Northstar.Retouched (work in progress)

Repository archived, new one here

Vanilla balance, just less so.

Goals

1. Not a "perfect" rebalance
2. Nerfing the top weapons a little, but leaving weaker/harder guns be so that players can still show off with them
3. Minimal changes
4. Avoiding scope creep which causes unnecessary changes to accumulate

Constraints

For now:

1. Changing 1 value only per item (eg. damage for guns, pull time for gravity star, etc.)
2. No primary gun changes on top of SMGs, R201/101, Flatline, EVA-8 and Spitfire

Change summary

Primary weapons

• BTK = bullets to kill

Weapon	Near damage	Far damage	Very far damage
CAR	25 -> 15 (4 -> 7 BTK)	13 -> 10 (7 -> 10 BTK)	10 -> 9 (10 -> 12 BTK)
Alternator	35 -> 20 (3 -> 5 BTK)	18 -> 13 (6 -> 8 BTK)	14 -> 10 (8 -> 10 BTK)
Volt	25 -> 17 (4 -> 6 BTK)	15 -> 12 (7 -> 9 BTK)	12 -> 10 (9 -> 10 BTK)
R97	20 -> 13 (5 -> 8 BTK)	12 -> 8 (9 -> 13 BTK)	10 -> 7 (10 -> 15 BTK)
R101	25 -> 17 (4 -> 6 BTK)	17 (6 BTK) (vanilla)	12 (9 BTK) (vanilla)
R201	25 -> 17 (4 -> 6 BTK)	17 (6 BTK) (vanilla)	12 (9 BTK) (vanilla)
Flatline	30 -> 20 (4 -> 5 BTK)	20 (5 BTK) (vanilla)	15 (7 BTK) (vanilla)
Spitfire	35 -> 25 (3 -> 4 BTK)	25 -> 20 (4 -> 5 BTK)	20 -> 17 (5 -> 6 BTK)
EVA-8	200 -> 150	10 (vanilla)	-
RE-45	20 -> 15 (5 -> 7 BTK)	13 -> 12 (7 -> 9 BTK)	9 -> 8 (12 -> 13 BTK)
P2016	30 -> 20 (4 -> 5 BTK)	20 -> 17 (5 -> 6 BTK)	15 -> 13 (7 -> 8 BTK)
Melee	100 -> 70	-	-

Notes

• SMGs and sidearms have decreased damage across all ranges
• ARs have near range damage decreased, but vanilla far ranges
• Melee now needs to be used on a slightly damaged enemy

Ordnances

Ordnance	Change
Gravity star	Pull time reduced by -33% (2.0 -> 1.33)

Notes

• Gravity star is still good if user aims more quickly, while being slightly less annoying for the victim

Development

Damage range to bullets needed for kill

Make changes based on how many bullets are needed for kill, because that's most noticeable for the player.

Damage range	Bullets to kill
100+	1
50 - 99	2
34 - 49	3
25 - 33	4
20 - 24	5
17 - 19	6
15 - 16	7
13 - 14	8
12	9
10 - 11	10
9	12
8	13
7	15
6	17
5	20
4	25
3	34
2	50
1	100

Weapon code names

Link

Harmony VPK tool

Link

1. Open vpk/englishclient_mp_common.bsp.pak000_dir.vpk in your Titanfall 2 install directory
2. In the VPK, open:
   • RootDir/scripts/weapons for keyvalue files
   • RootDir/scripts/vscripts/weapons for Squirrel scripts
3. Unpack the file somewhere on your PC
4. Copy the file under reference/ and:
   • keyvalues/scripts/weapons, if it's a keyvalue file
   • mod/scripts/vscripts/weapons, if it's a Squirrel script
5. Leave the file under reference/ as is, changes are made in keyvalues/scripts/weapons or mod/scripts/vscripts/weapons

Change tracking

Use ./diffs.sh or ./changes.sh to track changes. You can also search for a single file by passing a substring, eg.:

$ ./changes.sh car

Make sure ./diffs.sh includes only actual changes, not anything else (like whitespace changes and such).

Editing

Always keep README.md and retouched.nut up-to-date with changes.

When editing a file under keyvalues/scripts/weapons, put a comment after the line explaining the change like this:

• CHANGE/NERF: old value -> new value (explanation), if it's a nerf
• CHANGE/BUFF: old value -> new value (explanation), if it's a buff

Example:

"damage_near_value"     "14" // CHANGE/NERF: 25 -> 14 (4 -> 7 bullets)
"damage_far_value"      "10" // CHANGE/NERF: 13 -> 10 (7 -> 10 bullets)
"damage_very_far_value" "8"  // CHANGE/NERF: 10 -> 8 (10 -> 12 bullets)