than vanilla, is that it makes you act more careful. You have to scan the terrain and possible cover and plan your angle of attack, if you want to get the first shot. So it's definitely an improvement and I love it.

Please don't misunderstand me, I don't mean to say that it is too easy. FWE is much less forgiving than other combinations of mods and vanilla. But on the other hand it's easier to outsmart your opponents because often it's one shot one kill.

Edit:
FritZ, I like your take on the weapons damage. Definitely would like to see something like this. Atm, the priorities in choosing my weapon are as following: ammo resources, roleplay, weapon stats, skills. The inconsistencies/logical errors you described are the biggest influence in weapon choice imo. An assault rifle should hurt more than a .32. The more powerful weapons could be balanced by ammo rarity in loot lists and vendor price. Though, as you said, if you have the caps there should be the supply. And I really like the high maintenance approach to balance the energy weapons.
With the mass of new weapons added by FOOK, it's often guess work which weapon is superior to another. Maybe the next version of DarN's UI will helps with that.

Didn't bullet time mod had a "consumption" setting?, i've found it lasts quite little with max on that setting. Perhaps you could simply make the 'fast' one the default?.
I'm still loving the increased ap regen and would be saddened to see it gone, mostly, because i use the sprint A LOT.

Apart from that, i'm working on a tiny little mod that uses AP as its balancing factor/fuel (in a nutshell, spellcasting). Between that, the bullet time, the sprint, and vats, i've noticed that having many different things to do with the AP leads to interesting tactical scenarios: I could vats/bullet time 1-2 foes, run for better cover, or cast something. True, spellcasting is not everyone's cup of tea, but the idea remains: More ap-using things = more tactical combat, and therefore, more fun.
Perhaps more chems that damage your ap & won't run if you cant pay for it?. Or ap costs for switching weapons/armor?, perhaps on the future, our very own fallout version of deadly reflex, now ap-fueled?. The possibilities are quite wide.

DOH! I feel like an idiot. I don't have the WMK but I couldn't for the life of me figure out why I was getting my backside handed to me by a raider with a .32 pistol. Not till your post did I look at the damage. I hadn't realized it had changed. I missed it somewhere in all the readme's LOL! I kept wondering why my Silenced 10mm was doing virtually nothing ... :facepalm:

For the record. I know ZERO about guns in reality so I don't know if this is correct or not. But, I would *think* a silenced 10mm in decent repair would be a pretty big ouchie if a shot was delivered at the appropriate range. Add in a sneak with that and I'd think most human types would go down. Which isn't the case *shrugs* but what do I know LOL

Still a great mod but interesting suggestions coming your way

So, I have yet to really figure this out, but when you edit the options for the Sprint in the Pedometer, what is "turn on/off Tackle"?

I installed the mod properly as far as i know, have the game patched and am using FOSE, but the game crashes whenever i near a hostile(possibly any creature) creature. I tried launching the unmodded game and it worked just fine, but starting a new game with FWE, and only FWE enabled causes the mentioned crashing.
I also have attempted deleting Fallout3.ini and letting it regenerate, running the game without FOSE and only WFE enabled.


Any ideas?

Here's my usual load order. You may notice the fakepatch, but i only installed it after i reinstalled the game trying to fix this.

Fallout3.esm
FakePatch_v1.4.0.6.esm
Anchorage.esm
ThePitt.esm
CALIBR.esm
FWE_FO3_Wanderers_Edition.esm
Mart's Mutant Mod.esm
Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch.esp
DarNifiedUIF3.esp
bittercup_comp.esp
Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch - Operation Anchorage.esp
Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch - The Pitt.esp
GalaxyNewsRadioFix[N].esp
GalaxyNewsRadio100[M].esp
Classic Fallout Weapons BETA.esp
MrSlackPants-NoAutoAim.esp
FWE_00_QUEST.esp
FWE_01_COMBAT.esp
FWE_02_COMBAT_II.esp
FWE_03_CHARACTER.esp
FWE_04_CHARACTER_II.esp
FWE_05_ITEMLOOT.esp
FWE_05_ITEMLOOT_II.esp
FWE_05_ITEMLOOT_III.esp
FWE_06_SPAWNS.esp
FWE_07_IMMERSION.esp
FWE_08_FEATURES.esp
FWE Compatibility - CFW.esp
WeaponModKits.esp
WeaponModKits-Unique.esp
WeaponModKits - CFW + FWE.esp
Mart's Mutant Mod.esp
Mart's Mutant Mod - Natural Selection.esp
Mart's Mutant Mod - Hunting & Looting.esp
Mart's Mutant Mod - No Corpse Flies.esp
Mart's Mutant Mod - CFW + FWE.esp

