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: 


1. 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.


2. 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.


3. 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

4. More Balanced Difficulty. We want you to feel the peril of urban combat – shots and mortar 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.

5. 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
  • We’ve fixed some issues with transferring team leadership from one player to another
  • 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

 

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