ME2 In-Game Combat Log Tests Repository (by peddroelm)

26 March 2016 I asked



This one is somewhat surprising, but I suppose this is what happens when you start looking at the actual numbers. I assume this is a bug then, since ragdolled targets are supposed to get the 100% additive bonus regardless of how that occurs. So I guess lifted aren't being classed as ragdolled for the bonus.

Also with respect to other ragdolling powers, it seems many of them do work for weapon damage bonus. Without being able to get around to using MHS yet, I am pretty confident that my test with Widow in NG+ was showing the damage bonus to targets after Neural Shock knocked them down. I assume Charge or Throw despite being biotics are getting the bonus when targets on the floor. Does the weapon damage bonus appear for lifted targets after the lift expires and they are thrown / fall onto the ground?

Are powers getting bonus damage to lifted targets? In general people don't use powers for damage against lifted with the exception of Warp. Warp Explosion supposed to do "double damage" to target upon which it is detonated. In common ME2 strategy the other powers used on lifted targets are mostly physics powers, and they always appeared to get physics bonus from "reduced target mass."



Disappointing. Although there aren't many enemies with barrier anyway, and without knowing how high there barriers are to begin with, it is not surprising this wasn't figured out.


If only you could lift Harbie.



Another one that is somewhat disappointing. But also explains why the "double damage" at point blank is so far from actual double damage, even accepting that it is an additive bonus.


I can't recall if anybody was ever assuming this, but I am not surprised.

and then some other stuff

posted by RedCaesar97 on 26 March 2016

These results are rather... interesting... to say the least.

1. For the no weapon damage bonus versus lifted targets: that seems odd considering it feels/looks like weapons deal more damage to lifted targets in-game. But maybe that is confirmation bias/placebo effect, where I think something is working as intended, therefore it is working?

2. If that is a bug... ugh. It mostly affects Vanguards as most other classes are not running around with a shotgun most of the time.

Barrier-heavy missions:

Horizon (Collectors)
Disabled Collector Ship (Collectors)
Suicide Mission (Collectors)
Samara Recruitment (Eclipse)

posted by peddroelm 27 March 2016

Test subject geth Prime ( 700 health/1000 armor/ ? shields)

health tests

tempest optimal range
Timediff: 7.051 Geth Prime health Damage : 19.320
Timediff: 0.058 Geth Prime health Damage : 19.320
Timediff: 0.051 Geth Prime health Damage : 19.320
14 * (1 + 0.15 + 0.03 + 0.2) = 19.32 // 2/5 SMG research

garrus overload vs health
Timediff: 162.275 Geth Prime health Damage : 174.000
120 * (1 + 0.25 + 0.2) = 174 // 2/5 tech damage

///////
///////
warp 15% on mantis vs non-lifted
Timediff: 0.115 Geth Prime health Damage : 46.569
Timediff: 0.007 Geth Prime health Damage : 389.387
263.1 * (1 + 0.15 + 0.03) * 0.15 = 46.5687 // OK
263.1 * (1 + 0.15 + 0.03 + 0.3) = 389.388 // ok

warp 15% on mantis vs lifted

Timediff: 0.144 Geth Prime health Damage : 93.137
Timediff: 0.007 Geth Prime health Damage : 652.487


Timediff: 1.770 Geth Prime health Damage : 93.137
Timediff: 0.008 Geth Prime health Damage : 652.487

Timediff: 0.103 Geth Prime health Damage : 93.137
Timediff: 0.007 Geth Prime health Damage : 652.487
263.1 * (1 + 0.15 + 0.03) * 0.15 * 2 = 93.1374 // warp 1 gives no power damage vs lifted
263.1 * (1 + 0.15 + 0.03 + 0.3 + 1) = 652.488 // Mantis did get 100% WD vs lifted prime consistently

time to try different weapon (tempest)

//vs standing
Timediff: 0.050 Geth Prime health Damage : 2.478
Timediff: 0.007 Geth Prime health Damage : 19.320
Timediff: 0.031 Geth Prime health Damage : 2.478
Timediff: 0.006 Geth Prime health Damage : 19.320
Timediff: 0.049 Geth Prime health Damage : 2.478
Timediff: 0.006 Geth Prime health Damage : 19.320