Total active plugins: 36
Total plugins: 36

Edit:Didn't this forum once have scrollable [code] boxes?

How can I use the Better living thru Chemistry drugs as a weapon?

I just want to say that I agree that the accuracy of weapons, especially at low skill levels, should be adjusted. Even with low skill in SGs it is easy to get > 90% chance of a 1SK headshot. That should really only be happening if your skill is > 75 in the weapon imo. Can someone largely untrained in using a gun really go around 1SK headshotting packs of raiders who, presumably, have some skill in combat?

I use the 100 VATS speed optional mod, which I like, but even still, VATS is just too powerful right now--primarily because of the insane accuracy (combined with the increased damage to weapons). I use hardly any ammo because of this whereas Jericho uses TONS of ammo because he is not using VATS and his accuracy is terrible.

I think that if the accuracy was reduced this would increase the need for more tactics than just "1SK headshot." I am finding there is really not much need for stealthiness because I can just 1SK my way through things.

Don't get me wrong, like others have said, I definitely feel that FWE makes the game more challenging, especially with MMM. But, once you get used to things, it is not as scary--especially when you get a few levels under your belt. If you see mobs, lob a very powerful grenade or two and then back to 1SKing.

Basically, in sum, it would be nice if the accuracy at low skill levels was...well...comparable to the skill level. Low skill, low accuracy. High skill, high accuracy. Also, I don't know if this is currently in place or not, but I think that shooting a grenade in someone's hand or their head should be harder in terms of accuracy than shooting someone in the chest (where their armor is). Same with shooting arms (that are holding big guns, for example). Being able to have > 90% odds on hitting a SM's right arm that holds a minigun when my skill is low doesn't seem to make sense to me as that would be a pretty hard shot I think.

Awesome mod though Couldn't play without it anymore!

The "FWE_08_FEATURES.esp" module requires FOSE, so if you only tried "FWE only without FOSE" that could cause a problem. I'm really at a bit of a loss as to why it's crashing your game. I have not tested it with the Fake Patch . . . or with Anchorage or the Pitt . . . so that might be causing a problem. Have you tried it without those mods running?

I guess I'd try to run the game with FOSE and just FWE (no DLC or fake patches, etc...) and see what happens . . .



I don't know . . . I've never tried



Yeup I've done one round of tweaking and testing so far, we'll see where it goes next. One of the settings I changes was fVATSDistanceFactor (was 1.5, vanilla is 2.0). I bumped it up to 1.75 and it definetly makes VATS accuracies quite a but lower at medium to long range, I'll have to tweak it a bit more as well.

Good suggestion on the hit chance for grenades and the head vs. arms/legs/body . . . I can see if that is adjustable. Might be in the boby part data.

Cheers

I tried running FWE fully patched, without anything enabled other than full FWE, FOSE both on and off. Actually, just tried 4.0c FWE enabled, everything else disabled with FOSE running once more and it still crashed once i got near the Mirelurks that spawn by the enclave officer starting spot.

Guess i'll try and reinstall the game again, and this time clear everything. Was hoping that i had skimmed over something important in the installation.

Edit:By the way, does the load order up there look right?

You need to have an empty and the drug you want to use.
Sometimes you find these weapons on raiders.

From the bltc readme:


You'll find more information in the FWE Recources/Mod Readmes folder in the FWE archive (bltc_readme and bltc chemlist.txt).

