PACE 1.03 Released: Rifle Tactics, Fixes and More!

I know that things have been quiet here on Patreon for the last few weeks, but a lot has been happening in the world of PANPC and PACE.

PACE launched on Nexus on 5/21, and I was pleasantly surprised at the reception: we hit Hot Mods almost right away and ended spending several days at #1.  Then we hit Mod of the Month and took the #4 slot for May 2021.

I had hopes for PACE, but you never really know until you get it out there.  I've been modding since 2009, in Fallout 3, and in over a decade messing up Bethesda games, I had never really seen much attention until PANPC in 2018.  Most of my mods have enjoyed small, dedicated, niche audiences, so I was half expecting PACE to revert to the mean there.

Heh.  I was quite wrong, there.  I guess what I'm saying is, you guys are amazing, and I really appreciate everyone who voted, endorsed, commented, video-ed, and of course played PACE in the last few weeks.  It's super encouraging, not to mention a bit humbling.

ANYWAY.  Sometime soon (hopefully next week, but we'll see) I plan to resume the dev videos, as I begin sketching out a PACE roadmap and finalize plans for PANPC 2.0.

In the meantime, I've just uploaded PACE 1.03 to Nexus.  The last update added car explosion avoidance, meaning that PACE companions will actively detect when a nearby car is on track to explode and will try to find a different place to be when it does.  

v1.03 adds rifle tactics.  Believe it or not, PANPC has never has a specialized tactics set for rifles, basically treating them the same as it does pistols.  Since PACE was built on the PANPC script structure, PACE didn't have rifle tactics, either.

Now PACE does.  If the companion is equipped with a rifle (any gun that is keyword-tagged as a rifle or assault rifle), they will attempt to maximize a distance advantage, take cover and start picking off enemies.  To support the new rifle set, I've also revamped the combat targeting systems to prioritize the nearest enemy and to switch targets more quickly.  Basically, the PACE AI is much more effective now with a long gun.

I'm probably going to revisit shotguns in 1.04, along with energy and heavy weapons.  I expect to be fine tuning the basic AI combat system through the next few versions, as well as perhaps getting back to Dogmeat sometime soon.

PANPC 2.0 may take a little while.  I just released a bugfix patch (v1.991) and may release another one, and I have a list of issues, fixes and improvements I want to add to PANPC before I slap a feature-complete label on it.  Barring something interesting happening in the meantime, PANPC 2.0 will probably happen in late July or at the start of August 2021.

Stay tuned here for continuing news, and if you'd like to get involved in testing PACE, drop by the GreslinGames Discord and say hi.  We're off to a good start, but it's still just a start and there's plenty of room yet to roll.

Thanks again for all the support!

- G.