BCIC - The fix for Kingdom Come Deliverance's combat

[Valdetiosi]

Also called as Better Combat and Immersion Compilation

Kingdom Come: Deliverance is amazing game, and I even joked about it with my friends that it's best modded Oblivion/Skyrim you can get. I don't have big personal opinion on story or writing, other than it's neat how much effort was put into the codex you can read about, but there's 2 personal pet peeves I have had with the game:

1) You become way too overpowered in this game when reaching high enough in level. Despite having cap on stats at 20, It feels like enemies drop dead from single swings when you have your combat skills around and past half way.

2) AI is too trigger happy to do Master Strikes. Essentially parrying and riposte without having no additional input.

When the game has perks for combos, it kind of threw me off a bit as you couldn't really get to enjoy pulling these combos, be it enemies dying too fast or your combo getting interrupted by master strike. Hence I started looking up on solution from mods.

BCIC is a huge relief to fix these 2 issues and allowing you to deliver combos to send opponents to kingdom come. A compilation of various tweaks like disabling HUD, adding weight to money, making bath services to clean all your inventory apparel, polearms unlocked and sold, giving unleveled encounters ect; it's pretty easy to customize to your liking, AKA which ones you want to keep or remove.

The main download includes the full compilation, but within the mod folder you can find each part in a pak file of its own. To disable a part, simply remove the corresponding pak file - or in the case of the mod.cfg, simply remove the line in question.

So let's look at the combat module and what was written on description:

- Slightly shorter Perfect Block and significantly shorter Master Strike window for the Player.
- AI Master Strike probability significantly lowered, Normal Block and No Block also lowered; Perfect Block and Dodge probability raised instead.
- Master striking requires mirroring zones (for normal stabs, both right and left upper zone works, and for high stab you have to be in overhead zone).
- AI will only Master Strike you if you attack into the mirrored zone (or the relevant zones for stabs). Focus on not doing that.
- AI will change zones a lot more often, making it harder to read them and mirror/avoid attacking into their zone.
- More aggressive AI (AI max attack delay as well as delay increase per attacker lowered significantly).
- AI is much better at clinching. Clinch perk only gives 10% bonus rather than 40%. No more cheesing clinch to win against skilled opponents.
- Headcracker perk probability halved.
- Against All Odds perk gives 10% rather than 20% bonus.
- Chain Strike, Blood Rush, Furious, Blacksmith's Son, and Cuman Killer perks have had their damage increase halved.
- Damage increased by skill lowered significantly. No more superman 1-hit kills at higher levels.
- Armour force field decreased. Less armoured areas more vulnerable. Go for the face!
- Armour status effect on defence values slightly decreased (especially for Normal Mode) meaning even very battered armour will provide protection.

Skilled fighters can now focus on their combos and Perfect Block timings!

The other stuff included in this mod is additional bonus or irksome depending on your tastes, and it works well with normal or hardcore mode. But this is what sells me on the mod, and ended up hooking me to replay this game time to time. Now that combat is fair and less reliant on dice toss if NPC wants to end my combo, I get to enjoy this game to its fullest extent.

In case text doesn't sell you out, you can see the mod in play from this video author has made:

 

[agris]

definitely sounds interesting. if i remember correctly, Perkel used to sperg on the KCD refinement mods that tried to do this same type of thing. Or maybe it was PorkyThePaladin. Either of you played this?

 

[Perkel]

agris you remember incorrectly. I did not mod KCD or put a lot of time into it. Barely played it.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

If you search for RPGCodex KCD review, there is a modding thread linked in it that has all this stuff.

 

[deuxhero]

Now there needs to be a mod that delays The Hunt Begins until you manually start it, rather than immediately dumping you into it after finishing the last quest despite a clear place to stop. The main quest being too pushy in general is one of the game's biggest weaknesses, but that instance is just horrible since 1: you actually are punished for not immediately jumping on it 2: there's supposedly a time skip where Henry does nothing, but time doesn't actually pass on the in-game clock.

 

[Valdetiosi]

If you search for RPGCodex KCD review, there is a modding thread linked in it that has all this stuff.

Must have been blind cause I didn't see that thread. A very nice one.
I'm still gushing all over that this master strike - fix mod does though, I don't think it can be stated enough.

Now there needs to be a mod that delays The Hunt Begins until you manually start it, rather than immediately dumping you into it after finishing the last quest despite a clear place to stop. The main quest being too pushy in general is one of the game's biggest weaknesses, but that instance is just horrible since 1: you actually are punished for not immediately jumping on it 2: there's supposedly a time skip where Henry does nothing, but time doesn't actually pass on the in-game clock.

