(Mr.Smith's) Quality of Life mod

I have implemented a few fixes to existing units and abilities in the game, and I have put them together in a mod.

You can access the mod in the steam workshop, here:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=740714838&searchtext=quality+of+life

If you want to see exactly how to implement those changes, you can access the mod files here:
https://github.com/smithereenscoh2/qol_mod

General Changes
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USF changes
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OKW changes
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UKF changes
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Soviets
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Ostheer
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Backlog/TODO

Maphack abilities
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Fix insta-recloack stealth bullshit
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More-thorough light vehicle changes
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Blitzkrieg/Warspeed/Combat Blitz
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Emplacement wash-out
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Forward retreat points
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Side-effects

To my knowledge the features (fixes) advertised address the described bugs correctly. However, it is likely that my fixes introduce negative side-effects (i.e., does fixing bug A introduce bug B)

For instance, consider the Raketenwerfer:
- Multiple players have reported that the gun will occasionally bug and not fire at enemy tanks sitting in the arc of fire (I haven't done anything to fix this issue yet)

Now, consider Soviet AT gun ambush:
- As advertised, the gun crew will no longer open fire at enemy targets
- However, it is possible that my fix to Zis ambush causes the Zis gun to become unresponsive (like the Raketenwerfer)
- As a user of this mod, you are encouraged to seek out and report any such side-effects, should they occur

Quality-of-life feedback

For instance, consider the medic healing changes.

Previously, medics would chase away slightly-injured combat engineers (for which you don't care), whereas they could be healing your shock troops, instead (for which you greatly care). The medic healing changes in this mod will give you a way to order your medics around.

However, I expect that the changes will also cause discomfort to some players:
- The moment you issue a (slight) move command to your troops, the medic will go chasing after other squads
- (after you have taken the time to grow accustomed to these changes), do you consider the changes beneficial, or would you prefer the older version?

Wishlist

Due to limitations in the modding tools, I am not able to implement everything the way I envisioned them.

If it was possible to ask Relic to change some things in their code, I would ask for the following:

1. Allow for weapons to be changed instantly
- This would affect the responsiveness of my troop transport "retain facing" ability. Currently there's a 4-second delay
2. Actually create a native hold position command for transports.
- The retain facing command I implemented is just a hack to get around that issue
3. Allow for attack ground commands to be accessible in garrisons when the building is selected
- currently, attack ground command is only accessible if the unit within the garrison is selected
4. Make garrisoned troops autofire behave identical to ungarrisoned infantry.
- Garrisoned infantry, for example, will ignore attack ground options, will attack neutral targets, etc. Something looks very wrong!
5. Create an action that allows abilities/etc to change the "receives_attack_commands" flag of entity hardponts
- The Churchill Crocodile implementation would look a LOT less cumbersome, and easier to use if that was available
6. Make infantry rotation not count as movement
- This would automatically fix some bugs related to Ostheer Ambush Camouflage
7. Give Commandos a parachuting animation
- It would be fking awesome to have Commandos reinforce by air near cut-off gliders.
8. Give squads better spacing when behind yellow cover
- No matter how hard I tried, clumping up behind fences/etc seems to be hardcoded somewhere.

Acknowledgements

Putting this mod together would have not been possible without the help and feedback of the following people:
- Miragefla
- Cruzz
- Planet Smasher
- The Machine

Aim time fix fur rakket and ptrs
Sweeper and sherck to SP
Too please

Aim time fix fur rakket and ptrs
Sweeper and sherck to SP
Too please

I will try to work something out about the Raketen aim-time. However, before I do this, people need to trial this mod, and see if the mod makes the Raketen situation with respect to the aim time better, equal or worse.

Note that I don't intend this to be a balance mod. This is more like "Fixing everyone's pet-peeves"-mod, with the hope of refining the solutions and dumping them to Miragefla mod and, then, (hopefully) to the live version.

Other stuff high in the agenda:
- Fixing Brit sniper garrison targeting (no idea how to do this yet)

Other stuff high in the agenda:
- Fixing Brit sniper garrison targeting (no idea how to do this yet)

boys_at_rifle_sniper_mp : priority : over_penetration_priority_penalty: false --> true

Fixed.

3. Raketen prioritise vehicle ability now usable in garrisons
4. Churchill AVRE given a hold-fire ability

I love you so much right now.

boys_at_rifle_sniper_mp : priority : over_penetration_priority_penalty: false --> true

Fixed.

Thx. I'll try this out when I am back (in a week or so).

From what I remembered from when I was reading about the parameter, wouldn't this change have the side-effect of making the sniper prioritise targets that it can't penetrate reliably? i.e., not the soft targets.

(not that it matters, though, anyway, since snipers are getting baby-sat).

I love you so much right now.

