Accuracy System (bink, movementacc, recoil, fireinterval)

[STM1993]

This thread is about the accuracy system as a whole.

Bink
Bink is originally made as a way to cause inaccuracy in a gun, either by getting shot, or through continuous fire (self-bink). In both cases, when someone is binked, his shots will spread out over an angle depending on how much he is binked. Overtime, bink will reset to 0, at a rate I estimate to be 1 bink per tick. It can be measured by the size of the crosshair. 1 bink = 1 degree.

The flaws of the bink system:
1) The inaccuracy of bink works like this: Your bullets either go 100% straight as though you were not binked, or at the boundary of the angle of inaccuracy (either upwards or downwards). In each of the three cases, the chance of either one of them happening is 1/3.

2) Bink overrides movementacc.

3) For self-bink, it happens only on the 4th automatic shot onwards. This allows a technique known as tap-firing to be possible - a way of firing that allows you to fire the auto as though you were holding the mouse down, and also completely nullifying the effects of movementacc and bink as a result, making the auto 100% accurate. It makes use of the fact that self-bink only takes effect from the 4th shot onwards and the flaw stated in 2).

Note that in past versions, there was no such thing as self-bink - it was only introduced in 1.3.0. It seems that the balance team is moving towards making the balance more like in 1.2.1 (judging from the current beta balance in the #soldat.mapping pub), and the autos no longer have bink, they'll have only movementacc.

The only way to counter tap-firing is to have startup time, but it's ridiculous to make every weapon have a startup time.


Movementacc
Movementacc works just like bink, but with some differences. Instead of being shot or continuously shooting for it take to take effect, it takes effect instantaneously as long as your character is moving. Yes, even if you do not press any movement key, as long as your character is moving (such as falling from mid-air), movementacc takes effect - it only simply reduces the effect of movementacc.

The only time movementacc doesn't take effect is when you are stationary, so you should be standing on the ground if you do not want movementacc at all if your weapon has extremely high movementacc, but the default Soldat weapons shouldn't be affected by this at all (maybe except Barrett in a very small dosage, I'm not so sure about that).

The flaws of movementacc is seen in 1) and 2) of bink's flaws - bink can override movementacc and the 1/3 chance of the bullet to fly straight. Other than that, it can work effectively.

I estimate every 1 movementacc point = 5 degrees, but the first number is not counted. Meaning movementacc 1 = 0 degrees, 2 = 5 degrees, 3 = 10 degrees and so on.


Recoil
This system is only seen in Realistic mode, though you can implement it into normal by modding the weapon.ini. Anyway, coming back to the topic, recoil works such that:

A) Everytime you shoot, your crosshair will automatically move upwards at a certain angle, depending on the recoil setting of the weapon.

B) Recoil is cumulative for autos. Each subsequent automatic shot would bring in a greater recoil than before.

C) This is probably intended. If you point your cursor far away, you get more recoil, but if you point it closer to yourself, you will reduce the effects of recoil.

However, just like self-bink, it is cumulative only if you hold down the shoot button, so tap-fire works as well to make the auto suffer as little recoil as possible.

Another problem is that recoil is also affected by bullet speed - the greater the bullet speed, the greater the recoil. This makes balancing of recoil more difficult.


Fireinterval
Some of you may wonder why fireinterval is counted. Take a look at the Steyr Aug and MP5. Notice that even without bink or movementacc, bullets fired from them are always angled in some way. This is because each gun has its own firing animation, and this animation somehow affects the way the gun fires. It's the same thing when you are halfway in your jumping/crouching/proning animation which will cause your bullets to go haywire for an instant. The first shot is always 100% normal, but subsequent shots will be affected. This won't affect you at all if you are proning, however.

For most guns:
Fireinterval 8 - When crouching, your bullets will be fired at an extremely downward angle.

Fireinterval 7 - When standing, your bullets be angled slightly upwards.

Fireinterval 6 - When standing, your bullets go in the normal direction and slightly angled down in a consecutive pattern. When crouched, your bullets will be slightly angled downwards.

Fireinterval 5 - Little difference, but your bullets will begin to angle very slightly upwards and downwards in a consecutive pattern.

Fireinterval 4 - When crouched, your bullets will go very slightly upwards and very downwards in a consecutive pattern.

Fireinterval 3 - When standing, your bullets can go in 3 paths - slightly upwards, slightly downwards, and normal. When crouched, your bullets will go in the normal direction and downwards in a consecutive pattern.

Fireinterval 2 - Basically fireinterval 3, but with more inaccuracy.

Fireinterval 1 - Basically fireinterval 2, but much worse.

For minigun:
Fireinterval 6 - When standing, your shots will be drastically angled upwards.



So... where's the accuracy system going?

Should self-bink be completely removed from autos?

Also, should there be changes in the accuracy system? For instance, making self-bink affect from the very first instead of only just the 4th shot onwards, making the inaccuracy of movementacc and bink spread over the area of the angle rather than at the borders?

[-Major-]

Nice you got it all in there :D. altho, I thought that fireinterval 8 was bug free, I guess I'm wrong then. and how did you measure the movement acc degree? and do you know if it is stacked like bink, or can maximaly reach that number?

The youtube link doesn't work anymore, because I reuploaded it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8q-VM9410U

[STM1993]

and how did you measure the movement acc degree? and do you know if it is stacked like bink, or can maximaly reach that number?

It's an estimate, but should be about there. It is a lot more obvious if the bullet flies straight.

