ME2 Difficulty Setting & Shep Level Scaling Mechanics (by peddroelm)

posted by me 3 April 2016

I have been trying to test the Stasis damage glitch. The official response was that it was related to this multiplier, exact quote to follow:



First comment is that the damage received during the glitch on Insanity is much higher than the damage applied to an enemy at the same level on Casual, actually it is more than twice as much. And on Insanity it is a drastically higher bonus than the point blank bonus (7x a normal ragdolled insanity shot with no bonus at Level 30).

I don't want to derail this thread with Stasis talk, but I am bringing it up because the "other factors" portion is bothering me in this quote. I am wondering how overly elaborate the scaling is, and what all actually contributes. Is the final multipler that can be measured fairly easily a combination of three or four or more scaling variables, where only some contribute to the stasis glitch?

Here are some damage multipliers I have measured today via Grenade Launcher method. I manipulated the save file to test them all in Professor... Don't know if individual levels or the quest progression also alters the scaling.



Casual, Level 1 Shep: 1.832662
Casual, Level 30 Shep: 0.999634

Normal, Level 1 Shep: 1.34105
Normal, Level 30 Shep: 0.731484

Insanity, Level 30 Shep: 0.303798

*************

Would be nice to be able to look at their scripts to find the function for scaling and what variables it is pulling, but there are a couple listed in coalesced.ini that might be related.

Casual

EnemyHealthMultiplierLow=(X=0.6, Y=0.71)
EnemyHealthMultiplierHigh=(X=0.71, Y=0.82)

Normal

EnemyHealthMultiplierLow=(X=0.82, Y=0.945)
EnemyHealthMultiplierHigh=(X=0.945, Y=1.08)

Veteran

EnemyHealthMultiplierLow=(X=1.14, Y=1.306)
EnemyHealthMultiplierHigh=(X=1.306, Y=1.472)

Hardcore

EnemyHealthMultiplierLow=(X=1.55, Y=1.65)
EnemyHealthMultiplierHigh=(X=1.65, Y=1.75)

Insanity

EnemyHealthMultiplierLow=(X=1.975, Y=1.975)
EnemyHealthMultiplierHigh=(X=1.975, Y=1.975)


One of the odd things are the variable names themselves since the HP isn't really even being multiplied apparently. Why is there a Low and High, are they for tier or what? Yet another is that if the x y range is supposed to be related to Shepard's level, why are all the Insanity values the same?

posted by me 7 April 2016

So far it looks like the "best" way to test is Grenade Launcher v high enemy health. That seems to give pretty consistent results. I think when protection multipliers start to get added in, float rounding or truncation might be more pronounced. Granted, I am talking about differences of "a few x10-6."

In any case, strictly enforcing grenade v health I find the same value for Level 30 Insanity multiplier in various stages of the game, so it looks like it probably is not level dependent at all (at least after Normandy acquired, I haven't gone back before that yet).

Level 30 - Shadow Broker Ship Exterior - Asari Vanguard Health

Grenade Launcher v Vanguard Health (525)

At Timediff: 9.723 Health Damage : 151.899
*
At Timediff: 3.634 Health Damage : 151.899
*

151.899/500 = 0.303798

----

Level 30 - Collector Base - Drone Health (200)

Grenade Launcher

At Timediff: 18.447 Health Damage : 151.899

151.899/500 = 0.303798

--

Level 30 NG+ - Professor - Turian Trooper Health (250)

AT Timediff: 1597.178 Health Dmg : 151.899

151.899/500 = 0.303798