14 * (1 + 0.15 + 0.03) * 0.15 = 2.478
14 * (1 + 0.15 + 0.03 + 0.2) = 19.32

//vs lifted
Timediff: 0.273 Geth Prime health Damage : 4.956
Timediff: 0.013 Geth Prime health Damage : 33.320
Timediff: 0.034 Geth Prime health Damage : 4.956
Timediff: 0.007 Geth Prime health Damage : 33.320
Timediff: 0.040 Geth Prime health Damage : 4.956
Timediff: 0.007 Geth Prime health Damage : 33.320
Timediff: 0.099 Geth Prime health Damage : 4.956
Timediff: 0.006 Geth Prime health Damage : 33.320

14 * (1 + 0.15 + 0.03) * 0.15 * 2 = 4.956
14 * (1 + 0.15 + 0.03 + 0.2 + 1) = 33.32 // 100% WD damage vs lifted

Carniflex
Timediff: 0.013 Geth Prime health Damage : 109.312 // vsstanding
Timediff: 0.007 Geth Prime health Damage : 109.312

Timediff: 0.007 Geth Prime health Damage : 194.712 // vsfloating
85.4 * (1 + 0.15 + 0.03 + 0.1) = 109.312
85.4 * (1 + 0.15 + 0.03 + 0.1 + 1) = 194.712 // 100% WD damage vs lifted

// Mantis vs Lifted by shockwave
Timediff: 0.645 Geth Prime health Damage : 46.569
Timediff: 0.013 Geth Prime health Damage : 652.487 //100% WD damage vs lifted

This testing session there was a consistent 100% additive weapon damage bonus vs the lifted [by Pull AND Shockwave] Geth Prime

// jack eviscerator optimal range vs floating prime (not ordered to attack)
Timediff: 3.799 Geth Prime health Damage : 46.957
Timediff: 0.007 Geth Prime health Damage : 46.957
Timediff: 0.007 Geth Prime health Damage : 46.957
Timediff: 0.007 Geth Prime health Damage : 46.957
Timediff: 0.006 Geth Prime health Damage : 46.957
Timediff: 0.012 Geth Prime health Damage : 46.957
Timediff: 0.007 Geth Prime health Damage : 46.957
(36.8 * 0.55) * (1 + 0.12 + 0.2 + 1) = 46.9568 // 100% WD damage vs lifted (pull)

docs.google.com/document/d/1UZ4ii6oIIGm2glPW7KVnIZBLzY7c_Eu-xcoxJ0LfEls/edit?usp=sharing

posted by me 30 March 2016

Hmmm, not sure where the bonus may be coming from. But I had thought that Incinerate never benefited from duration bonus since it wasn't a real duration power, it just did listed damage split over 3 seconds. Also thought various people had tried to test Incinerate and never noticed bonus damage from duration, but if they only tested armor then this might explain that. I don't remember the specifics. The other reason people assumed Incinerate wasn't a real duration power was because it didn't seem to be affected by all the various duration penalties in this game (iOnlySignIn tested this a long time ago).

Reave is listed differently than Incinerate in the descriptions, giving the DOT rate instead of total damage. I assumed the duration bonus was applied versus armor in this case. The old comparison was Shepard vs Samara casting Area Reave against mook (eg husk) armor at Level 30 Insanity where Shep with appropriate upgrades and passive should be able to instastrip the armor, but Samara cannot (even if it looks stripped, a very small amount remained). Modifying the squad duration variable in coalesced from 0.8 to 0.81 allowed her to do so IIRC. I realize you were talking specifically about the researched duration bonus, but I thought it was needed for Reave to get the instastrips, which is why I am mentioning all of this.

Duration "multipliers" are supposed to be something like this:

Insanity 0.8

Mooks 1
Elite Mooks 0.8
Krogan, Scion, Medium Geth 0.7
Heavy Mechs, Geth Prime 0.6

***

then peddroelm said:

Looks like too much work . For know I'll just put it down to "unknown duration bonuses" if/when DOT damage totals don't seem to match simple calculations.

Might take a look at some warp detonations. Since targets did get extra weapon damage when lifted by shockwave (short time interval) it might be possible to warp detonate targets lifted by shockwave (same as slam + warp )..

***

I said:

Yeah. ME2 has multipliers for everything including day of the week and what you had for lunch.

