I like your comments and ideas, but maybe we should take up that discussion in the relz thread for http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=1052651 and not FWE?
Done.
My http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=9801 has real-time lockbashing included. When you install it, you can even disable all other features. It were, however, balanced with vanilla damage in mind, so bashing things open works a bit faster than intended. The weapon is damaged when bashing, but there is (currently) no chance of items being damaged. When I get around to it, I intend to add a few FWE specific improvements, such as more HP and damage absorbtion.
That option actually exists in my security overhaul as well. You can use knives to pry open locks. I would have added crowbars as well, but I only recently got permission from Frostbitex460 to use the meshes and textures from the crowbar mod.
The major problem with these features are that the mod were built with near 100% compatibility in mind. This had the unfortunate consequence that I only had the lock level of a lock to compute HP and damage threshold. Thus, bashing a blast door locked as Very Easy is just as difficult as bashing a crumbling closet with a Very Easy lock. The infrastructure for adding custom HP to containers and doors are in place (and, just like scripted traps, have been since v 1.0), but I held back from adding them, as I foresaw a need for a lot of compatibility patches with a lot of mods that I did not use at the time, as it would require editing a lot of containers.
Awesome! Really nice to hear a FWE specific version is coming!
Just an idea, but perhaps you could add skill-based damage modifiers and other restrictions to make things more challenging? For example, now you can just equip about any weapon and just blast or bash the lock until it dies. You could even use the baseball bat on a very hard lock and it will eventually crumble. Perhaps you could make it so that certain "groups" of weapons have little to zero chance of damaging a high level lock while certain other groups can? Or the misfortune of missing the lock when firing; a higher small/big guns skill would increase the chance of hitting a lock + induce criticals (imagining the player would face away to protect his/her eyes <- cliche action-movie logic). I also really like the prying option, makes Strength more useful for players with low lockpick skill. Maybe you could add a menu-based option for "kicking" a container? Depending on the weight of your armor you could make certain damage calculations (if you imagine something like heavier armor=better and heavier boots). Perhaps being overencumbered would actually give you a bonus and increases the damage of your kicks? Mighty Foot engaged!
EDIT: You know, a new perk could be nice to have with a shiny name like "Ultimate Safecracker" or something like that. It will be activated when you find a rare book, containing the log of a true master cracker. The book will earn you insight about the inner workings of locks, allowing you to damage higher level locks since you have a better understanding of their weak spots. It won't require a certain level in lockpick since all it teaches you is where the weak spots are. In order to earn more ranks, the player would have to read the story of the master cracker and follow him to various (more dangerous) locations. Perhaps it could be a three-tier perk:
(Another method of "grouping" the weapons to shoot/damage higher level locks)
- 1st rank: You can now break the more difficult locks using energy weapons. There is also a 40% higher chance the items in the container will remain undamaged.
- 2nd rank: You can now break the more difficult locks using energy weapons and big guns. There is also 55% higher chance the items in the container will remain undamaged.
- 3rd rank: You can now break the more difficult locks using energy weapons, big guns and explosives. There is also a 60% higher chance the items in the container will remain undamaged.
I thought it would be nice to rank-up by breaking a x amount of locks at first but that would make things far too easy. As you can see, there is still a risk of using weapons on a lock instead of good old lock-picking but that makes this path all the more exciting. Perhaps a little rough on the edges but it could be a nice idea.
Maybe you should also take a look at Classic Fallout, where you had the Expanded Lock Pick Set and Electronic Lock Pick MKI/MKII. You could make it so that higher level locks need the Expanded Lock Pick Set and that Electronic Locks can only be opened with Electronic Lock Picks. Doing so however will put definite limitations on players from gaining access to multiple parts of the game, but that would give a really nice twist to the whole lockpicking/bashing experience in return! Since this is also the most silent way, it is really nice to have too.
» Sat Feb 19, 2011 3:34 am 
