Looks great, and I do think there is some allure to Very Hard being VERY HARD.

But let me just think about this lock cracking equation. Strength and Melee definitely seem like important variables.

But what about the weapon damage? Example... Even in a scifi world I don't expect a sledge hammer to break a safe marked Very Hard. But if it was a super magic scifi weapon... like say a super sledge hammer, maybe even a nuclear powered one, then yeah, I can see this breaking the toughest safe open.

So given the game has already built this mechanic into the game (regular weapons with regular damage, and super weapons with super damage), maybe that is another important variable to include in the equation.

Also, if I consider how strength and skill factor into smashing a safe open, I imagine strength is at least as important as skill. I'd feel comfortable saying they are equally important.

Put an invisible creature with DT equal to the lock difficulty in front of the safe.. if it dies it gets unlocked

Update: Put off release a few days. Working on explosives now and I want to get a basic version of that included before alpha release. For now it'll require increasing amounts of dynamite based on lock level to work. In the future I'd like to add a specific lock-busting explosive charge item that I can visually attach to the lock and then detonate. BUT, that's a visual thing so aiming post alpha for that.



As for all this....I agree. Catch is weighting the math giving them both equal impact... Maybe using both Str AND Luck as negative lock level modifiers would do the trick to even it out. Currently only your Luck is subtracted from the overall lock level. Hmmm.....

Lock Level + Perk Modifier - Str - Luck VS. random (1-20) + Melee

This "should" make the smaller Str number have a greater impact overall.

On the weapon stat part I'm planning on it, but I think NVSE is needed to make it work. Won't be an initial release thing but I'll add it for sure.

Yeah you can always update the formula over time.

Waiting to see how it all works!

Can the game distinguish between door locks and safe/etc. locks in any way? It really bothers me that when I have a character with like 9-10 strength I can't kick down an average door to get to my destination.

The problem Ringy is bringing up is that it does detract from balance. Obviously combat skills are going to get more mileage than security, which is ONLY used for picking locks; at the end of the day, this is a shooter at heart after all. By allowing combat skills to bypass security challenges, you're basically making that skill unnecessary, when you could be investing in a combat skill that also opens doors.

As above, you could blow doors in FO1&2, but doing so was never sneaky and you could only do it to objects you could feasibly damage; there were plenty of doors that, even with simple locks, you could never ever blow.

This is why this mod is kind of flawed: the game isn't assigning locks their challenge value based on the construction of the door, and no one cares if you blow a door because they aren't coded to notice.

As such, the following would bring this in-line with viable, balanced gameplay practices:

• Assign damage requirements to each door based on construction, not lock difficulty.
  
• Assign faction ownership to each door and allow for reputation loss and hostility depending upon the target and situation.
  
• Grant that some doors will never open no matter how much explosives you have.
  
• Allow for the possibility for the damaging of the contents of locked containers, increasing depending upon the type of container and/or its contents, which may be mitigated with specialized explosive types and high explosive skill.

In the end, it's your game and this is a mod alot of people are asking for, so it's fine that you're making it, but these are my suggestions for a more well-rounded experience.

Update:

Mostly ready for alpha! Just have some debug code cleanup(free perks/easy chances/etc) and bug stomping to work on. NVSE came out BUT, that'll wait for next release(else it'll be a while). As soon as these things are done I'll upload to the Nexus.


As far as focusing of the difference between doors and containers....it might be doable but fairly complex. I would have be write the script to distinguish between door/container types to see which are "breakable" or "sturdy" etc.

I went with the rationale that lock level is a direct relation to the physical strength of the locking mechanism instead. Using this idea I applied some fuzzy logic to say that a wooden door with a very hard lock can withstand more punishment then a wooden door with a very easy lock. After I add in weapon stats via NVSE things like weapon damage/weight and blunt vs sharp will factor in as well.

The idea behind distinguishing between a door and a vault door or safe door sounds great. Would really make this little jewel of a mod, shine. And what with the Beta of NVSE just coming out, I imagine your going to be up to your eyeballs in new functions and other such goodies. So I will be keeping an eye on this. And ... yeah.... *throws support at Retro42* Good job!


Trodamus: ....

I did like the FO3 mod that allowed you to explode locked chests etc.

If I could kick down wooden doors.....I would be in heaven.



I really think alternate 'unlocking' methods should be loud and not stealthy and based on the type of material it's made out of. Blowing open a wooden chest with a grenade should destroy some supplies, if not all.