Err... how do you + reaction if too low to react?

[Jman4117]

I usually see 20-60 for reactions stats at the begining.

[NKF]

Everyone stop what you're doing now and go play the game! Wait, wait, don't go just yet, let me finish. Oi, get back here you! Drat. For those who stayed, let's find out for sure. Follow these instructions:

• Start a new game. Any difficulty. Doesn't matter, really.
  
• Place your base, and yadda, yadda, yadda. The usual drill.
  
• Hire as many soldiers as you can.
  
• Ignore everything until they arrive.
  
• 'Base' -> 'Soldiers'
  
• Quickly scroll through your entire list of soldiers; scan the reaction score. Remember the lowest reaction score you've seen so far.
  
• Quit the game and start the experiment again. Repeat as many times as necessary.
  

The lowest I've got after several tries was 30.

 

But - I'm not going to discount the fact that it is within the realm of possibility that a soldier can begin with odd stats. Hey, stranger things can and have happened.

 

- NKF

[Stewart]

NKF this may or may not be of interest.

[NKF]

It's a fairly comprehensive list, but I've had trouble linking directly to it from here. Even when I've already logged in over there.

 

There's plenty for me to comment on, but I'll leave that for a later date. It does, however confirm that reactions generally begins at 30.

 

 

- NKF

[Zombie]

Thank you all for your kind words and for accepting me into the X-COM forum family! The chart I made contains a slight mistake (could be attributed to posting at 3:58AM), but nothing significant. The RANGE is actually 1 more than the numbers listed i.e. (MAX-MIN)+1. In the case of Time Units, the range is 11 not 10 as I stated.

 

NKF - If I remember correctly from my PASCAL programming days, we used a slightly different formula to convert a random number into a range of values. The random numbers were all between 0 and 1 (not including either) and had maybe 28 digits (depending upon the computer and the version being used). Our equation would be something like this:

 

STAT = ROUND[ (MIN-1) + (rand# * RANGE) ]

 

I should have been more specific about listing the Psionic Abilities. Brand new soldiers do not have any Psionic attributes until you put them through one month of training. The game does use these values (psi str & psi skill) for determining a soldiers defense against psionic attacks, even though they are invisible before you go through training.

 

Random numbers are defined to have a LINEAR distribution. If some numbers came up more than others, than it would not be a true RANDOM number. For TRUE random numbers ther would be NO distribution - each value would be unique. A very uneven distribution of random numbers (due to number length or other factors) would indicate an error in the random number generator code (a programmers worst nightmare). The random number generator in X-COM seems to work just fine.

 

cyrus - The MODE is the number with the highest distribution. The mode is not very accurate in this instance because of the linear distribution. For example, each number in Time Units would have a count around 18-19 (200 numbers/range of 11) for a distribution. The mode was 21 for a high in the 51 & 52 categories. This is 15% more than expected, primarily due to a somewhat small sample size. I included the mode in the table to give everyone an idea of what to expect, and to show I actually have a list of 200 soldiers.

 

-----

EclipseDog, Jman4117:

 

With a linear distribution there would be no chance of OUTLIERS or numbers way out of the accepted range of Reaction values. If the programmers of X-COM wrote in some code for outliers, some would surely show up in a certain skill in my 200 soldier list. As I said before this is just a representative sample of the hopefully 1000 values. I will let you know if anything out of the ordinary shows up in my fully revised table, but I do not expect much in terms of surprises.

[BreakMage]

*looks at Zombie's post*

*shakes head*

*tries again*

*Puts Zombie on the "As complicated as NKF so I shouldn't bother reading their posts except for possible humor content" List*

*feels he has accomplished something*

*smiles*

*walks away*

[NKF]

It's been so long since I used pascal, but I believe the formula pretty much does the same thing. I'm just assuming that since the stats are all unsigned chars that the rounding is done automatically the moment the stat is assigned the result of the formula. The way I understand the random number generator used in C/C++, it also creates a random number between 0 and 1 (well, 0.99). By getting the modulus of the random number multiplied by the range, it produces a value between 0 and range - 1. So by adding 1, it'll produce a value between 0 and the range. Fractions are rounded off once the result is assigned to the stat.

 

But let's not get into that. I can see this overly technical mumbo jumbo is only going to promote more people to take up the art of watching paint peel.

 

By the way, before we go on any further, I'm forwarding the motion that perhaps we start a new thread? Just a thought. We're beginning to deviate a bit from discussing reactions in general.

 

The additional points for most of your stats happens. But that's only because the game rolled a high number that pushed your stat over the upper limit.

 

For example, firing accuracy legally caps itself at 120. But the game always appears to roll a number between 0 - 6 (probably higher), regardless of the remaining percentage of your stats (which influences how much you can earn for most of your stats). So, if you had a mission where your accuracy began at 119 and you hit plenty of enemies on that mission, and if the game rolls a 6, you will get a firing accuracy of 125.

 

So I wouldn't take that into account if you're using that for your statistics. Just treat them as the rare over achievers.

 

- NKF

 

edit: Reactions, more info:

 

Recall I did an experiment a few pages back, and I mentioned that aliens use auto-shot when they're 4 tiles away or so. I just realised something. They get to use autoshots because I was experimenting on their turn. Not mine. Seeing as you can use autoshots during your turn, but not for reaction shots - it makes sense, really.

 

I also got a chance to verify that (during your move) the aliens will only shoot at you if your remaining reactions (reactions * current TUs / Max TUs) is equal or less than that of the alien's own remaining reactions. So, if you don't want to get attacked with reaction shots, make sure you have more remaining reaction points than the alien.

 

There's a very good excuse to use mind probes right there. Particularly if you want to know whether running away or standing your ground and letting someone else deal with the threat will be the safer of the two moves. Knowledge of the alien's various max TU stats (modified by difficulty level and rank) will be beneficial if you can obtain it beforehand.

[EclipseDog]

Zombie, NKF -

 

I understand what you're both saying but there's something you don't understand... the whole reason I started this thread in the first place was at that time when I first started it I had a guy who had exactly 21 reactions, hence how I know that it does go that low. This is not some hazy memory from years gone by.

 

Now I suppose it's possible I am using some weird version of the game since the one I achieved that from isn't the old version I used to use but rather the new one I DLed from the web in order to get a working copy for my XP pc. I'll go and hunt up my old game and reinstall it in one of my older pc's in an attempt to duplicate it but it could take a while even if it is possible on that version since that only happened once to me out of hundreds of games.

 

For now I'll take your word on the fact that 30 is the low for most versions of the game, but I'm sure there's at least one version out there that either has a random +10/-10 modifier or else has an expanded range.

[NKF]

I'm not doubting you. As I said, stranger things can and have happened. I recall having soldiers with under 30 reactions or so too, but in my case, it is from a hazy memory.

 

I also seem to remember grav shields being able ot repel UFOs multiple times (one for every grav shield), but that's a whole different discussion.

 

- NKF

 

(really late edit: I got a soldier with 22 reactions on beginner the other day if that's any help. Perhaps difficulty level may have some influence on reactions? I rarely get it below 30 on superhuman)