Deus Ex GMDX: Deus Ex Advancement Mod v9 Released!

[Excidium II]

Aren't you making cameras easier to destroy in 9.0?

 

[Ash]

Also, a fairly amusing bug concerning lit flares preventing doors from opening/closing:
https://webmshare.com/Aa4Vj

Will probably apply new physics to it to get the flare to move out of the way when the door collides with it.

Aren't you making cameras easier to destroy in 9.0?

Lower hitpoints, not lower damage threshold.

HP reduction from 60 to 50 if I recall.

Will only notably influence sabot and 10mmAP ammo, and not by much. You'll save roughly one shot per camera.

There's also an option that makes cameras more formidable even in v8.0.

 

[Jaedar]

Has anyone here managed to use either the laser targeting or the scope remote guidance of the GEP Gun in interesting ways? I keep thinking that it has potential for some interesting strategies, yet I haven't been able to come up with one so far.

Laser targeting is nice because rockets travel fairly slow so you don't have to lead moving targets.

Remote guidance is hard to use indoors because the turning rate isn't that good, but in outdoors areas it can let you do a lot of damage from a safe location. I'm sure you might also be able to use it for weird stuff like dealing with objectives from a few rooms over, but it's probably rather hard.

 

[HansDampf]

Yeah, I'm basically looking everywhere and it's not that there are significantly more multitools to be found, it's that I need lockpicks a lot more. If I didn't upgrade lockping to master asap I would run out in short order. Multitools I only use for occasional keypad, everything else can be disabled with hacking for free, blown up or just avoided.

This. People ignore the use of multitools as a security disabling device out of vanilla habit and only use them for keypads.

There is no "theory" otherwise. I've mentioned repeatedly lockpick & multitool counts are roughly the same throughout the game.

Play hardcore mode. The appeal of using multitools for security systems increases substantially due to things like cameras detecting corpses, and of course the multiplied risk from restrictive saving. In v9.0 I'm looking into yet even more security system upgrades (some again will be exclusive to HC).

I've had to disable quite a few cameras in hardcore mode. Never did it in vanilla.

Lockpicks were only a problem near the end of the game. I like to have a GEP gun (or other explosives) ready as an alternative lockpick. But after Paris, many doors will have high strength and INF health, and there's no chance you're going to open them all without master skill level. I think it's fine. You shouldn't be able to do everything with one build.

And what's the point of counting multitools and lockpicks? They aren't equivalent anyway. Lockpicks can only open locks, and many of them can also be opened by force or with explosives. Multitools are multipurpose (keypads, security systems, control panels) and become even more versatile with the wireless perk, so you'd expect to need more of them.

 

[Dev_Anj]

Excidium: There's no lockpick or multitool behind a locked door or area on Liberty Island. I will be mentioning those if I continue the test.

Play hardcore mode.

Is this directed at me, or just a general statement? Isn't it a bit extreme to tell people to play on the highest difficulty just because they feel there's a few problems with some systems?

 

[Ash]

Lol, no.You should play on easy and see how irrelevant many systems and all my balancing efforts become. The relevance of system synergy and balancing scales based on difficulty. For example, on easy environmental hazards deal peanut damage like vanilla, and most can be ran through with regen or speed enhancement, thereby lessening the value of EV training skill, EV resistance aug, hazmats as inventory space, the environmental hazard itself as a challenge and its balance with other paths and so on.
AI are set back closer to incompetent vanilla level, so all player strategics, level design specifics, build choices etc that relate to AI are much less relevant, etc etc etc.

 

[Dev_Anj]

That's not relevant to anything though. It's very obvious that the game becomes easier on lower difficulties and so some strategies are no longer required, but that doesn't justify directing people immediately to the highest difficulty just because they find a few systems faulty.

 

[Excidium II]

I think it's justified since it's balanced for Realistic and Hardcore.

 

[Ash]

"Balance" and "easy" are mutually exclusive. Easy, meaning odds overwhelmingly in favor of the player, ergo not balanced. I wouldn't say hardcore is truly balanced either, nor that true balance is even achievable especially when factoring in variable player skill levels, but it is the optimal experience in that regard and if optimal balance is of high concern to a player then yes, it should be recommended.

I can make further improvements to security systems for lower difficulty modes, or other tweaks to further incentivize hacking by tool like a (OP) perk that makes multitools take out the whole camera network when you hack one cam, but it'll never be on hardcore's level. The hardest difficulty is going to have the most formidable security systems, therefore multitools are at their highest value there.

 

[Dev_Anj]

Sure, except the people who want better multitool balance may not want all the other factors of hardcore mode, nor may they be suited to its challenge level. You yourself have stated multiple times that people should pick a difficulty level appropriate to them to avoid too much frustration. Wouldn't it be more prudent to recommend Realistic first then, instead of hardcore?

 

[Zero Credibility]

Play hardcore mode. The appeal of using multitools for security systems increases substantially due to things like cameras detecting corpses, and of course the multiplied risk from restrictive saving. In v9.0 I'm looking into yet even more security system upgrades (some again will be exclusive to HC).

Not sure it's going to make that much of a difference compared to make it worth restarting now. I'm not really in a habit of leaving bodies around anyway, preferring to club enemies over the head and take them away immediately to somewhere out of the way.

I would have picked hardcore on the first run if it was readily available. Instead of needing to finish the game or edit ini, wouldn't it be better to just give a warning before starting on it, something like "Warning - this difficulty is intended for Deus Ex veterans only, try realistic first"?