I opened up coalesced to find the duration multipliers for each difficulty setting ("SquadPowerDurationMultiplier"):

Casual (aka Level 1): 1.1
Normal (aka Level 2): 1.0
Veteran (aka Level 3): 1.0
Hardcore (aka Level 4): 0.9
Insanity (aka Level 5): 0.8

The bottom was what people were modifying to get Samara's Area Reave to strip basic armor at Level 30.

I suppose a way to start looking at duration would be a test against mook tier enemy on Normal or Veteran. Would have to test v health initially since mook class won't have defense layers. Something like Abandoned Mine (Aequitas - Fortis System - Minos Wasteland) since there are a lot of husks. Engineer Shep w/ Reave as bonus. Que up Biotic and Tech Duration in Research Terminal by getting the first two damage upgrades for each, run the mission and then repeat with duration. Mission could be anything, but Biotic 2 requires post Horizon at the earliest. That is without save editing.

Alternatively could repeat version of what guys did in the old days and change duration multiplier for the difficulty to 5.0 and see if Incinerate damage goes up. Of course this is modifying files, so some risk and you have to run ini fixer or keep character count same, but risk is probably low of altering results.

posted by me 3 April 2016

Might as well link a couple from the main thread.

Neural Shock Ragdoll Test.

• Neural Shock can cause 100% "additive" ragdoll bonus after target falls to the ground.
• Grenade Launcher does not benefit from ragdoll bonuses
• Kuwashii 10% headshot bonus is additive

Stasis Glitch Damage Test

• Damage can be > 7x on Insanity at Level 30
• Damage is reduced during the glitch on Casual
• Damage is reduced during the glitch at Level 1 on Normal, but increased during the glitch at Level 30 on that difficulty
• Stasis Glitch damage probably benefits from headshot damage bonus.

I will try to look at the numbers some more for the glitch, but I don't know if I will be able to figure out the exact "formula" for the glitched damage without testing a lot more than the 5 combinations of difficulty and Shepard level that I did.

posted by kombra 5 April 2016

You should enable the debug console:
masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/PC_Tweaks_%28Mass_Effect_2%29

There is some very useful information to be had.

With: profile combat self
You get a useful information overlay about your target, including the exact distance, the target object name (e.g. SFXPawn_LightMech_2), weapon info (with damage multiplier) and also the object names of your squadmates.

You can use that object name to get info on the target:
profile combat SFXPawn_LightMech_2

Besides info about health/defenses, there is a physics state. If that is PHYS_RigidBody, the target seems to be ragdolled and the ragdoll damage bonus applies. That state is applied by freezing (after the freezing phase, including the thawing phase), neural shock (after falling over), throw, pull (and probably others like shockwave and slam).

All that info is updated in realtime, so you can nicely log that with a video capture.

There are useful commands like killparty (to kill the squadmates) and god (you are invulnerable). You can also change your weapons, e.g. to get a Widow: giveitem self masscannon. This also works for squadmates (must be compatible with their weapon loadout); to give Zaeed a Widow: giveitem sfxpawn_zaeed_0 masscannon. To get ammo: initammo 999.

(The commands are case insensitive.)

more by kombra

I also modified the .pcc files. I think there are different masseffect2.exe versions for different distribution methods (steam, origin, direct2drive). My masseffect2.exe is large enough for the mod instructions but is different from the instructions in the places that need to be changed.

If you know how to edit Coalesced.ini, you can also simply bind commands to keyboard keys (although I'm not sure if the info overlays show up without enabling the console).

Some other useful commands I didn't mention:
resettalents self (also works for squadmates with their object names)
givetalentpoints self <some number> (or squadmates)
profile tech self (shows a list of tech/biotic/weapon and squadmate upgrades)
setintbyname tec_bioticupgrade 3 (set number of biotic damage upgrades to 3; you can get the names from the 'profile tech' list, should be reasonably self explanatory)
setintbyname tec_bioticr1 1 (enable biotic duration upgrade; 0 to disable)
playersonly (quite useful bound to a key, pauses the game while you can still turn and look around to select different targets, using shift/the HUD for pausing makes console input an issue)

note by me

You can also just use "profile combat target" and it should display the info for the currently selected target without having to look up the name.