The general skillcheck is something like
Code:
max = skill_level + bonusDC (bonus I think in stealing is 0, but there are checks with negative DCs to make them harder)
min = max - random(1, 100)
if min < 0, it's a failure, roll another random(1, 100)
if roll <= -(min / 10), it gets upgraded to a critical failure
if min >= 0, it's a success, roll another random(1, 100)
if roll <= (min / 10) + critical chance, it gets upgraded to a critical success
So on the first check if you have 95 skill and you roll against 1d100 (let's say on average you roll 50 on the 1d100), the min variable is 45. Then on the critical check you roll 1d100 against 45/10+your crit chance (with LU10 that's +10%) = 14.5% chance of a critical success on an average initial roll (50). If you fail, the code goes into the target's codeblock.
Some code;
critical success roll ->
https://github.com/alexbatalov/fallout2-re/blob/main/src/random.c#L93=
steal ->
https://github.com/alexbatalov/fallout2-re/blob/main/src/skill.c#L1000=
That's quite interesting, if you increase your critical chance to 100% via a save editor, you can probably successfully steal/plant just via the critical success branch of the code (assuming you have some steal skill to pass the initial skill check).
On a normal character that has a critical chance somewhere below 10% I don't think it's going to make that much of a difference, although maybe in speedruns it does.
Yeah, sorry. I haven't really thought about doing the stealing via critical success. I don't think it makes a big difference in a normal game though. If you lower an NPCs agility to 1 for a 3% steal skill, he has a 3% chance of seeing you (assuming he has no skill points invested in the steal skill). That 3% can be additionally lowered by the 14.5% to 2.58% chance of being seen.
If the target has a higher steal skill, the gains are also obviously higher. If he has a 20% chance of seeing you, lowering it by 14.5% puts it at 17.1% chance of being seen. Additionally you could increase your crit chance with finesse/more criticals.
If I crunched the numbers right that is