 

[Durandal]

Tried locking the door to Lebedev's private quarters from the inside and barricading it with all kinds of objects in order to prevent Anna from getting in, she just barges in a locked door and breaks all objects by running through them

 

[Zero Credibility]

Heh, yeah. NPCs are real wrecking balls in this game when they want to get somewhere. There's a locked container in the Mole people hideout with a neutral hobo next to it, ready to put a bullet in you if you try to lockpick it to take his stuff. So I just shoot my gun next to his head, he goes into panic mode and walks right through the container, smashing it to pieces. Free stuff!

Speaking of Anna, is it possible to kill her before she wastes Lebedev? Say, by putting a LAM or two on her path in the plane. I don't recall ever doing that - I know you can kill her when she kills Lebedev and Alex covers it up, but before? Not sure.

 

[KlauZ]

Yes, its possible, very hard thou, since she also explodes.

 

[Ash]

Heh, yeah. NPCs are real wrecking balls in this game when they want to get somewhere. There's a locked container in the Mole people hideout with a neutral hobo next to it, ready to put a bullet in you if you try to lockpick it to take his stuff. So I just shoot my gun next to his head, he goes into panic mode and walks right through the container, smashing it to pieces. Free stuff!

Going to make an exclusion for footlocker containers so that NPCs can't break them by running into them.

I would have picked hardcore on the first run if it was readily available. Instead of needing to finish the game or edit ini, wouldn't it be better to just give a warning before starting on it, something like "Warning - this difficulty is intended for Deus Ex veterans only, try realistic first"?

It never used to be locked, but a notable bunch of players can't be trusted to follow that advice, and then come whining to me. Players can still easily unlock it via .ini, but only attentive readers will discover it. Good filter.

Wouldn't it be more prudent to recommend Realistic first then, instead of hardcore?

I was just making a general statement: if you want optimal multitools, play on hardcore. What difficulty they actually choose should be the player's informed prerogative. Informed based on the scale description provided in the installation guide and the details written on the website.

Another suggestion, can't engineering bots be used to recharge apparel? You can do the same for your BioEnergy, so I don't see why the same can't be done for your camo, vests, etc. Saves precious Biocells when you need them.

Maybe I'll add it, it would add meaningful choice on higher difficulty modes where you have limited repair bot charges.

 

[Outlander]

Yes, its possible, very hard thou, since she also explodes.

It's p. easy actually. Just fit a LAM on the door frame, talk to Lebedev and run into the bathroom. That way you can experience the full conversation with Leb. But you obviously lose interactions with Anna later on.

 

[Darth Slaughter]

I remember that i managed to knock anna navarre with poison darts, and by blocking her way with boxes. That way, i managed to not kill her and keep lebedev alive, but once you move on, the game considers lebedev was killed by her, since she wasn't dead. It took a lot of tries, and it was vanilla.

 

[eXalted]

In GMDX I moved the exploding barrel in the corridor, placed a LAM on the wall next to it and... Anna was all over the place.

 

[Black]

Going to make an exclusion for footlocker containers so that NPCs can't break them by running into them.

Does this include the kid who gives you the code to the vending machine in the second mission?
I saw a webm of this lil fucker getting blocked by JC so he went straight through the machine, smashing it. Just proves that if he was starving he could've gotten all the food.

 

[Ash]

I'm wondering if I should stop (inoperable) doors being steam-rolled when ran into altogether. Definitely a massive hack of the vanilla game.

 

[Durandal]

Also some things I noticed:
-When going to the underground MJ12 sewer lab under Hell's Kitchen, sometimes MJ12 troops will yell "It's Denton, remember the briefing.", even though it's rather unlikely that they've been briefed about me at that point of the story. Maybe add a switch to prevent certain shouts from being played until you get to the part in the story where those shouts become appropriate?
-Friendly NPCs are seemingly invincible to damage when you try to goombastomp them. I've tried jumping on top of the NSF HQ's rooftops on top of a UNATCO troop's head on the ground floor, only for him to ignore it entirely. Player falling damage still applies to hostile enemies, however
-Goombastomping NPCs is lethal for some reason, shouldn't it be non-lethal (up until falling from a certain height where you fall so hard that anything beneath you is guaranteed to die)? (also, requesting that goombastomping becomes a viable DX playstyle)
-When you get caught by MJ12 and are stripped from your weapons, you somehow preserve all your ammo. An intentional decision perhaps, considering there isn't enough room in the armory for all the ammo?
-Minor suggestion: glass automatically breaks when running through glass with the speed aug on provided you have enough momentum. NPCs can do the same WITHOUT augs anyways.
-Shouldn't blowing up the generator in the NSF warehouse kill everything on the ground floor?
-Wouldn't it be better if the red dot and/or crosshair dynamically adjusted themselves to the firing trajectory of your weapon rather than being permanently stuck in the center? I constantly manage to shoot darts into the wall I'm leaning behind even if the red dot is aimed at a guards' head.

 

[ghostdog]

I'd prefer if falling onto enemies rendered them unconscious instead of killing them. JC is not super mario flattening koopas and it makes sense to ambush an enemy from above to silently render him unconscious with a hit on the head.

 

[Ash]

http://www.moddb.com/members/laserx83/reviews

Do I need to lock realistic difficulty too?

Dumbfucks should be banned from posting reviews. Half the points made are of vanilla or just plain retarded.
"GEP gun has slightly bigger blast radius, I keep blowing myself up!"

 

[Black]

He'll be delighted if he finds out you can upgrade GEP's explosion radius.

 

[MediantSamuel]

http://www.moddb.com/members/laserx83/reviews

Do I need to lock realistic difficulty too?

Dumbfucks should be banned from posting reviews. Half the points made are of vanilla or just plain retarded.
"GEP gun has slightly bigger blast radius, I keep blowing myself up!"