I think that it's possible to get the Raketenwerfer to prioritise vehicles in garrisons, even as it is right now:
- Cycle activate/deactivate prioritise vehicle a few times
- Enter garrison with prioritise vehicle on
- Make sure you use forced facing direction

At least, when I tried this on the live version, it worked for me 99% of the times.

I have no idea what's causing the raketenwerfer to hic-up like that. However, that may as well be the reason why the unit is sometimes unresponsive in combat.

Why not add the description you posted here to the mod page?

Thx. I'll try this out when I am back (in a week or so).

From what I remembered from when I was reading about the parameter, wouldn't this change have the side-effect of making the sniper prioritise targets that it can't penetrate reliably? i.e., not the soft targets.

(not that it matters, though, anyway, since snipers are getting baby-sat).

Yes it'll make him more likely to fire on heavy vehicles instead of light ones where his penetration is "wasted". I don't think anyone really cares what the sniper's autoattack priorities are though.

I think that it's possible to get the Raketenwerfer to prioritise vehicles in garrisons, even as it is right now:
- Cycle activate/deactivate prioritise vehicle a few times
- Enter garrison with prioritise vehicle on
- Make sure you use forced facing direction

At least, when I tried this on the live version, it worked for me 99% of the times.

Good catch, I'll give it a shot next OKW game I play

I have updated the mod in the workshop:

- Added icons for the abilities introduced by the mod (first version)

- Added fix for Brit sniper to prioritise the contents of the buildings (troops) first, rather than the container. (Cruzz's fix)

- Medic QoL changes

Medics (OKW, Soviet, Ost):
- Base medics will no longer chase after moving units (thus allowing people to prioritise which squad they want healed)

USF/Brit Medics:
- FIxed issue with US/Brit medics not healing nearby units automatically
- Unfortunately, US/Brit medics will continue to chase after units if the target started moving after the Medic start chasing it
- However, the Medics will correctly stop chasing the moving units once they catch up, or if a stop command is issued to the medics.

Known issue:
- It is possible to abuse the Crocodile manually-target main gun ability to skip reload cycles.

My manual-target ability uses an accessory weapon to deliver the shots.
- Could somebody tell me how to force the accessory weapon to reload before it can start firing?

this is amazing, but what is wrong about it? WHY DOES THE COMMUNITY HAVE TO FIX THIS? lelic, where are you???

Prioritise vehicle now only affects the main gun.
so im not the only one who is really annoyed about that, good to see.

Medics will no longer chase injured troops, if the troops are moving.
just Kreygasm /

Fixed issues with Raketen/Soviet AT gun cloak
finally somebody has noticed this aswell, thank god

Brit sniper now properly attacks garrisoned buildings
and thanks for reminding me that this is ingame since almost 1 year, gg lelic

also good to see that the crocodile main gun crap gets adressed. i dont see a reason why i should not be able to attack ground with the gun. just lelic FailFish

hopefully lelic will copy paste this into the live game, like they did it with last patch. except the gamebreaking usf mortar cancer


and stug life, please, do some proper sentences. this is almost as horrible as the medics chasing your moving infantry DansGame

@Mr.Smith in the big June balance patch Relic said they would increase OKW healrate

-Medics heal rate increased from 5 to 8

But it seems its still at 5, can you maybe check this I have no idea how to extract these stats.


Your mod looks cool, bugfixes are always welcome!

this is amazing, but what is wrong about it? WHY DOES THE COMMUNITY HAVE TO FIX THIS? lelic, where are you???

I guess it boils down to "Be the change you want to see in this world".

Please, don't judge a book by its cover; in this case, the QoL mod by its patchnotes.

Nearly all of the fixes I have proposed here have issues of their own; due to tools limitations and my limited understanding of modding for CoH2, those are the best solutions I have come up so far.

The purpose of this mod is not to become a pissing contest; it's meant to give people a chance to actually trial the fixes I implemented (in-game!) and give me feedback:
- Are those fixes still buggy? (some of them have lesser issues of their own)
- Do you consider the implementation of those fixes an improvement, or do they just make life worse?

As long as I don't get actual feedback, I cannot feel confident proposing these changes to Relic.

PS: You can already trial many of those QoL changes in Miragefla's mod

ok, im testing it right now.

- Medics will no longer chase injured troops,
works great

- Prioritise vehicle now only affects the main gun.
ive tried it with only some tanks, and it works fine

- Raketen prioritise vehicle ability now usable in garrisons
as youve stated it. button is available, but its not working properly


- Fixed issues with Raketen/Soviet AT gun cloak
works fine

- Churchill AVRE given a hold-fire ability
works fine


- All troop transports now have a "Retain facing" toggle ability.
works fine


- Miscellaneous changes to Churchill Crocodile (balance & added abilities)
im not really sure how the toggle ability is supposed to work due to OP english skills i have, so i dont know


- Brit sniper now properly attacks garrisoned buildings
works

ok, im testing it right now.

