Hey all, This issue isn't exclusive to the Spider but, due to it being quite common, it's a good example to use... The basic "Spider" critter has an exceedingly long melee attack range and is able to hit things three metres away from it. This far exceeds the visible reach - which is precisely ZERO metres (aka right in front) of course, it strikes forward - but I've noticed that a melee attackers range seems to be the same vertical as it is horizontal. I'm in an HV that's on a slope, so is actually hovering greater than three metres above a large group of these spiders. However, these spiders are able to chip away at the underside of my HV with their melee attacks despite being way out of any visual striking distance. I've mentioned this with various critters over my time with the game and it causes no end of frustration - in part due to my play-style (super cautious) but also as it's just not right. Spiders en-mass can be a real problem early-game for a poorly-equipped player, and rightly so, however, when they are able to "hit" a player that should be quite safe from their attacks, well, it's a problem. I don't know if a critter's melee attack range can be in any way tweaked via the config settings, or if it's a hard-coded value - I thought the latter, though I've not dug through the config file recently. Regardless, as a default setting it really needs to be sorted. I do wonder if there's some reason for melee attackers having such a long range? It causes all sorts of problems, especially when combined with their ability to regularly hit through other blocks - I assume in-part due to their excess range. Melee critters do try to get up close and personal to the player to attack - which is fair - but they'll often move right through the player - partially clipping - making them immune to damage as the shot just clips through them. Also, while they do move into what visually should be a valid attack range - i.e. very close - the player may have moved away when their attack animation plays, but the player still takes the hit. So, there are a number of issues here, but the excessive melee range seems to be the one that really makes them a problem. Fighting off hostile critters is a huge part of the early-game in my experience, so they need to work properly. How are others finding this? Thought: if this is an attempt to make spiders and the like more dangerous in a fake sort of way - giving them super powers if you will lol - then why not simply give them a short-range spit attack and a stronger but only up-close melee? Scoob.
They're all in the Config_Example.ecf file. Just search "spider" and you will get directly there and see their range. It's around 3.5 meters, which is too much, and take a look at all the other critters in there while having the file open. These are among the simplest items to change, with only 3 or 4 lines each critter/ enemy. Look at damage multipliers too: they're insane, they can hurt SV/HV hulls too much (they're not dragons dammit)... This is on my list of things to balance for my "custom game" setup, but if you have some time you can try it and make suggestions as to what seems reasonable as range/ damage (just dump the Config.ecf on a link) ? I would surely lower the "hull" multipliers too. Then for the "behavior" it's in the EClassConfig.ecf, but there are 7000 lines in there...
I see this a little differently. If spiders had lowered melee attack range, the player would be forced to look lower towards his feet i.e. in order to shoot them. Then his field of view would be virtually narrowed due to the ground limiting it, while the shooting of spiders happens. Spiders usually attack in packs. In this case with shorter melee attack range things would get tricky and more difficult for the player, while trying to shoot one after the other.
The fact that nightmares attack from a very long distance does not bother me so much, it bothers me more that they go through walls and can hit the character! You cannot interpose a block less than half a block thick between you and a nightmare because you will still be hit! No me molesta tanto el echo de que las pesadillas ataquen desde una distancia muy larga, me molesta mas el echo de que atraviesen paredes y pueden llegar a golpear al personaje! No puedes interponer un bloque menor a medio bloque de espesor entre tu y una pesadilla porque de igual manera serás golpeado!
