Forum:Some random game-mechanical questions

So, few random game-mechanical inquiries that have been bugging me lately. Figured asking y'all would be faster than trying to find out for myself given I only have one level 50 Siren at my disposal. So, without further ado:

1) Why is it that it seems almost impossible to find good Rifleman mods? Best I've seen is a purple 560 with 39% damage, 3 Impact, 4 Assault, 3 Overload and +18 ammo regeneration, and I've seen exactly one of those. Most purple 48 Riflemen I find are 3-ability ones, or stuff with ~36% damage improvement or +3/+3/+3s. For comparison, I've seen multiple Mercenary-mods with ~50%-60% damage, +4/+3/+3 and ~+20 ammo regeneration. I've also seen tons of Hunter & Berserk's mods along with most other Soldier-mods, but for some reason good Rifleman-mods just seems rare. Statistical anomaly?

2) How does Siren's Phase Strike interact with Venom? I have been unable to get conclusive tests due to my test subjects always dying, but I'm trying to figure out if Venom derives the damage it does off your base damage, or off your Phase Strike-enhanced damage? That is, does it look at your base melee or your composite melee when deciding how much elemental it does?

3) Does every class have the same HP total on level 20? For that matter, does every character of the same class gain the same amount HP over the game? My Siren 50's naked HP is 835; what about other Sirens, and Soldiers, Hunters & Berserkers (not accounting for talents, mods and shields)? Also, do tables exist for the HP progressions?

4) Regarding Shields, how exactly is it calculated, how quickly the shield begins to regenerate? All I've understood is that it has something to do with the shield Recharge Rate, but any kind of formula eludes me. Also, do "Quick Recharge"-ability and similars have any impact beyond what's already factored into the Shield Recharge Rate?

5) How exactly does the accuracy increase from Proficiency work? I've got +97% to SMG accuracy (level 37 proficiency or something) and yet, my 90% accuracy SMG is way more accurate than my 95% accuracy SMG. And my 0% SMG still can't hit a barn from inside said barn. I've been thinking if it's actually a decimal increase of 9.7% 'cause that's the only number that even remotely makes any sense. A percentile increase would put it way above 100% for both, as would simple addition. Same question applies for Hunter's Focus-skill, btw.

6) What do the "+X to stuff" mean. Like "+2 to Team Find Rare Items"; what's the +2 and what would +1 do and what do those numbers mean? Same with ammo regeneration; what does +20 to ammo regeneration mean? 20 bullets per second? No way in hell. 20 bullets per minute? Much faster. The numbers just don't add up. For that matter, what does "+1 to Team Shield Regeneration" from Siren's Catalyst actually do?

7) Are all the Achievements listed in this site's "Achievements"-section Console-only? Are the Challenges PC-unique? 'cause I tried to go on a boat on my PC installation and nothing happened.

Thanks for any clarifications!

--Confused Elealar 14:10, December 13, 2009 (UTC)