Thanks!

- Medics will no longer chase injured troops,
works great

Did you also try with the USF and/or Brit medics? Those behave kinda differently.

- Raketen prioritise vehicle ability now usable in garrisons
as youve stated it. button is available, but its not working properly

For some reason this seems to work only if prioritise vehicles is on AND you force weapon facing is on at the same time.

I've no idea how to further resolve it D:

- All troop transports now have a "Retain facing" toggle ability.
works fine

Note that there is a delay between when you activate the ability and the retain facing thing becomes active. I've no idea how to solve this.

- Miscellaneous changes to Churchill Crocodile (balance & added abilities)
im not really sure how the toggle ability is supposed to work due to OP english skills i have, so i dont know

It's exactly the same as the force facing on the transports (with the same delay bug).

While you have the ability active, you can right-click on a location and the Churchill will stop auto-rotating into infantry. This dramatically improves the accuracy of the cannon, which actually makes it useful vs infantry.

- Brit sniper now properly attacks garrisoned buildings
works

I've been unable to test this myself, so far (it takes 2 players to test). However could somebody test to see how the ability behaves when the Brit sniper is targeting:
- An occupied OST Trench
- An occupied OST bunker (yes, it's a rare sight)
- A 251 halftrack that is carrying people

Did you also try with the USF and/or Brit medics? Those behave kinda differently.
damn, i actually forgot about them Kappa , i will do it now

@transport & croc, ok, i see


no need to have 2 players for the sniper thing to check. simply use cheat commands mod 2. add a unit into a building, then spawn an enemy sniper. he will only snipe your inf.

i will also check out the sniper vs your trench/bunker suggestion

usf & brit medics work as fine as all others, no problems at all

snipers destroy the 251 HT (which is fine) while inf is in it
sniper kill inf in bunkers, and trenches (i only tried ukf trench, but it should work with ost trench aswell i assume(i didnt have osttruppen doc in layout))

no need to have 2 players for the sniper thing to check. simply use cheat commands mod 2. add a unit into a building, then spawn an enemy sniper. he will only snipe your inf.

i will also check out the sniper vs your trench/bunker suggestion

The thing is, if the sniper is controlled by the AI, I don't know if the kind of attack command that is used is the equivalent to:
- Right-click attack (the attack which is currently bugged), or
- A-move attack (this one works at intended for the time being. Note to self; I have to test if this still works in the mod)


Another thing regarding AT ambush and Hold fire:
- My mod fixes the crew-shooting problems surrounding AT ambush
- However, I don't know if my mod introduces new bugs

For instance, we all know that the Raketenwerfer is, sometimes, not responsive to enemy vehicles running into the cone of fire. It is possible that my "fix" to the soviet AT ambush also breaks the Zis gun in the same way.

What I want people to do is play 2-3 long games and see if they notice any drop in performance in their tanks/AT-guns when prioritize vehicles/ambush is involved.

For instance, we all know that the Raketenwerfer is, sometimes, not responsive to enemy vehicles running into the cone of fire. It is possible that my "fix" to the soviet AT ambush also breaks the Zis gun in the same way.

The vanilla Raketenwerfer 43 has a longer ready_aim_time than most other weapons of it's type, of 0.25 to 0.375 seconds. Most other guns are just 0.125 seconds. That extra 0.125 to 0.25 second delay is probably enough that a fast moving vehicle could move out of the gun's 5 degree fire cone and force it to traverse and start the aim delay all over again.

I've updated the mod with the following features:

USF/UKF medic ability implemented in a different way.
This shouldn't (hopefully) change anything in the way the ability it performs. However, it makes me feel much more at ease that I am not contributing to a memory leak.

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AVRE changes:
- Hold fire only prevents the turret from rotating (MGs will fire just fine, if an enemy is in front of them)
- Has attack ground ability that controls the rotation of the turret (but doesn't cause any weapon to fire)

The purpose of attack ground is to give the player the ability to preface their cannon for their barrages. Thus, the AVRE turret can, potentially, also act as a beneficial feature (rather than a hindrance)

Crocodile changes:
- The target main cannon ability now simply causes the turret to face an enemy squad.
- This means that this is no longer possible to attack ground enemy positions and/or abandoned AT guns
- Unlike the previous version of the ability, using the ability no longer affects the reload cycle of the main cannon

Nothing of value was lost however:
- The damage (and reload-time) of the cannon was pitiful vs AT guns anyway
- To make the ability work in a non-abusable way, the previous version of the ability had to force the main cannon to reload. Now, this is no longer necessary.