Flare Rework: Dying Light

[MaximusRexCM]

About the pull request

I've always imagined what it'd feel like to play CM with more dynamic flares, and this PR aims to accomplish that. Flares will now behave more like their real life counterparts, starting off strong and slowly fading to darkness. This gives flares around 20% more total staying power, and to compensate, I have increased xenomorph flare damage via acid by 20% across the board.

Flare Burnout: ~45 second burst of 7 tile radius, ~45 seconds of 6 tile radius, ~8.5 minutes of 5 tile(current strength) radius, ~1.5 minutes of 4 tile radius, ~1.5 minutes of 3 tile radius, ~1.5 minutes 2 tile radius,

Initially I forgot starshells even existed, due to how rare it is to see anyone using them! It's a shame, and I've given them some love too. They have a 30 second variance on their initial fuel timer, which simulates the randomness of burning phosphorus. Burns down in a similar fashion to flares.

Starshell burnout: 6 to 6.5 minute initial fuel variance. ~30 seconds 6 tile radius, ~3.5 minutes 5 tile radius, ~30 second 4/3/2 tile radius, and ~1 minute 1 tile light.

Flare mortar shells now have a static radius of 7 and last a tad bit longer. Call them in more often!

Flare gun unique-action creating an indestructible light source for extended period of time isn't what I want in this rework. Instead, they now produce a 3-minute 7 tile radius burst of light at slightly lower luminosity than standard flares.

Explain why it's good for the game

Flare support is a VITAL part of the game, but frankly feels unrewarding with its current state. Having to chuck 4-5 flares to cover an area that you're only passing through feels wrong. This PR makes active flare use in a combat situation MUCH more rewarding in both gamefeel and tactical value, while also enhancing the atmosphere of a slowly darkening marine line. Starshells and flare mortars got some much needed love as well. I've tweaked the timings to what I think both feels good and is balanced. Numbers and timings totally up for change.

Testing Photographs and Procedure

I rigorously tested flare timings, flare gun usage, and xeno acid dousing on local and found no issues.

EDIT: Corrected unintended behavior from CAS flares. Additionally tested and fixed/changed flare mortars and starshells. More testing never hurts!

A showcase of what I want dying light to feel like.

Screenshots & Videos

Put screenshots and videos here with an empty line between the screenshots and the <details> tags.

Changelog

🆑 MaximusRex
balance: Increased flare duration from a variable 9.5 --> 10.5 minute length to 16 minutes flat.
balance: Flares start out strong (7 radius) and burn down to nothingness.
balance: Increased flare_damage from acid by 20% across the board.
balance: Weak Acid: 150-->180
balance: Medium Acid: 500-->600
balance: Strong Acid: 1875 -->2250 (RIP flare)
balance: Starshell ash fuel variance changed from (4.5 to 6.0) minutes ----> (6.0 to 6.5) minute variance.
balance: Starshell ash starts out semi-bright (6 radius) and burns down to nothingness.
balance: Flare Mortars now have a static 7 tile radius , and variably last from 5 to 6 minutes.
balance: Flare gun unique-action now produces a static 7 tile radius light for 3 minutes. Slightly lower luminosity than normal.
code: Implemented a new proc, flare_burn_down, and incorporated it into process(delta_time).

/:cl:

[Git-Nivrak]

Why are flares being processed anyhow
Maybe while at it look into making them work with timers instead

[ihatethisengine]

Why are flares being processed anyhow Maybe while at it look into making them work with timers instead

Won't be easy because there are things that interfere, for example acid basically drains fuel from flares. We could also make it so rain/extinguisher/acid spray reduces the fuel.

[private-tristan]

Here's a graph comparing Dying Light flares to current flares.

[harryob]

much reddit karma from this pr... look at all those updoots