I have massacred hordes of Lurks and Supermutants with just one or two Frag Grenades. In vanilla they were underpowered, now they are maybe a bit too powerful... Same goes for the Mines. What do you guys think?


I totally agree with that. The accuracy percentages my char gets with ~30 Small Guns are too high. I'd expect such accuracy at very high skill levels of 90 and up.
I also have the feeling that hit chance on weapons an opponent is holding is too high. Very often it's the highest chance of all body parts. Like futurehermit said, it should be much harder to hit a small weapon/grenade. Atm, I'm just laughing when a Supermutie holds a Grenade or Molotov and watch the fireworks...


signed

Some oddities I stumbled on while playing:
- When I find Darts in crates/ammo boxes it's VERY often just one single Dart. Didn't experience this with the other ammo types (except for nukes, missiles). Not even with the very expensive ammo...
- G3A3 H&K assault rifles are lying virtually everywhere. I guess they are placed by FOOK, so you might not be able to do something about it. I'd like to see more variety.
- The Wattz 1000 Laser Pistol does much more damage than the AEP7 Laser Pistol. It should be the other way round, because the Wattz is the civilian version of the AEP7.

Edit
Thanks for the clarification, Impurity! I found the chemlist, but must have overlooked the bltc readme...

Your load order looked good to me.

Other thoughts:

- Make sure all the resources / assets are installing into the right folders
- Try disabling individual FWE modules and see if you can narrow down which one might be causing the error.
- If you do reinstall - try not patching the core game, or just patch up the first patch (i.e. not to 1.1.0.35 where VATS broke) . . just a thought.



FWE increases the area of effect of exposions by quite a bit, but doesn't touch the damage. But, the damage would be increased due to the global damage increase (almost doubled), so I'm guessing this is the issue. I like the bigger radius, but it sounds like I need to knock the damage down by 25-40% or so. Alternatively the radius could be kept smaller with higher damage, which might make having a higher explosive skill more useful. Any preferences?

Iirc, the damage of a Frag Grenade in vanilla/FOOK with Explosives Skill ~25 was ~75. In FWE it's around 275. A Bottle Cap Mine does almost 1000.
I really like the the increased area of effect and used the original mod before I installed FWE. I don't know about the death radius of a real world Frag Grenade (and don't really care), so I'd go with reduced damage instead of reduced radius. Atm, the Grenades and Mines are overpowered in my opinion.
I don't know how it works game mechanic-wise, but if several opponents are caught in the explosion radius everyone should only receive part of the damage. Though, that's most likely not doable.

To start with: I wouldn't play without MMM+FWE+CFW again.


I agree with a lot of this. I like a bit of realism if I can have it, and in reality automatic weapons are extremely effective compared to non-automatics (bolt/semi/etc), at least at the sort of ranges you get inside 'dungeons' in Fo3. At longer ranges the need for precision means follow-up shots can't really be made much faster, and simpler and more accurate weapons like bolt-action rifles start to win out. Unless you're ready to compensate by hosing bullets that is.

My suggestions for weapon balance is this:

• Damage should primarily be based on caliber. (Barrel length makes a difference to muzzle velocity, but this mostly affect long range shots.)
  
• Ammunition should weigh more.
  
• Ammunition should be expensive but available (in stores).
  
• Automatic weapons should need a lot of maintenance. Single-shot weapons should not.

For real-life soldiers, the weight of ammunition is a huge concern. For the M4, and similiar weapons, a magazine weighs almost a kilogram, so if you carry 10 (ie 300 rounds) that's a large part of the soldiers fighting weight, and 5.56 is a relatively light caliber! In Fo3 the player is usually carrying 2-3 rifles, a few pistols, grenades etc etc which is almost impossible to do and still carry food, water, armour and other equipment.
I'm not saying you should make it totally realistic, it's a game, but a normal (str 5) player shouldn't really be able to carry more than 2 rifles at most, at least if he wants any sort of ammo supply.

