Mar 7, 2024

DEVLOG & Update Notes: Aiming and Shooting

Six Days in Fallujah - AmperCamper

We’re grabbing the “third rail” in this update. We’ve made some pretty big changes to aiming and shooting (plus more than 300 other fixes and changes).

Thousands and thousands of players have sent us feedback during the last six months. Many of these are combat-experienced veterans. Others are enthusiasts who’ve played every single military shooter in the last two decades. One of the reasons we’re in Early Access is to gather exactly this kind of feedback from our community and iterate on improvements.

PATCH NOTES

In response to feedback from players, we’ve made the following improvements to the authenticity of Six Days. Here are some of the biggest changes:

Player Flinch has been removed. Now, if your weapon drops, it’s because you’ve been hit. Please be aware that this makes the game even more lethal because Player Flinch also served as a warning to stop you from rushing doorways -- as if you’re playing Call of Duty. IRL, it’s almost impossible to enter a well-defended doorway. It’s like that in Six Days, too.
Point Shooting has been overhauled. Marines and Soldiers told us they did not aim through their ACOG at close range in Fallujah because this limited too much of their visibility. Instead, at close range they would “Point Shoot” by aiming over the ACOG, which is why we’ve always offered point shooting in Six Days. However, since releasing the game we’ve heard from lots of veterans that the angle of the M16 in Six Days fought with their muscle memory because the weapon was aimed upwards.

The problem is that it’s not possible to level the weapon when point shooting without raising the weapon on the screen, and this can obscure too much visibility. We found the keys to our solution in FOV, weapon angle, and big improvements in our crosshairs. Here are the specific changes:
- Leveled the weapon to avoid the feeling of “aiming at the ceiling”
- Kept the default FOV when Point Shooting, which provides better short-range visibility
- Animated the crosshair when Point Shooting to indicate decreased accuracy
- Added crosshair brightness options so players can customize crosshair visibility
- Aim Point has been raised slightly to make it easier to avoid tripping over stuff on the ground
We know this change creates some added difficulty for players who turn off their crosshairs. We may continue tweaking this.
Tight-space maneuvering is easier. Clearing tight spaces with long rifles (like an M16) is challenging, and this is essential to understanding the Fallujah experience. But some parts of our implementation were a bit too awkward. Here are some improvements:
- Our new “Short Stocking” gives you a progressive warning as you get tighter to walls
- Fewer actions, like coughing, flashlight and leaning, force your weapon lower
- We’ve reduced camera recoil (but not weapon recoil) to preserve your picture while firing
- We’ve smoothed out a bunch of animations
More Balanced Difficulty. We want you to feel the peril of urban combat—shots and mortars can come from nowhere, so you must maneuver in more authentic ways. But we think we made this a bit too frustrating. Here are some changes:
- Mortar fire is more clearly telegraphed and localized to pre-determined fire zones
- Enemy snipers are less likely to get lucky with one-shots
- Insurgents are less accurate at distance
- Insurgents can’t see you unfairly through smoke as often (still more fixes coming on this)
- Insurgents can be suppressed more often (more fixes coming in the future)
- Improved friendly vehicle driving
- Tuned insurgent accuracy at longer ranges to lengthen encounter times, especially during Flare and Sandstorm missions
Additionally, we’re preparing an additional set of other improvements to difficulty for our next big update.
Quality Improvements. We’ve also addressed hundreds of issues that affect overall game quality. Some of these include:
- We’ve created a new method to determine game hosts to reduce the chances of connections getting dropped when transitioning from lobby to game
- We’ve improved the quality of in-game communication
- Some interactions can now be interrupted (lots more improvements coming for this)
- Some of the cases where interactions get stuck are now fixed
- See the Bug Fixes section below for lots more

SPECIFICS

WEAPON & SHOOTING IMPROVEMENTS

Removed Player Flinch, except when hit:
- Player Flinch no longer cancels Point Aim
- Actual damage from a direct hit plays a Hit Reaction, part of which drops aim
Improved crosshair
- New reticle, may vary per weapon
- Visibility options, adjusting brightness and thickness
  - Off
  - Low
  - Default
  - High
Implemented Short Stocking
- All weapons now push away slightly before colliding with geometry
- Designed as a notification to players about upcoming collision
Adjusted Point Shooting
- More effective at short range, less effective at long range
- Animated crosshair to indicate decreased accuracy
- Removed weapon magnification
New ADS position for M4 shotgun
- More accurate shooting over distance
New default weapon positions to align with new crosshair functionality
Aim correctly aligned, regardless of aiming mode
Tuned recoil for authenticity across all weapons
Improved animations, reducing accuracy bugs
Addressed issues with auto lean that led to unintentional weapon dropping

