» Wed Nov 24, 2010 12:08 pm I wasn't trying to offend you or anything, I'm just saying that there's more interesting ways to balance something than just giving an enemy unusable and inexplicably better equipment. I'd consider giving him more health (Though not bullet-sponge quantities of health), or some natural damage threshold or something, instead of the unplayable rifle to be better. Maybe even make him non-hostile to the Geckos that were near him, so you have to fight through them first and denying the option of waiting for him to take them out
Fair enough - the decision came down to offense vs. defense (to generalize), in that I was weighing the NPC's ability to dish out damage as opposed to their ability to absorb it. On some level it's subjective - I'd prefer a brief, lethal firefight to a prolonged slugfest, although several of the "bosses" have augmented HP (but nothing extraordinary, excepting the final boss). With a preference for offense, I asked myself, "How can I maximize the NPC's lethality in respect to the player, without unbalancing the game?" It's a crude method, but I thought that unplayable, powerful weapons (some of which have nasty enchantments like the Victory Rifle knockdown) in the hands of skilled bosses (who are outfitted with perks, increased skills, etc.) would achieve my goals. The mod's description says, "you will be confronted with dangerous opponents who are designed to frustrate and kill you." If possible, I want to achieve that end while leaving the game as balanced as possible.
Please don't misread my response - I'm not offended or anything, just know that I take my mod's quality very seriously and I'll continue to improve it. I appreciate your willingness to offer constructive criticism, and it will defnitely factor into the next update (that goes for everyone).