VATS and Bullet time are both great, but there are a few tweaks I'd like to see. I see VATS as the player taking the time to really aim, hence why you get to choose body parts. It's the equivalent to aimed shots in older Fallouts. It should be really expensive in AP's but could stay about as accurate as it is IMO. For automatic weapons the accuracy should be lowered somewhat, the second shot in a burst is really not going to be accurate at all, which is why most armies teach double-tapping, 2 fast single shots, instead of automatic fire (I believe?).
Bullet time is more of a separate skill IMO, sort of enhanced reflexes. You still have to aim, but you get a lot more time to react. I think it should be more expensive, and perhaps not quite so slow if it's possible? What would really be great is if there was a perk-line that changed the BT speed as you gain levels in it, and maybe it could even be a requirement in the first place.



A few smaller suggestions/requests:

• I think you should incorporate CFW fully into FWE.
  Just my opinion, but it's a great mod, you'd need fewer FOIP patches, and it would give you full control over the balance. I'm pretty happy with the mod-combination in FWE as it is, but there really are to few weapons in Fo3.
  
• Supermutants should be tougher. This isn't about realism, but gameplay. They drop about as easily as any human, and they are larger targets too.
  
• If there's a way to change hit probability on individual bodyparts in VATS, make headshots harder.
  
• Change the hunting rifle ammunition to something else, like .22 LR to make it a pest rifle, and the sniper rifle to .30-06, to differentiate it properly from 7.62x51mm as used in assault rifles. The ammo used in the .32 rifle should really not be the same as in the .32 pistol. That way you can also motivate a difference in damage between the three.

If I think of something else I guess I'll post again.

I checked again on the Grenade/Mine damage in my game:

Exploxives Skill: 31

Frag Grenade Damage: 171
Bottlecap Mine Damage: 1020
Frag Mine Damage: 299

I still believe it's too much. A Frag Mine shouldn't outright kill a Supermutie. It should cripple a leg or two, but those elephants on steroids should still be fighting.

That said, have you seen the new mod by La'valle: http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=979116
It gives Supermuties and Ghouls some of the Player Perks to make them more of a challenge. Looks quite interesting!

Yeah, I would say just lower the explosives damage a bit. There should definitely still be incentive to raise the explosives skill though, so damage should get higher still as you raise the skill. Also, I would really appreciate it Mez if you could ensure that the grenade works like it does in vanilla as opposed to FOOK (when using FOOK/FWE) because with the FOOK version the grenade usually just explodes harmlessly in midair when I or an opponent throw it.

Thanks for the continued feedback.

I'm getting pretty close to release here . . . and there are a lot of changes in this version, so it might need a few quick fixes for balance issues or glitches. Otherwise, I've addressed most of the points in the last couple pages of feedback, with the exception of a broader weapon rebalance. I think that will be saved for a future version when more time can be spent thinking things through and properly testing. I did rework the explosives a little however . . . so we'll see how that goes.

Couple things on the radar for a future release (not the next release unfortunetly)
- Rebalancing weapons and possibly integrating CFW entirely into FWE (with proper permissions of course
- Reworking the repair lists to simplify them and make the repair process a little more realistic (details down the road).



I can look into that issue. Out of curiousity, how many prefer to play FWE with FOOK versus CFW. Have the FOOK users tried CFW yet? Personally, I think the quality is more consistent in CFW, it doesn't try to do too much, and I've spent more time balancing it with FWE. Just a little nod in that direction. Cheers,

Looking forward to the next version! :hehe:

I haven't tried CFW yet. I FOOK'ed my game as soon as it was installed and never played it vanilla. Overall the FOOK weapons are really good. There are a few textures of lower quality and linkesauge said in a post some days ago, that he is aware of that and intended to make better textures himself, but didn't have the time to do so yet. His comment on v.2: "Some items will get removed/replaced in v2.0 and like already posted there will be reworked textures in v2."

I would like to see the CFW stuff integrated into FWE. This way we don't have the hassle with compatibility patches and where to put them and FOOK would still be optional to everybody who wants it (like me ).