GAME DIFFICULTY IMPROVEMENTS

Insurgent accuracy tuning
- Now less likely to gain lethal, pinpoint accuracy
  - Fixed an issue in which accuracy was miscalculated
- Increased recoil when firing in longer bursts
- Decreased accuracy in Sandstorm and Flares
- Decreased accuracy with automatic fire over long distances
- No longer use hip-fire stance when firing over long distances
Insurgent suppressive fire tuning
- Improved enemy decision making for suppression
Smoke grenades more effective at blocking enemy line of sight

EMERGENT OBJECTIVE IMPROVEMENTS

Mortars
- Cooldown
  - After a full volley, brief window exists before mortars fire again
- Accuracy adjustments
  - Reduced accuracy of first shot(s)
  - If players remain stationary, following volleys grow more accurate over time
- Targeted areas
  - Now randomized per mission
  - Fewer areas being targeted total, but potentially higher volumes of fire
- Targeting
  - Multiple mortars can now target same area, resulting in heavier barrages
- Improved feedback to player
  - Increased volume
  - Increased firing arc
  - Larger contrails
Armory
- Increased threat to players
  - RPG insurgents spawn in groups, actively hunting players
  - Insurgents more likely to defend Armory rooftop

HOST SELECTION IMPROVEMENTS

Improved selection process for hosts, reducing failed transitions from menu to game
New messaging for hosts leaving games
- “Host has quit the match” instead of EOS errors

IN-GAME COMMUNICATION IMPROVEMENTS

Players can now transmit VOIP over radio simultaneously
Reduced tinnitus effect on player VOIP
Ghost communication more easily heard by alive players

GAMEPLAY IMPROVEMENTS

Default Aim Point adjustment
- Raised slightly, making it easier to avoid tripping over stuff on the ground
VBIEDs can now be disabled by eliminating drivers
- Eliminating drivers cause VBIEDs to swerve and explode
Flashlights now have a “global” status
- If Weapon 1 has a flashlight and it’s enabled, Weapon 2’s flashlight will automatically be enabled when equipped
- Holstered weapon flashlights will be disabled (two flashlights will not be shining simultaneously)
Reinforcements update
- New animation for respawning teammates when interacting with AAV
- Interact point moved to center of AAV
Directional movement input interrupts interactions (at start of interact)
- Wall climb
- Checking for wounds
- Bandaging
- Planting C4
Frag grenades can no longer be cooked
- Once interaction begins, the pin is pulled
- Throw must be completed
M4 shotgun improvements
- Now has 7+1 count, per USMC spec
- Slightly increased rate of fire
Objective Virginia audio feedback
- Increased audibility of Spotter insurgent call outs
- Improved consistency of Spotter insurgent call outs
- IED explosion audio persists briefly through player death
Improved gamepad support
- Correct layouts populate based on device (Xbox versus PS)
Coughing no longer removes weapon control from players

