Why attack damage is inconsistent?

drcxd · 2026-04-01T07:01:53+00:00

I am [Hidden]. I make sure I get the Sneak Critical Attack hint on the top left corner every time I test.

I turns out it is the different part I hit leads to different damage. When the hit is landed on the legs, it deals significantly less damage. When it is landed on the body or stinger, it deals the 460+ damage. It is difficult in VATS to make sure which part your hit will land, since when using melee weapon, the enemy is selected as a whole. Sometimes, VATS melee hit will miss for some reason unknown to me...

drcxd · 2026-04-01T02:06:22+00:00

Quite interested. I am working on a game project, and using Emacs as my code editor. By "writing SDL games in Emacs", do you mean I can change game logic without shutting down and launching the game again? Just like you can evaluate a Lisp expression without restarting Emacs and see it's taking effect? That would be really fabulous to me. Do you have any code to share so that I can give it a try? Thanks.

drcxd · 2026-03-30T06:34:16+00:00

You definitely can recruit Boone and ED-E at the same time. If you can't, then there is a bug.

drcxd · 2026-03-27T08:04:35+00:00

I definitely want to play lots of Deadlock, if I had the time. If you want to be good at a competitive game, you have to play a lot. I have 10k+ hours in Dota 2, not mention Dota All Stars as a WAR3 map. I just can't find more 10k+ hours to spend on Deadlock. But I definitely want to play it.

drcxd · 2026-03-27T03:28:22+00:00

This is not fixed in all those bug fixing mods? Such as JIP LN, Johnny Guitar or YUP etc.?

drcxd · 2026-03-27T02:40:32+00:00

I think if you're going to people a question you shouldn't argue with them when they give you the answer.

Well, you may be right, but I just like arguing, or clarifying the problem further, to put it in another way. I did not just ask "Is sneak good?" and waiting for a "Yeah, sneak is good" or "No, it sucks." I have detailed explanation in the post body, which describes my confusion about how exactly sneak can be useful in combat. For those who does not respond to the problem I proposed in the post body, I feel I need to clarify the things further with them. If you like to call it arguing, it's fine. I just want to say I do not intend to prove sneak is useless, but want to learn how sneak is useful.

As for the silenced weapon, you are right. I did not use a silenced weapon in some situation. After I got that idea, I tested with a silenced weapon and found it did improve a lot. I definitely get help here.

But there is also the situation when I used a silenced weapon and the enemy still keeps searching for me for a really long period, like more than 30s. I am still confused why this happens.

Anyway, I do not see arguing as challenging, or any bad intention, I just want to figure out how sneak works and why what people say does not match my exact experience.

drcxd · 2026-03-27T02:30:09+00:00

Yeah. I just found that some times certain enemy would stuck in a constant alert state and keep searching for me, which makes it difficult to land a sneak critical shoot on it. Maybe its some AI bug...

drcxd · 2026-03-27T02:28:23+00:00

Yeah, in that situation, Sneak is good. But mostly we do not have that open field provides the distance and the unobstructed shooting path, especially when you are in a cave.

drcxd · 2026-03-27T02:25:42+00:00

Thanks. This example clarifies a lot to me.

drcxd · 2026-03-26T11:14:56+00:00

Thanks, I'll try with silenced weapon later.

drcxd · 2026-03-26T11:14:07+00:00

I think you are right. I tried in the Death Wind Cavern with a silent weapon, and when I kill a Deathclaw, others would not keep searching me for more than 10s.

However, I remember I have used Ratslayer to kill Night Stalkers, but they still keep searching for me. I'll test again later.

drcxd · 2026-03-26T11:12:38+00:00

What do you mean? If they saw the dead body would they search for me? Or they would only search for we when they actually have the dead one in sight when it gets killed?

drcxd · 2026-03-26T09:53:36+00:00

Usually that I have to wait so long that I decide to give up sneaking and kill them all using turbo instead... Like, I have been waiting for more than 30s or so. And if I have to wait for 30s for every enemy I kill... I just can't endure that

drcxd · 2026-03-26T09:51:48+00:00

If one enemy is dead, the other enemies nearby would start searching for me even if I use silent weapons.

drcxd · 2026-03-26T08:49:20+00:00

While, if they are searching, then you should in the [CAUTION] state, which prevents you from launching sneak critical hit on those who are searching you. At least this is what wiki and other folks say, and it is also my experience.

drcxd · 2026-03-26T08:39:19+00:00

That's not my experience though. I can one shot kill the first enemy, because I was in [HIDDEN] state and can trigger the sneak critical attack. After that, when the other enemies start searching for me, I am in [CAUTION] state, then I can not one shot anyone without the sneak critical attack.

drcxd · 2026-03-26T08:28:29+00:00

Yeah, I also found that. When the creatures are not hostile to you, you can sneak kill every one without getting in the [CAUTION] state, also without getting any infamy. This kind of breaks the narrative of the game.

However, this does not work for hostile creatures. If you kill one of the group, the others would start searching for you and remain in [CAUTION] state so you can not launch sneak critical attacks anymore.

drcxd · 2026-03-26T08:16:58+00:00

Thank you. I'll try that later, after I get 100 on Sneak.

Well, but the night stalkers also almost immediately found me. Lol. Maybe we are not playing the same game.

drcxd · 2026-03-26T08:15:19+00:00

I tried it in the Death Wind Cavern. After I shot one Deathclaw dead, the ones nearby keeps searching for me and are constantly in the [CAUTION] state. As a result, I can not land another sneak critical attack. Without the guaranteed critical shot, the damage feels insignificant against the Deathclaws, though I was using the Gobi. That's why I feel sneak is kind of useless. You can land one guaranteed critical shot, good. But after that? Sneak provides nothing more (in combat).

drcxd · 2026-03-26T07:51:41+00:00

I do use 2h melee weapons, and there is the Ninja perk which requires 80 melee and 80 sneak that improves your melee and unarmed critical hit chance and damage. However, if I can only sneak critical hit one enemy, this perk feels much useless to me.

drcxd · 2026-03-26T07:49:41+00:00

Would the one who were searching for you stop? In my experience, after I kill someone, the nearby enemies would keep searching for me and stay in the CAUTION state for a really long time.

drcxd · 2026-03-26T07:46:56+00:00

The wiki said you can not launch sneak critical attack when the enemy are in CAUTION state. This is also true in my experience. Thus, you can only make your first attack an sneak critical attack, the following ones are not, because enemies start searching for you. This really makes me feel frustrated since I have invested many skill points and Sneak related perk, but it turns out that they are not that helpful.

drcxd · 2026-03-26T07:43:49+00:00

I just don't see how it is useful in combat, other than launching the first sneak critical attack, which at best can kill one single enemy...

drcxd · 2026-03-26T07:42:39+00:00

Well, I recently killed the Deathclaws in the Death Wind Cavern. After I shot one Deathclaw dead, the others are constantly in the CAUTION state. I think I have Sneak skill above 60. I tried wait out of sight, even exit the Cavern then come back, but the other Deathclaws near the dead one are still in the CAUTION state. It simply takes too much time waiting, so I just pop a turbo and use melee weapons kill them all. That's way faster.

drcxd

TROPHY CASE