I'm also not 100% sure how movementacc works and hence whether its stacked from movement speed or already at the maximum as long as you move, mainly because of the interesting thing that not pressing movement keys would actually greatly reduce the effect movementacc rather than completely neutralizing it. I think it is always be at the maximum except in certain cases.

The beta testers should know better for this one, hope they'd post here.

EDIT:
At post below: No, please, and I don't meet the requirements.

[Illuminatus]

I vote STM1993 for betatester!

[Cyrix]

STM1993... Thank you for this. I learned a lot. As per your question. I think bink and self bink must stay. It adds more skill to the game. However i think that self bink should start on the first shot. Having shot many real guns  i can say that a gun kicks (more for larger weapons obviously) on its first shot. If anything, when you fire an auto or semi-auto you would be able to slghtly steady your gun for more accurate shots. I dont think it should be changed. A lot of Soldats weapon balance is based on all the things you mentioned. No longer will someone be able to hold the trigger and get an accurate shot every time.

[STM1993]

Woo, probably my best thread of all time being revived.

As per your question. I think bink and self bink must stay. It adds more skill to the game. However i think that self bink should start on the first shot. Having shot many real guns  i can say that a gun kicks (more for larger weapons obviously) on its first shot. If anything, when you fire an auto or semi-auto you would be able to slghtly steady your gun for more accurate shots. I dont think it should be changed. A lot of Soldats weapon balance is based on all the things you mentioned. No longer will someone be able to hold the trigger and get an accurate shot every time.

Bink is staying, that's for sure, but the only weapon that is really affected is Barrett.

Yeah, I noticed that in the 1.5.1 beta, all of the autos have no self-bink at all, just like in versions of Soldat 1.2.1 and before. I think the beta testers want to make the autos extremely accurate but have low damage per second compared to the other weapons, and then buff the semis' damage per second to be better than the autos' and make 1-hitters fire faster to create a balanced Scissors Paper Stone effect (autos > 1-hitters > semis > autos).

You don't have to focus too much on your accuracy. True, it shortens the gap between the better players and the weaker players, but it's kinda for the better. The thing is, you can be the best gunner, but are you good at capturing the flag, teamwork and movement? That'd be the thing that separates between players.

[biohazard]

Inaccuracy system has been there from the very start, in 1.2.1 some autos got bink(not self)... and now? Nothing...
Inaccuracy system is what make the realistic WM so nice to play, cuz its hard to master a weapon, but when you get some experience with it, you feel so cool. With ages, more and more you use to dominate the inaccuracy system, you really do well in-game. So, i think inaccuracy syste must stay in the whole Soldat, less for normal (ok). Fuk 1.5.1 WM.

[SpiltCoffee]

I wonder if someone should add Bink overriding MovementAcc to the bugtracker... It won't affect the autos now, but the Barrett will still be using Bink and MovementAcc, and it's bloody annoying when an enemy you've been firing at with an MP5, who's flying prone through the air, pops your head off because their Bink threw off their aim less than the MovementAcc would have.

Only problem is, how should it be fixed?

[STM1993]

Inaccuracy system has been there from the very start, in 1.2.1 some autos got bink(not self)... and now? Nothing...
Inaccuracy system is what make the realistic WM so nice to play, cuz its hard to master a weapon, but when you get some experience with it, you feel so cool. With ages, more and more you use to dominate the inaccuracy system, you really do well in-game. So, i think inaccuracy syste must stay in the whole Soldat, less for normal (ok). Fuk 1.5.1 WM.

Gotta say the autos in 1.2.1's bink is nothing. Any bink that is 15 and below seriously is nothing.

I understand where you're getting at though. I too find its really easy to just hold down the shoot button and I would personally like to see an improved self-bink system, which affects from the first shot, not from the 4th shot. I like Realistic's weapons for their ability to control autos with inaccuracy, but it actually isn't very balanced and I don't like to use recoil as the main inaccuracy system. I want to use a self-bink system for normal mode.

What I explained in my previous post is pretty much a reason why I think the beta testers are removing self-bink from autos altogether, though I'm against removing self-bink despite its flaws. I'd rather see improvements to its system.

I wonder if someone should add Bink overriding MovementAcc to the bugtracker... It won't affect the autos now, but the Barrett will still be using Bink and MovementAcc, and it's bloody annoying when an enemy you've been firing at with an MP5, who's flying prone through the air, pops your head off because their Bink threw off their aim less than the MovementAcc would have.

Only problem is, how should it be fixed?

I think I saw a "bink overrides movementacc" on Mantis somewhere, but I can't find it anymore. Maybe I was dreaming in my naps. You can report it if you want.

Not sure how to fix it either, but I'm thinking:

My gun is not binked, so just movementacc affects my shots if I were to move.
Now I receive bink (no matter the value). The inaccuracy would be movementacc's inaccuracy and it happens whether I am moving or not. The bink value itself doesn't tell me how much inaccuracy the gun will get upon bink (that'd be under movementacc), but tells me how long the inaccuracy will last. If I were to be binked a second time, the bink timer will reset to its value. So for example:

[Barret M82A1]
Damage=495
FireInterval=225
Ammo=10
ReloadTime=160
Speed=550
BulletStyle=1
StartUpTime=15
Bink=60
MovementAcc=5
Recoil=0

This Barrett has a movementacc of 5. I am not affected by any inaccuracy unless I am moving.

I get hit by someone and as a result, get binked. I stay binked for 60 ticks at the inaccuracy of my movementacc. No matter whether I move or not and as long the 60 ticks are not over yet, if I were to fire now, I would fire inaccurately.

Now my bink has dropped to 22. Now some idiot shoots me again and binks me. My bink timer gets reset to 60 ticks.

How's that?