BUG FIXES

Fixed the known cause of players getting stuck after interacting
Fixed an issue in which ADS not functioning properly after manual lean
Fixed an issue in which insurgent weapons floated upon death
Fixed an issue in which XP not granted to dead players upon mission completion
Fixed an issue in which Team Lead not assigned at menu
Fixed an issue in which Team Lead transferred after mission start
Fixed an issue in which Team Lead transferred incorrectly at menu
Fixed an issue in which incorrect mission loaded after Team Lead transfer in Wargame
Fixed an issue in which random seed not functioning properly in Wargame
Fixed an issue in which roles auto-fluctuated with Ranked Selection in Wargame
Fixed an issue in which career statistics didn’t update with mission success in Wargame
Fixed an issue in which mission didn’t launch after transferring to Wargame Mode from Fireteam
Fixed an issue in which characters could be killed improperly
Fixed an issue in which players couldn’t return to main menu if host disconnected
Fixed an issue in which players unable to check wounds after receiving friendly fire
Fixed an issue in which players couldn’t plant C4 properly
Fixed an issue in which players and AI couldn’t shoot through staircases
Fixed an issue in which players spawned incapacitated upon mission start
Fixed an issue in which player unstuck not functioning properly in doorways
Fixed an issue in which RPG explosions not affecting players properly
Fixed an issue in which insurgent grenades thrown into walls or floors
Fixed an issue in which insurgents suppressed empty doorways
Fixed an issue in which insurgents reloaded instead of fleeing
Fixed an issue in which insurgents fired while pointed at ground
Fixed an issue in which insurgent firing animation didn’t match actual fire
Fixed an issue in which AAR displayed incorrect statistics
Fixed an issue in which HUD visibility settings not functioning properly
Fixed an issue in which SATMAP marker not visible during Flares
Fixed an issue in which SATMAP persisted in Ghost Cam
Fixed an issue in which mouse cursor persisted after changing input to gamepad
Fixed an issue in which kicked from lobby message not displaying properly
Fixed an issue in which UI offset in certain resolutions
Fixed an issue in which pings not functioning for clients
Fixed an issue in which players could fire while bandaging teammates for clients
Fixed an issue in which Marines not visible on compass for clients
Fixed an issue in which incapacitation timer was missing
Fixed an issue in which camera was sporadic when crouching around corners
Fixed an issue in which mortar operators killed by own shells
Fixed an issue in which mortars improperly manned
Fixed an issue in which mortar emergent objective not clearing in Phase Line Henry
Fixed an issue in which mortar emergent objective not populating
Fixed an issue in which tunnels not destroyed by explosions
Fixed an issue in which tunnels didn’t spawn insurgents
Fixed an issue in which tunnels inactive in Jolan Amusement Park
Fixed an issue in which tunnel entrances obstructed in West Manor
Fixed an issue in which players auto-eliminated after entering tunnels in West Manor
Fixed an issue in which unintended voice lines played in West Manor
Fixed an issue in which VBIEDs missing in West Manor
Fixed an issue in which VBIED emergent objective not functioning properly
Fixed an issue in which VBIEDs immune to M203
Fixed an issue in which VBIEDs immune to M1 Abrams
Fixed an issue in which M1 Abrams explosive damage not applying
Fixed an issue in which explosive damage applied improperly
Fixed an issue in which mission progress blocked despite disarming IEDs in Apartments
Fixed an issue in which IED Spotter callouts not consistent between players
Fixed an issue in which insurgents not threatened or aggressive in Objective Virginia
Fixed an issue in which IEDs absent in Objective Virginia
Fixed an issue in which roadside IED spawned incorrectly in Objective Virginia
Fixed an issue in which roadside IEDs detonated upon mission start in Objective Virginia
Fixed an issue in which out of bounds timer not functioning properly in Objective Virginia
Fixed an issue in which AAV ran over players in Objective Virginia
Fixed an issue in which players fell through map in Objective Virginia
Fixed an issue in which Marines persisted during cinematics in Objective Virginia
Fixed an issue in which subtitles clipped during cinematics
Fixed an issue in which Marine gear shuffled during cinematics
Fixed an issue in which menu cinematics overlapped menu text
Fixed an issue in which weapon caches improperly cleared
Fixed an issue in which interior picture frames overlapped
Fixed an issue in which Training mission not functioning properly
Fixed an issue in which VOIP not functioning properly in Ghost Cam
Fixed an issue in which Ghost Cam not functioning properly after spectating player who quit lobby
Fixed an issue in which wind audio too strong in Ghost Cam
Fixed an issue in which RPG audio looped on impact
Fixed an issue in which mute icon blocked subtitles
Fixed an issue in which indoor lighting during Flares not functioning properly
Various fixes for interact prompts persisting
Various fixes for interact prompts missing
Various AI behavior fixes
Various fixes for AI getting stuck in environment
Various fixes for players getting stuck in environment
Various environmental texture improvements
Various environmental clipping improvements
Various audio performance improvements
Various localization improvements
Various performance optimizations
Various fixes for common crashes

For a full list of bugs we're currently tracking, please see our Known Issues.

Join the community conversation and offer us feedback on our official Discord server!
https://discord.gg/SixDaysGame