Re-implement Long Numbers as an Option Thread - 3089

I liked seeing the long, four digit numbers. It helped distinguish what was faster, and how much.

By only seeing one significant digit, and knowing that there's more than one involved, it's uncertain (arguably impossible) to tell whether an item is an upgrade, like if one magazine shoots faster than another. For example, if a barrel is 0.5, and another is 0.4, I'm uncertain whether the fire rate is actually 0.4 seconds (due to history), or a rounded number leading to 0.4 seconds. If the latter (and assuming standard rounding measures), then a 0.54 and a 0.45 firing rate would both round to 0.5, even though they're almost a tenth of a second apart.

Yes, I'm a min/maxer of a sort.

RiderofDark wrote: I liked seeing the long, four digit numbers. It helped distinguish what was faster, and how much.

By only seeing one significant digit, and knowing that there's more than one involved, it's uncertain (arguably impossible) to tell whether an item is an upgrade, like if one magazine shoots faster than another. For example, if a barrel is 0.5, and another is 0.4, I'm uncertain whether the fire rate is actually 0.4 seconds (due to history), or a rounded number leading to 0.4 seconds. If the latter (and assuming standard rounding measures), then a 0.54 and a 0.45 firing rate would both round to 0.5, even though they're almost a tenth of a second apart.

Yes, I'm a min/maxer of a sort.

Actually, if I understand correctly, the values themselves have been capped at 1 decimal

Even if that's wrong and your one-tenth-of-a-second example is the case, that delay seems insignificant from my play experiences - I generally zonk my targets with a sniper setup; or get up close and personal with a dagger (using a special item and/or timerip to close the distance); but either way I've always found a "hit hard once and come back for second helpings later" strategy to be more effective than trying to chip away at more powerful bots. I gave up on accurate burst-fire a long time ago, and to me the very idea of "accurate rapid fire" is an oxymoron in a game where the weapons are semi-auto at best - I save up all my dirty tricks and let fly with a single, massive burst; and if that doesn't work I get the hell out of dodge while things reload.

Of course the point you make is significant, but I want to provide an alternative perspective - instead of min/maxing the parts, for example, IMO it's more effective to min/max your usage of them. I find that parts - especially weapon parts - to be transient, so working up for that perfect gun part is IMO a waste of time if it could just get wiped out by an unlucky death. On the other hand, min/maxing your guns skill will always be useful; even if you have to go back and get a horribly basic gun.

Edited by: YetiChow

YetiChow wrote: instead of min/maxing the parts, for example, IMO it's more effective to min/max your usage of them. I find that parts - especially weapon parts - to be transient, so working up for that perfect gun part is IMO a waste of time if it could just get wiped out by an unlucky death. On the other hand, min/maxing your guns skill will always be useful; even if you have to go back and get a horribly basic gun.

I carry around two, sometimes three guns, to cover that provision. Also, when I come across parts that I can't use with current stuffs but are stuff I'm always on the hunt for, I'll toss those into a storage box.

Each part of a weapon has a different feature set, so yes, it is important to maximize the potential usage of each part. Two things I've learned along the way as I've been slaughtered and lost an incredibly hard-to-find part is: 1) it's better to plan on the loss of a valuable weapon and have a backup on hand or nearby; and 2) the player should carry around a lot of light backup equipment because that decreases the chance that an important item will get destroyed. After all, the larger the pool for item destruction, the smaller the chance for that precious Homing 30% Explosive 30% part to not get destroyed. Chips are especially useful on that regard (for now, at least), due to their being practically weightless, easy to assemble, and easy to make incredibly valuable.

Yeah, that's a great strategy for hanging around a particualr area and rolling everything nearby like you're some kind of boss. However, when you want to move on to new areas, you'll find that it's almost impossible to keep your backup weapons and carry those parts you want to keep for later.

Not to mention the fact that you can only view parts if you can pick them up - and I suspect you're the kind of guy, as I am, who would throw a carried item down just to pick up a new, randomly dropped item to check if it's better than a current item.

My point is that rather than increasing our options for one particualr style of play, IMO we should get more robust general options and be able to choose how to use them. For example: parts displaying their stats outside of the inventory (whether that's with an "inspect" key, or when you target them with the aiming cursor or whatever) adds the ability to make snap, on-sight decisions for parts; so some players will be able to min/max their parts while other players might never bother inspecting the items at all.

I'm a firm believer that there's no "wrong" way to play this game, but that any addition which limits gameplay choices is a mistake to include. The current health pack system, for example, is designed not to prevent players from spamming health packs if they reallllllly want to; but to make it so that players who want to do so will have to build their character accordingly (by orgnaising their inventory, building up their stamina stat and agility to be able to carry it all, building up consumables to get the most out of each use etc.)

YetiChow wrote: Yeah, that's a great strategy for hanging around a particualr area and rolling everything nearby like you're some kind of boss. However, when you want to move on to new areas, you'll find that it's almost impossible to keep your backup weapons and carry those parts you want to keep for later.

Oh, yes, I'm quite aware. I've made three major jumps in levels so far. Beginning to 60, 60 to 90, 90 to 125, and currently going from 125 to however far my stealth can safely take me. I had the same sentiment for awhile, until I realized a couple things. One, players can have always have a base if they've built a teleporter. Second, shops generate gear based on the area's level as well as the level of gear in the player's inventory.

My point is that rather than increasing our options for one particualr style of play, IMO we should get more robust general options and be able to choose how to use them. For example: parts displaying their stats outside of the inventory (whether that's with an "inspect" key, or when you target them with the aiming cursor or whatever) adds the ability to make snap, on-sight decisions for parts; so some players will be able to min/max their parts while other players might never bother inspecting the items at all.

Inspect key would cover most stuff, although stacked items might be hard to discern. Something that I'd love to see is the rarity of an item on the ground, and the rarity of stolen goods. I think all of the stats stats would clutter the screen.

Hmm. A "show items on the ground key", with the part and rarity shown. I'd go for that in a heartbeat.