Eh, I see this issue in every game that urges you to continue on some quest. For instance, Sir Hanush tells me to go hunting with Capon instantly in next day, but I ended up spending in game weeks of traveling around other towns instead.

 

[HoboForEternity]

Tag. The op is basically my few issues with kcd

 

[deuxhero]

Now there needs to be a mod that delays The Hunt Begins until you manually start it, rather than immediately dumping you into it after finishing the last quest despite a clear place to stop. The main quest being too pushy in general is one of the game's biggest weaknesses, but that instance is just horrible since 1: you actually are punished for not immediately jumping on it 2: there's supposedly a time skip where Henry does nothing, but time doesn't actually pass on the in-game clock.

Eh, I see this issue in every game that urges you to continue on some quest. For instance, Sir Hanush tells me to go hunting with Capon instantly in next day, but I ended up spending in game weeks of traveling around other towns instead.

The key word, and big problem, is the "next" day. That's a major no-no in game writing. You don't give specific amount of time in a game where the player can freely progress time unless it actually does have a time limit. It's a very well established convention players have been trained in for a long time.

 

[Galdred]

Also called as Better Combat and Immersion Compilation

Kingdom Come: Deliverance is amazing game, and I even joked about it with my friends that it's best modded Oblivion/Skyrim you can get. I don't have big personal opinion on story or writing, other than it's neat how much effort was put into the codex you can read about, but there's 2 personal pet peeves I have had with the game:

1) You become way too overpowered in this game when reaching high enough in level. Despite having cap on stats at 20, It feels like enemies drop dead from single swings when you have your combat skills around and past half way.

2) AI is too trigger happy to do Master Strikes. Essentially parrying and riposte without having no additional input.

When the game has perks for combos, it kind of threw me off a bit as you couldn't really get to enjoy pulling these combos, be it enemies dying too fast or your combo getting interrupted by master strike. Hence I started looking up on solution from mods.

BCIC is a huge relief to fix these 2 issues and allowing you to deliver combos to send opponents to kingdom come. A compilation of various tweaks like disabling HUD, adding weight to money, making bath services to clean all your inventory apparel, polearms unlocked and sold, giving unleveled encounters ect; it's pretty easy to customize to your liking, AKA which ones you want to keep or remove.

The main download includes the full compilation, but within the mod folder you can find each part in a pak file of its own. To disable a part, simply remove the corresponding pak file - or in the case of the mod.cfg, simply remove the line in question.

So let's look at the combat module and what was written on description:

- Slightly shorter Perfect Block and significantly shorter Master Strike window for the Player.
- AI Master Strike probability significantly lowered, Normal Block and No Block also lowered; Perfect Block and Dodge probability raised instead.
- Master striking requires mirroring zones (for normal stabs, both right and left upper zone works, and for high stab you have to be in overhead zone).
- AI will only Master Strike you if you attack into the mirrored zone (or the relevant zones for stabs). Focus on not doing that.
- AI will change zones a lot more often, making it harder to read them and mirror/avoid attacking into their zone.
- More aggressive AI (AI max attack delay as well as delay increase per attacker lowered significantly).
- AI is much better at clinching. Clinch perk only gives 10% bonus rather than 40%. No more cheesing clinch to win against skilled opponents.
- Headcracker perk probability halved.
- Against All Odds perk gives 10% rather than 20% bonus.
- Chain Strike, Blood Rush, Furious, Blacksmith's Son, and Cuman Killer perks have had their damage increase halved.
- Damage increased by skill lowered significantly. No more superman 1-hit kills at higher levels.
- Armour force field decreased. Less armoured areas more vulnerable. Go for the face!
- Armour status effect on defence values slightly decreased (especially for Normal Mode) meaning even very battered armour will provide protection.

Skilled fighters can now focus on their combos and Perfect Block timings!

The other stuff included in this mod is additional bonus or irksome depending on your tastes, and it works well with normal or hardcore mode. But this is what sells me on the mod, and ended up hooking me to replay this game time to time. Now that combat is fair and less reliant on dice toss if NPC wants to end my combo, I get to enjoy this game to its fullest extent.

In case text doesn't sell you out, you can see the mod in play from this video author has made:

BCAIC makes it much better indeed, I still have to get combos to work (BCAIC has replaced a part of the MS% with perfect blocks and dodges, which both interrupt the combo too):
Most weak opponents get 1 hit killed, and most skilled ones will still perfect block a combo.
But feints are much safer to land now, at least (you can usually avoid getting a masterstrike in return).