Hey, I'm having trouble with my game. The Laser rifle, laser pistol, Chinese pistol, and 10 mm pistol don't seem to be balanced like the rest of the game, the laser rifles does 52 damage at full repair, the laser pistol is at 30ish, and the other two pistols are at less than twenty. I've tried installing everything to the best of my ability, followed the instructions as closely as I can, but it doesn't seem to make a difference. I've installed the latest FOSE and edited the .ini file correctly, but certain weapons just aren't balanced with the rest of the mod.

Here's my load order, does anything seem to be out of whack?

Fallout3.esm
ThePitt.esm
Anchorage.esm
CALIBR.esm
FWE_FO3_Wanderers_Edition.esm
Mart's Mutant Mod.esm
DarNifiedUIF3.esp
FWE_00_QUEST.esp
FWE_01_COMBAT.esp
FWE_02_COMBAT_II.esp
FWE_03_CHARACTER.esp
FWE_04_CHARACTER_II.esp
FWE_05_ITEMLOOT.esp
FWE_05_ITEMLOOT_II.esp
FWE_05_ITEMLOOT_III.esp
FWE_06_SPAWNS.esp
FWE_07_IMMERSION.esp
FWE_08_FEATURES.esp
WeaponModKits.esp
Mart's Mutant Mod.esp
Mart's Mutant Mod - Increased Spawns.esp
Mart's Mutant Mod - Natural Selection.esp
Mart's Mutant Mod - Tougher Traders.esp
Mart's Mutant Mod - Hunting & Looting.esp
Mart's Mutant Mod - No Corpse Flies.esp
Mart's Mutant Mod - No Geckos.esp
Owned!.esp
Mart's Mutant Mod - FWE.esp
WeaponModKits - FWE.esp

Hi!
Here's my two caps:

I think that if you think VATS or bullet time are overpowered, then you maybe should use them less! I love how the game is now, because it is still accessable to people who are not super great at FPS games. Remember, VATS stands for Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System. It is a cybernetic enhancement wired into your nervous system through your pip-boy, and it gives you super-human abilities. If you don't need VATS, don't use it! If FWE nerfs VATS on an upgrade, then I probably won't want to upgrade, which would be lame. As it is, I love the challenge that is currently added by FWE, but I also love the fact that I am still able to outgun 15 raiders at a time because of VATS.
Thanks for reading! And thanks for awesome FWE!!!

P.S. - Do you guys seriously want to make explosives weaker? Are you nuts?!! Make 'em stronger! Let's blow [censored] up!!

Well, the tweaks to bullet time and the amount of AP you get are the only big balancing issues. With the high AP regen, you'll still be able to use VATS a lot, and remember the VATS tweaks are optional in those mods. As far as bullet time goes, I'm changing the defaults for AP consumption and the slow down speed, but you can just as easily use the bullet time config to change them back to your preference if you don't like the changes. All in all, it shouldn't make things too much more difficult. You'll just need to adjust your technique a little =)

I suppose I can always take AP increasing perks, eh? Or... just huff some Jet!

I have a request! How about making FWE compatible with the FO3 Phalanx mod? I just found out the hard way that they are very much not compatible.

Support for Phalanx has been on my TODO list for a long time. Unfortunetly it keeps getting pushed off the priority pile =( I don't think it should be too time consuming to get a fix for it pulled together though. Just know that its on the radar.

In other news my basemant flooded last night, putting me into "crisis" mode for a while. I'm also going to be stupidly busy with some projects this weekend. What does this mean? I don't think the patch will be out this week. However, FritZ_FretZ and I have been discussing a more comprehensive weapon rebalance, and have made some moves towards getting that tackled. Initially, we were going to hold off on releasing any of those changes in the next version, but given the delay we might be able to get that stuff done and rolled together in the next release, hopefully next week. We'll see!

Cheers,

It seems to me like you need to find the difficulty setting.
Seriously though: You need to find the difficulty setting.

Well, ok, actually seriously: FWE is (supposed to be) balanced for Normal difficulty, which is subjective. If you disagree, or want a different challenge level, just change the setting. For me, being able to gun down 15 raiders without major use of mines, explosives, and running away, is too easy.